Saturday Evening Post

macchiatoWeek, schmeek. Clyde is foaming at the mouth. Want to keep the news to a minimum? Grab a cuppa and snuggle into a rocker. We will be done before the espresso is cool.

M3, Flash and Updating

Did not blow up. Lots of pages got an overhaul, except, of course, the Updates Only page. That will wait until after I have done all my work on the FTP book.

OMG! If you have not been to the FTP page in the last… 48 hours… you need to go soonly. It is nearly twice the size of the last one. What does this mean?

Flashes from the Bistro will be the biggest collection of flashes to date. It will come it at maximum capacity and feature content (like the other books) unavailable on the web. There are a few which went from paper to the book. Do not pass Go! Do not collect $200.

Fractals

You all make my cheeks hurt. I adore the titles you give to my fractals. I have a sticky on my screen not to read what you have to say with coffee in my mouth. Here are this week’s Red titles:

  1. Eye of my Storm
  2. Scarab Shell
  3. Fold in Quills
  4. Wave
  5. Spin the Compass

#5 had the most answers close to what I named it. We had a tie this week for favorite between #3 and #4. #4 is on the title page of Wave of Emotion. Lots of you saw the moon, although I am really surprised no one saw the dolphins or peacocks.

Right Turn, Clyde!

When Clyde was reading about my wormhole, he never could have known he would be reading an email showing it in real time. First, a tad of background.

spoon on nose

Pure Talent

Little V is going to be participating in a research study on autism over the course of the next four months. Although I am opposed to medicating symptoms without treating the cause, I have acquiesced to this study for one purpose only:

It is the only way to get a psychiatric referral.

You read that right. In order to get a psychiatrist for my child, I have to allow her to participate in a research study about anti-psychotic drugs (which we will discuss in macro on another post).

No, this is not what has Clyde’s dander up. Well, not the only thing would be more accurate.

Press 1 for Stupid.

The initial interview was relatively painless. Answer 50 questions on a 0-3 scale. At the conclusion, I asked a handful of questions; the most important one was:

Where will we need to go for the study?”

The answer was: One of the USC campuses.

Followed by this: Is the one in Columbia available?

Short, sweet, I had to applaud the following of directions (prematurely): Yes.

We discussed the need for duplicate appointments, and in the coordinator’s estimation, it would be better for me to come for three hours on consecutive days rather than take “six hours of [my] day”.

You will see in the illustration below, Columbia is just outside the Third Circle of Hell. Do you see the arrow? Peruse the image and see if you can guess what is coming next.

Charleston

Two days later, I informed the study coordinator I had not received the directions to the testing facility. The email contained a link to a search tool where I could put in my address for driving directions. Yippee. Any idea where the address is?

Charleston

No, not a mere 80 miles away. On the contrary. 160 miles. One way.

Time Warp & Wormhole

123No, it will not take an hour to get there. Not two. Three hours is only if I can go 10 mph over the speed limit from the TCH through backwoods towns with one LEO and no jail, encounter no road construction or do not catch one red light in downtown Charleston at the peak of tourist season. (And here, I have no license or tags to hunt them. Pity.) The average drive time from my house to Charleston is a little over three and a half hours.

Wait, I skipped a part. Before we got to the 50 questions, I had to give vitals: Name, rank, serial number… address. I had to say not only where I live, but also who referred me to the study: A firm out of Columbia to whom the coordinator had personally delivered the invitations.

I was tempted to quote George Carlin and ask:

Did you walk to work or bring your lunch?”

Enter Ape

Now, if Clyde is going to believe the human race is not terminally eaten up with stupidity, a number of reasonable conclusions must be upheld (what a polite way to say assumptions):

  1. Someone with a master’s degree knows the distance from where he works and the capital of the state.
  2. The study coordinator knows the protocol of the study (which would have saved a second set of vitals and 50 more questions).
  3. Same person would think the six-hour commute would be unreasonable for a three (as opposed to six) hour meeting.
  4. Same person would have enough math skills to calculate drive time for 160 miles off the Interstate.
  5. Same person would not know the boundaries of the area code.
Right turn, Clyde.

Right turn, Clyde.

While I completely see the ability of others to see their commute as the worst one on the planet, Clyde is having a hard time figuring out how anyone with opposable thumbs to take off their shoes for higher math functions cannot see everyone who can use a telephone does not live on the party line.

It is enough to make an ape wonder.

Still…

Red Signature


Is it true higher education creates such specialty to entirely eclipse common sense? How does a person as S-T-U-PID keep a job in higher education (a medical school to be precise)? Can someone refer me to a retailer who sells wormholes? Am I the only one disturbed by this?

Hashtags: #autism #research #stupidity

Thank you for sharing The M3 Blog with hashtags and keeping me company this week.

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30 Comments

  1. I’d have promptly asked if they would be reimbursing my travel and accommodation expenses.
    Laurie recently posted..Recap of Last Week.My Profile

    Reply
    • They claim they were, but it would only have been enough had I actually been within a few (less than ten) miles and was willing to take $10 per hour… which I wasn’t and I don’t.

      Reply
  2. Jesus.

    H.

    Christ… 😯

    Do these people live on this planet or are they only visiting???

    Love and hugs!

    Prenin.
    Prenin recently posted..Friday – Quiet day.My Profile

    Reply
    • Are you more secure knowing these people are in a medical school? I am hoping to be hit by a bus.

      Reply
  3. This is incredible to have to go through for a psychiatric diagnosis! I wish I could put you up in a hotel for the time being, while you are down there, but I can’t and couldn’t tell or did not read thoroughly how many days a week this would be for the four months. Seven hours of travel for evaluation days will be a problem for you and your children. Do the people in question know children at all??
    Gail Thornton recently posted..CrystalMy Profile

    Reply
    • In fact, the schmuck who orchestrated this fiasco has no knowledge of anything beyond studying for tests. I keep hearing, “He is new.” I keep asking, “To adulthood? To the human race? To Earth?”
      xxx

      Reply
  4. Maybe the idiot couldn’t spell Columbia.

    Speaking of idiots, modern psychiatry (oxymoron) has just added a plethora of anti-psychotic drugs to their ‘approved’ list. Scary when the secret (sh don’t tell anyone) is that most of the time they have no clue as to what’s wrong so they medicate to keep the masses quiet.
    John McDevitt recently posted..Mary — Ready for Her Senior PromMy Profile

    Reply
    • More often than not, they medicate because they are unwilling to put in the hours necessary to fix the problem. Why spend a few hundred hours of behavior modification when you can write a prescription to sedate the subject? Bah.

      Reply
  5. I have a Masters degree, it did not make me smarter. Does that help you with your assumptions?

    No? Didn’t think it would.

    Well, maybe you could visit the shore?

    Okay, so they are assclowns. Let us all join in this refrain. This is a terrible thing to have to go through for what ultimately is what you need.

    I hate the TCH! I love you, Ms V and Lil B though so maybe, I hope it will all be worth it.
    Valentine Logar recently posted..Flash: CoffeeMy Profile

    Reply
    • Now some of the issues are ironed, and the location changed, we stand a better shot at getting it correct. I wish I had had the time to go to the beach, but at least lunch with Christine and the park were really nice. You and I should holiday there. So much history to scoff at the locals getting wrong. *wicked grin* xxx

      Reply
  6. I can’t believe the hoops the medical profession expects parents / children / patients to jump through because they consider themselves god.

    I’m saying this as nicely as I can: I have met a lot of stupid smart people, and Val is right. Higher learning doesn’t make people smarter.

    I have a headache from beating my head against my desk.
    Tess Kann recently posted..Hot Flash – CoffeeMy Profile

    Reply
    • I know more than my fair share of doctors (MD and PhD) who could not find their way out of the rain with a map, torch and a seeing eye dog. As for the MD, they do believe they are god. They have a class they have to take called Condescension 406. xxx

      Reply
  7. Stupidity is increasing exponentially. Entropy across the board. The kicker is that it’s mostly the people who have power over the rest of us that are afflicted, but they’re too stupid to know it. And too arrogant to care. Every day I want to draw deeper into my life here in the foothills and let the rest of the world go by without me. Being off the grid for over a week gave me a breather, and it felt good.

    Reply
    • Glad you are back, but I wholly understand the desire and the freshness of being off. I think I would appreciate more time off. xxx

      Reply
      • Lately my being away involved the installation of a new dryer–yesterday, finally–a decision made after 2 weeks of too much rain and humidity, and the purchase thereof on July 4 to take advantage of a “special.”
        Grueling and expensive, since my vent did not meet code and an expert had to be called in to punch a hole in the bricks (his boss had wanted to cut through a SILL), and ended up cutting a different hole through the non-load-bearing wall in Chris’s office, to at last do right a job that had originally been done years ago when right meant something different.

        Reply
        • Amazing how much bureaucracy changes “done right” to “done a way I can fine you”. Ugh. Glad it is fixed now, despite the headache.

          Reply
  8. No, definitely not the only one disturbed by this.
    Hopefully though, it will get your daughter the services you’re looking for.
    El Guapo recently posted..Friday Foolishness – Cookout EditionMy Profile

    Reply
    • It is beginning to open doors. It will take a few more connections, but I believe we are on the right track finally. Thank you, Guap.

      Reply
  9. Oh for crying out loud. Astounding. The sound of one hand clapping ….on my forehead.
    frigginloon recently posted..Pardon, Speak UpMy Profile

    Reply
    • Better I suppose than on the desk, like Tess. Glad you stopped by. <3 xxx

      Reply
  10. “Is it true higher education creates such specialty to entirely eclipse common sense?” This is something I have been pondering for quite some time. My theory is that the average brain has a certain capacity, and as it gets filled up with (often) useless academic knowledge, the logical common sense parts of the brain gets overwritten, never to be accessed again.
    Binky recently posted..Attack of The AntsMy Profile

    Reply
    • I really wish it was all rewritable and cumulative rather than consecutive. I think they all need better filing systems to decide what is truly important.

      Reply

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