College Education Is Killing America

Specifically, the American mentality that everyone has to go to college.  Get stats for number of countries that have tech college vs. college.

Grade inflation means that you're not actually LEARNING anything.  Colleges are a business and there is an expectation that no matter who you are, no matter what your abilities, you will get the credential at the end of the class.  What does that mean for America?

It means that we release a bunch of people into the workforce that are NOT educated.  They CANNOT do the job.  They usually are also so apathetic, that they don't WANT to do the job.

And what does that mean?

It means that, educational institutions, by their policy of grade inflation, are going to be the death of the American workplace because there is no place that people can go to get an actual education.  I mean, let's face it.  If you're an instructor (and I have been one) and you're made to pass everyone, you really give up.  You stop teaching and you stop caring and you keep your job...and become the shame of America.

What we should be doing is this:  college and university should be elitist institutions.  They should be reserved for people who actually care and actually WANT to be educated.  America should start realizing that the Bell Curve is a naturally occurring phenomenon when conducing a true test of skills.  We should celebrate the fact that some people are smart, but not everyone and we should be making exceptions for the smart, and not the stupid and retarded.  It's kind of the arrow fable, isn't it?  You're going to accomplish hitting the target you're looking at, America, so if you're looking at the dumb people, guess what?

Great job.

Not everyone can BE an astronaut...

..and as a society, we shouldn't WANT them to be, either.

When Present?

Saw this sign at Costco:

"Costco not responsible for damaged caused by unattended carts"

Makes you wonder:

Are they responsible for damage caused by attended carts?

Would you send your daughters to dance here?

http://www.studio4dancers.com/picture%20gallery/pic78.html

o_O

Not only do you really need to question their taste, but their age appropriateness...uhm, these girls aren't even at puberty yet!  How sick is that?!

Oh, and they don't protect their site, so you can just download all of these pictures to your computer.

I guess I understand now why there is a Bible-beating bakery a block away.

Stressful Situations

I recently read an article that talked about how highly stressful situations are the prime causes of brainwashing...and that how highly intelligent people are the ones most susceptible because they don't think that it works on them.

Of course, the article was discussing "religious" and "self-help" quack and their special retreats where they have all days sessions of bright lights, little water, little food, few bathroom breaks, and lots of meditating on ideas.

Now, if this DOESN'T strike a cord with you, you have never been in an "all day planning session" with your boss and peers.

I honestly think that bosses purposefully schedule all day planning sessions because they KNOW that they can wear everyone down to mindlessly agreeing with them by the end of it, just to get out of the room.

And, I haven't been in one, yet, that isn't that way.

Darwinism

It isn't working fast enough.

Particularly on attendees to outdoor rock concerts who drink themselves into a stupor and deafen themselves by standing in front of speakers that can be heard 10 miles away with the clarity of wearing a set of headphones.

I HATE outdoor concerts.  They should NEVER be allowed in an inhabited area.  Go out into a farm with nothing around for miles.

IVR Trees

Dear Product Managers,

I _HATE_ IVR (interactive voice response) trees.  The ones that you can actually understand and don't read the options too quickly, either don't have an option that fits my needs or the option is so FREAKISHLY long that I know you're just trying to keep your call volumes down by pissing people off.

And those of you how actually authorize more than 2 steps deep- HONESTLY!?  Do you even try this stuff out yourself?

Or is this further evidence of your desire to deter calls to your customer service?

I can understand having two deep, but usually one can suffice:  Accounts and Billing, Sales, Complaints, and Other Services.

Really- can you think of anything that a customer would be calling about that doesn't fit in those categories!?

Press 1 for Yes, I completely and udderly agree with you based on your fantastic logic.
Press 2 for Yes, I agree with you but I don't know what you mean by long option strings,
Press 3 for No, I am the happiest person ever and never have had to call customer service.
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If you still need assistance, Please Press O for Operator and someone might be available to respond so that they can not answer your question and put your call back in the main IVR tree.

Performance Anxiety

Yes, yes, I know.  I haven't written much.  A couple of reasons for that:  one, vacation, and two, when I got back, I started worrying about writing a quality blog, rather than just an outlet blog.

Talk about mixing work with pleasure.

Who cares what I write about, right?

Whoa, Wait! A Job That Hires More Men Than Women

Gee- talk about a F@$@ newsflash.

Do I sound bitter?  Nah.  I just got off a scoping call for work at 4:30am with three other men in different time zones.

Why 4:30?

Because it worked out better for them.  What do they care?  I'm sure (actually, I know) all of them have wives than take care of the children and the house while they work.

They also wanted to continue to work on Independence Day and just because I didn't want to work the holiday...well, my opinion just wasn't that important.

As a little bit of salt in the wound here, please notice that the woman in the picture is, wait:  wearing glasses and a brunette.

Dumb Americans

It is at this time of year I often take time to reflect on how dumb Americans are:

1. We don't take vacations.
At least not in the traditional sense when you don't work.  Vacations for Americans mean "I have the right to decline a meeting", but I still have to keep up with the email in my Inbox.

2. We celebrate death and sadism.
What else would you call it?  Every 4th of July, we celebrate with fireworks that are supposed to symbolize bombs falling from the sky to kill people.  And while we doing that, we actually are shooting flying wildlife from the sky and polluting the air. Whooo.

3. We use fireworks to symbolize everything American about the 4th of July.
The Chinese must laugh their asses off every year.

And because Americans cling to fireworks on Independence Day like they cling to the Bible, I'll be sleeping in my basement tonight...hoping that my stupid neighbors know how to put out the fires caused by their Chinese-born American tradition.

And I'm Back!

Yup, the Irish Lass took a bit of a vacation.  Can't tell you where, though I'm sure the government has a record of all of my recent movements and purchases- hi, again!

Thanks to all of my loyal patriots for letting me enjoy a week off.  I'll be back in the saddle fighting the insanity and sharing my nuggets of wisdom for everyone's enjoyment (and storage).