vizualize:

(via ilovecharts)

2010 Presidential NCAA Men’s March Madness Basketball Bracket

About a week ago, my dad finished his part of my financial aid statement and sent it to me for confirmation and to sign it. After I did that, I had to bring it to the Financial Aid Department and drop it off. I got the package in which the statement was mailed and I reviewed it, signed it, and set off to bring it to the Financial Aid Department.

Now, the financial aid department is in Admissions. I said this to myself as I left my classroom in the English Department building. Instead of going to Admissions, I went to the Business Office, where they told me, “no, you need to go to Admissions.” I smacked myself in the forehead and then said, “why the hell did I go to the Business Office. Dammit, Mondays.”

I left the Business Office and instead of going to Admissions, I went to the Administration Building (the whole while muttering, “you idiot, you have to go to Admissions. ADMISSIONS”). I casually walked into the Administration Building, and without noticing, walked into the Registrar’s Office and said,
“Hi, I have this Financial Aid stuff.”
“You need to go to Admissions,” the lady behind the desk replied.
“Son of a BITCH.”
“Monday, huh?”
“Mm.”

So, I set off to Admissions, having first gone to two buildings in a span of five minutes and telling myself that I needed to go to Admissions. I get there, drop my shit off, and meander back across campus. Probably to the wrong dorm. In fact, this doesn’t look like my room at all. Shit.

I’ve been here three years and I have no idea where anything is.

Previously, my professor has mentioned to the class that he does not own a television. Instead, as readers of this blog know from the lesson “Homework,” he reads copious amounts of stuff. Today someone asked what he does instead of watch the boob tube.

Well, that set him on a rant.

“Did you know that your brain starts functioning properly when you stop watching television for three months? When I go to a friend’s house and watch I can feel my brain start to change. It gets slow, shallow, and superficial. You can’t process the phenomena around you.” He stopped the rant to talk about the textbook material, but not for long. Soon after we started talking about the text, he asked about freedom in the post-9/11 Western culture. He then mentioned that all libraries in the United States must provide information to the federal government.
For example, if I was to walk into my public library at home and check out a copy of the Qur’an, the library’s system will send my personal information (name, address, phone number, other books I’ve checked out, etc, etc) to the FBI. Simply because I checked out a book. Slightly ‘Big Brother’-y, n’est pas?
Yet anyone can get information on the internet without having the federal government immediately contacted. As my professor said, “Any hobo can post something online, go to the public library and print off a New York Times article, hold it up, and say, “Look!”“

Then we rolled back around to the television rant. He told us the main goal of the class wasn’t just to study Macroeconomics, it was to “get our brains to process things the right way.” He then mentioned that the first two months without television are kind of like going through withdrawals.

“I know I’m talking to the number one television culture in the world and I know to you I’m just the crazy German guy right now. I had a professor tell me to do the same thing I’m telling you to do, and I thought he was a nutcase. So I know.”

The moral of the story is that once you stop watching television, buy your books because the library is part of an overarching government conspiracy to spy on the American people. Either that or read the books while in the library and don’t check them out. Also, get outside and walk around.

rd67:

Hawaiian Volcano Landscape
post by jchip8

In class the other day, we got our midterm exams back. The professor gave us some time in class to correct our answers so we could go over them as a class. One of the questions was a “define this term, then explain how it works” kind of thing. As we went over the answers, as usual, our professor got sidetracked and gave us all a life tip.

He explained (I’m paraphrasing here) that if a question starts with a term, define the fuck out of it. If you don’t, you’re basically telling the person grading the answer that, right off the bat, you have no idea what you’re talking about. This takes away from your argument and you look like an idiot.

He’s right. Sometimes I’ll answer a question without defining the terms right at the beginning, and halfway through I’ll realize I’m just bullshitting. It hasn’t hurt me too much just yet, but I’m getting to the point where I actually need to know what I’m talking about.

But until then, I’ll stick with the bullshit.

“Hip to be Square” by Huey Lewis and the News

thedailywhat:

Infographic of the Day: As with most everything in life, famous movie quotes cannot help but submit to the ameliorating power of charts and graphs.

[flowingdata.]