Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Plagiarism is Wrong and other Random

The buzz of the week is all about the Republican National Convention, the selection of the evil orange Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, and Mrs. Trump's introduction to society via her big speech on Monday.  That speech turned out to contain several passages verbatim from a speech given by Michelle Obama, which was unfortunate. 

Politics aside, plagiarism is wrong.  It's wrong no matter WHO does it.  Someone went to a great deal of effort to write that passage, and to steal it and claim it as your own is heinous. It's the same as stealing a musician's song and saying that you wrote it.  If you do such a thing, unintentionally or not, you should immediately own up to it and apologize profusely.  What you don't do is deny it or blame it on someone else. Period, end of story.  Anything else is just embarrassing.

But then again, this entire election season has been crazy.  I'd rather turn the television off and think of other things.  Like Nerf.  Larry and Zane have been hunting all over town for various Nerf guns, bows, rifles, etc.  They huddle over the computer, watching unboxing videos about new Nerf items.  Then they stage "epic" Nerf battles.  Which is fine with me, except...nobody wants to pick up the bullets.  Including me.  So if you come to my house, there are Nerf bullets all over the place.  Under the couch. On top of the couch.  Under the fridge. On top of the fridge. It's a mess. I've made small efforts to pick up a few, but the vast number of bullets all over just makes me tired. 

I'd also rather think about a vacation.  As in one where we actually go somewhere else and hang out, as opposed to just staying here and hanging out.  Next year, when I don't have any more surgeries or doctor visits and all the bills are paid, I would like to pack up the car and head to South Dakota.  We can check out Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument, and Deadwood.  Plus, they have a place where they are digging up dinosaurs, so we can head over there.  Zane would love that.  Of course, Zane and his father want to go to Disney for the Star Wars convention.  Negotiations are ongoing.  We could split the difference and head over to Washington D.C. 

That's enough random for now.  I just realized that I start back to work on August 1st!!! Where does the time go?

5 comments:

  1. Wow, both vacations sound great. I'd go to the Star Wars Convention. How often does that happen? Every year I bet. Then it has to be South Dakota. How are you going to drag them to South Dakota once they have seen Star Wars at Disney.
    I'm staying out of the politics this year. But, my favorite epitaph for Trump is the Ochre Ogre. What a pickle we are in if all the idiots show up and vote this year for their blue collar billionaire.

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  2. Wow, both vacations sound great. I'd go to the Star Wars Convention. How often does that happen? Every year I bet. Then it has to be South Dakota. How are you going to drag them to South Dakota once they have seen Star Wars at Disney.
    I'm staying out of the politics this year. But, my favorite epitaph for Trump is the Ochre Ogre. What a pickle we are in if all the idiots show up and vote this year for their blue collar billionaire.

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  3. I used a lot of hyperbole when expressing my view on this. There were people who actually seemed to be saying that Michelle Obama is the one who plagiarized Melania Trump's speech, plus Sarah Palin said that it's President Obama's fault that her son is facing domestic abuse charges. So I said it was pretty impressive that not only could the Prez do the Voodoos to make young master Palin go ballistic on his girlfriend, but the Missus can time travel. I then said that I wasn't going to say aliens were involved, but you know how those reptilians roll.
    I actually had someone comment "oh come on, use common sense! Maybe they have the same speech writer!"
    Sigh.
    There are too many people lacking a hyperbole chip on this planet. It's one of the big reasons I stopped sharing my writing.

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  4. I find it more of an issue that the speech wasn't vetted. So basic, and yet... not done.

    My boys had quite the nerf arsenal at one point. I think I had confiscated and stored over 40 Nerf guns under my bed. What? Doesn't every one keep a loaded Nerf shotgun under the bed? It has since moved it's way along to my nephew's, where my sons play and leave foam bullets all over her house and yard.

    Wait until you catch one in the lawn mower... neon orange shrapnel everywhere. :)

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