Yeah, Thanks.

You are Catherine the Great. You are very intelligent and a socialist. It is very important to you that all people be treated equally in a society. You are able to fully comprehend social problems and you are outspoken when it comes to dealing with them. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Actually, I think I'm just a follower of Scott. Every time he finds a new quiz on the Web, I take it and post my own results, just like he did.

Still searching for the meaning of life.

Everything in Question

I've been pondering lately the meaning of life. Not just the meaning of life, mind you, but a slew of other questions as well, such as our reason for being here and the reason we do certain things. This line of questioning tends to branch off and become very complicated at about the sixth level, so I'll stop there. I want to share my thoughts with my readers and quote a bit, if not just to fill up some space on the World Wide Web.

The first passage I want to share with you is too long to reprint in full here (I'll only provide one paragraph.) It is from the Introduction to A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, and I would encourage anyone to read it for understanding. It helps explain to me why we're here on Earth at this time:

To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and intriguingly obliging manner to create you. It's an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tried before and will only exist this once. For the next many years (we hope) these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, cooperative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally underappreciated state known as existence.

Simply put, we just are. That's it. We exist. Maybe there will be more later as I continue my journey. Maybe not.

If You Think It's Hard To Find Teachers Now,

Wait until this shit hits the school system. Federal guidelines telling schools when to fire teachers? For reasons often beyond the educator's control (and beyond the school system, for that matter)? I don't get it.

Yeah. That's What I Said, Too. (Netherlands or Bust!)

I've been rather apathetic about my organization's role in society lately. Now I know I'm not alone. For those of you who know, you know. I will not disclose my employer here.

Support, Support, Support. I Need It.

You may now show your support for this site by sending money via PayPal to service@nfccomputers.com. Or you could shop at our cafepress.com store where "Ben Rehberg's Value T-Shirt" is selling like mad.

Wankers and Misspellings

The Probablist wrote a list of 10 most misspelled words in blogs, and I couldn't be happier with the level of attention his article has gotten. Digg.com blew it up and it got lots of traffic. Props to him.

I am chastised every time I try to correct someone's misspelling or grammatical errors, and the culprit shines a light of disdain on me that somehow paints me the color of "asshole" every time. It's English, folks, and the American kind. It's the type we were taught in elementary school (though you weren't listening while the teacher went on and on about comparative/superlative adjectives and run-on sentences). I learned in the Army that paying attention is key to survival, and it couldn't be more important when applied to writing in the public domain. I haven't told Scott yet that "noone" should have a space between the o's, and Justin should really study his usage of apostrophes. I can't really harp on them though, and this is why: I know several people who hold graduate degrees and still cannot form a proper cover letter. They cannot document their work with proper punctuation and spelling, and some cannot even communicate well verbally.

I must point now to an article I came across several years ago (can't believe I can still find it) titled "How to Write Like a Wanker." The article points out several shortcomings of speech on the Internet, albeit mostly by teenagers (my definition of "teenagers" here certainly includes wankers in their early twenties), but informative and entertaining nonetheless. It includes my favorite, "pluralize with apostrophes." We could all use a little brush-up on the grammar, spelling, and content of what we write, and also a lesson on how our writing can impact our own image and credibility. I simply refuse to patronize any establishment with misspellings, backwards letters, or simple oversights in their marquees, menus, or websites. It makes no sense to put value in someone's work when they can't bother to get something that simple correct.

And yes, I do admit that I am not perfect. I've tried my best to make this site look as clean as possible and keep the ads to a minimum. I do my best to spell everything correctly and form complete sentences, and for the most part I succeed. Let that be my gift to the Internet, and may you all go spread the correctly-spelled word to others who need it.