Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

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People tend to confuse education with intelligence.

What is intelligence?

(in your opinion)

IMO intelligence is the ability to learn.

I know loads of people who are illiterate because they never went to school. Some people think they are stupid, which can be a costly mistake.

Why, given such intelligence, have they not taken the trouble to learn? Just curious.

To be honest, most of the younger generation do take the trouble to learn but for most of the the old guys, (my age) the opportunity wasn't there.

No one in the family could read and they didn't need to. There was no stigma attached.

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You've got me generalising now.

[AlunB]

Haha! It's interesting. Makes sense that the younger generation are, as not being able to read is a massive impediment in the internet age I would have thought.

[RED-DOG]

Haha! It's interesting. Makes sense that the younger generation are, as not being able to read is a massive impediment in the internet age I would have thought.

Correct!

The big incentives were Ebay, Autotrader online and Facebook.

[tikay]

One mention of Max Rushden's secret footballer stories = pages & pages of interesting discussion.

Let's see what happens if we change subjects.

What interests you guys about this Victorian masterpiece?

Alun B, if he used to live in South Wales, must have crossed it scores of times on the train to London.

So what is so wonderful about it? (I've purchased additional bandwidth in readiness).

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pages & pages of interesting discussion.

YW.

[bagel]

channel 5 has a programme on at moment, chris tarrant on a train trip through south america.

trip looks amazing but tarrant is getting on my tits.

[Doobs]

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[Jon MW]

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People tend to confuse education with intelligence.

What is intelligence?

(in your opinion)

IMO intelligence is the ability to learn.

I know loads of people who are illiterate because they never went to school. Some people think they are stupid, which can be a costly mistake.

We studied intelligence as part of my degree - and then to an extent when I did a teacher training course; what you say is the consensus of what most people end up thinking but it's interesting the problem of what actually defines intelligence has been over the years. IQ tests, for example, obviously don't measure the ability to learn.

The most interesting/funniest part was we were told that one of the earliest attempts to look at intelligence and find a way to measure it was by some of the French aristocracy. Their initial thoughts were that you could measure intelligence by measuring peoples strength (something to do with the idea that being a superior human would 'obviously' involve being fitter, stronger and more intelligent - so if you measure one you get an idea of another).

The problem they had was that when they tested this theory they found the all the working class oiks ended up doing better than the toffs. They surmised that this therefore couldn't be a good test of intelligence because they were 'obviously' more intelligent than their servants so actually strength and fitness weren't related to intelligence after all.

I think it's one of the more 'interesting' uses of the scientific method I've come across

[tikay]

channel 5 has a programme on at moment, chris tarrant on a train trip through south america.

trip looks amazing but tarrant is getting on my tits.

Thanks, sadly I missed it.

I don't dislike Tarrant, but I'm certainly not a fan as such. 

I do think it interesting though to see TV Celebs who have been associated with a particular Show, or genre, move to something completely different. Then you see whether they really have talent, or are a one trick pony.

Martin Clunes used to appear in some dreadful sitcom (almost all sitcoms are dreadful, of course), then we saw him in a TV Series examining the relationship between horses & human beings.  And it was tremendous, Clunes came across wonderfully, & seemed to have a good knowledge of the topic. (I now learn he is president of the RHS). He came across well in HIGNFY, too. 

Whereas, say, Miranda was a total flop on HIGNFY. She has just the one trick - acting dumb. 

Palin "Around the World" or "Palin in Brazil" were great, too.

John Sergeant appeared in that Bombay Railway Show, too, very interestingly.

Michael Portillo is "Great British Railway Journeys" (& plenty others) shows his breadth of talent, too, as well as his splendid wardrobe.

Really enjoy seeing these people do the unexpected. 

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[tikay]

Another good example was Robbie Coltrane, who did several motor car based TV series. He knows cars.

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[DaveShoelace]

You might enjoy this

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-real-mans-road-trip-sean-jon-go-west/on-demand

I presume you don't know, but Sean Lock and Jon Richardson are comedians who star opposite each other on a panel show. Lock is quite a likeable everyman kinda guy, Richardson is quite an introverted cynical type who has OCD. They go on a road trip together through America. Lock really gets into it, Richardson doesn't, and they get sick of each other.

If you've ever had a friend who is a bit of a 'mood hoover' who ruins otherwise perfectly lovely trips, this resonates really well.

[horseplayer]

The Tarrant show is pretty good

Just watched it on catch up as same time as Danny Baker so that takes priority.

He has always been a train nut pretty sure you would like it.

[tikay]

You might enjoy this

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-real-mans-road-trip-sean-jon-go-west/on-demand

I presume you don't know, but Sean Lock and Jon Richardson are comedians who star opposite each other on a panel show. Lock is quite a likeable everyman kinda guy, Richardson is quite an introverted cynical type who has OCD. They go on a road trip together through America. Lock really gets into it, Richardson doesn't, and they get sick of each other.

If you've ever had a friend who is a bit of a 'mood hoover' who ruins otherwise perfectly lovely trips, this resonates really well.

Thanks Barry.

Great expression that, "mood hoover". I know a few of those, some are even Dyson quality. I sat next to one on a flight to Vegas one year, sheesh, was the longest 10 hours of my life.

Almost like those guys at a Live poker event who come up to you with a face as long as a seaside donkey. And you KNOW some bad beat tale is a-coming. I know some of them well enough to say "la la la, don't tell me, I can't hear you" but they blithely continue unabashed.


So guess what he called me with

I said to one guy "a mobile phone?" but it did not go down well.

"No, J-5".

[tikay]

The Tarrant show is pretty good

Just watched it on catch up as same time as Danny Baker so that takes priority.

He has always been a train nut pretty sure you would like it.

What Danny Baker show - where, what, when?

Are you back home now, fully recovered?