I am a Nerd

Pure Nerd 65 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 30% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

This test tracked 3 variables. How the score compared to the other people's:

	Higher than 68% on nerdiness
	Higher than 71% on geekosity
	Higher than 46% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

Tory Speaks on Architecture

We were out for a walk. Tory looks at a building and says "Now this is a lovely brick building, made out of brick and glass and pipe cleaners." Earlier she had looked at a house and said "That is a slime house. It is made out of wood and slime." Despite the factual error, Johanna agreed with her.

Meeting an Ancent One

Today at church I found out that P'nai Or (the Jewish congregation that shares our building) was going to have the Soferet Aviel Barclay there to work on their Sefer Torah, and that we could come watch. Now, there are other Sofers (male), but she is the only female. However, I am getting ahead of the story.

I was walking around with Stuart when she came in with a member of P'nai Or. I recognized her from the article they had posted about her coming to repair their Torah, so I went over to welcome her and tell her what an honor it was to have her here. They went back into the room to get ready. A little while later, the gentleman came back out. He asked when service would be over, since they had not had the foresight to get the Torah out ahead of time. I assured him it would not bother anyone if we went and got it right now. He was surprised and assured me he did not want to interrupt the service. I just smiled and began to lead him back to behind the pulpit.

When we got back there, it was obvious where the Torah was. As he opened the Ark, he said "Shalom. How are you doing?" He explained that at service, each of the actions (opening the Ark, pulling back the curtain, untying the rope, and removing the Torah) would be performed by a different individual. When he went to close the Ark, he had some trouble, so I helped him. The whole exchange took maybe a minute, but it almost brought me to tears. For the first time in my memory, I was meeting an ancient entity in person, one who was older than I am, and would probably outlive me.

After service, we had been invited to go back and watch the Soferet work. She could not talk to us or turn from her work while she was forming a letter. If she did, she would have to remove that letter entirely and start again. However, when she was between letters (as she was for most of the next hour) she told us many amazing things. Things like:

• Each letter has it's own soul. They can only be expanded. If the character has gotten too big, it must be removed entirely and a new letter formed.
• During the Holocaust, some sifrei Torah were formed by taking the undamaged portions of damaged sifrei Torah and binding them into a new scroll. The damaged portions were buried.
• The gaps between the letter must all be the proper width, and the lines must all be justified. That means that you must shrink or expand the letters to make the lines the right length.
• A Sefer Torah can be made from the skin of any animal that the Jews can eat. She mentioned that she has seen a beautiful deerskin Torah.

Why Should We Pay For Their Primaries?

Once again, Washington is in the news because they can't figure out how to make a primary that doesn't suck. This puts them significantly closer to the truth of the matter than other states. The truth is:

Primaries Suck!

You heard it here first, folks. Now, the next question: Why do they suck? They are an "election" where parties pick a candidate who best represents them to run in the election. It is a democratic election, but without all the democracy and electing. So then, why do we have them? Because we are stuck in a country where plurality elections are the norm. Folks, plurality is the best possible voting system, excepting all others (Apologies to Mr. Churchill).

Now, this is not news. The romans knew it. They used Borda counts in the senate around 105 AD. And it does not really make a difference what method we do use. Pick something better than plurality, then dump the primaries. "How will we pick a candidate?" whine the parties. I. Do. Not. Care. Pick whomever you want. Hell, run them all, as far as I care. But I will tell you this: I am sick and tired of America paying for their parties to pick hacks who do not represent America.

Additional Reading:
Election Selection over at Science News
May the Best Man Lose over at Discover

Tory is a Busy Girl

Tory: Didn't you see the sign

Sign: Tory Likes to Flush

Joh: Sometimes you don't like to flush anymore.

Tory: Why not?

Me: It's usually when you are busy doing other things.

Joh: You are a busy girl.

Tory: That's right. I've got my woooooork and blah, blah, blah, blah-blah-blah-blah.

Another Use for Duct Tape

The Monkey Was Asking For It

"Daddy, I poked my monkey and the air came out."

It was Tory, in the Playroom, with the Nail File.

I say, he was asking for it. It's the way he was dressed.

Breakfast Stories

Tory: Is someone reading us in a book?

Johanna: Are we a story in a book? Maybe. It'd be a pretty dark comedy.

Tory: Maybe we're a book in Spanish.

Thane: It's a bad translation.

Words of Babes

"Stuart has a beautiful penis, doesn't he?"

The Troubles with Idiomatic Language

Woman: "I love your hair. Were you born with it?"

Tory: "No. I grew it."