MitchellSteele

Ok, I had this discussion the other night with my wife who was talking about chili. She said something about having chili without beans, to which I replied then "that is not chili". So here is the question:

What qualifies chili? Does there have to be beans in it for it to be chili?

I would like to have some feed back on this for arguments sake.

Here is my argument:
Chili needs beans. For chili to be called chili there needs to be beans. Chili without beans is just spicy spaghetti sauce. Chili with beans and pasta in it is called past fusul. My wife whole heartedly disagrees with my opinion and I would like to hear from some outside agents to weigh in on the discussion.

No class today due the holiday, and like Dr. King I too have a dream, and just like Dr. King i am in an uphill battle to obtain it.
18 January 2008 Noon. As class began the students around me were struggling to pull the heavy Norton Anthology out of their bags/purses/and anything else that resembled some form of convenient luggage. Before we could even begin our lesson a female student in the front of the class noticed the professors name tag. A new item that all school faculty is now made to wear. So as the professor was explaining herself, the class turned into show-and-tell. Students were pulling id's from wallets like men pulling singles for a dancer. I do not think I have ever seen so many people be able to conjure up their id's so quickly unless the cops were knocking on the driver side windows. Once the id's were out, we were led by said female about how she was able to take such a "pretty" photo, which led to discussions about the whole student id photo taking process. Finally around 12:17 pm we finally opened up the text and began to listen to the professor read the first poem. I began to feel a little relieved to think that we might actually engage in some discussion about the work. NO, NO, No. All of the progress was halted so the teacher, who only asked the class to tell what kind of rhyme scheme was being used, cold explain to said females boyfriend (the one who asked about the reading) what a rhyme scheme is and explain the rhyme scheme of the poem, which was ababab cdcdcd efefef. I also failed to mention how I sat watching this other female student hide behind her carry-on texting to her friend who I am sure was just 20 feet across the hall in another class room. This whole texting thing has me very confused. Honestly-how freaking important is your life that you have to be texting with whoever constantly? I sat there and watched how this female student text back in forth continually for the entire 50 minute class. she never shut her phone, her thumbs have got to be the strongest thumbs in the world. I feel that I am caught in chaos constructed by lack of self-motivation.

I don't know if We Can Color and Count.
Because of SHU's small student body which makes getting classes you need when you need them more difficult then a big university I was directed to go to WCCC for a class I needed. For the respect of the professor that is teaching the course at WCCC I will keep the class I am in out of all rants about the class, except to say it is a English class. Trust me it is not the professors fault, I have spoken on the side with said professor and have nothing but respect for the professor, the problem is my class mates. On the first day of class we get a syllabus like any other class. List of readings, tests, etc. So what is the first thing that is asked. "Are we going to do all the readings in class, or do you want us to do this on our own?", professor reply, "On your own of course.", student again, "Really, I thought we would do these in class, I don't like reading on my own."-this is really what was said as I have been keeping a running transcript of the ridiculous dialogue going on in this class. I was complaining to McGinnis the other day about this when he told me I, "had passed onto the 13th grade". This is hell. I understand that this is community college and that some (most) of these students will never take another college English class again, but to dumb it down this much. I feel that I am being ripped off of my $264.00 to take this class. I want a refund.

Side note: I was reading a magazine the other day when I came across a piece about a Florida State law professor who began a class by having the students read aloud their Facebook profiles. As Dr. Jerz has mentioned numerous times about the public nature of these types of media, a female student was embarrassed because she claimed on her profile that "being slutty" was one of her hobbies. I have not been able to find the exact blog entry that this article was quoting but here is the link to the blog the entry has come from : http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/

Why does Robert "Bob" Nutting get a free pass, while Matt Millen get hammered for the product they put on the field. I am in no way a Detroit Lions fan. But for some strange reason you always hear about the terrible job Millen has done in ruining a pretty good football franchise, yet hardly anything is said about the ridiculous job Nutting has done is ruing one of the best franchises in baseball history. Why am I bringing this up, well one reason and one reason only. This summer the New York Yankees will play three games at PNC Park (June 24, 25, 26), yet the only way a fan can get tickets to all three games without selling their soul is to buy a season ticket package. If you but at least an eight game package you earn your self the opportunity to purchase tickets to one of the three games. Now I am not going to argue that Mr. Nutting is one hell of a business man. Clearly Mr. nutting is making money off of the team, why else would he still own them. My problem is with his strong-arm tactics he uses to sell tickets. There is no way people should buy season tickets to watch the team that Mr. Nutting is/has put together for this upcoming season. he does not spend money (there is no salary cap) to make the club better, he cuts money to increase his share of the profits. Example: this past draft the Pirates (due to their horrible finish the year before) had the opportunity to draft a franchise cather. someone who would hit .300, 30+(hrs), and100+(rbis) for years to come. Instead of drafting that guy they pick a so-so closer from college. A closer is their number one draft pick ( I find it crazy because in the history of baseball and the modern game all the best closer were at one point in their careers professional starting pitchers) Mr. Nutting did this to save money on the contract. So as he did two seasons ago with the All-Star Game, Mr. Nutting has found a way to increase ticket sales without putting a dollar into the club. Sell season ticket packages as the only option to go and see the teams you want to see. Or maybe if Mr. Nutting put some money into the team the fans would buy the tickets to support the team, instead of buying tickets to support Mr. Nuttings bank account. That is all the fans are supporting. There is no way you can argue that you are really supporting the Pirates. I love the Yankees, but I also love the Pirates, I just wish Mr. Nutting took a page from Mr. Steinbrenner and put a little of what he earned back into the product he wants us to buy. Mr. Nutting for some reason (the money he is making on us the fan) doesn't see the need to do so, and that I find to be dirty business. But hey, he is the millionaire, not me/I.