Thought of the day #14: gambling your scholarship

For those of you who haven’t heard, Oklahoma senior Courtney Paris (pictured below) guaranteed that if her basketball team didn’t win the NCAA women’s final four tourney, then she would personally repay every cent of her college basketball scholarship. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma girl’s team lost tonight in  the semi-finals to Louisville (61-59). When asked by the commentator after the game if she was still good for her guarantee, she said she was. Apparently, she owes $64,000. Good luck Courtney, hopefully you don’t owe interest on that.

Palin’s sister (in law) arrested

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Sarah Palin’s sister in-law, Diana Palin, was arrested for burglary after attempting to rob a house that had already been robbed twice before in the previous months. Apparently, Palin, leaving her 4 year old daughter waiting in the car, dashed straight for the bedroom cabinet where the cash was stored. After being caught by the wary home owner (remember he’d been robbed twice before), she told the police that she had never been to the house before and thought she was at a friend’s house. Unfortunately, her 4 year old daughter mentioned she’d been by the house just a few days before.

I’m sure Palin’s glad the home owner didn’t use his gun and the right to kill once he found an intruder trespassing in his house.

Things that annoy me

Not too long ago, I wrote a post about Bostonians and their lack of train etiquette (what part of “wait until all passengers get off the train before you board the train” do you people not understand?) which got me thinking about a lot of other things that annoy me. I thought I’d list them below. Feel free to add your own.

1) People who don’t use their blinkers: Okay, this group of people takes two forms. The type of people who don’t use blinkers because they are on deserted roads with no one in sight and the type of people who enjoy lane shuffling on crowded highways deciding they are too cool for blinkers. I hate the latter, YOU ARE NOT COOL. Oh, and nobody uses blinkers when no one is in sight.

2) People who create rap songs with sirens in the background: Isn’t this illegal or something? It’s hard enough to decipher where a police siren is actually coming from as is. Unless the rapper is actually getting arrested, I don’t want to hear any sirens.

3) People who don’t change the roll: If you don’t get this, you are probably one of them.

4) People who use the word Bromance. Enough said.

5) Strangers who ask what book you’re reading while you are actually reading: “I don’t know, but the cover is facing right at you, perhaps you can sneak a peek since it’s clear you already are.” Also, when they ask if you like the book while you are reading it. “I don’t know. I like it enough to read it, don’t I? Perhaps if I ever finish it I can give you a better idea.”

6) People who talk on the phone while ringing up your order: I  know, you people, it must be such a drag when you are too busy getting paid to actually hang up your cell phone and do your  job. Perhaps with the recession we will see less of this. One can only hope.

7) People who dont abide by the Golden Rule but expect others to: Yea, that was nice of me to send you a thank you note, and help you move into your new apartment, and walk your dog when you were out, and bring you soup when you were sick…Oh, wait. What was that? You can’t do that one tiny measly favor I just asked you to do because it would be too much of a hassle?

Boston union says no to public service

Apparently the Boston teacher’s union is refusing to allow Teach for America service fellows to teach in their schools.

Teach for America, an adjunct of the AmeriCorps, is a highly competitive program which brings top students from schools like Harvard, Brown, Yale (you get the picture)  into the school system requiring them to teach  in predominantly urban and low income areas for 2 years while earning their teaching certificate.

According to a Boston Globe article, The Boston Teacher’s Union is beyond unhappy about the decision to send about 20 top recruits to Boston, which has been a tradition for 20 years. Union representative Keith Johnson said about Teach for America,  “We don’t need educational mercenaries. We don’t feel people can ride in on their white horses and for two years share the virtue of their knowledge as a pit stop on their way to becoming corporate executives.” Regardless of the fact that this statement is a gross exaggeration, it brings up an interesting point. Wouldn’t it be great if all CEO’s devoted two years of their lives to teaching in urban public schools. Maybe they wouldn’t be selfish with their bonuses now, would they? But I digress…

Though the Union bashes these Teach for America recruits, the fact remains that Teach for America recruits boost student achievement more than traditional teachers. Most recently, the Globe cites an Urban Institute study that took place during 2000-2007 in North Carolina which showed an increase in student achievement from those students taught by TFA recruits.

At the end of a letter written to TFA, the Boston Union officials wrote, “You will do your organization no favors should you persist.”

I don’t know about you, but this seems to be a very bitter way to deal with bright and energetic individuals eager to participate in a public service project. Isn’t public service just what Obama has called for by the way? The fact that TFA recruits show a greater success rate than many current teachers tells me that this is not an opportunity Boston should pass up, especially since Willaim Horwath, acting assistant superintendent for human resources in the Boston public schools, says, “we absolutely do not plan to bring recruits into program areas where we would have layoffs.”

I think the Unions need to think long and hard about whether or not they care more about themselves or their students, because as of now, I get the feeling the former persists.

Thought of the day #13: an end of an era part deux

Today officially marks the last and final episode of ER which will air tonight at 8 pm on NBC. Apparently, its been running for 16 years which makes it one of the longest prime time shows on air. Whether you’ve watched it or not, this show made George Clooney’s career and is the grandfather of popular shows today like Gray’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scrubs, and all those other hospital dramas/shows.

This defintely rivals the end of Julia Robert’s career, which I had previously suggested marked an end of another era.

The Placebo effect few people know about

We’ve all done it. You know, when no one else is around, you’re in a rush, and you need to get to your office, or dorm room, or hotel room 6 flights up. So, in an effort to speed up the process you click the little double arrow button signifying “door close” on the elevator control pad. And low and behold, within moments of pressing the button, the doors close and you are on your way up (or down) to your destination.

Well, apparently, the “door close” button in most elevators is nothing more than a placebo, that is, it objectively does nothing at all, but nevertheless has a way of giving an impatient elevator rider the illusion of control. Can you imagine how much time is wasted by people around the world pressing this button??

Virginia bill to require drug tests for welfare

Law makers in Virginia are proposing a bill which would require anyone seeking assistance in the state to undergo random drug tests.

Unfortunately, the bill fails to recognize how hard it is to actually overcome an addition, as it assumes that “any good parent would clearly choose their children’s best interest over drugs” (disregarding the impact of withdrawal symptoms on decision making ability) and it offers no help for interested individuals to actually stop their addiction.

In the end, the bill’s website notwithmytaxdollars.com comes across as extremely bigoted. Moreover, without any regard for how those individuals who are denied assistance (due to failing drug tests) will react, the bill might actually have unintended consequences. That is, people, with no money or no other means, may be forced to get money illegaly, which could in turn increase the crime rate. Now, this doesn’t seem as if it would benefit anyone in society, does it?

Thought of the day #12: The Conficker worm

The much anticipated Conficker internet worm apparently didn’t quite live up to all it’s hype. Though analysts suspected it had the potential to ruin all infected Windows operating systems, it actually did nothing more than tell infected computers to “phone home” (Were the makers of the worm huge fans of E.T. or what? Given the 1980s reference, who’s betting the worm’s makers are from over seas?).

However, imagine if the analysts got it wrong, and instead of an April Fool’s day worm, this bug is actually set to wreak  havoc on April 2nd. Quite frankly, Aprils 1st is much too cliche anyway. Then again, any genious who decides to use the phrase “phone home” would probably use a cliched date like April Fools.

The when will I die test

A friend of mine recently came across a rather morbid thing on the internet, a “when will I die?” test. After answering  about 15 questions about your age, health, family history, etc.  the web-site claims to give you a projected estimate as to how long (or short) you will live.

According to the web-site, my friend’s age estimated time will come at the ripe age of 56. As ridiculous as this test is (and believe me, it is), at least it serves to spark some reality into the notion that exercise, nutrition, weight, smoking, etc. do play a large part in one’s longevity. So if you are feeling morbid, take the test. But of course, please take it with a grain of salt. But not too much salt, which we all know is bad for you.

Thought of the day #11: career opportunities

Foxy Lady’s, a strip club in Rhode Island, is holding a career fair according to club manager Travisono in an effort to “do [their] part” to help the hurting economy and high jobless figures in RI. Or, I’m guessing, maybe just to take advantage of all those college kids frantically searching for jobs.

Don’t be fooled, however, getting a job might not be as easy as you think. You must bring a resume and, according to Travisono, they are “looking for that diamond in the rough.”