Joan by the Numbers

Joan has been doing some great writing over at Seven Inches of Sense. Her commentary on the sorry state of college children seems to be about right to me. Thankfully engineering does have a tendency to weed out the idiots from my classes. However, a quick drive around campus shows me that there a lot of people in college who aren't bright enough to get out of the rain or not step out in front of a moving vehicle.

Her post on blogging is also a good read. I particularly like this section:

I've been a Literature/Philosophy/Theology student for a lot of years and a firm grasp of the English language is kinda mandatory in that field. But I don't feel the need to make myself unreadable to the average person just because I could. I'd rather make everyone feel included rather than exclude otherwise intelligent people because their vocabulary might be a little weaker than mine.

I've mentioned this before, but want my writing to be both intelligent and intelligible. It's something I struggle with because of the nose dive my language skills took studying engineering for 7 seven years. I've been told I write well for an engineer by some English majors. I guess that's a compliment. I mean I've seen how some of my colleagues write and its kind of like saying you are the most normal freak in the sideshow.

UPDATE: It appears that Jimmy, Joan's military man, hasn't been calling is that he's hurt. Prayers are welcome.