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One thing people notice about me is that I tend to go into a bunch of things, then settle on one. With my first Random Points blog, I did exactly that. I ran down a bunch of ideas, then chose one to focus on, that being love and forgiveness. Well, in my last blog I did another list of random things, and again, I've chosen one to focus on: Everyone should know the difference between mass and weight, between scalars and vectors, between reasons and excuses, and between definitions and meanings. No two words have exactly the same meaning, but many people use them interchangably. This communication problem is the source of many of our problems today. But I want to focus on one pair in particular: reasons and excuses. It's shameful how many think reasons and excuses are the same thing. And though there can be overlap, the two concepts serve very different purposes. rea.son (rē' zәn) n. A legitimate cause to perform or avoid an act. ex.cuse (eks kjus') n. A cause for one to act selfishly, frequently a lie, often disguised as a reason. As you can see, the two concepts are completely different in meaning, but can be mistaken for each other. In fact, there are times when there are reasons to do or not to do something. One will usually be more important than the other. But some people will go with the other reason, using it as an excuse to do their own thing. This is, most likely, where the confusion sets in. Not all excuses are reasons, though. How many girls have gotten out of dates with that being "the night I wash my hair" or lied about having a boyfriend? How many men have used money or status as an excuse to get a date with a woman who wouldn't have dreamed about being around anyone with those looks or personality? (For the record, I don't consider money marriages legitimate.) Or the little kid who always tries to get out of chores or homework? And the idea of "out of my league" should be considered degrading to everyone. There is no league. Either it works, or it doesn't. By putting anyone in a "league", you create classes that have no business existing. It's just another excuse. And for the record: Mass is matter; weight is how much gravity is pulling on that matter Scalars are simple quanties (200 sheets in a ream, 30 hens in a coop; 4 quarts in a gallon); vectors have a direction in addition to that quantity (10 miles north; 24 levels up; 90 degrees counter-clockwise) Definitions are what a term refers to; meanings are the central theme of an entire statement Now, I'd like to quickly go into a few more pairs of words that have been confused and go into what each means. The first one strikes me as insulting: Poem: A series of lines designed to be performed by spoken word with no form of accompaniment for the purpose of dramatic or humerous effect. May briefly include singing. Song: A musical piece involving a sung vocal lead, usually with accompaniment. I have attended "Poetry Nights" at a number of places with the intent of presenting one of my pieces. If they break out the guitars, I leave. THAT'S. NOT. POETRY. The next two are presented differently among different law books, so I'm using the more general meanings: Right: The indefinate allowance of an individual to perform a task or retain property under certain provisions. Priviledge: The revokable permission for an individual to perform a task or retain property. Note the two differences. A priviledge is revokable under all conditions, and may be temporary or have expiration. A right can't be taken away, but only under certain circumstances. If the case is outside of those circumstances, it becomes a priviledge. (This is what conservatives don't understand about our rights, especially the Second Amendment.) Love: A sensation that compels someone to act on someone else's behalf. Sex: A physical act that utilizes extreme enjoyment to encourage itself for the purpose of procreation. Boy, do these get confused! Sex can produce a feeling of attachment that is easily mistaken for love, and love doesn't necessarily mean sex. This mistake is why there's such a high divorce rate. (Side note: It's also easy to mistake close friendship for love. This happened to me, and we're both dealing with the consequences right now.) And one that drives me nucking futs: Socialism: A system where a household's excess income is taxed progressively for the purpose of protecting private property rights and prevent unfair ammassing of property. Communism: According to Max Engel's 1888 English translation of The Communist Manifesto, "abolishment of private property." As you can see, these are completely opposite in result. Communism doesn't just fail to protect private property, it puts it all under the government umbrella. Socialism, on the other hand, prevents anyone from using private property as leverage against anyone else. In, fact, Karl Marx didn't leave Germany, the strongest Socialist country on the planet at the time, for no reason; according to his book, he was disenchanted by the system. It's amazing how even Communist leaders don't acknowledge this. Well, that's it for now. I strongly urge you to go out and look at how people get words confused, until next time . . .

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