Eschew Obfuscation

Idon't like people who force it. Yesterday I sat near two women at a cafe. They were determined to out-vocabulary one another. I thought it was hysterical, and actually started scribbling down fifty cent words as they spewed them at one another. Here's a short list:

pedantic
paradigm (several times)
psycho-social(misused at least once)
hermeneutics (oooh, I know this one!! I know this one!! only they didn't)
abrogate
ennui (I hear this a lot, actually)
rapacious

I'm sure they were terribly pleased to slip that one in. But I have a new flash... using vague, stuffy, language does not make you sound smarter. It makes you sound like you are trying to sound smarter. Trust me when I say this... I have been to two of the snottiest learning institutions in the world and graduated with honors from both.

The only people speaking that way are the insecure over-achievers.

It's actually much more impressive to phrase something simply, cleanly, and in accessible vocabulary.

Eschew obfuscation. Seriously.

Romancing the Racist

You can't make this crap up...

Jump over to The Sceptics' Tank and read the rantz of antz... with, perhaps, RAID poisoning? EEP! It would be funny if it weren't true.

Savage Exaggeration

In case your head was in a hole for an entire year, there's this thing involving Cassie Edwards being a big, fat, stealing scumbucket that happened in 2008. Since then Ms. Edwards continued to make money off other people's work, didn't apologize, blamed everyone else, and apparently had a massive stroke.

Not being her physician I can't possibly say how massive it was. I do know being a lying dirtbag is not a cause of strokes, nor is getting caught and denying it. I asked Ahmed, though, and he agrees that a mountain-sized guilt complex probably won't help with the stress during recovery. Given Ms. Edwards' habit of exaggerating and lying, I'm sceptical.

Anyway, in case you missed it, some wackjob fan blamed the Smart Bitches who broke the story. Click, enjoy, participate.

Hey, today is my mom and dad's anniversary, too! 49 years. And they didn't steal a second of them.