Ones and Zeros

See this survey and simple test that the Intercollegic Studies Institute gave to 2500 people. Many of those who self-identify as elected officials didn’t do well. And the results in general might explain how the country got into our current political and economic mess.

The report says, “Seventy-one percent of Americans fail the test, with an overall average score of 49%.” and “Officeholders typically have less civic knowledge than the general public. On average, they score 44%, five percentage points lower than non-officeholders.” Conservatives and republicans did better than liberals and democrats. In short, a lot of us need to stop watching TV news (another finding) do some self-educating!

I got the two questions 10 and 33 wrong out of the 33 questions. Can you best me? I double-dog dare you! Take the test and post your results in the comments!

It’s 7:20 AM, not really early. But early to be out in the cold. When its cold I don’t want to go anywhere, especially at 7:20. But today I’ve had my breakfast and now I’m sitting here on the side of the gym’s indoor pool. I’m here on the faith of exercise.

I plunge in headfirst (it’s harder to change my mind that way) and start my laps. After the first few I’m more awake and the blood’s moving. I’m happy to be here now, my faith has been justified once again. I notice the sun showing through the one particular window I start thinking of as the sunrise window. I look for the bright sunlight each time I take a breath.
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In a post about customer service and tech suport, Mark over at Enterprise Search makes the point that “zero problems is not a reasonable expectation when you’re living on the crest of a technology wave”.  If fact, it might be a definition of the crest of the tech wave.

At one time, new products had extremely intensive testing and trials with small groups to figure out where the problems were.  And this was after very extensive design and prototyping.  Detroit is the only area that this sort of process still goes on in its full glory.  Which is one reason that Detroit’s having problems now.

Another reason Detroit’s having problems is that the oil crunch in the 1970s wasn’t taken well to heart.  The learning only seemed to be short-term with no long-term retention.  Or, no way to respond to changes quickly.  This many be populist of me, but the CEOs and other management are directly to blame for the loss of jobs and failure of their companies to do well now.  Yet, they’re getting the buyouts.

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Unless you’ve just come out of a two-year case of amnesia you know. The world knows. America has repudiated the last eight years and elected Obama through a massive turnout and decisive electoral victory. In a gracious and conciliatory speech, Senator John McCain conceded last night. While he acted with dignity his crowd did not and booed Obama’s name before he stopped them.

President-Elect Obama gave his acceptance speech in Chicago at Grant Park last night after accepting calls from both Sen. McCain and President Bush. The President told the President-Elect, “What an awesome night for you”.

After eight years of the Bush administration, and years before of having a Governor Bush, my wife and I feel light. A weight has been lifted off of all of our shoulders. We all have regained the country of our ideals and are once again moving toward higher principles instead of away from our fears. We again have the American of our dreams and not of our nightmares.

As President-Elect Obama (I love typing that phrase) made most clear. This is not the end but the start of the work. We have two wars, an economy close to meltdown, and major environmental issues. None of this can or will be solved quickly. It’s taken us many years to create these problems and will take many to solve them. Those are posts for another day.

We now have the possibility of solving those problems. So today I am happy.