Music Making Me Mad

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Moments ago I was sitting in my boss’ office waiting for him to finish some math for a paper we’re writing. He’s a big classical music fan and often listens to a local station streamed over the net. As I sat there, effectively alone with my thoughts, I realized something about my feelings toward classical music. I realized that unless a piece fits into the narrow category of styles I like, it drives me nuts. What I mean is that being forced to sit through a classical piece that I find boring or annoying, feel agitated, aggressive, belligerent, impatient, intolerant, and infuriated. So much for the aphorism’s claim that music calms the savage beast. Apparently, most classical music makes me a savage beast.

Now, these feelings aren’t remotely similar to how Rage Against the Machine and other anger anthem bands make me feel. I like how that stuff gets my blood pumping. “Bad” classical music makes me uncomfortable in a way best compared to having to pee really bad, having an unreachable itch, or being forced to stay awake when you’re beyond exhausted. “Get me out of here! Make it stop! Turn it off! Don’t make me turn it off for you!!!” So screams my mind.

Weird, huh?

No Tenure for Teachers

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“The [New York State teachers’] unions late Tuesday were successful in banning student performance in the classroom from the tenure process.”

Say what?! News stories like this drive me nuts. There should be no such thing as tenure for teaching faculty who are not also professional researchers. The latter need tenure to protect them from malicious firing related to unpopular research topics, methodology, or results. Educators who exclusively teach should be held accountable for how well they do their jobs, just like anyone else in any other job. If you are a poor teacher who fails to adequately educate children, your boss should have the right to fire you. Period.

On a tangentially related note, I hate the idea of closed shops. Unions should have to compete with other unions and individual workers. A monopolized workforce is as bad as a monopolized industry.

Ron Paul Rally Wrap-Up

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I went to the Ron Paul rally at the University of Pittsburgh last Thursday. The speech was mostly boilerplate Ron Paul Revolution material (abolish the Fed, no socialized health care, end the Iraq war, restore civil liberties, etc). The best part, for me, was the opportunity to shake the hand with, get the autograph of, and be photographed with the man who turned my frustration and exasperation with the federal government into activism.

Another plus was an opportunity to experiment with camera settings in a low-light situation. Those pictures can be viewed here.

Coverage of the IUP rally can be found here and here. Coverage of the Pitt rally can be found here. Amateur video of the Pitt rally can be found here.