You Ever Notice...and What's the Deal...

[D'Snowth]

YouTube is really "fad"-centric anymore: all of the popular videos are essentially part of whatever is trendy at the moment (to wit: those unboxing videos), but doesn't it seem like that right now YouTube is trying to be like E! NEWS, what with all of these celebrity gossip videos about how such-and-such celebrities are ***#013$ to their fans, or why these-and-those celebrities turned down these movie roles because of this, or why him-and-her celebrities have dumped their significant others so they can bang these other him-and-her celebrities instead?

 

[D'Snowth]

^ I feel as though my previous post was a reply to someone else whose post was deleted, I'm not sure.

But anyway, there's a moment in HOMEWARD BOUND where Shadow and Chance are running to reunite with Sassy, and at one point we see Chance trip/stumble/whatever and says, "Oop, gopher hole!" I somehow can't help but think it was unintentional but left in anyway - I imagine as the dogs were running, Chance accidentally trips and stumbles, but the filmmakers left it in because it seemed to fit with the character, and that perhaps Michael J. Fox adlibbed the gopher hole mention.

 

[Drtooth]

YouTube is really "fad"-centric anymore: all of the popular videos are essentially part of whatever is trendy at the moment (to wit: those unboxing videos), but doesn't it seem like that right now YouTube is trying to be like E! NEWS, what with all of these celebrity gossip videos about how such-and-such celebrities are ***#013$ to their fans, or why these-and-those celebrities turned down these movie roles because of this, or why him-and-her celebrities have dumped their significant others so they can bang these other him-and-her celebrities instead?

While I hate that sort of thing, nothing ticks me off more than "Play-Doh surprise Egg Paw Patrol" crap I always get when I oh so happen to watch so much as a Transformers cartoon clip. Seriously...why the crap is that a crapping thing!?

 

[D'Snowth]

I heard a blurb on the radio today that there's a movement going on to push high schools to stop teaching things like algebra and geometry (unless it's required in the chosen career field of students) and start teaching things that students would actually need to know how to do when they go out into the real world, such as doing taxes, managing budgets, home maintenence, how to fix broken things (appliances, plumbing, cars, etc.) I mean . . . why haven't they been teaching any of this stuff in school anyway? I only know how to fix things around the house because my dad's gone all the time because he's a truck driver and my mom's elderly and needs me to help her with a lot of things - other than that, I'm 27 and know nothing about taxes, budgets, plumbing, cars (well, I fixed a tail light once, does that count?), or any of that stuff. It makes me think of what Frank Barone once said: "education is the biggest scam goin'!"

 

[fuzzygobo]

One thing I wish they taught in school was how to handle money. They never tell you how credit cards, car loans, or mortgages work. How interest rates can work against you, how easily you can get into debt (and how hard it can be to get out).
Banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions don't want people to know how money works. It's not in their best interest. They like to see you max out your credit cards, then spend 20 years paying it off at 18% (or more).
If I knew then what I know now, I would have saved a lot of grief and thousands of bucks.

 

[Drtooth]

I could make a whole statement about how Public education keeps screwing itself and its students by falling back on the very same failures it keeps blundering through. Or I could put it this way.

Remember that Pepper Ann episode where they had a career day or business class or something and P.A. and Milo wind up working at a huge super market? P.A. busts her butt trying very hard to follow the orders of her superior. yet Milo coasts his way through and the boss keeps promoting him for doing less than nothing and somehow thinking it's brilliant. And at the end of the class, Milo says "in business, it's not what you know, it's who you know."

Yeah. That's something kids should be taught. Connections are worth more than all the experience, competence, qualifications, and effort in the world. If you know the right people, you're golden. If you don't, you've bought a college diploma that years of being assistant manager of a Wallgreens (at BEST) will take years for you to pay off.

 

[D'Snowth]

And at the end of the class, Milo says "in business, it's not what you know, it's who you know."

Yeah. That's something kids should be taught. Connections are worth more than all the experience, competence, qualifications, and effort in the world. If you know the right people, you're golden.

Truer words were never spoken - a majority of the people I know (including people in my own family) have managed to get certain jobs simply because they knew people, or had connections to people. Otherwise, you have someone like my cousin, who was in the Marines, is trained in logistics, and it took him months to get a civilian job after he was discharged.

 

[charlietheowl]

My high school had a financial literacy class, but it wasn't made widely available because there most students were locked into math tracks from freshman year (in my case geometry ---> algebra 2 ---> pre-calculus ---> calculus), and let's face it, no one is going to take a math class as an elective. I think it should be a mandatory thing, and wouldn't be surprised if a lot of schools make a push for it in the future.

 

[Drtooth]

let's face it, no one is going to take a math class as an elective. I think it should be a mandatory thing, and wouldn't be surprised if a lot of schools make a push for it in the future.

Which also reminds me. Remember back when the talking Barbie came out and the fact it said "Math is Tough" was such a huge controversy that an episode of the Simpsons was made to parody it, and now it's a huge example of the "Weird AL Effect?" Because somehow saying that "math is tough" made Barbie into an anti-feminist Bimbo?

I always had a problem with that, you see, because...well...

MATH IS TOUGH! Not saying that there aren't those who love math and it's second nature to them. Kinda like those wiseguys that always leave "this game doesn't suck, you're just bad at it" comments on AVGN videos. But math requires a lot of study and hard work and practice to master. Especially considering we have the simplest machines that can do all the work with the push of a button that makes it completely pointless unless your phone breaks down and you don't have a calculator on you. Anyone actually like long division with showing their work? It was all an obnoxious guessing game for me.

 

[charlietheowl]

Which also reminds me. Remember back when the talking Barbie came out and the fact it said "Math is Tough" was such a huge controversy that an episode of the Simpsons was made to parody it, and now it's a huge example of the "Weird AL Effect?" Because somehow saying that "math is tough" made Barbie into an anti-feminist Bimbo?

I always had a problem with that, you see, because...well...

MATH IS TOUGH! Not saying that there aren't those who love math and it's second nature to them. Kinda like those wiseguys that always leave "this game doesn't suck, you're just bad at it" comments on AVGN videos. But math requires a lot of study and hard work and practice to master. Especially considering we have the simplest machines that can do all the work with the push of a button that makes it completely pointless unless your phone breaks down and you don't have a calculator on you. Anyone actually like long division with showing their work? It was all an obnoxious guessing game for me.

Math is hard; I remember the first time it didn't click for me and the slow realization that it was only going to get harder over the years. Algebra 1 in the eighth grade was the difference, factoring and equations with two variables really threw me for a loop, and in eighth grade your peers aren't exactly going to help you out because school is still a competition then. So I think it's important to recognize that math is tough and kids should be given a lot of latitude when it comes to the speed in which they learn it.