But isn't it a wonderful world! Filled with all kinds of neat things to think about.
I did one of the New York Times word puzzles in about five minutes, and got 20 words in the vocabulary pick. This is the "genius" level... but we already knew I was a genius already.. right? Now, you must remember, I am at the "genius" level in Mensa. Mensans test in the upper 2% of the population. So, if the population of Maryland or Massachusetts is around 11 million people, there must be 22,000 of us in each State.
And, since I belong to Intertel, which has a higher IQ level than Mensa, at 1% of the population. So, there must be 11,000 of us in each State. Just think of how many "smart" people there must be in the world... at least 2 billion.
Now, if there are that many genius level persons in the world, why do we have wars and bigotry and inhumanity? What are we doing with our intelligence?
Apes Are Us
Frans de Waal, a primatologist and professor at Emory College, wrote a piece for today's New York Times, titled: What I Learned From Tickling Apes. He also wrote a book about animal intelligence, with the title: Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are?
He talks about how science has been following Aristotle's Scala Naturae, which puts humans at the top of the scale (nearest to the Gods) and puts insects and mollusks down at the bottom. But Frans says that we need to rethink and he says: "...think about it: How likely is it that the immense richness of nature fits on a single dimension? Isn't it more likely that each animal has its own cognition, adapted to its own senses and natural History?
He gives some illustrations of intelligence in the so-called "lower orders. For example: "...members of the crow family recall the location of thousands of seeds that they have hidden half a year before, while I can't even remember where I parked my car a few hours ago."
Among other examples, he also mentions a crow who figured out, without any coaching, how to bend a piece of wire into a hook so that it could extract something from a tube. He believes that we can now challenge Kenneth Oakley's premise in his 1949 book, "Man the Toolmaker."
His final two paragraphs are worth looking at closely:
"Evolution is a gradual process of descent with modification, whether we are talking about physical or mental traits. The more we play down animal intelligence, the more we ask science to believe in miracles when it comes to the human mind. Instead of insisting on our superiority in every regard, let's take pride in the connections."
"There is nothing wrong with the recognition that we are apes .. smart ones perhaps, but apes nonetheless. As an ape lover, I can't see this comparison as insulting. We are endowed with the mental powers and imagination to get under the skin of other species. The more we succeed, the more we will realize that we are not the only intelligent life on earth."
Time for a German Joke
Ready to dive in?
"Unser Schwimmbad hat drei Becken: Eines mit kaltem Wasser, eines mit warmem Wasser und eines ohne Wasser."
"Wozu is den das ohne Wasser?"
"Fuer die Nichtschwimmer."
Time for a Yiddish Saying
"Az me shvaygt iz men a halber nar; az me redt iz men a gantser nar."
This is similar to what I believe Benjamin Franklin once said (kind of): "It's better to say nothing and be thought a fool, than to open your big mouth and remove all doubt."
Time for Drug User Slang
From Primo Prevention LLC, which wants parents to know some of the drug slang that their teen aged child may be using:
Baked = High, usually on marijuana
Bong = A water pipe used to smoke marijuana.
Chasing the Dragon = Smoking heroin
Kibbles and Bits: Ritalin
Spliff = A joint; a marijuana cigarette
Roofies = The Date Rape drug
There are a lot more terms.. to see them, go to www.primoprevention.com
Time for an OLD joke, resurrected by Reader's Digest
What a way to go
A man comes to Mrs. Smith's door and says, "There's been an accident at the brewery. Your husband fell into a vat of beer and drowned."
Mrs. Smith wails, "Oh, the poor man! He never had a chance!"
The man says, "I don't know about that. He got out three times to go pee."
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That reminds me... and I've mentioned this before.. when I drove a cab in New Bedford, I would take a guy home from Dawson's Brewery. One day, I went inside and saw that they had what looked like a rusty pipe coming down to a faucet which dispensed Dawson's Ale, my grandfather's favorite beer.
Employees could help themselves to a glass of beer whenever they felt like it.
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That reminds me... and I've mentioned this before... my grandfather and his friend used to listen to the baseball games near a window that opened onto a narrow alley between our house and a garage. As the game progressed, and when my grandmother was not near, they would grab a slug from their hidden stash of beer filled cans. Also, when she was not near, they would throw their empties out the window and into the alley. My Grandmother was a member of the Christian Temperance Union and did not like beer drinking.
One morning, my grandmother decided it was time to wash the windows. When she came to the one next to my grandfather's radio, she lifted the glass, and glanced down, and saw a massive pile of empty beer cans. I don't know what happened then, but I can imagine.
That reminds me... when I graduated from College and was looking for a job, I visited an Air Force Recruiting Base near my home. I was trying to learn if being an Air Force officer was the life for me. That noon, I was treated to lunch at the Base café, where the officers have their meals. As I entered the buffet line, a lady handed me a two quart empty pitcher. I asked her what it was for, and was told that it was for beer. Yes, there was a tapped keg of cold beer just waiting to fill my pitcher. That almost got me.... but, instead, I drank my beer and went home. Perhaps that was a bad decision.
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That reminds me.. gotta go grab a beer and then fix supper for me and Elaine.
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