Mar 1 I’m sure that many people out there have watched this show (if its claim that it had the highest premiere in the last 8 years is correct). Fox put it in that key spot right after one of their big hits (American Idol) so people who tune in for that are very apt to just leave their tv on.
On the one hand I think that it’s a pretty lame show because it is almost entirely like this show even with the “lifelines” idea. On the other hand, I think that the shower can be interesting at times because we all (as adults) want to be “smarter” than a 5th grader.
The show plays on pride as well as on the fact that there are a lot of things that we are very likely to forget in our lives. Even as someone who has recently finished schooling, I am still over 10 years removed from the 5th grade. That makes it hard to remember the purely knowledge-based answers such as when Columbus Day occurs or who the first president to be impeached was. However, there is just no excusing things that utilize simple principles such as finding the height of a triangle for a given area and base length.
Which begs the question, are the majority of us really “smarter” than a 5th grader? We have more life experience (obviously). But I would tend to think that there are a lot of pretty dumb people out there who couldn’t reason as well as some 5th graders. Interesting and sad.
I surely hope that I’m smarter than a 5th grader, but I’m not going to pound my head against the wall if I don’t know everything that they know. They probably won’t know it in 10 years either. I’m sure not going to sell myself out by taking $5,000 to say that on national television, though. I’m saving my 15 minutes for something more interesting, thank you very much.
Added 03/01/07 11:50 PM
Okay and what is up with these kids? What 10-year old has that much confidence to talk to adults like that?? I know that I sure didn’t. I am finding that they frankly get on my nerves. Anyways, because of these thoughts I also had to add this entry to the “Rant” category. I sure do love to use that category.
Feb 28 The truth about the cheaters is that they will get theirs. And everyone around them will be glad to see it.
Yesterday I read a blog entry that got me to thinking. In summary, that blog entry was about programmers who cannot program to save their life. They go to interview for a position, but they can’t even write a simple program from scratch. Now having gone through a Computer Science program recently, I can verify that this is something that is likely true. However, I’m not sure if only 0.5% of the “programmers” out there could write the simple program. Nevertheless it’s true that it I’m outraged at the fact that there are many out there who are not all that they claim to be. Specifically, someone who has graduated from the same university as me with the same degree is no different on paper. However I know for a fact that there are many out there who could not program without a book or resources readily at hand. It’s unfortunate that we live in a world such as this.
Truth be told, this affects many things besides the programming world. Anyone who has ever encountered a cheater has essentially stumbled upon the same idea. Those who are out to claim that they are something without actually doing something to back it up are far worse than those who claim to have no knowledge. I don’t know if embellishing a resume or trying to save face are necessarily things which will condemn you, but I know that a person who does those things has some character issues that are deep and rooted. And I don’t want to be that person’s friend. Maybe that’s motivation, maybe it’s not. Likely it’s not. Whatever the case, I don’t like you because your lack of integrity affects us all. Dave Williams sure thought so this morning, and I agree.
Feb 26 [prag-mat-ik]
Definition:
To be of or pertaining to having a practical point of view.
Example of usage:
The pragmatic woman couldn’t be won over with flowers or romantic gestures, she always just saw them as a waste of money.
This word is really easy to remember because it SOUNDS like “practical”. And since practical is basically its definition, you have an interesting word that is easy to incorporate into your everyday language. Enjoy!
Feb 25 So this weekend I went to San Diego (well more like La Jolla, home to my favorite college) in part to hang out and visit but also in part to celebrate with Mr. Hoffman and Miss Lin as they got engaged.
Some of the highlights were getting to go to the new location of Phil’s BBQ (one of the best BBQ eateries around in my opinion), getting to hang out with friends, and getting to hang out at Allison’s place. But it made me realize that even though college was fun, I do not long for the things in the past. Unfortunately, there are many out there that do.
Truth be told, I have found that it is rather interesting when you encounter people who constantly have a desire for what has happened before. There are the older people who long for “the good old days”, and there are friends who seem to have only had a couple of note-worthy experiences in their entire life that they enjoy re-hashing over and over again. There are those that tell the same jokes repeatedly thinking that the humor of the joke continues to remain constant, and there are those who restrict themselves based on what’s happened in the past. Frankly I find that none of those approaches make much sense. What is life if we are unable to change ourselves and have new experiences? How can we have great experiences if we are stuck in the pat re-living the old antiquated ones? The simple answer is that we can’t. (Note: I just had to add the category “Rant” to this post because it apparently has turned into one.)
But I digress.
Despite what I (and many others out there) think, people are not as boring as they may at first glance be. We all have a mind, and we all have a history. We all have to like something. So what I am trying to do (and perhaps you might want to as well) is to live in such a way that I won’t be that person existing in the past or boring people with the same old thing. Read a book, learn a musical instrument, learn how something complicated works (like a computer or a car), or even just read the encyclopedia! (Although I must admit that most people would be more apt to read this instead.)
Basically it is time for people to become more interesting. I know that it’s there, so let’s all make it happen. Good luck to you.
Feb 22 Testing out croissanga which cross posts all of the posts that I write for this blog onto my xanga. Hopefully it works. :)