Re: CHAT: University Advice (was Re: A bit of advice)

Robert Hailman wrote:

> I once did one of those online IQ tests, and I scored 136. Mind you,
> those tests are questionable at best, and the one I took said for people
> below 16 (I was 14 at the time), all bets are off as to the accuracy of
> the test.
Oh, they can be off by a lot any time in your life, depending on all sorts
of factors.

> Also, your comparison of CB to Jeopardy!, while true, may be more of a
> representation of the easiness of Jeopardy! questions than to the
> difficulty of CB questions.
I wouldn't be so sure of that.  Here're some fairly representative questions:

Raised in the court of his uncle, Conchobor, he founded a boy-corps at
Emain Macha, then singlehandedly defeated the armies of Queen
Maeve of Connacht during the Cattle Raid of Cooley. FTP, name
this Hercules of ancient Ireland, who died because of Maeve’s trickery.
A:  _CUCHULAINN_

This composer, born in 1865, was one of the greatest symphonic artists of the
early twentieth century. After studying in Vienna under Karl Goldmark, he returned
to his native country to compose Valse triste and Tapiola. FTP, name this greatest
Finnish composer, whose best-known work is Finlandia.
A:  Jan _SIBELIUS_

The trick is often not so much in knowing the answer, but buzzing in with the right
answer soon enough. The one about Sibelius is actually about as easy as they come,
usually (they always have the give-aways at the end like that).  FWIW, I got these at
<http://www.stanford.edu/group/CollegeBowl/Archive/JCV6/Georgetown.html>
and there's a huge archive of them at
<http://www.stanford.edu/group/CollegeBowl/archive.html>

> This whole idea of required history & such seems vaugely reminiscient of
> the required exams in Scientific Socialism in Soviet Universities.
How so? History is a bedrock of people's perspective on the world and
provides an understanding of human nature.  Democracy simply doesn't
work unless the voting population has some idea about the complexity of
the issues involved, and history helps provide that.

(I suppose you said that to the wrong person:  history is one of my majors :) ).

> We need only one Canadian History course here in Ontario, but that's
> because us Candadians have no pride whatsoever.
I dunno about that... I've met some pretty rabid Canadian nationalists in my
time.  But I'll grant that they're fewer and less obnoxious than some American
nationalists, if only because there are fewer Canadians from which to derive
them.

> I'll look into [AP tests], but I'm not sure how open they are to me hyar in
> Canada.
There are also CLEP tests that you can take once you get here.  These
usually cover the same material as the APs.

> > He's a particularly odd fellow.  I have always meant to ask him what he
> > thought about Stalin's liquidation of the Ukrainian poet-bards, but I've always
> > feared getting into a shouting match.  He's also a proselyte for atheism, and
> > something of a fundamentalist in that faith (or lack thereof, whatever you want
> > to call it).
>
> That'd be a good question to ask. Of course, you can expect either an
> outright denial or a rationalization of it.
Yeah. Stalinism is a religion, like Marxism, but its god demands far more
frequent and numerous sacrifice.  (Russia has paid dearly for said religion.)

> Most Stalinists are stauchly devoted to atheism, but then again, most
> are my friends (but not me).
Yeah. Without making any comments about people in this forum, I think it's
generally true that, usually, neither theists nor atheists choose to become such because
they've come to some intellectual decision having already decided on appropriate
epistemological and deontological criteria for making the decision.  Most people
tailor their belief system to justify something already de facto the case, either in
their own lives or because of what they want to be true, and I'm including
great philosophers in that statement.  Confucius's ideas about filial piety, for
example, are far more easily explained as justifying the cultural fact at his time,
than working to that from first principles.  (Pace all Confucianists on this list!)

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Tom Wier   |     "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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