Today was the first day of class. Oh boy, the instructor invokes the imaginary designer when talking about differences in anatomy between different people. She teaches well though, has a way of highlighting important stuff that makes it easy to take notes.

Anyway, finished Jacoby's book, The Age of American Unreason. Most of the blame for the country's intellectual deficiencies she blames on technology. It strikes a cord with me, because I use technology to consume more books than I could otherwise without it. It got me thinking of how technology may have effected literacy in the past, and there are some, but not many.

I would say the advent of printing made available to more people reading material in general. I can just imagine a farmer of this time long ago, admonishing a younger generation for wanting to waste time 'reading', when there is always something to be done in the fields. Jacoby would call this progress, being able to mass produce the books she touts, the things we are getting away from.

There is television, something she denigrates, but tv has the ability to get information to the masses, and isn't really a detriment, but a resource ill used. The book was ok, but obviously I didn't agree with all she said. I did find it humorous when the reader, during a passage talking about how justices in the court systems gain those posts, and the intended purpose for the system, says 'farmers had in mind' when 'framers' is obviously what was needed.

So, there will probably little time for reflection here until May, when I finally graduate. Speaking of which, the test I mentioned a few posts back, I finally got tired of waiting and called. The lady was very nice, told me I passed the test with a 90%, and gave me my license #. So, I will be taking xrays at work on the weekends, when not doing paperwork. Should be interesting.