Nerd|Why is it unfashionable to be bookish, introvert and educated

Nerd (adjective: nerdy) is a descriptive term, often used pejoratively, indicating that a person is overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired.

Conversation with Michio Kaku, American theoretical physicist, a futurist, and a communicator and populariser of science:

I must disagree with my esteemed colleague here. First of all, let me say that science is the engine of prosperity. From steam power to electricity, to the laser, to the transistor, to the computer—

However, the information revolution has a weakness, and the weakness is precisely the educational system. The United States has the worst educational system known to science. Our graduates compete regularly at the level of third world countries. So how come the scientific establishment of the United States doesn’t collapse? If we’re producing a generation of dummies, if the stupid index of America keeps rising every year, just watch network television and reality shows, right? How come the scientific establishment of the United States doesn’t collapse? Let me tell you something. Some of you may not know this. America has a secret weapon. That secret weapon is the H1B. Without the H1B, the scientific establishment of this country would collapse. Forget about Google! Forget about Silicon Valley! There would be no Silicon Valley without the H1B. And you know what the H1B is? It’s the genius visa. Okay? You realize that in the United States, 50% of all PhD candidates are foreign born. At my system, one of the biggest in the United States, 100% of the PhD candidates are foreign born. The United States is a magnet sucking up all the brains of the world, but now the brains are going back. They’re going back to China; they’re going back to India. And people are saying, “Oh, my God, there’s a Silicon Valley in India now!” “Oh, my God, there’s a Silicon Valley in China!” Duh! Where did it come from? It came from the United States. So don’t tell me that science isn’t the engine of prosperity. You remove the H1B visa and you collapse the economy.

In Wall Street Journal, editorialized against a congressman who wanted to ban the H1B, saying they’ll take jobs away from the American people. The Wall Street Journal said, “Look, there are no Americans who can take these jobs. These are at the highest level of high technology. They don’t take away jobs for Americans, they create entire industries.” And so that’s why we have an Achilles heel, and that’s the educational system. And again, sociology majors are not necessarily going to be the ones determining the future Silicon Valley, but physicists, the engineers; we need more of them, not less.

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Extract from Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, BBC 1981

…Crash landed on a pre historic Earth. A collection of Head Dresser, PR Consultant, Army Officer, Accountant and Ship Captain set able building their world…

WE NEED BOOKISH AND EDUCATED PEOPLE

 

 

Monty Python| “The Funniest Joke in the World”

“The Funniest Joke in the World” is the title most frequently used for written references to a Monty Python’s Flying Circus comedy sketch, which is also known by two other phrases that appear within it, “Joke Warfare” and “Killer Joke”, the latter being the most commonly spoken title used to refer to it. The premise of the sketch is that the joke is so funny that anyone who reads or hears it promptly dies from laughter.

Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam,Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin

The most astounding fact| Neil degrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked in an interview with TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, NASA advocate, American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator

The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth the atoms that make up the human body are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas cloud that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up – many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big – but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive…

Pink Floyd Live8 2005

I have a lot of respect for this band. Some of they material has to stop you and make you think.

Extract from

Welcome To The Machine

…Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.

What did you dream? It’s alright we told you what to dream.

You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar,

He always ate in the Steak Bar. He loved to drive in his Jaguar.

So welcome to the machine…

 

Interesting line “…What did you dream? It’s alright we told you what to dream.”

Are your dreams REALLY your own?

If you were schooled differently

If you’re parenting was different

Will your dreams be different?

Then, are you dreams REALLY your own?

Interesting, yes.

MOULIN ROUGE| El Tango de Roxanne

I have read somewhere that Baz Luhrmann (Director, Writer, Soundtrack) regards the soundtrack as the third character in his films. Moulin Rouge is most definitely a case in point. Baz has selected some very familiar pop music classics and has bent them to tell his story. With theatre and opera styles overlaid to create a heightened emotional feel, something that was not present to such a degree in the original pop classics, I feel the man is a genius.

We have a dance!

In the brothels of Buenos Aries
Tells the story
Of a prostitute.
And a man… who falls in love…
With her.

First there is desire
Then… passion!
Then… suspicion!
Jealousy! Anger! Betrayal!
Where love is for the highest bidder,
There can be no trust!
Without trust,
There is no love!
Jealousy.
Yes, jealousy…
Will drive you… mad!