Source: Borderline by Jeanette Farr
http://www.10-minute-plays.com/dramas/borderline.html
Relation: RR: Chapter 4 Language and Thought
Commentary:
Recently, I saw a short play by Jeanette Farr entitled Borderline. I have included a link to a copy of the play online, its short, funny and a good read if you are interested. The plot of this play focuses on miscommunications caused by language barriers. Miguel is an apparent white drug/sex dealer and Mykal is an illegal immigrant looking for a job. The trouble starts when Mykal asks for a job he can do with his hands and Miguel assumes Mykal is looking for sex. While this sets up a hilarious situation for the audience, it exemplifies speech acts in our society and how different meanings are placed on a word. While Mykal thought he was totally innocent in asking for a job, he was not aware of the different meanings of the word. This type of giving different meanings to innocent phrases has also become popular in today's society with the familiar "thats what she said" jokes. Made famous by the NBC comedy The Office, these jokes take normal phrases and put them in a sexual context. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRV2NQKPGIs. These jokes "work" because of the shock value and twisting of our words. We aren't intending to say something inappropriate and when someone says "that's what she said", the joke is on us.
To end, I have two quotes for you:
A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
Henry Ward Beecher
And...
Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
E. B. White
Think about it!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Calories
Source: life observations
Relation: RR Ch 2
Commentary:
A calorie is simply a unit of energy; specifically two units of heat energy. In hunter-gatherer societies, about ten calories of human energy are expanded for every one calorie of food harvested. In "modern" society, only one calorie of human energy is needed to produce 210 calories of food. (RR pg 36). However, the amount of non-human energy that is needed to produce food in our modern society is multiplied enormously. Although it takes less physical labor to farm acres of corn or wheat, the fuel and raw materials that are used make up and exceed the physical labor energy. We see our modern farming techniques as "easier" because we do not have to depend fully on what nature provides; we can alter nature until she produces the desired product.
The same technique of altering the system is seem time and time again in history. For example there is a growing laziness with students in our country. Instead of doing our homework as it is assigned, we will look for any possible way to make it easier. We spend ten times more energy looking up the answer on Google rather than just looking in our notebooks. Instead of writing our own essays, we will spend time and money buying one online. Students may initially think that less thinking is involved if we just cheat our way through our homework, when the time and energy it takes to do so could be more effectively applied to actually DOING the work.
We as people are never satisfied with the product placed in front of us. We instinctively need to find a problem, and then find a solution. There was nothing wrong with the hunter-gatherer way of life. Their life was in fact very effective, what changed is the access to new technology. There is nothing wrong with the amount of homework students are assigned, what has changed it the access to new technology.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas Edison
Think about it
Relation: RR Ch 2
Commentary:
A calorie is simply a unit of energy; specifically two units of heat energy. In hunter-gatherer societies, about ten calories of human energy are expanded for every one calorie of food harvested. In "modern" society, only one calorie of human energy is needed to produce 210 calories of food. (RR pg 36). However, the amount of non-human energy that is needed to produce food in our modern society is multiplied enormously. Although it takes less physical labor to farm acres of corn or wheat, the fuel and raw materials that are used make up and exceed the physical labor energy. We see our modern farming techniques as "easier" because we do not have to depend fully on what nature provides; we can alter nature until she produces the desired product.
The same technique of altering the system is seem time and time again in history. For example there is a growing laziness with students in our country. Instead of doing our homework as it is assigned, we will look for any possible way to make it easier. We spend ten times more energy looking up the answer on Google rather than just looking in our notebooks. Instead of writing our own essays, we will spend time and money buying one online. Students may initially think that less thinking is involved if we just cheat our way through our homework, when the time and energy it takes to do so could be more effectively applied to actually DOING the work.
We as people are never satisfied with the product placed in front of us. We instinctively need to find a problem, and then find a solution. There was nothing wrong with the hunter-gatherer way of life. Their life was in fact very effective, what changed is the access to new technology. There is nothing wrong with the amount of homework students are assigned, what has changed it the access to new technology.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas Edison
Think about it
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