Imagine for a minute, the possibility that girls like her were smart.  I think the universe would implode.

Now I’m not expecting rocket scientist smarts, just enough smarts that would facilitate a conversation about something other than how hot it is today. I don’t know, maybe discuss the possibility of life on other planets. Whatever.

Then again would a girl like that really need to be smart? Imagine talking to a hot smart girl, you probably wouldn’t know what to do with yourself. Hot girls can be unapproachable as it is, imagine if they had brains. Yup, scary…

Or maybe the only people that want them to be smart are smart people. As a way of making themselves feel better about not being as pretty, or as popular as them. Somehow by valuing smarts more it makes up for their secret desires of equal fame, stardom and silicon. Smart guys dislike them because they could never get them, and smart girls dislike them because they are jealous.

Looks like the jury is out on this one because I’m not sure I can convince myself that they really do need to be smart.

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Up to my usual browsing, found this ABC article. Before clicking on it, I thought it might be an interesting read. But after reading the first sentence I was put off.

Why do so many people hold beliefs that are clearly false? A recent story on ABCNews.com said 80 million Americans believe we have been visited by aliens from another planet, and numerous studies show that millions of people believe in ghosts, extrasensory perception and, of course, alien abductions.

An article that questions why people believe in things, has the above as its first paragraph. Do you sense the irony?

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Living in North America means that I’ve been subjected to a lot North American culture. North America has its pitfalls and successes. There are a lot of people here however that like bitching and complaining about how much better things are in Europe. How much hotter the girls are, how much better the beer tastes and how much smarter the average person is.

Well this post is dedicated to shattering those people’s illusions (you know who you are). The truth is that people are people no matter where on the world you pluck them out from. As expected you’re probably experiencing a strong dissonant reaction to this, but it must be said. Stupidity is just as prevalent in Europe as here.

Don’t agree, watch this video and meet me on the dark side.

I could probably spend a good page and half discussing the wasteful nature of this “record” breaking stunt. But what would that accomplish? You either realize the problem or not, no amount of facts are going to convince the ignorant. Once again, the thing that is most troubling is that the 1499 people that showed up for this were 1499 undergraduate students from a Belgian town of Leuven. You’d think it would be apparent to the majority of them as to the uselessness and utter disrespect for the world’s problems that such a stunt breeds.

1500 Coca Cola bottles were excited with a Mentos. The result was of course a very wet one. But out of all the things that 1499 like minded individuals, gathered in one place could accomplish was to spray Coca Cola into the air as they danced and cheered enthusiastically while some DJ was pumping out music in the background.

In case you weren’t convinced, at this rate we are doomed to fail at life. Be it here or there.

Today’s post is not really inspired by any new article or story. Today’s post is a result of daily frustration inflicted upon me by incompetent drivers.

There’s obviously a lot to be discussed. However I will concentrate my hatred on those that went through driving school, have been driving for god-knows how long and still have not understood the point of an on-ramp or a merge lane.

Maybe it’s just my luck but I seem to be always stuck behind some douche bag who stops right at the start of the on-ramp (on the highway) or merge lane (regular street intersection) and just idles waiting for somebody to let them in. I literally want to get out of my car, slash their tires, cut up their driver’s license and tip over their car into a ditch (fyi: frustration = adrenaline = super strength). Instead what I do is idle waiting until the moron grows a pair and realizes that IN ORDER TO MERGE YOU MUST PICK UP SPEED TO MATCH THE MOVING TRAFFIC.

The whole point of these on-ramps and merge lanes is to KEEP TRAFFIC MOVING. If they wanted you to stop and merge they’d put up a stop sign. Open merge lanes are there to be used. Accelerate, signal that you need to merge and watch as a spot magically opens up. That way you keep traffic moving. The worst thing you could possibly do during busy traffic times is to break and or come a complete stop for a moronic reason.

I can literally write a book about how much driving around with idiots on the road aggravates me, how much time it wastes and how old people need to be stripped of their license before they run off the road and kill somebody.

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Been kind of busy and lazy lately. Putting bashful opinions together is harder than it seems. Anyway, today’s paradox comes from the United States of America, or USA for short. By the way why don’t people say USA anymore? Everybody seems to have moved to a shorter and simpler US (pronounced YOU-ASS).

Word on the street is that 22,000 students are trying to make guns legal on campus. The argument is pretty solid, the Columbine and VT shootings wouldn’t have transpired like they had, had everybody been allowed to bring a gun….

I like putting ellipsis at the end of ridiculous claims, during which I physically make the “oh you’re really that retarded?” face. Read the article, formulate your opinion and catch me after the jump.

I’m going to stereotype here, but I think that only in the United States of America is such an absurdity possible. What is perhaps more worrisome is that this stupidity is coming from students. Aka young people, aka the generation that will soon run the country and be the majority. I mean honestly, how can people think that carrying DEADLY weapons around with them on campus is an appropriate thing to do?

I get it, what happened in Illinois is deeply troubling. It’s got nothing to do with safety though. There’s always going to be a bad apple here and there. I don’t mean to imply that people should come to terms with such horrible acts and do nothing about them, no! I put the blame back on us. We should be more sensitive to the people in general. I’m sure kids who end up shooting up the school give off some sort of unhealthy signs leading up to the event. If we’re going to do anything to improve our campus “safety” maybe we should all take martial arts, social psychology and decisive action classes.

Really? So somebody who who has set his mind on killing people is going to rethink his plan of action because he’s afraid to get shot? You clearly need to study people’s psychology a bit closer.

Yet another clever argument. I’m convinced. Might as well walk around in a metal cage in case you get struck by lightning too.

It boggles the mind, how people can think that putting more guns into more hands will yield safety. I’ll leave this mind warping topic with this quote from the article.

Apparently this guy carries his gun around everywhere with him to malls and movie theaters. Which in itself is troubling because who is to say that a law abiding citizen today has not lost his marbles tomorrow? The whole “guns for self defense” libertarian view is …

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Lately I’ve been a lot busier than even I am used to being. As such I haven’t had the time to consider articles for discussion. Fortunately it is the Easter weekend and free time is a bit more abundant.

I was reading an article called “Ask iGod” which I stumbled on to from the “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a God” article. Neither was really intriguing in on of itself. However I did find a site I’ve visited in the past which has jolted my curiosity.

The site is an ESP experiment. For those of you who are not familiar with the abbreviation “ESP”, it stands for extrasensory perception. The site is conducting an ESP experiment. Please do check it out and participate in the short experiment. While it is a fascinating experiment, the explanations of how people think it works, are short of gold.

Check it out and read on.

As much as I love studying people’s reactions to things, this is a priceless example of unfiltered human reactions. Let me give you a few of my favorite explanations.

Perhaps my most favorite ESP experiment explanation,

If you are none the wiser, there does not appear anything intriguing about this fellow’s explanation. Isn’t it possible that the experiment failed two out of three times? There are several things that can be deduced about Bill just from his simple comment. For one, Bill was very shocked when he did the ESP test 3 times and all 3 times it read his mind. Bill however, was not a believer in ESP but yet he lacked an explanation as to how his mind could have been read 3 times. So in order to spite the author of the experiment he proclaims that the experiment actually isn’t accurate (random guessing perhaps) at all.

Isn’t it fascinating that many people are so innocent in their perception of the world? A breath of fresh air, what does that even mean in this context? It is as though the site has instilled or rekindled some sort of hope in Lucille all the while part of her is a skeptic.

And finally,

So what is your explanation?

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This morning I stumbled upon an extremely powerful and intriguing piece from the TED: Ideas worth spreading 2008 talks. Before I attempt to make sense of this mixture of madness and euphoria, I highly recommend that you take the time to watch this brave women retell her story of a stroke. Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist, and she relives her incredible experience of the power and mystery of the brain, from the inside out.

Click on the image to view video…

Jill clearly had a very profound experience. Her intense re-telling of her experience raises many profound questions. Did she truly experience “Oneness” or were her feelings misinterpreted by her catastrophically injured brain? Also interesting to note that she had apparently enough mental awareness to realize that she didn’t keep track of the last number dialed when calling for help and yet not enough to be able to pick out her business card. Can reality only be defined as that which is experienced with the help of both brain hemispheres?

It is easy to get carried away discussing this as this becomes a debate of what is real. Though some people certainly do have very interesting takes on this.

I would have to say that that is a very depressing take on all of this. Just try telling the woman whom it took 8 years to recover from such a profound experience that it was all but a trick. So then what is real?

I don’t really know which pill to swallow. So I can’t help but feel in awe and dumbfounded amazement at all of this. Just how much we don’t understand. Sure we have green cars, fast food and we can crash particles into each other, but we are still very much limited in our understanding of our brain. Not to mention the recursively mind bending puzzle of being able to study (using our brains), the brain.

Who are we to define what is real?

But perhaps what is most amazing and what most of us take for granted, is just how flexible and powerful our brain really is. The woman you watched in the video spent 8 years recovering from a clot the size of a golf ball in her head. Yet here she is 8 years later, coherent, lively and enthusiastic. Full of hope, passion and creativity. Truly an inspiring trip from euphoria to madness and back again.

A little Saturday browsing brought me to a YouTube video. The video is an exert from a “reality” TV show called “Moment of Truth“. The show is apparently about taking a lie detector test asking you personal questions and you have to answer them on the show where you will find out if your answers are “true” or “false”. If you’re right could win up to $500k.

Check out the video after the jump and my analysis as to why it’s all bullshit.

Watch the video and notice your gut reaction. My gut reaction was “rigged”, your reaction might be “slut” or “poor guy”, and we’d both be right.

Thing is, there are only really two explanations to this video. Either the chick is a gold digger or the show is rigged. Not to mention that neither of the guys that make appearance on the show (her husband, and her ex) look like guys who would have anything to do with a girl like her in real life (poor casting). Then I found this little caveat on the show description page.

So my question is, what kind of person goes on national television to effectively ruin a marriage, all the while knowing exactly the kind of questions she will be asked and the answers she has to say in order to win. I’m not even going to bother analyzing the kind of douche bag it takes to marry somebody like that blonde gold digger. The fact that she loses on a question about whether or not she feels shes a good person is uber lame. Lie detectors detect lies, how can proclaiming that you FEEL that you’re a good person be considered a lie?

I need to catch the credits for this show one day, just to see the names of the writers they have hired.

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Seriously who came up with this ridiculous idea of relying on tips for pay? I asked my self this exact question when a Taxi driver was clearly confused why I didn’t tip him. Like what the hell. I know I probably look like a tourist to you but I’m not stupid. The fare ran to $58.85 why would I tip you on top of the money I’m already paying you for your service?

Restaurants are no different. I hate how they always leave a “tip” line on the cheque for you to fill in. Why am I paying for food only to tip the person who’s JOB it is to serve me. Honestly I don’t mind walking up to the chef and getting my own plate, but I’m not even given that option.

Tips are bullshit.

No disrespect to the people who actual work and rely on tips as their main source of income. You guys really need to get together and unionize or something. You shouldn’t have to rely on how I’m feeling at that particular moment to earn a living. Nor do I want to be bothered to figure out the tip and add it to the total.

Japan has got it right. In Japan there is no tipping allowed (see Etiquette). In fact tipping is not part of the culture and it is not encouraged. Each time I tip I feel like I’m bribing the person to treat me with respect, because the stigma is if I don’t they’ll spit in my food or something. Or I feel like I’m being ripped off because not only am I paying for whatever it is but on top of it I have to pay extra….!? What kind of genius came up with this scam? I say genius because the scheme really is ingenious. You barely have to pay your workers if you tell them they rely mainly on tips.

Then articles like this come out. Cleverly titled “How To Tip Like A Gentleman“. The tips on tipping are outrageous, go have a gander. I’ll try to highlight the bullshit for you:

Explain how this is fair treatment of me and my money? Why am I being charged twice? Why isn’t all this already included in the price? Why must it weight in on my conscience? I know the answer, because it’s pure exploitation of the human psyche. The article continues with this priceless advice for how to tip waitresses/waiters.

What kind of bullshit is this? There should be no debate on this. I’m surprised this tipping business still exists. People clearly acknowledge that there are no rules about this stuff. They acknowledge that it’s a gratuity and is not required and yet not being gratuitous implies that you’re cheap or something.

All this being said, I still tip because I don’t feel like having to explain myself to clueless people who like throwing money around. Save your tips for people living on the street. Or how about instead of tipping, start a piggy bank and donate to a charity each year. Because people who work should get paid a wage regardless. And if you can’t accept that I don’t tip you, then perhaps you’ve picked the wrong occupation.

I work hard for my money, just like you work hard for yours. However I wouldn’t be comfortable relying on the kindness of others to earn a living. That’s like constantly gambling and then becoming upset when you don’t pay out. Stupid etiquette, that’s what this is. Not to mention that I don’t care, nor is it my business to care, about your hourly wage or worry how my tip (or lack there of) is going to affect you. The burden of your lifestyle choice should not in any way affect me.

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Today on the Opinionado learning channel, let us tackle some more nonsense. Today’s article is fueled by yet another bullshit how-to article. This time it’s called “How To Make A Million Before You Turn 20“.

I advise you to read the article and when you feel your critical thinking kicking in, please do comeback and finish reading my interpretation. … Welcome back. So what was the one thing that all these rich kids had in common? If you answered “they are all whiz kids”, “they all had amazing business sense” or “those kids had some serious drive” then you my friend just failed at critical thinking. The common factor between all these kids was luck.

This Fraser Doherty character made it big by making jam. The brilliance of his scheme is overwhelming. I mean what do you do when everybody wants some of your jam? Open a factory and start making more? I would have never thought of that! Give me a break. This kid (age 14) makes jam from his grandmother’s recipe to take to church, word spreads that his family makes great jam and next thing you know he’s being written about in a news article boasting about his entrepreneurial skills. I could understand if the kid had superb jam-making skills and came up with a new way to make jam. But instead he gets recognition for something totally out of his control. Not like he went around promoting his jam, other people did that for him. Nowhere in the article does it say anything about his outstanding culinary skills. I would understand if the kid was a boy chef, but no apparently that isn’t important enough to mention either. The focus of the story about him is on the fact that A LOT of people liked jam. Remove him from the picture and replace him with his grandmother. The jam remains the same. He just got lucky with these jam-loving church goers. Not to mention he drops out of school at the age of 16 to purse his jam. I guess he figured he’d learned everything he needed to make great jam.

Next kid, Cameron Johnson, made a name for himself by selling Ty Beanie Babies on eBay for crazy amounts of money. Once again, a pretty obvious case of mis-attributed success. He got rich not because he sold Ty Beanie Babies, but because crazy idiots bought Ty Beanie Babies for way too much. The denominator being luck. If he had sold the 30 Ty Beanie Babies he got from his sister and made 30 cents would he have been in this article? It wasn’t his marketing genius, or his eBay auction-creation abilities, or his prowess. Just crazy people seeking overpriced toys. Then later with the money from his Beanie Babies he started an email forwarding service (how one goes from selling Beanie Babies to an email service is beyond me). Made a bunch of money there from advertisement. Once again, people doing the work for him. From all this ad success he started another company with some other fruits and effectively ruined the internet as we know it. Apparently his scrolling advertisement idea took off. Now he’s living off his made fortunes writing books about his success and giving speeched (he’s 23). No mention of him going to school or accomplishing anything else. Just selling beanie babies and filling people’s screens with spam. Man what an entrepreneur!

The next bunch (Catherine Cook and brother Dave) convinced their brother to give them $250,000 to start the MyYearbook.com site. I’m not even going to bother pointing out how much luck is involved with having a money sack of $250,000 lying around.

Basically the article is done and I’m still left wondering how I’m supposed to make a million bucks. Of course the article makes no mention of how incredibly lucky these kids are and how important luck (though undefined) is.

Just to be clear. I am not trying to take away from their success. I’m just trying to shed some light on the unmentioned reality.

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