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- = F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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-
- The Mind as a Muscle
- --------------------
-
- I'm not a Fucked Up College Kid, I am a Fucked Up College Professor
- (FUCP). I am amazed, bewildered and outraged at the complete lack of
- experience my students, and the populace from which they come, have in
- the area of critical thinking.
-
- Here are two sample test questions from a recent exam:
-
- How fast is a memory chip labeled MB-81256-10?
- What would you plug into a high-density DB-15 connector on the back of a
- PC?
-
- The answers are, respectively, 100 nanoseconds and a VGA monitor. One of
- my students answered "motherboard" to the first question and "yes" to
- the second. Not only did this student not know the answer to the
- question, he did not even attempt to answer the question using correct
- english syntax. A "How fast..." query obviously can not be answered
- with "motherboard." A "What would..." query is obviously not going to
- be satisfied with a "yes" answer.
-
- I was at a friend's house some time ago and his (adult) sister called
- him on the telephone to ask him what 1 and 1/3 cups minus 2/3 cups was.
- Was this beyond her mental capabilities? No, she is a person of at
- least average intelligence. The simple fact is that she is out of
- practice in the art of thinking. She is suffering from nothing other
- than laziness.
-
- I edit the alt.2600 FAQ on Usenet and frequent that newsgroup regularly.
- I constantly answer questions that could be answered by either a minor
- dose of common sense or a few moments of experimentation. People
- constantly ask for pointers to files they could find themselves in less
- than 10 minutes of searching. Freqently, people ask for help using
- programs described in the Unix online manual pages. Occasionally, I
- will quote man pages directly in response. These people are not
- "challenged" in any way, they are simply avoiding the process of
- thoughtful research.
-
- Have you ever gone out to dinner with someone who is unable to determine
- how much to tip the waitperson? Is determining 15% of the bill an
- incredible feat of mathematics? No, it is simply that many (if not
- most) people are too lazy to force themselves to think the problem
- through. Drop the rightmost digit of the bill (convert 46.42 to 4.64)and
- add half of that number to itself (add 2.32 and 4.64). Your sum, and
- your tip, is 6.96. Round up to $7.00 and continue on with your life.
-
- All of these instances reflect one fact: The mind is a muscle. If you
- use it regularly, it will be strong and healthy. If you let it atrophy,
- it will shrivel up into uselessness. Even the dumbest of college athletes
- realizes that if he does not work out and excercise his body, it will
- not perform for him when he needs it to. And yet we restrict our minds
- to a life of idleness, separated from the mental exercise which would
- make them strong.
-
- Next time you find yourself sitting back on your couch, watching Beavis
- & Butthead and eating Twinkies(tm), consider getting your lazy ass up
- and finding some constructive excercise for your body and your mind.
-
-
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- = Questions, Comments, Bitches, Ideas, Rants, Death Threats, etc etc... =
- = Internet : jericho@netcom.com (Mail is welcomed) =
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- = Chemical Persuasion 203.324.0894 Celestial Woodlands 214.252.6455 =
- = Ionic Destruction 215.722.0570 Hacker's Haven 303.343.4053 =
- = E.L.F. (NUP) 314.272.3426 Misery 318.625.4532 =
- = Dungeon Sys. Inc. 410.263.2258 Psykodelik Images 407.834.4576 =
- = Paradise Lost 414.476.3181 (Your Board Here!@#$!) =
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- = Plan 9 716.881.3663 Deadly Intoxication 801.553.8644 =
- = Purple Hell 806.791.0747 Logikal Nonsence XXX.XXX.XXXX =
- = PuRe EViL (NUP) 905.XXX.XXXX The Keg 914.234.9674 = =
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- = Files through Anonymous FTP: FTP.NETCOM.COM - cd /pub/il/illusion/fuck =
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