question #37 - a contest

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous entry, click here

you have been invited to serve as a judge for a novel writing contest. there are thirteen finalists from which to choose: a) the apple, by charles collingford. mr collingford is a yale man, and has been in the diplomatic service for forty years. he has been married five times, and has ten children and five grandchildren. b) the banana, by will davis. will is a graduate of the writing program at stanford and the film program at u c l a, and has produced advertising videos for the liverpool football club and the qatar national football club.. c) the cupcake, by samantha stringley. samantha grew up in a town of 7 people on the wyoming-montana border and won a scholarship to california polytechnic institute when she was fourteen. her memoir, “mud in the wind” was an international bestseller, but “the cupcake” is her first novel. d) the border, by carla wong. ms wong was one of the active leaders of a campaign against homophobia and transphobia in the people’s republic of china, and is currently serving a ten year prison sentence in that country. her 1800 page novel chronicles the lives of 20 generations of women raising sheep in inner mongolia. e) the entropy people, by “y”. “y” is a non-binary person living in a tent city in oakland. they have never learned to “read” or “write” and believe that “writing” and “thinking” are humanist-colonialist constructs designed to destroy the ancient wisdom of pure empathy. f) forever is a noun, human is a verb, by j stuff. j stuff is a securities analyst and human rights activist. they live in des moines iowa with three partners and five children. g) get out of my fucking way, by dave danforth. mr danforth is a former navy seal and texas ranger and currently serves as a director of the caucasian rennaissance foundation. h) how to bake a perfect pie, by helen may francis. ms francis is 95 years old, and has lived her whole life in knoxville tennessee. this is her first attempt at writing a book, and she “never knew it could be so much fun”. i) incognito, by e. nuff. nothing is known about e. nuff. j) jerri’s jellybeans, by amanda brown. amanda is a christian evangelist who has adopted twelve children from west and central africa, and is active in the pro-life movement. k) kaleidoscope 33, by jeffrey talbot. jeffrey is a 13 year old student at phillips exeter academy. both his parents and all four of his grandparents are self made billionaires. his novel pokes gentle fun at feminism, especially the #metoo movement, and at diversity in general. l) laugh, it won’t kill you, by lou j goldstein. mr goldstein operated a talent agency in reno for 45 years, specializing in pole dancers , animal acts, and comedians. m) a man shows up, by mike marstton. mr marston Is a retired police officer. his novel is about a rogue cop who takes on the deep state - alone. the question is, would you feel any need to read any of these books, before awarding the prize for the best one? yes ______ no _________ if you answered “no”, which book would you award the prize to?

question #36

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous entry, click here

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

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous entry, click here

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

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous entry, click here

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

to begin at the beginning, click here

for previous entry, click here

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.

ms johnson's quiz

the following quiz was given to her eighth grade class by ariadne johnson, a civics teacher at the jim bowie junior high school in walden texas. a number of parents complained to the school board and demanded that ms johnson be fired (see below). 1. in considering the truth or falsity of any statement, the most important thing to consider is the motive of the person making it. —— agree —— disagree 2. there are no such things as probabilities or odds. everything either happens or it doesn’t. —— agree —— disagree 3. every question has a right answer —— agree —— disagree 4. if two things are connected, one causes the other —— agree —— disagree 5. everybody in the world either loves you or hates you. —— agree —— disagree 6. men know nothing about women, but women know everything about men. —— agree —— disagree 7. white people know nothing about non-white people, but non-white people know everything about white people. —— agree —— disagree 8. the world is divided into good people and bad people and the bad people should be killed. —— agree —— disagree 9. the world is divided into good people and bad people and the bad people should be re-educated. —— agree —— disagree 10. white people living in the americas should all go back to europe —— agree —— disagree 11. the results of all wars should be canceled, and all peoples should go back to where they originally came from —— agree —— disagree 12. all borders should be abolished, and all living creatures should be free to go where they like —— agree —— disagree 13. every human being should be guaranteed a decent life —— agree —— disagree 14. every living creature should be guaranteed a decent life —— agree —— disagree 15. the white race should make restitution to all other peoples, and all living creatures, for their millennia of oppression —— agree —— disagree 16. the white race should be abolished —— agree —— disagree 17. power should be abolished —— agree —— disagree 18. gender should be abolished —— agree —— disagree 19. racism, misogyny, and homophobia should be made illegal —— agree —— disagree 20. prisons should be abolished —— agree —— disagree 21. the opposite of truth is: a) error b) misinterpretation c) confusion d) incomprehension e) lies 22. if the people who rule the world, and are responsible for its unfairness, woke up tomorrow and decided to make things right, how long do you think it would take them? a) a week b) a month c) a year d) 10 - 20 years e) other (specify) 23. if truly dedicated revolutionaries overthrow the patriarchy, how long do you think it would it take them to make the world a fair place? a) a week b) a month c) a year d) 10 - 20 years e) other (specify) 24. do you think that ms johnson should be fired from her position as civics teacher? ——— yes ——— no part 2