AUNFLIN: I don't always like music when I'm working either (although sometimes the music
is my work.

) I like it a lot of the time, but not all. Depends on what I'm doing. Sometimes when I'm writing I prefer quiet.
SUE: my gripe with Disney from a teaching perspective is basically its insidiousness, and how it shapes perception in young people. A recent example: I showed a group of my younger ones, grade fives, a picture of the Taj Mahal for a social studies lesson and their first reaction was "Aladdin!" This kind of perception isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is limiting, IMHO. I've talked about that kind of thing in other threads and maybe I shouldn't mount the Soapbox again here.
KAHREY: That's rough. I'd go nuts with loud hip-hop and rap as well, I think. But it could be worse - it could be Muzak. Hang in there - or bring some of your own CDs one day and show them what a tough cracker you are.
ECM: Good that you have some musical variety in your workplace. Maybe you have an old soul.
David Sosa today. A little long, and might be more appropriate for Life Sciences and Bio-Tech than TQ&F, but I still think it's a fine dropping:
[quote]In a way, in our contemporary worldview, it’s easy to think that science has come to take the place of God. But some philosophical problems remain as troubling as ever. Take the problem of free will. This problem’s been around for a
long time, since before Aristotle in 350 B.C. Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas - these guys all worried about how we can be free if God already knows in advance everything you’re going to do.
Nowadays, we know that the world operates according to some fundamental physical laws, and these laws govern the behaviour of every object in the world. Now these laws, because they’re so trustworthy – they enable incredible technological achievements. But look at yourself. We’re just physical systems too – just complex arrangements of carbon molecules. We’re mostly water – and our behaviour isn’t going to be an exception to these basic physical laws. It starts to look like whether it’s God setting things up in advance, and knowing everything you’re going to do, or whether it’s these basic physical laws governing everything - that there’s not a lot of room left for freedom.
So now you might be tempted to just ignore the question, ignore the mystery of free will, say: “Oh well, it’s just a historical anecdote, it’s sophomoric, it’s a question with no answer, just forget about it.â€