Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Wandering all Over the Landscape

Those of you who are uneasy about the way Ruminations has been a bit unfocused recently might want to know that this is a sign of encroaching wisdom.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

FROM CAROL HERMAN

Don't know if I got the name right; but there's a brain researcher named Dr. Sternberg, who says the way we measure intelligence is all wrong!

Schools adopted an approach that measures, not logic producing skills, but rather skills of those who can absorb a lot of facts; and spill this back at you during tests. But it misses "spheres" of learning. People who use their heads "creatively." And, not dependent on bulk.

The other thing? Most people notice how fast babies are at learning things. That they seem to "put things together" ... as they come in front of a baby's eyeballs, or gets overheard through their ears. That they can "figure out complicated language skills," with ease. While adults? Even those who are gifted, can't do it.

As to aging, there's no question that we suffer drop offs. Our brains, I think at about the age of 20, start losing cells.

And, there's so much that would be worthwhile, packing away, anyway. SInce we live in a world where what was familiar to you when you were young, is gone, now.

When I was a kid? My mom talked about "nickel ice cream cones." It made me shrug.

But the world I got to know? Black & White TV screens about 7-inches across? Milton Berle as Mr. Television. Phones attached to the wall. And, in families ... you could trace the distances the phones traveled when people used them. Because the cords went limp and got twisted.

Heck, I also learned to type on a manual typewriter. When I stopped doing office work, I thought I was advanced to an IBM Executive. And, typing would never get better.

Back in those days? Men didn't type. Nor did they answer the ringing phones. Woman had jobs doing that stuff. And, yes. Even married women eventually found their ways into offices. Though my dad, born in 1898, said, no self-respecting man would allow his wife to become someone else's secretary; for certainly she'd have to "put out" while she was on the job! Yes! He said that! (And, you think Katsav was a rapist?) No. He wasn't. Women use sex. They used it at home with husbands. And, then? Lots of women used it once they got to the office.

And, some things remain so stunning, the only thing you can do when you hear about them, is to go into shock.

News about Ted Kennedy? A case in point.

But also, Hillary just collapsed her own run for the presidential nomination. How? By mis-remembering an event in 1996. Where she said her husband sent her to Bosnia. ANd, she had to run and duck for cover because of sniper fire. When film produced by NBC produced the truth. No sniper fire.

You think Morris Talansky is telling the truth? I don't. I think BIBI held this card. And, decided to use it. Because it was so shocking. He thought Bush's trip to Israel's Knesset deserved to be desicrated. And, he accomplished this goal.

WIth the police, as tools, working with the whores of journalism, piling it on.

I've pointed out that the arabs have been giving Israel VEXING PROBLEMS. Problems you can't solve by just flexing your own muscles. And/or using force.

Bill Clinton proved he could survive the story of Monica Lewinsky. But he didn't do it by blabbing up the press. He just waited for compassionate Americans to show up. And, the message got out that the People didn't want Clinton to run away.

There's all sorts of ways to be smart. And, some are perfectly stupid.

Made worse when your police are corrupt. And, no one wants to notice that it's Shimon Peres' tuchis now sitting in the presidential palace. As if Peres isn't the worst example you've got of an Israeli politcian.

So it goes.

How fast is the race run? No matter what size the brains ... there's still the handicap of trying to birth a baby with a large head.

So nature provides us with a few good men. And, lots of scoundrels. Doesn't take much intelligence to be one of the rotten kind.

How did Rabin's killer get away with it? How come he didn't hang? How come he's now married, and his wife has his kid?

You don't think those are intelligent questions?

Shock will fade. Someday, we will see something else, besides the usual BS.

Heck, we do have a NEW FRONTIER of technology. Where the amateurs have a chance to lend a voice.

If it wasn't for the arab mishigas, the Jews in Israel would look like squabblers. Where, after elections are over, Bibi could think Morris Talansky was his "ace" in the hole. How very sad.

Anonymous said...

AGAIN, FROM CAROL HERMAN

I went to Amazon, and looked around to see if a man named "Sternberg" published anything that would fit the description I had heard of. And, wallah.

Robert J. Sternberg is the IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale. His book: THINKING STYLES is well reviewed. So, I just bought a copy.

Now, just to thread back to what I'm watching the media doing. And, ya know what? Like robotic school teachers, who bypass helping their students, because they're stuck in ruts ... Sternberg analyzes 4 main ways people learn. And, yes. How this leads them to prefer certain governments, too.

Since I don't think the media "talks to me" ... And, I discount what comes through the "filter" ... which is my Internet, I'm willing to apply skeptism to a lot of what's passing for news ... But can turn into RATHERGATE. Where the news people get caught in cheap, "See? BS."

When the Likud let all hell break loose around Olmert's head, what I keep waiting to see is how many people go to Rabin Square to hold up signs "telling Olmert to go home." So far? Everyone doing so belongs to the LIKUD. You don't need brains, there. Just the group behaviors of the people who get damaged by religion.

Why should it be different for Jews? Seems if you don't consider "learning types" ... you can end up with the machinery that once sold newspapers; and, now, they're not even needed for fish wrap.

Ever wonder the economic impact of business decisions?

Ever think that Rabin's assassin ended up sitting pretty? Will Bibi?

What do you do after your reputation is ripped to shreds?

And, yes. What motivates most people is compassion. No need to talk to the press. No need.

And, now I have another book to read.