I just find deary people stupid to be around.


People just seek out like minds to be around. I mean dumb people seek out dumb people too ya know ;)

Sorry, nobody who pops up with a metaphor that vivid is going to convince me she's a dummy. :-)

There is intellect and then there is common sense, common sense being the ability to apply one's intellect to resolve a practical situation. Some people have both, some have more of one than the other, and some people have neither. Even those with neither may have family and friends who can largely make up the difference and assure them a meaningful quality of life. Count your blessings.

What's painful to me is when folks consistently underrate themselves.

Brianna, will you please get over it, once and for all? You always manage to feel sorry for yourself, no matter what the subject, you are forever looking for a way to UNFAVORABLY compare yourself and so you can say you never "measure up". Stop it, would you? We all have to play with what we are dealt. The truth is in the details. It's what we do with what we have that makes or breaks us, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with a competition between you and everybody else. If you are never confronted with somebody so much more intelligent and accomplished than you are, or with a situation beyond your abilities, how do you expect to LEARN anything? Humility is one thing, being determined to feel inferior is something else. You were on the way to somewhere better, weren't you? Then get on with it!

I didn't mean to come across as feeling sorry for myself, but in retrospect I guess I did sound whiney. Gads, that IS annoying. I guess I was pondering why some people are so freaking smart and others-the majority?-are not and why is that? Why are some people so blazingly brilliant? Genetics? That can't be it because a lot of these smarties come from very humble stock. Education? No, that's not it either. Have they been 'touched by an angel'? (and don't say 'well, if they HAVE been touched by an angel they need to lawyer up') That's what I'm wondering. Sorry for the pity-party mentality. I really don't come across that way IRL. :blush:

...you know what Doctor Phil would say: when you got a racoon at the front door and a possum at the back . . . no, wait, that's not it . . . ummm . . . okay: if you take a rattle snake on a roller coaster . . . you . . . ummm . . . okay, I got nothin'

My observation is that it is the parents who are mostly responsible. I guess there's a certain minimum level of genetic or biological "equipment" necessary, but it's Mom and Dad who instill the value of "thinking" into their children, who, by example, show that "thinking" can be fun and interesting, who cultivate curiosity and creativity in their children, reward excellent behavior and results, provide the tools necessary to learn, and create an environment favorable to "thinking".

All right! The Cookie AI is back up!!

Right now what's painful is my feet, because I managed to forget to apply sunscreen to them when I went outside for two days in a row.

My lesson, it seems, is that a high IQ does not save yourself from your own stupidity.

Right now, bri, you are surrounded by kids. They think they are smarter than you, and project that ... but it's all show. Just because someone is well versed in being pretentious does not actually make them smart.

wolf, once again you have managed to say just what I needed to hear. The Angst should quiet down now--I've got the summer off and won't feel like a Retard Dinosaur again till Sept. :)

The retarded dinosaurs survived along with the small, clever mammals when the comet crashed into the earth. All the smart dinosaurs had gotten too big for their own good and died.

Try Ocean Lotion. It's like thin jello made of aloe and lanacaine. It really helps sunburn. Really.

I've been alternative between Bag Balm and Aveeno contact anesthetic, both of which are already in the house. Getting this Ocean Lotion stuff, which sounds very, very nice, would require the ability to put on shoes and go to the Walgreens.

My ex- (at the time a pharmaceutical chemist; this was before the nurse practitioner stage) bought a tin of Bag Balm once...and then refused to use it after reading the ingredients; as I recall there was something nasty in it: (phenol, perhaps?)

What's in Bag Balm these days?

Wolf: Speaking of Amazon.com recommenders, when I looked up Bag Balm they recommended Anti-Monkey Butt Powder Anti-Friction Plus Sweat Absorber
Actually, they need another hyphen. Apparently they're not anti-monkey.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

8-Hydroxyquinoline sulfate 0.3% in a petrolatum lanolin base.