Dear MSNBC,

First of all, let me thank you for having the journalistic integrity to allow Keith Olbermann to speak out about the abuses of the Cheney/Bush Whitehouse.  I had been completely disillusioned by the “news” reporting which basically parroted any and all Whitehouse press releases at that time and the only place that I had been able to get any real news was PBS.  Now, I watch your channel almost everyday.

I like to mute the soundtrack and play some tunes while I watch this.

via videosift.com

If I knew how, I’d put a cool soundtrack over this.  

There’s more stuff below.

I am Manic Depressive, but on the bright side (ha ha), I am only Hypo-manic Depressive (Bipolar type II,  more on the Bipolar v. Manic Depressive naming debate later).  This means that, although I am still periodically afflicted by crushing depressions (Boo!), I don’t have to go through full blown manic episodes (Yeah!).  During one of these episodes a person might find themselves in any situation ranging from tearing their clothes off and running down the street yelling “I am God”, to getting tazered while blockading themselves in an airport lounge with chairs because they feel lost and alone.  

Instead I get to have Hypo-manic episodes in which I have exuberance, energy and concentration.  During a Hypo-manic episode I can multi-task like a son of a gun.  I also sometimes drive myself deeply into debt.  My decision making at work and otherwise is not affected, but in my personal life–especially financial decisions–I’m not all together.  One time I bought two guitars and a banjo, within a span of two weeks, at a time when I could barely pay the rent (I don’t even play the banjo!).  So, while Hypo-mania is easier to live with than full blown Manic Depression it is still a frustrating mess, to say the least.

Throughout history people have celebrated the time of the Winter Solstice.  The days are getting longer and the Sun has returned.  

My father’s family are Mormons.  In the mid-eighteen hundreds they gave everything they owned to the church that Joseph Smith founded.  My paternal ancestors came from Sweden and England and most pulled handcarts from Independence, Missouri to the Great Salt Lake.  The church couldn’t afford oxen and wagons for everyone so this is what they pulled.

Over trails like this.

Whew, that was one hell of a ride, but it seems to be over now.  Time for some Datamining.  This time Education.

There seem to be  several people who, like me, are self-educated.  I wanted to put in a category for that, but couldn’t figure out how to do it.  Even a PhD has some education derived from personal reading and analysis, so I’ll just go for Formal Education here.

People have also shown interest in the earning power of DDists.  This is harder because earning power can, and frequently does, change drastically.  I wanted to place two polls here, but don’t see a way to do it.  Next time.

Wow, this is not good.  

I’ve seen people who I think were friends arguing over little stuff.  I’ve seen people running around leaving Wrong!s everywhere they go, without explaining their disagreement with the poster.  I’ve seen too much uncivil behavior and people who do great work threatening to leave Docudharma.  And a lot of the people thinking of leaving are the people we need most–the civil ones who are able to have a spirited discussion without tipping over the edge of grudge-match.

I think buhdy is wrong.  Arguing: Yea!  Fighting: Boo!

I know this is just semantics, but I think of fighting as arguing and causing bad feelings without actual content.  Yes, we have to avoid the “echo-chamber” effect of everyone having the same opinions and just patting each other on the back all day; being uncivil is not the way to avoid this.

Just to kill some time before going to work (7 day weeks gets real old, real fast) where the word “you” comes from.

In the 1600’s the letter “y” was a abbreviation for the sound “th”.  We’ve all seen the sign saying, “Y^e Olde Tavern.”  Y^e is pronounced The.  In reading the writings of Newton you see him use this extensively.  He wrote, “…y^e and y^at“, for the and that.

Now we come to my theory–I’ve never seen this anywhere else–but, I’m sure that some historian has said this before.  In writing “thou” in the olden days they would write y^ou.  This was adopted and adapted by the general populace as “you”.  The change in pronunciation was from the profound influence of the French language on English.  

And that is why, to this day, many groups will not use the word “you”.  It’s not really true English.