The Difference Between "Intelligent" and "Well Informed"

It seems many people I ask struggle to tell the difference between being intelligent and being well -informed. Many people I know in fact seem to think being well-informed is being intelligent.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Although the desire to learn and retain information can be a characteristic of intelligence, it is by no means a conclusion.

Being well-informed is a by-product of curiosity coupled with a good memory. That's all.

A book full of important information is not intelligent. It is well-informed.

Being well-informed is having the memory to retain information and recall it at will. Well-informed is a computer RAM chip's only claim to fame. It stores and recalls information. It is not a clever part of the machinery. The complex and smart part of the computer is its Processor. In other words, the processor makes sense of the boundless information stored in the RAM

An intelligent person's brain has the capacity to dissect and analyse all the information stored and make sense of it.  Being intelligent is having the gift of knowing what to do with the information and reaching logical conclusions with it.

It appears that the world's educational services continues to fail gifted children, or at least fails to bring out the best in them.

Education Authorities the world over try to turn children into clones of the educators who run and devise the system. Do we need a world full of professors? Especially given the fact that lots of professors are not very intelligent in the first place.

Many professors, scholars and so-called intellectuals are mere information-storage devices.  Or the human equivalent of RAM chips. Many have the intelligence of a gnat (no disrespect to the mosquito-like biting little fly) but think otherwise.

This is one of the reasons so many of these studied and well-informed people, albeit bereft of intelligence and logic, come out with such tripe as "God Hates Gays" and "Support Capital Punishment and Freedom To Carry Arms while at the same time they're against women's rights to choose abortion.

So, the easiest way to classify humans is by referring to people as "RAM"  or "CPU" types.

RAM = Random Access Memory (simple recording device)
CPU =  Central Processing Unit (efficiently handles stored information)

Lets take some famous people, past and present, and see if we can tag them correctly:

Barack Obama   = CPU
George W Bush     = RAM
Sarah Palin   = RAM
Nelson Mandela   =CPU
Pope Francis   = RAM
Albert Einstein   = CPU+RAM+
Richard Dawkins   =CPU+RAM+
Charles Darwin   =CPU+RAM+

Please let me know if you think of any other cases, especially RAM types.

:)

Contentious News of The Week

A few News items this week have grabbed my attention to the point I need to think about them and then express my views. I'm sure we all do it to a degree - comment on what's happening around us.

Despite my new found optimism and desire to not dwell on upsetting events (in fact I try to overlook them completely) some matters are not easy to ignore. Especially when they contravene human rights.

(...)

Over in the US, 15 year old Tuesday Cain, who in my opinion is a smart and free-thinking young lady, has come into unjust and vile criticism over her stance against anti-abortion and pro-lifers (the religious bigots who, ironically, normally support capital punishment and the right to bear arms, but not the right of women to choose).

Ms Cain penned the placard message her friend was to hoist  for all to see.

Controversial or just plain genius?

Tuesday is being unfairly ridiculed, offended and judged by the Religious Right bigots who apparently are followers of a man who asked his flock to be fair to all and not to judge others.

Damn cretins! I'd love to address them one day and spell out a few home truths.

Tuesday, keep up the good work and never let anyone silence you or deny you of your rights to express your views, especially when it comes to human rights. Those who attack you are the fools, the lambs-to-slaughter idiots who live by the words of ancient drug-using scribes that were commissioned by the church to write a book of rules. A book (The Bible) full of contradictions, misogynist propaganda and damn right lies.

Let the fools rant on girl, for they will run out of steam eventually and will go the way of the dinosaurs. Your views will remain and be carried forward by the intelligent and the rational majority.

(...)

Another recent video that almost made me weep was the following plea by 11 year old Yemeni girl Nada, who had to run away from parents intent on marrying her off to some older man. This beautiful and articulate little girl is highlighting an injustice that befalls so many innocent children who are unfortunate to be born into archaic societies with cultural habits that no civilized human should tolerate.

Watch Nada's attempts to explain the unjust situation she has to face on this Youtube Link

Don't you just want to take her home, protect her and give her the chance in life she deserves? I do. Her and all the other who need help.

Thanks to the power of social media, this video has had nearly 8 million views in a couple of weeks and prompted the government of The Yemen to reinforce their own laws against child marriage.

(...)

On a lighter note, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby - head of the Church of England - has spoken out against the parasitic pay-day loan companies whose offices are now in every high street.

Companies such as Wonga who charge exorbitant rates of interest on short-term loans to the people who have no other port of call. The vulnerable poor.

Akin to loan-sharks of the past, these companies have acquired, unjustly, some semblance of respect - and that is a huge social problem. Archbishop Welby wants to finance a project that enables the Church of England to provide loans to the most needy.

I can imagine possible slogans for the new Church Enterprise. Maybe "A Wad From God" or " Money From Heaven".

Just Justin

I don't know how you all feel about the church acting as money lenders but I for one agree wholeheartedly.

It is not the first time the Christian Protestants intervene against social injustices. Unlike the Vatican and all the rest.

I would appreciate your views, dear readers, for your views count more than you can possibly imagine.

:)

Is Self-Imposed Social Exclusion a Sign Of Introversion?

Dear blog-friends,

please let me know what you think about the title of this post. I appreciate and welcome your comments.

***

I am going through a confusing phase regarding my current desire to spend time with my close family instead of going out in search of a possible partner and/or new friends.

After spending years socializing to the maximum limit of self-endurance...

I find myself presently opting to concentrate in work and time with my loving off-spring.

Katie

Mattie, Katie and Shaun

Mattie

To the cynic among us, it may come across as an obvious attempt to make amends for past deeds and possible insufficient contact with those same people I now give all my time to - but I know differently.

***

My present life-style offers me unconditional freedom to do as I like, when I like.

My leisure time activity can be decided on impulse, without having to consult with anyone.

My income is sufficient to do what I want.

And, most importantly, I seldom refuse invitations to socialize. I simply do not pursue those opportunities as often as I could. Again, through choice.

All those who know me well enough, know that my three children have always been at the top of my list of priorities. I adore them and always have. They brighten up my life. They fill me with happiness and contentment. I love their company. And since they have grown up, they also fill me with enormous amounts of pride at the kind of people they have become.

***

Do I want to change? Do I need the hassle of getting to know someone new and have to adapt to the restrictions such a union would impose?

How I have managed to adapt to such a change in life-style is beyond me. I had no idea I was capable of coping with, and enjoying, such a contrasting life-change.

But I have.

Effortlessly.

Life is truly wonderful, especially when infrequent spells of loneliness...

...are so easy to endure.

:)

Proof of Evolution not Even God-Believers Can Deny

When I'm in a conversation about Evolution versus Creation, I always bring in the topic of parasites and it usually brings the argument to a sudden conclusion - in my favour.

One would have to lack intelligence or common sense to ignore the facts of parasites emerging through evolution.

Listed below are a few that may induce nausea. If you are of a fragile disposition I advise you stop reading now.

Parasites, as we all know, are animals, bacteria, viruses and fungi that have evolved to live on/in a living host, more often than not causing serious health problems and even death.

If there were a Creator, he/she would have to be callous and vindictive to the point of insanity to come up with such horrendous and needless suffering-inducing plagues.

Here are a few:

The Loa Loa Worm lives in the human eye and causes countless cases of blindness around the world. The life-cycle of this parasite can only be completed by living and feeding off the hosts inner eye. 

God created? 

The V Cirrhosa is a kind of minuscule catfish that lives in ponds and rivers of south America. For an unsuspecting human who attempts to get in a water infested with these little critters, the result is that the V Cirrhosa will find and crawl into the penis and go on to feed on the internal organs causing an agonizing death. 

God created? 

The Cordyceps does not infect humans. Part of the weaponry of this fungus is mind-altering chemicals that will cause the host to act in a way that will bring it in close contact with as many tarantulas as possible in order to transfer the infection. 

God created? 

There are countless more, from head-lice spreading typhus to mosquitoes killing more humans than all wars combined.

Countless bacteria and viral infections decimating parts of the human population, day in day out.

God made? Or Evolution at play? 

What do you think? 

"Burning Ring?" I Thought That Was a Ceramic Hob

"Where have you been Joe?" I can almost hear you say.

"Busy, actually"

I have been extremely busy of late with work and family commitments, hence my failure to post a blog for some time.  And so after reading the following tale on FB, I couldn't resist the temptation to post it for all of you to enjoy, while saving me the chore of having to conjure up a post of my own :)

The following tale of woe is from customer comment sent to amazon.co.uk, by a man who bought Veet Hair Removal Cream for Men

(...)

"After having been told my danglies looked like an elderly Rastafarian I decided to take the plunge and buy some of this cream as previous shaving attempts had only been mildly successful and I nearly put my back out trying to reach the more difficult bits. Being a bit of a romantic I thought I would do the deed on the missus's birthday as a bit if a treat.

I ordered it well in advance and working in the North Sea I considered myself a bit above some of the characters writing the previous reviews and wrote them off as soft office types.

Oh my fellow sufferers how wrong I was.

I waited until the other half was tucked up in bed and after giving some vague hints about a special surprise I went down to the bathroom. Initially all went well and I applied the gel and stood waiting for something to happen. I didn't have long to wait.

At first there was a gentle warmth which in a matter of seconds was replaced by an intense burning and a feeling I can only describe as like being given a barbed wire wedgie by two people intent on hitting the ceiling with my head. Religion hadn't featured much in my life until that night but I suddenly became willing to convert to any religion to stop the violent burning around the turd tunnel and what seemed like the the destruction of the meat and two veg. Struggling not to bite through my bottom lip I tried to wash the gel off in the sink and only succeeded in blocking the plughole with a mat of hair.

Through the haze of tears I struggled out of the bathroom across the hall into the kitchen, by this time walking was not really possible and I crawled the final yard to the fridge in the hope of some form of cold relief. I yanked the freezer drawer out and found a tub of ice cream, took the lid off and positioned it under me. The relief was fantastic but only temporary as it melted fairly quickly and the fiery stabbing returned.

Due to the shape of the ice cream tub I hadn't managed to give the starfish any treatment and I groped around in the draw for something else as I was sure my vision was going to fail fairly soon. I grabbed a bag of what I later found out was frozen sprouts and tore it open trying to be quiet as I did so. I took a handful of them and tried in vain to clench some between the cheeks of my arse. This was not doing the trick as some of the gel had found its way up the chutney channel and it felt like the space shuttle was running its engines behind me.This was probably and hopefully the only time in my life I was going to wish there was a gay snowman in the kitchen which should give you some idea of the depths I was willing to sink to in order to ease the pain.

The only solution my pain crazed mind could come up with was to gently ease one of the sprouts where no veg had gone before. Unfortunately, alerted by the strange grunts coming from the kitchen the other half chose that moment to come and investigate and was greeted by the sight of me, arse in the air, strawberry ice cream dripping from my bell end, pushing a sprout up my arse while muttering “ooooohhh that feels good”

Understandably this was a shock to her and she let out a scream and as I hadn't heard her come in it caused an involuntary spasm of shock in myself which resulted in the sprout being ejected at quite some speed in her direction. I can understand that having a sprout fired against your leg at 11 at night in the kitchen probably wasn't the special surprise she was expecting. Having to explain to the kids the next day what the strange hollow in the ice cream was didn't improve my status either…so to sum it up...

VEET - removes hair, dignity and self-respect"

:)