Hunter S. Thompson

I know I just did this recently, but again I must talk about the death of one of my favorite authors. Much like Arthur Miller, Hunter S. Thompson came into my life while I was in high school. I read Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and became fascinated by the writing. Thompson’s take no prisoners attitude still inspires me today. The worst part of the loss of him is a man like him is perfect for dealing with our current administration. Thompson’s obituary of Richard Nixon is so dead on and I can only imagine what he would be writing about our current, even worse than Nixon’s, administration; especially based on this quote from the Salon interview linked below

"Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads?" - referring to the people currently occupying the White House. "They are the racists and hate mongers among us -- they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis."

Some Links-

Rate My Professor

What a waste of time sites like ratemyprofessor are. After reading Gerald Lucas’ post about the site I perused the comments left about some of my professors at Stockton. As Lucas notes on his blog, the evaluations seem to be just another stupid popularity contest. If a professor is easy, they get great reviews. If a professor is tough in any way, they are ridiculed and ranked on in very personal ways.  Insults about hairlines, whether a professor is a “feminazi” or how old they are come off as childish and pathetic. 

I proctored a student evaluation last semester, and it was sad to watch grown adults act as if they were really sticking it to our professor (who had some disagreements with many students in the class about grading, including two who confronted her in the middle of class about it; how fucking rude!) by leaving long and negative comments about her. What a bunch of babies. As a student, I have found evaluations to be nothing more than a popularity contest or an excuse for class to end early. I have witnessed many a student who does not even fill them out, just marking all high or low marks and then rushing out of the classroom. Maybe it is time to evaluate the place and level of brevity of such evaluations. 

Google Maps

In case you have not heard yet, Google Maps is a new service brought to you by the people at Google. I have always had a bad experience with mapping sites online. Numerous times I have have gotten even more lost than my total lack of natural direction gets me by using them. Google Maps gives you real time mapping and real time updating. You can also search for local businesses with it. Sounds like a good tool.

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Arthur Miller

News that Arthur Miller had passed away late last evening saddened me greatly.  I was first turned onto Miller's play The Crucible in 11th grade by my English teacher (ironically named McCarthy!) and I immersed myself into the work.  Miller is my favorite playwright outside of the Greeks and Shakespeare.  Getting to act out The Crucible in high school, and Death of A Salesman in college was an honor.  With the current climate in our country, The Crucible is one of our most important pieces of literature now more than ever. 

NPR has a piece up online about Miller's passing.