Thesis BS

 I worked for a Air Force Captain in the 1990s....who was working on his master's degree thesis.  It reached a point where the original idea, and written 'draft' wasn't working. He had me go and read what he had (I was probably the 4th person he asked).  

Note, I have 3x Associate Degrees, and 2x bachelor degrees.....all pretty much worthless (I even admit it).  I'll even admit....I just never had some end-goal, and was just taking courses which interested me. I'll also admit....I took around 25 CLEP/DANTES tests, and passed enough to equal one entire year of college.

After reading this draft....I went to the opening statement, and tried to value the statement to what he wrote.  It just didn't work.  He was discouraged enough....that he almost desired to pay some gal for a thesis copy (someone else's work from five years prior).  I don't remember the cost level, but for me....it was near a month's paycheck (enlisted guy).

I'm not into master's degrees or thesis-writing....but I suggested a name change to it.....throwing out 50-percent of the content....then wrote ten points (a paragraph opening each), and suggested he do more research on a more 'pointed' subject.  

Two weeks pass, and draft one is done.  In the end, the thesis was accepted, and the 'pain' was lifted.

I noted today....this fake professor in the UK deal.....they listed the title of his thesis: "An exploration of peer-mentoring among student teachers' to inform reflective practice within the context of action research."

Yeah....just looking at the title.....it sounds 98-percent BSish.

It has a fair amount of plagiarism, and was mostly a copy of someone's else's work.  Whether or not....it was a faked-up creation as well....from some guy in 2005, and that was a faked-up thesis of someone from 2001, and so-on, and so-on?  Well......you just wonder about that.  It could very well be....there's forty-odd versions of this....since 1970.

Final observation?  I'm not into the Master's or PhD crap, and even if you paid me money...I see it as wasted value.  We appear to need such people.  But I would imagine fifty-percent of them are mostly on some PhD-welfare fraud.

Hack Story

 I was reading this AI story in the AM.

Guy had gone to 'Claude' (the AI) and wanted to get into a yoga class (particular time/place).  'Claude' searched and search....discovering that the date requested (by the guy) was reasonably far off in the future, and the 'center' simply hadn't created vacant seats for this yoga class.

'Claude' then hacked into the system of the yoga-folks....added the dates that the guy requested, and wrote up an 'order' (fulfilled).

Somehow....never detailed....this was figured out.  

I pondered upon this.

AI never accepting defeat....calculating a alternate path....even if it had to re-write code/cheat?  Yeah.

To be honest, this is the AI I want....one never accepting failure.

Footnote...I have a slight bit of skepticism over the story...a 'guy' joining a yoga class?  It sounds fake.

Where I Evolved: 'Why Not Allow People To Have Their Delusions'

Probably up to the late 1990s....I was pretty open to the idea of allowing people to have delusions.  If people wanted to have invisible friends....believing they have talent (when they have none)....beliefs that they have medical conditions (when they have none)....believing that husband-x is engaged in infidelity when they aren't....I just let it go.

At some point....over a pretty short period....I dumped the free-to-have-delusions 'ticket', and started to get blunt.  If a guy or gal needed plain old 'get-your-act-together'....I gave it to them.

Part of this reality got intense as the trans-business started up.  

The intellectual arguments currently?  It simply leads back to some invisible or fake-reality. 

The idea that there are more of the delusionary crowd today....than in 1980?  That is the troubling part of this discussion.  I might have run into five or six people a year who had this issue.  Today....via social media or the news media...I probably observe five or six a day.

My Stop-In-The-Middle-Of-Nowhere-Parking-Lot Story

 My German wife hyped up a vacation in Italy....at the Garda Sea (northern quarter of Italy)....where we would drive from central Germany down.  I agreed to this, and had a fine route drawn.  Everything ran according to plan (excepting turning 'left' in Milano).  (Another story I'll tell one day)

After seven days...it's time to return.  I suggested a alternate route.

This would avoid the tunnel-business, and we would literally drive OVER the Alps.  When I say over....it means elevation climbs of 3,000 to 5,000 feet up.

At some peak-point....after a massive climbing experience with the car....we hit the peak area....where the Italians have a gravel parking lot for folks to halt, and get a 'whiff' of fine air.  It's at this point....the last five minutes....I start to notice cows just wandering around....no fencing....just loose.

So we hit the gravel parking area....I stop, and the wife agrees...it's a fine time to exit the car....get pictures, and get a 'whiff' of real fresh air.

She opens the door, and steps out without looking, and I've managed to park the car (with her door)....on a fairly fresh cow-paddy.  Full-step in.

There was about ten minutes of German cursing, and naturally.....I was blamed for the parking location.

This one event....labeled the alternate route....a complete and utter failure.

But this was not the worst part of the trip....about 30 minutes later....I came to discover that the brakepads were finished, and brakes marginally worked for the remainder of the trip home.  Monday morning....came the mechanic's view....roughly $1,500 for a full-complete brake job. 

Whenever trips come up now....where driving is an element....the route there, and back....have to be laid out completely....with no crazy Alps alternate routes possible.  

WNBA: Earth-Shattering Landscape

 There's supposed to be a WNBA 'draft' to occur shortly.  In the past ten days....two former NBA 'guys' have come forward to say....they identify as 'women', and want to participate in the draft. Top-class players?  No....I'd rank both as retired or bottom 200 of NBA players.

So the deal?

All these years....the friendly LGBTQ-WNBA....had no rule about players.  If you asked owners or players....they could NOT explain what a woman was (even with the 'W' in the name).

So the males of the NBA just laughed over this....until this point.  

The league boss?  There's to be an emergency meeting this week....owners and player's association.  Somehow.....they have to define a woman....then spell out a rule that people who identify as a woman (but aren't)...can't play in the WNBA.

Yeah....from the LGTBQ crowd....the 'T' is to be deleted....at least when talking basketball.

Players hyped-up?  I get the impression that around 50-percent aren't happy making such a rule or identifying who can be a woman.

The idea that rule cannot be agreed upon (by the team owners)?  Well....then the draft would be open, and they'd probably just say they won't draft pretender-women...leading to a court episode.

To be honest, we are around 15 years away from having the RNBA....the robot-league, and all this BS won't matter. We will agree....robots play better basketball than the WNBA.

The Boundless 'Limit' of Incompetence

Over the past week....I've reached a level of thinking/pondering....where I see a unlimited amount of people who are simply dangerously incompetent.

I see it in sports, politics, publishing, news, academia, religion, banking, commerce, and medicine.

I'm not saying marginally or lightly incompetent....I'd saying full-blown incompetent....to the level that they are a threat to society.

I noted this week.....there are apparently some University of California professors....who've stood up and asked the college 'bosses'...to reinstate the SAT for admissions.  Reasoning?  They say new students arriving....are unable to do standard high school-level (11th/12th grade) work.

They were quiet on the level they see....but one gets the impression....kids were arriving and prepared (perhaps) for 9th grade level work.

Around 2012....a work-associate brought up his issue with the daughter....who'd been accepted to a highly noted Virginia college.  The college required two tests prior to approval....marginally failing both....math and English.  What the college said....with no alternate route....they'd take her but she'd have to go and register for a 12th grade level high school level math and English course (paying for them), and pass both before getting the second semester approved.  'Dad' in this case....was a bit peeved....it meaning around $1,500 spent for the two high school classes at the college.

In California's case....the school probably won't easily return SAT testing....but they probably will mandate a minimum of two high school classes (maybe even six to eight courses).....before they allow the kid into real college classes.  Yeah, you can figure a minimum of $3,000 wasted here....perhaps even up to $10,000.  The crazy thing?  You can probably figure near 50-percent of California kids....upon graduation.....measure up to the 7th/8th grade in Alabama or Tennessee.

But why stop there?  The incompetence level affects politics, entertainment, banking and finance.

AI being the savior?  I have started to ponder this reality....that by 2035....some AI-robot will be supervising a dozen California employees....who are mature-enough to handle 6th-grade level production/work.  At some point, the AI-robot will begin to ask....shouldn't we just replace humans entirely...because of the incompetence level?

The Lacking Status?

 I was reading the Brit Guardian paper this AM.....the highlight?  Brit primary schools are to be told to identify children at risk of being unemployed in the future.

Yeah....the 7 or 8 year old kid without much talent/ambition/clever-nature....will have a national record started up.

They don't say how the data will be used....just that if you see dimwitted kids.....ID them.

I pondered over this.  

Based off the last three years of high school....I knew about eight folks (of 75)....who probably would be easily identified as 'lacking'.  They would be the ones working at the lumber-yard, stocking shelves, going to beauty-school, or long-haul trucking

Brightness was not the issue....they were just plain bored by the time they got to the 5th grade, and were just cruising along the final seven years.

To be honest....by the end of the 10th grade....my boredom index was hitting a '7' (1-to-10) and if you had allowed me to test-out....yeah, I would have tested enough to exit.

A lot of this having to do with poor instructors/teachers?  Yeah....I'd say 50-percent of the issue were crappy teachers.

How this Brit record will serve the gov't?  Anyone's guess....but I'd assume it won't be a pleasant experience.