Attention United States Citizens,
Today is November 4th. Do you know what that means? That's right, today is Election Day for the position of President. Please get off your lazy bum for one day, and cast your vote.
Unless you actually think Sarah Palin could handle the presidency without causing some sort of Catholic cataclysm (not that I have anything against Catholics, I was one for a long time, it's just the zealot end-of-the-world-is-nigh types I have a problem with). If that is the case, please, please, stay at home, cozy up with a nice mug of tea or coffee or a glass of fine wine, watch your favorite Spanish soap opera, and try to educate yourself a little bit better.
Also, if you plan on voting for Nader, please consider that no conservative-minded person would ever vote for him, so by voting for him instead of Obama you are pretty much just making it that much harder for Obama to win. So let's face it, Nader will never, ever, ever win, and would you really rather have McCain than Obama?
Good luck America.
I was out of Context.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Be excellent to each other.
Nice track suit, dude.
For anyone who has never seen any Wes Anderson movies, I highly recommend them. On Halloween my general plan is to dress like Richie Tenenbaum and make like the Baumer, a character of the movie The Royal Tenenbaums. A beard, a track suit, and a headband are already part of the uniform (no, I cannot remove the beard). I don't know where I will go.
For reference, the Wes Anderson movies I have seen, all of which I have loved, are these-
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Bottle Rocket
The Darjeeling Limited
Rushmore
... I don't know where I will go.
On the topic of education;
Humanity needs to develop a new way of educating and teaching its young (and its old for that matter). It is something I have been thinking about for years, ever since I got into High School, and possibly before that. What I have seen so far is a seriously terrible trend- teachers spout information useful to passing a test and only useful to passing a test, and allow students to think that the only important information is what will let them pass a test. Students are either not encouraged or are not pushed towards innovation and real solutions.
An example would be my recent "Psychology class" quiz, a 23 question multiple choice quiz based on just about nothing. The questions were either directly off of a handout we had received early in the class (and this is an open notes class), or were of a somewhat bizarre psycho-analytical nature which did require a bit of thought. I learned afterward that nearly everyone had either failed or scored extraordinarily low. I got a 91. Now, you must realize, this class is pretty much a joke, which is why the name is in quotations, and the teacher is an absolute failure at actually "teaching." She comes into class, spouts random things about her life in her very latin-american accent (which she either refuses to acknowledge or uses like a shield) and she never repeats herself if asked (of course, I have had perfectly understandable english speaking teachers do this for me if they spoke too fast or said something unintelligible), and she forces absolutely no disciplinary measures on the half or more of the class that is completely uninterested in forwarding their mental state.
So, in my belief, this quiz actually showed one level of education- that of seeking rational answers even when one is not already learned, which is SORELY under appreciated in today's system. That most of the class FAILED this very easy quiz is a sign that not only the teacher is a failure, but that all of the educational system before her has failed. That, or most of these kids just had no good parenting, and were never taught to teach themselves. I'm not saying everyone who failed that quiz is unintelligent, and I'm certainly not condemning anyone to idiocy, but there is certainly something missing in their past education if they couldn't even pass.
I am also a firm believer in capability. Some people are DEFINITELY more capable than others in specific areas, and some people are incapable in intellectual areas like some are incapable in physical areas. For example, have you ever heard of a skilled and famous football player who was 5'4" and weighed 120 pounds? That doesn't mean a 6'4" 250 pound man can't be a scientist, or must be a good football player, but the size helps with being a good football player, and being mentally capable helps with being a scientist.
SO, we need to do some changes. We need to facilitate teaching in such a way that kids will learn to solve their own problems, and we need to accommodate for skill and capability. I still don't know what the real answer is to this, but I'm thinking about it, every day.
More on that later.
For anyone who has never seen any Wes Anderson movies, I highly recommend them. On Halloween my general plan is to dress like Richie Tenenbaum and make like the Baumer, a character of the movie The Royal Tenenbaums. A beard, a track suit, and a headband are already part of the uniform (no, I cannot remove the beard). I don't know where I will go.
For reference, the Wes Anderson movies I have seen, all of which I have loved, are these-
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Bottle Rocket
The Darjeeling Limited
Rushmore
... I don't know where I will go.
On the topic of education;
Humanity needs to develop a new way of educating and teaching its young (and its old for that matter). It is something I have been thinking about for years, ever since I got into High School, and possibly before that. What I have seen so far is a seriously terrible trend- teachers spout information useful to passing a test and only useful to passing a test, and allow students to think that the only important information is what will let them pass a test. Students are either not encouraged or are not pushed towards innovation and real solutions.
An example would be my recent "Psychology class" quiz, a 23 question multiple choice quiz based on just about nothing. The questions were either directly off of a handout we had received early in the class (and this is an open notes class), or were of a somewhat bizarre psycho-analytical nature which did require a bit of thought. I learned afterward that nearly everyone had either failed or scored extraordinarily low. I got a 91. Now, you must realize, this class is pretty much a joke, which is why the name is in quotations, and the teacher is an absolute failure at actually "teaching." She comes into class, spouts random things about her life in her very latin-american accent (which she either refuses to acknowledge or uses like a shield) and she never repeats herself if asked (of course, I have had perfectly understandable english speaking teachers do this for me if they spoke too fast or said something unintelligible), and she forces absolutely no disciplinary measures on the half or more of the class that is completely uninterested in forwarding their mental state.
So, in my belief, this quiz actually showed one level of education- that of seeking rational answers even when one is not already learned, which is SORELY under appreciated in today's system. That most of the class FAILED this very easy quiz is a sign that not only the teacher is a failure, but that all of the educational system before her has failed. That, or most of these kids just had no good parenting, and were never taught to teach themselves. I'm not saying everyone who failed that quiz is unintelligent, and I'm certainly not condemning anyone to idiocy, but there is certainly something missing in their past education if they couldn't even pass.
I am also a firm believer in capability. Some people are DEFINITELY more capable than others in specific areas, and some people are incapable in intellectual areas like some are incapable in physical areas. For example, have you ever heard of a skilled and famous football player who was 5'4" and weighed 120 pounds? That doesn't mean a 6'4" 250 pound man can't be a scientist, or must be a good football player, but the size helps with being a good football player, and being mentally capable helps with being a scientist.
SO, we need to do some changes. We need to facilitate teaching in such a way that kids will learn to solve their own problems, and we need to accommodate for skill and capability. I still don't know what the real answer is to this, but I'm thinking about it, every day.
More on that later.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Nervous System was at it again.
The damn bastard.
In lieu of facebook, myspace, livejournal, other blog sites, I am inclined to craft a blog worthy of one "blogspot," of which being this place hitherto and hereafter this place, but at no time during the present will be this place.
My name is Gregory. Egregious, informally Greg, and this is my introduction.
In the past X years of my existence the general content and implications of my work has moved from the painfully and irreconcilably obvious (though as a child this is more-or-less acceptable), to the slightly more painfully and only so much less irreconcilable emotional destitution of high school (grammar school being a fictitious black hole, a joke on the common man by God, or gods), to the alacritous tedium and precision of working-class-minimum-wage-slave-drone blather, and has at this point settled on the vague and beautiful only a late blooming college eidolon such as myself can muster.
I am absolutely aware my last paragraph was one sentence, and to be honest it kind of bothers me. After all, whether sensically or nonsensically, writing should portray a sense of understandable communication. He said she said I said you said that I loved you. What did you just say?
I suppose in my time here I may lust after explanations for such intense topics as love, war, and ice cream, but for the time being I am much too tired and this is getting redundant.
This is getting redundant.
In lieu of facebook, myspace, livejournal, other blog sites, I am inclined to craft a blog worthy of one "blogspot," of which being this place hitherto and hereafter this place, but at no time during the present will be this place.
My name is Gregory. Egregious, informally Greg, and this is my introduction.
In the past X years of my existence the general content and implications of my work has moved from the painfully and irreconcilably obvious (though as a child this is more-or-less acceptable), to the slightly more painfully and only so much less irreconcilable emotional destitution of high school (grammar school being a fictitious black hole, a joke on the common man by God, or gods), to the alacritous tedium and precision of working-class-minimum-wage-slave-drone blather, and has at this point settled on the vague and beautiful only a late blooming college eidolon such as myself can muster.
I am absolutely aware my last paragraph was one sentence, and to be honest it kind of bothers me. After all, whether sensically or nonsensically, writing should portray a sense of understandable communication. He said she said I said you said that I loved you. What did you just say?
I suppose in my time here I may lust after explanations for such intense topics as love, war, and ice cream, but for the time being I am much too tired and this is getting redundant.
This is getting redundant.
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