The Clever Cynic: On Education, The War and the Uselessness of it All

The last post acually contained BAD advice. Well, not about misusing the word "impact," that was excellent advice. The bad advice was, "go back to school."

Why? (sigh...people ALWAYS have to ask why.) (Ever notice with little kids every other word is "why?") (I love to editorialize.)

1. The United States is in a steady state of decline. Don't believe me? Look around...there is crime everywhere, our cities are crumbling and there are shows like, "The Bachelor" on television. Why is our once mighty nation in a state of decline? Our schools suck. (Well someone had to say it, or maybe no one would ever notice.)

2. Our schools suck because they are redundant. I studied Huckleberry Finn five times during my stay in school.......YES FIVE TIMES. My, "Huckleberry Finn as a Noble Savage" paper is probably still floating around on some college campuses. Besides that, Huckleberry Finn has to be the most useless waste of paper that was ever published. Did you know Twain actually abandoned it for a while it stank so bad and returned years later to finish it...(probably to make a buck). Even then in finished form it is such a stinking pile of literary pigslop, that it makes Forest Gump look like genius material.

3. Way too much emphasis on American History. They (who is this famous "they" anyway?) say that we study history to learn from it so we never make the same mistakes. I studied American History FIVE times on my journey toward being what I am today. Did we learn how to FINISH a war from studying Vietnam? Many aspects of History as we know it are fiction anyway. Besides, who gives a rat's arse when we signed the cotton treaty of year whatever?

4. Our schools are still stuck in the dark age of education. With the current curriculum (and standards) a really-talented teacher can still create a pretty decent school in an old barn with 25 slates and 100 good books. ;) The world has shifted dramatically...it is now a world of crumbling infrastructure and booming interconnectivity. Universities and Colleges were necessary because they held a wealth of information in their libraries...information that is now readily available online. They served as a forum for the exchange of ideas. All this takes place at light speed now on the internet and it is time our schools began to recognize this. The future masters of our universe will be the ones who are able to manage and manipulate data the fastest and most efficiently.

5. The schools place too little emphasis on the arts. Graphics and multimedia are the wave of the future...yet most schools now don't even offer art or music. But thank God we at least have Huckleberry Finn.

Our schools are a sad state of affairs.......sigh

--The Clever Cynic, http://theclevercynic.blogspot.com/

E-mail: the_clever_cynic@yahoo.com

Impact is NOT a Verb

Impact is NOT a verb. So, if you ever feel like saying: The Clever Cynic "impacted" your life, or "impacts" your girlfriend...go back to school.

IMPACT IS A NOUN.

Sometimes I just need to vent.

Wow the spellcheck I ran didn't flag: "impacted" or "impacts"... (sigh)...it is an epidemic.

--The Clever Cynic, http://theclevercynic.blogspot.com/

E-mail the_clever_cynic@yahoo.com

The Clever Cynic: Survivor Fiji: Yao Man the Cynic

I am willing to venture that Yao Man is now quite a bit more cynical following tonight's elimination. He was my odds on favorite to win, as I told in an earlier post. Where did he go wrong?

1. He trusted Dreams. Had Yao Man hung around here a while he wouldn't have trusted anyone. ;) I have to say that Dreams is the biggest backstabber in the history of reality television...and for WHAT? He also proved himself a total IDIOT by going back on his deal with Yao Man. HE HAD NOTHING TO GAIN....sigh. Did he honestly think that a single person would endorse such a totally-cold backstabbing move by giving him a vote? Well he did gain a reputation that will last a lifetime that his word isn't worth squat....so congratulations on your small victory there, Dreams. He also gained the reputation of being a total turd that will spit in the face of someone who did him the greatest kindness of his lifetime. (I have to admire Yao Man for wanting to share the wealth.....as stupid as his reasoning turned out to be in the long run.) On the bright side, Marsalis of Big Brother fame is probably chuckling that FINALLY someone did something more stupid than he did.

2. He trusted Earl. Yao Man was a sucker to give Earl the third, pinpointing clue to the immunity idol.

3. Yao Man exiled himself to an extra day of deprivation on exile island, to gain the immunity idol he foolishly gave to Earl...had he not, he might have proven stringy enough to outlast in the last challenge.

So basically Yao Man failed the mental game in all regards........(well nearly all he did gain a margin of respect for his generosity in giving the truck to someone who had no transportation). I hope Yao Man has a car, otherwise his ride is now the bus. ;)

I have to admit Yao Man was surprisingly physically tough .... kudos to Yao Man for that.

Despite all that....in my estimation, Yao Man was the true winner...sadly he doesn't go home with the cash. I always hate to see the game won by a bunch of sneaks who coasted along on someone's coattails.

Well Yao Man, we have plenty of room for you here at The Clever Cynic now that you have had a GOOD dose of reality... you ought to fit right in. ;)

In the end he did ask Dreams if he had the gonads to stand up and face him. Maybe I can even teach Yao Man to say "balls" instead of "gonads".....hmm ... food for thought. I think being gypped out of a truck is grounds for saying "balls."

--The Clever Cynic, http://theclevercynic.blogspot.com/
E-mail: the_clever_cynic@yahoo.com