Letters to the Editor
Serai1
Published Letters: 534 Editor's Choice: 33
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What's the point?
[Read the article: The science of good parenting]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Like you said, many of the ideas on that website are already common, and many of them have dubious benefit.
For example: "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" is a completely ridiculous assertion, and I don't know anybody that didn't resent it when they heard it as kids. Of course it's whether you win or lose - our whole damn culture is based on winning, getting more, being more. How in the hell is a kid supposed to take a platitude like that seriously when his whole world contradicts it?
Things like that only lead to kids assuming that their parents are full of crap, a judgment far more common than any parent would like to admit. Who wants to believe that your little darling is looking at you, patiently (or not) listening to your "parental wisdom" and thinking to himself, "I wish he'd stop talking his bullshit so I can get on with this"? But they do, a lot more than we think. I can certainly testify that my mother used all those nice bits of traditional wisdom on me (Spanish versions but by and large the same), and I saw through pretty much all of them as attempts to manipulate me and get me to be something I wasn't, namely a quiet tractable little figurine who wouldn't bother anybody. All that happened was that I ended up never believing a word my parents said, and I still have trouble trusting them. So much for the platitudes.
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What I find amusing
[Read the article: Saudi rape victim punished, again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is how the most vicious trolls on this thread all hide behind the anonymous tag. You're sure a brave bunch of guys there!
Except for brightstar65, of course. He's stooping to new depths of loathsomeness with this one.
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The world is choking on pollution and trash...
[Read the article: Can Amazon's Kindle remake e-books?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...and here we have another paean to yet another unnecessary, energy-hogging bit of technogeek stupidity.
Give me a break. You're going to have to explain to me just WHY anyone would ever spend four hundred dollars on something this superfluous, because I don't get it.
If I pay $10 for a book, it gives me everything that dumb reader gives me. Plus, it's self-contained. It depends on nothing else for me to enjoy it. I don't need batteries, a plug-in cord or anything else. I don't have to power it up when I want to read or power it down when I'm done. It works instantly, the second I direct my eyes towards any given spot. It's portable, needs no special case, and in case you haven't thought of this, Farhad - if I lose it or it gets stolen, I only lose that one boook.
See, that's the ultimate rub with all these store-everything-in-one-gizmo schemes. If you lose the gizmo, you also lose all those "books" stored in it - potentially a loss of thousands of dollars. Whereas with a real BOOK, it's only the loss of one volume. As usual, a distinction that only someone who DOESN'T have lots of money to fritter away on toys could appreciate.
It'll fail. Of course it'll fail. Because it's a DUMB IDEA. When will computer designers ever get it through their thick heads that some functions just aren't right for high tech? A concept Amazon will discover when this latest notion falls off a cliff with the rest of them. Good riddance.
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@AKA
[Read the article: Shopping for a clean washing machine]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Laundry soap's not necessary at all for regular washes. My one small box of Trader Joe's laundry powder has lasted me nearly ten years because I so rarely use it. Some spot remover for stains is all you need - the agitation of the water takes care of the rest. Give it a try and you'll see.
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@Ken
[Read the article: Shopping for a clean washing machine]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gee, thanks for the attitude there, buddy. I was intrigued by the front-loader possibilities, but you've just about soured me on it, in case you're wondering.
Next time, try dishing up the honey instead of the vinegar. I hear it works a lot better.
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And on we go...
[Read the article: Colorado: Human rights for eggs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...every day merrily approaching "fetal murder" and life sentences for getting an abortion.
Find a copy of Rain Without Thunder. Prescient as hell.
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Yes
[Read the article: "Beowulf" vs. "The Lord of the Rings"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can think of nothing better to say than "Bravo!"
Although it's inevitable that things like this get made, I just wish that somehow Professor Tolkien's favorite text could have remained unmarred. Oh well, at least he's no longer around to be pained by the depths of what we call "entertainment".