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My notes from reading the book “Influencer”

I’ve always thought of myself as an “influencer” but I have also been suspicious of books that claim to give me the power to “influence others”. Either it wouldn’t work, or would be unethical/sleazy, or more likely both. I’m part way into an audiobook I picked up, called “Influencer”. I’m about 2 disks in (out of 7) but so far I’m pretty pleased. The material is clearly laid out, and seems to give great advice for things that actually work without being scritchy or evil. ...

Simon is gone. He died about 1:15 am this morning (the 18th). He was suffering something sudden and debilitating; based on blood tests the doctor said it was almost certainly cancer. He was quite frail already and we didn’t want to put him through any surgery, chemo, etc. Other than being hungry and a little confused, and having doctors poking at him, we don’t believe he was in pain or suffering, but that it was likely to go that direction given much longer. ...

According to the emergency vet, Simon either has intestinal cancer or a (less likely but more hopeful) a massive infection of some kind. We will know more after seeing the regular vet for an ultrasound tomorrow. He’s lost a lot of weight quickly and is pretty much skin and bones. He had been having diarrhea and vomiting for a week or so, though we attributed it to Sophie at first. ...

I have a friend who is thinking about taking some courses to become certified as a paralegal. She’s heard that this might be a good career option but she’s not sure. Are any of you working as a paralegal or have you in the past? Or do you know someone who might like to comment? It would be interesting to know what opportunities are out there and what kinds of jobs you might find on getting training and some kind of certificate? Does it suck, is it rewarding, what types of people/personalities do well or poorly at it, etc. ...

Posted as a comment to this post in but I want to save a copy for myself. This was a response to someone writing a paper about how atheists come by their “morals” and why atheists don’t just naturally become murderers and thieves.

While visiting my mom, I saw a video extolling the virtues of a plant-based diet versus an animal-based diet. The video was not the greatest in terms of production values, (i.e. most of the film was shots of someone talking, or stills with voice-overs) but it certainly got the point across. Most of the content was stuff that I already knew, but which I’ve been somewhat comfortable with ignoring. For example, I already knew: ...

Hey everyone, it’s aelfsciene day! Here’s wishing you good friends, good food, good fun, and a designated driver, if appropriate. Be well!

Posted as a comment in but I wanted to save it for myself too. I believe there’s a sort of cognitive dissonance going on in some cases, where children are taught that science/observation/experimentation/reason is a good tool for testing knowledge and understanding, and then taught on Sundays that all that doesn’t apply to God and related mythos. I also think that everyone’s reaction to it is different… maybe it depends on whether a child is taught early on to think, learn, solve problems and adapt, or whether a child is taught to obey and not question. ...

Crap. I just showed up to a $VP meeting unprepared. I promised to do two important things, about the only things I promised 2 weeks ago, and I totally failed to do anything at all on them. So I got sternly “reminded” in front of peers that when I say I will do something, I need to do it. It’s not the first time it’s happened, either; both of my to-do items have had their dates moved a couple times due to previous failure. ...