Saturday, October 2, 2010

John Williams, chromochunks, and the free will problem

     An hour ago, a friend wrote me a brief email. It concerned John Williams. He wrote:
     I was looking for some tax documents today in the garage and I came across one of my college homework assignments for Biology 101 entitled "Williams Syndrome and the Brain." This assignment was from 1994. It completely explains why Williams is the way he is. My research on this issue concluded that Williams Syndrome is caused by a minute piece missing from one of the two copies of chromosome 7.
     The friend quoted his 1994 paper: "People with Williams Syndrome, commonly referred to as Williams People, generally score below the average on an IQ test, and are likewise classified as having mild to moderate mental retardation."
     I wrote back:
     Yeah, but if Williams is a "Williams Person," then he can't help himself. He can't be held responsible for those missing chromachunks! No free will! 
     I prefer to think of him as an "Asshole Person."
     I’m sure my friend was kidding about this “Williams People” business (and that he was aware of his descent into “incorrectness”).
     For nearly two years now, Williams, chromosomally challenged or not, has grown as an embarrassment for the Schroeder People who run this benighted county. And it now looks like he’ll continue to sprout ever more spectacular flinch-worthy doofutudes.
     Here’s the question of the moment, I think:

     When does a guy like Williams begin to be an intolerable liability to his sleazy pals in the OC Corrupto-Republican Cronysphere? 

World's most disgruntled man found living in South County

Raghu P. Mathur and his most recently alleged anti-Mathur "discriminator"

     In a statement released earlier today, former SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur said that, "because of my obvious superiority, I keep being discriminated. But those people will be sorry, for I have God on my side."
     Mathur had nothing further to say.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...