question #36

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36.) agree or disagree? there is no such thing as an objective statement, or objective thought, by human beings about human beings. every statement or thought by one human about another expresses sympathy, hatred, resentment, envy, amusement, or contempt. _______ agree ________ disagree

question #35 : a test

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you apply for entry into a training program at a prestigious institution. you are given a test. you are brought into a room, and you are shown a clear drum containing 800 white ping pong balls. the balls are absolutely identical except that they are numbered and marked 1 through 800 . each ping pong ball is also randomly assigned to one of eight subgroups of 100 balls each. the groups are listed as a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h. the balls are not marked with the letter of the group they belong to. the testers have a list showing which ping pong balls belong to which subgroup. you are not shown the list. 80 balls are randomly taken out of the drum and given to you. your task is to sort them according to their lettered subgroup into 8 groups of 10 balls each. you must end up with 10 in each subgroup a, b, c. d e. f. g, h, and each ball must be in its correct subgroup. you are given 10 minutes to do it. if you succeed, you will be given further tests. if you fail, you will be taken out and shot, or, perhaps, just not be admitted into the prestigious institution’s training program. do you think this is a fair test? if not, what do you think is unfair about t? out of 1,000 applicants, what do you think is the most likely number who could pass the test? a) 1000 - it is impossible not to succeed b) 250 - 1000 c) 100 - 250 d) 10 - 100 e) 5 - 10 f) fewer than 5 next

question #34: purple, green, and orange

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the human race is divided into three types of people - the purples, the greens, and the oranges. the purples want to get the better of their fellow creatures - to be rich and famous, or failing that, to have more and better possessions than their fellows, or failing that, to enjoy the discomfiture of their fellows as they try and fail to navigate the slippery sidewalks of life. the greens just want to get along, and want everybody to get along. the oranges think people should get along, and that if they do not, they should be made to get along. which are you? what percentage of the human race do you think are purple? what percentage green? what percentage orange? if you are a green , who do you fear more - the purples or the oranges? next

question #33: second chance

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33) you die, and wake up in a bare room. a little man in a brown suit comes into the room and explains that you are to be given another chance at another life. you can be be born again and return to earth. you might return in almost any combination of circumstances. all but one will be beyond your control, but you can choose one, and only one, of the following circumstances. you will be guaranteed this, but nothing else; you can choose to be: a) white b) male c) heterosexual d) good-looking e) a citizen of the united states f) a billionaire g) none of the above which do you choose? 33a) do you agree or disagree with this statement: 99% of people given the choice described above would choose option f . ————— agree ————— disagree next

alan

alan was a person. he lived in a city, in a ten story apartment building with a total of forty-four apartments. he had a job, which provided him with his entire income, as he had never inherited any money and had no prospects of ever doing so. the job was difficult to explain to people who did not do it themselves, and he never tried to do so. he lived on takeout and deli sandwiches. he had never cooked anything in his life. he had no friends, and never went to restaurants as he did not like going to them by himself. he never saved any money. when he first came to the city after graduating from a small state college, he had indulged in one vice — playing the lottery. but after one year, he realized that he could not afford to keep doing so, so he exerted his will power and only bought an occasional single ticket when the jackpots got very high. he had not been brought up in any religion, and had no interest in any. he had only a vague idea of what a religion was. he worked irregular hours, and in some parts of the year very long hours. he watched a lot of television. sometimes he went to a movie in a theater, but he preferred watching television shows and movies at home. he had no interest in politics or the news. he never opened a book after he left school, except books he was required to read for the classes he had to take at work in order to keep up with the changes in the job. he had read three novels in his life - all assigned in high school. he yearned for adventure, but none ever came his way. television crime shows were his favorite viewing, but he never met a homicide detective or any kind of detective. he never handled a firearm of any kind in his life, and had never seen one except in the holsters of policeprersons. policepersons purchasing coffee or donuts or pizza or energy drinks or beef jerky. he never murdered anyone, or knew anyone who who murdered anyone or had been murdered themselves. he never held up a casino or a bank, or even a convenience store or a bodega. he never met a spy, or a trained deadly assassin of either sex, or a professional hit person. he was never involved in any conspiracies, and never encountered any evidence of any. he had never met a guru, or joined a cult, or been kidnapped by a cult. he was never abducted by aliens, or transported to distant planets or galaxies. he never encountered any vampires, vampire hunters, zombies, or werewolves. sometimes he wondered if life was a dream. on a scale of one to ten, how much does your life resemble alan’s? one being not at all, ten being totally.