John Farrier's Comments

Lifeskills for Adult Children is well-designed for people who need to bootstrap social skills from zero. It has literal scripts for simple interactions, such as greeting strangers.
I enthusiastically endorse any effort to help people learn this essential dimension in life, especially as my own life has been held back by a lack of social development in my youth. And once you fall behind socially, you tend to keep falling further behind. It has an impact upon one's whole life.
If you don't have social skills, it doesn't really matter what other advantages you might have.
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I was once in an interview in which the interviewer insisted that I had been abused as a child and must admit to it. It struck me as horrifically bizarre and offensive. I was too shocked to walk out. I later learned that this was the norm in the field, which is clinical pastoral education.
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I haven't driven a manual transmission since I was 15 or so, so I doubt that I could do it again without re-learning. I have never balanced a print checkbook. And I learned the hard way about a year ago that I no longer know how to sew when I tried to add a patch to my karate uniform.
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A student approached me and asked for a stamp. He said that his professor, whom I know is not, shall we say, computer literate, insisted on receiving a self-addressed stamped envelope if he wanted the grade mailed in. The professor does not use email.
It took a bit of effort, but I found a stamp. I then had to teach the student how to address an envelope, as he apparently was unfamiliar with the task.
It was an astonishing meeting of two extreme ends of technological competence.
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When I teach media literacy classes at my library, one thing I emphasize is the importance of reading news sources and fact checkers from different political perspectives. By doing this myself, I often find not only two or more different perspectives on a news event, but often two or more completely different narratives.
I think that the ideal state of the informed voter is confusion. The informed voter is uncertain of his or her news sources or the events they are describing and is thus cautious. The thoughtful voter thinks, 'I could be wrong about this issue' and 'the people whom I disagree with could be right.'
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I jokingly suggested naming a son "Bruce Wayne," but apparently my poker face was so good that, until recently, my wife thought that I was completely serious. She was secretly appalled.
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My father, a petrochemical engineer, advised always buying premium gas. He said that impurities in crude oil are disposed of by refineries in proportions relative to the grade of gas, so premium has has less stray carbon in the mixture to adhere to the engine. Premium gas is cleaner and so prolongs the life of the engine.
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I have seven resolutions that are clearly defined. At the end of the year, I either did them or didn't. I keep them printed out and taped on my desk, so I see them constantly.
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Profile for John Farrier

  • Member Since 2012/08/04


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