Sounds like me. I learned to do very small, neat printing, and ended up putting really random stuff at the bottom of the card sometimes.
Theyāre not exactly his, any more. As I recall, thereās a bit in the comics where heās freaked out by the fact replicator-made copies of his glasses have become a new trend being sold on street corners.
I cheated on a test exactly once in high school. It was an essay exam that a friend and I hadnāt studied for, on a book we hadnāt read. So right before the test we both volunteered to fetch a few things for our teacher, and proceeded to run down the hall to find the other AP English teacher.
We spent two minutes asking critical questions about the text, collected the materials we volunteered to fetch, and returned to class. We were both immediately found out, but due to the quality of our essays and ācleverness of studyingā we stillanaged to get Aās.
So that is a long winded way of saying I value (as others did in my school) synthesis and understanding of content over memorization.
āedit-- although the teacher in question was amused and impressed that we respected her enough to not appear like we were blowing off her class, it took hindsight to realize she would have been more impressed if we had just studied for our assignments as asked 
Crib sheets and novel cheats are funny, and amusing stories to tell. But I guess what Iām saying is it is better to respect our educators than to subvert the system (unless it is for a reeeally good story)
1 Like
I mean, if you donāt think that history and literature are important, thatās your business, but I just donāt understand that. Even if I were a science/maths guy, Iād still think that history and literature matter. Maybe you just had shitty history/lit education where the only thing that mattered were dates and names. But even then you should be able to get something interesting and useful out of that. You can always look up dates, I tell my students, but dates out of context can be meaningless. A good study of history will give you context, the why, and the impactā¦
The gif is from Louie CKās showā¦
3 Likes
I remember a story that I had read years ago about a student who was taking an open-classroom physics test. At the top of the page, it said, āYou have three hours to complete the test; You may use Feinmanā, presumably meaning his published notes.
He reread the instructions to make sure that he had it right, then marched across the campus to Richard Feinmanās office. After reading the instructions, Dr. Feinman blazed through the test in a half an hour.
Normally I wouldnāt believe a story like this, but this one I hope is true, because Feinman.
9 Likes
That is one of those stories that likely isnāt true, but I want it to be
3 Likes
There are four bases, two pairs.
See what happens when you blow off English class?
Point is, you still try. You donāt wait until your seventh conversation with a person to exchange names.
all your base areā¦ errā¦ iāll see my way out
3 Likes
Hippy wigs in Woolworths and all thatā¦
1 Like
I annoyingly often have to ask āthe officerā to find me the one I talked with for half hour a moment before, because I cannot recognize them.
Ummā¦ what?
What does it actually mean, ābeing humanā? Getting annoyingly emotional over trivialities, or fighting wars over differences in an invisible friend, or eschewing metallurgy over talking the ludicrous display of a game on TV? Or something else?
By then I should be merged with said machine. Transhumanism FTW.
Like, gossips?
I advocate going for understanding and cheating/subverting the system when it asks for memorizing. Or when it asks for some sort of pseudo-understanding, like poem analysis.
They do. Justā¦ not That Much.
Mostly I did. And from what I heard, most others did. That way is utter crap that demonstrates only the studentsā willingness to waste time on memorizing (and then inevitably forgetting shortly later).
Useful for what? Crosswords, maybe?
Yes. But then it takes way more time. Which is usually not available. Or can be better used for engineering because opportunity cost. That said, some aspects of history, e.g. sci/eng or toxicology, are quite interesting.
Ahhh. Not on local TV, sadly.
Depends. Four pairs if you also count the possible different orientations. Two possible pairings, certainly.
2 Likes
BTW, subverting systems is my daily bread and butter 
I just feel a little bad at taking advantage of someone I respected. Also, in the context of the original article this crib sheet is no different than a multi layer DVD/bluray disc.
1 Like
In the great cocktail party that is this BBS about five or ten years ago I would have argued that humanity is about finding that thing that you do that isnāt work, that you do to deepen and enrich this world with your presence. That we have a limited time here and that even as little as being an audience member or observer for someone elseās art can be enough, that itās about carpeing that old diem and when you look back on too short a span of things you donāt have regrets. Youāve seen the Mona Lisa, youāve developed an actual opinion of Shakespeare based on actually reading or seeing the plays, spent time watching a sunset and actively trying to capture it in some manner, or thought about why Gandhi was so concerned about that whole salt thing. I wold probably have recommended that you see some movie like Dead Poets Society or Field of Dreams or something, probably recommend that you visit a few museums and see what humanity has actually accomplished when weāre not getting wrapped up in stupid wars or talking with invisible friends, what we did long before there was TV or even organized games.
But these days? Iād recognize pretty early on youāre some dumb kid who isnāt going to be swayed by any of my conversations about Calder or Monet or Whitman or Wright and so Iām just going to tell you Iām off to refresh my drink at the bar and that Iāll be right back.
2 Likes
Timelapse photography. Now weāre talking!
Luckily this one party is big enough. The smaller parties are a problem. So I am carrying a book as a backup.
1 Like
I donāt quite get the āhumanā reference, or ādumb kidā. There are tons of people that donāt enjoy what would be labeled as Humanities, and are just as human and adult as those that do. If I am misinterpreting Banana I apologize, BBS style communication is a textbook example for miscommunication (geez, I used some overloaded wordplay there :D)
Banana, as a person that uses other types of tropes and ideas you may want to meditate on the fact people communicate differently (I.e. I am more of a music person). And that is only a criticism of perhaps tone, not content.
Regardless I am likely wrong, so I may as well have a cider.
4 Likes
āIn our time, science and technology cannot play an integrating role, precisely because of the infinite richness of knowledge and the speed of its evolution, which have led to specialization and its obscurities. But literature has been, and will continue to be, as long as it exists, one of the common denominators of human experience through which human beings may recognize themselves and converse with each other, no matter how different their professions, their life plans, their geographical and cultural locations, their personal circumstances. It has enabled individuals, in all the particularities of their lives, to transcend history: as readers of Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dante, and Tolstoy, we understand each other across space and time, and we feel ourselves to be members of the same species because, in the works that these writers created, we learn what we share as human beings, what remains common in all of us under the broad range of differences that separate us. Nothing better protects a human being against the stupidity of prejudice, racism, religious or political sectarianism, and exclusivist nationalism than this truth that invariably appears in great literature: that men and women of all nations and places are essentially equal, and that only injustice sows among them discrimination, fear, and exploitation.ā
Llosa rocks.
I found it interesting that your comments displayed confusion at the animated GIF of Louis CK and I conjured the passing thought that it wasnāt the lack of pop culture reference, but rather the lack of literature in your life that caused your confusion. That GIF speaks volumes. In your comments you conveyed that literature matters not a lick. I propose that one neednāt know Louis CK to understand the very human reaction shot being displayed, and further propose that a life steeped in literature (not pop culture) may have aided in the understanding of the very human condition on display there.
Of course, I was an English major and as such very full of shit and pompousness, so your mileage may vary.
Considering the fact that Shaddackās engineering obviously has a lot more significance to him than mere work, I think he has probably managed to achieve humanity without a lot of involvement from the humanities.
Incidentally @shaddack, does your name have any connection to this Shaddack? I thought it was interesting considering your interest in electronics and transhumanism.
2 Likes
Iām not arguing that humanities is the only way to be human or to understand humanity, nor do I think that @shaddackās point of view makes him any less human. I do think he is denying how others find their humanity as being valuable - he doesnāt see the value in it, so he thinks that others that do are somehow lesser than him, maybe? My comment was meant to express disapproval that a) he thought that cheating was the right way to do something (honestly, you learn nothing that way) and that b) he places so little value on understanding the reality and dreams of other human beings or in how the world we live in today was brought into being by the struggles of real human beings in the past.
But I agree with @SteampunkBanana that humanities offer something that science or maths donāt necessarily offer - not something BETTER, just something as valuable. Iāll speak to my field of history and say that it helps to put the present into context - it can answer how we got from there to here. It can create a sense of empathy for other human beings, especially those in the past. One can possibly create a sense of why for the sometimes irrational things people do in this world. And, Iād argue that it can help create a sense of shared community and identity (frankly, this can be both for good and ill). Writing and reading history can connect you to things you might not otherwise be connected toā¦ Since we are social creatures, I think that matters or should matter to us. But, YMMV. I would really just appreciate an acknowledgement that there is something of value outside of the STEM fields.
To get back to the topic at handā¦ I donāt think the kid with the crib sheet and the gel inserts for his classes was cheating at all. He was quite clever in adhering to the letter of the rule set down by the profā¦
6 Likes
Oops. That is me.
2 Likes
Huh, thought youād be taller.
