Things I Don't Understand (and probably never will)

• Men. Need I say more?
• The U.S. government. Again, need I say more?
• George W. Bush in particular.
• War (...what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.)
• Terrorism
• Ecocide
• Genocide
• Racial intolerance.
• Religious extremists. (Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure most of the world's major religions are supposedly based upon love, compassion, and peace.)
• Homophobes.
• Why the Elgin-O'Hare expressway is called such when it goes to neither Elgin nor O'Hare.
• The appeal of N'Sync, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, et cetera. No offense to any fans, it's just not my cup.
• So-called "reality" television. What's real about it?
• People who believe that women are responsible for rape because of the way they were dressed. You don't say that a man whose wallet was stolen was "asking for it" because he was wearing a nice suit, do you?
• Consenting adults do as you please, but I've absolutely no sympathy for pedophiles, rapists, child molesters, or sex offenders of any kind.
• Any math beyond high school trigonometry.
• Why rough, tough, and enough all have an "uff" sound, but cough and trough are pronounced with an "off," bough with an "ow," and through with an "oo."
• Unless you pronounce it in the manner of the Scottish, the word "weird" is an exception to the "I before E" rule, even an exception to the exceptions. (Then again that could be "weirdly" appropriate.)
• Actually, English in general is a pretty screwy language.
• Why people are so opposed to same-sex marriage. Dawn brought up a very good point about this. If it's "sinful" because marriage is supposed to be for procreation, by that theory, aren't heterosexual married couples who choose not to have children also "sinning"?
• Dr. Phil. Don't even get me started.
• How anyone got the idea to force-feed ducks and geese until their livers practically explode (foie gras) or chain up and starve baby calves (veal) and thought these would be wonderful "delicasies."
• Neither do I understand those who force their naturally omnivorous or carnivorous companion animals (e.g. cats and dogs) to follow vegan diets. There's a reason you don't see lions grazing on the savannah.
• People who answer their cell phones in the library and have an actual conversation, making no effort to lower their voice.
• American football, hockey, poker, and NASCAR. Must be a Y chromosome thing?
• Guys who drive by girls on the street and catcall and/or whistle at them. Are we supposed to be impressed by this?
• Why parents let their kids watch graphic violence on TV and movies, but freak out the moment a sexual innuendo pops up.
• Where anyone ever got the idea that I'm "everybody's friend." Whoever started this vicious rumor should be taken out and shot! :P
• Why almost every packaged food in the supermarket contains hydrogenated oils, yellow #4, hydrolyzed protein, and/or high fructose corn syrup.
• Why men are considered "studs" for doing the very same things that would make a woman a "slut."
• People who shop at Whole Foods Market and drive gas-guzzling SUV's.
• Why the same people who purchase organic dandelion greens from their health food store annihilate dandelions that pop up on their lawn.
• Why it's considered a bigger deal that 19% of men who go to prison are likely to be raped by fellow inmates, than the fact that 30% of women face rape or attempted rape just by leaving their homes (or for that matter staying inside).
• Why our cat always decides that the optimal time for defecation is right after I finish cleaning out his litterbox.
• Why the ingredients of milk chocolate include "nonfat milk," and the very next ingredient is almost invariably milk fat.
• Why I have been receiving a significant amount of Portuguese spam at the website e-mail address.
• Further proof that English is strange: Why, when one is UNdecided, is the state known as INdecision.
• Purported "health nuts" who drink diet soda.
• Folks who are more than happy to talk about their lives, but when you try to get a word in edgewise about what's going in in your life, somehow they always manage to turn it around so it's all about them again.
• Ignorant folks who insist that "fish don't have feelings."
• The folks who are now promoting nuclear power as the new energy source to follow the petroleum paradigm. Uh... hello? Remember Chernobyl?
• Policyholders who go through the verification process and freely give the last four digits of their social security number, but get extremely indignant when you ask them to verify their phone number.
• Why California, which grows its own almonds, strawberries, and table grapes, imports these exact same items during California's peak growing season from Italy, Chile, and China, respectively.