Our professor did include some really interesting videos at the end of the class that at least brought me back to life. The first one was a scene from the movie, A Beautiful Mind. It was meant to be an introduction to a discussion on game theory, in general, and on understanding competition, in specific.

Hmmm… Maybe Adam Smith wouldn’t have a good understanding of this type of situation, but that doesn’t mean that John Nash has a good grasp on it either. Remember, he ends up spending all of his time being nuts and doing math. The problem with this application of Nash’s equilibrium is that the women in his example could choose not to go with any of the guys. They all could be lesbians. Maybe they’re into guys, just not these particular guys. Unfortunately, most guy’s egos (especially when beer-enhanced) won’t let them fathom these possibilities. Thus, began John Nash’s decent into insanity. Nash’s friend was at least right on one thing when he said you can lead a girl to water. You can also make her drink, but this will earn you some jail time.

Not a lot of people were feeling A Beautiful Mind. Howver, everyone was totally into the next clip. In it Stephen Colbert offered his thoughts on Cingular changing their name to AT&T.

I forget what the exact context of this video was, but it drew a lot of laughter and woke the remainder of the class up. I mean, who doesn’t love Stephen Colbert? If watching Comedy Central made people smarter, Colbert would be the answer to educators everywhere. Just string together a bunch of videos from The Colbert Report that are united by a singular topic. I’m sure somebody’s done a study on humor and intelligence. Anyway Colbert has my vote over Nash as an educator. He’s got nice insight and good delivery. Nash, not so much, although I’ll give him kudos for being kooky in a really smart way.

]]> http://www.bsodmyself.com/2008/06/24/warning-signs/feed/ 0 http://www.bsodmyself.com/2008/05/14/manson-bush-or-memorex/ http://www.bsodmyself.com/2008/05/14/manson-bush-or-memorex/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 22:02:23 +0000 bsodmyself http://therealjohnnycrawford.com/2008/05/14/manson-bush-or-memorex/ Tonight I was flipping through the channels when I came across “The Doc Block” on MSNBC. Usually I don’t watch The Doc Block because it’s really lame. I mean — really, how many documentaries can you watch about horrific crimes? This time was a bit different though, since they were playing one one Charles Manson talking to someone from prison. Now, don’t get me wrong — I don’t agree with anything Manson did. But there’s something kind of interesting, kind of ultimate, kind of real about Manson and the expression of his type of evil. If you wanted to know what the Devil looked like in the flesh, look no further than Charles Manson. It’s really kind of funny that kids regard him in the almost mystical way that Che Guevarra is worshiped. I mean, both were murderers and human rights violators. I always thought that if Bush was a little cooler, maybe his face would blazon teen outcast’s shirts, bookbags, and CD jewel cases instead of Che’s.

My favorite part of Manson’s talk was about righteousness and judgment. He claimed that he never killed anyone. It was entrancing to the point that I started finding myself drawn along by his familiar down-home accent and excited speaking style. Why was it so familiar? Suddenly, it hit me, then I went to YouTube to see if anyone had the same idea that I had. Someone did, though, using Manson’s voice over a different set of video.

Anyway, during each class session we have a discussion about the strategic issues in a case study covering a particular industry or company. Last night’s case was on the airline industry in 2002 and Delta’s options for dealing with the threat of low-cost carriers like JetBlue or AirTran. Before the case discussion, our instructor said she was going to tell a joke about airplanes. It must have been a short joke, or my hearing problems may have come back, but I missed it.

That did happen to remind me of a joke about airplanes, though. I heard this joke from a psychologist who specialized in the psychology of women (a very beneficial thing to know, I’ve found), and it goes something like this:

A women’s studies professor is boarding an airplane on her way to a women’s studies conference. After she finds her seat and gets situated, the captain comes on the loudspeaker to introduce the flight crew.

“This is your captain for today’s flight. My name is Sally Smith. Your co-pilot today is Jenny Johnson. Your navigator is Missy Matthews.”

The women’s studies professor is amazed to find that the entire flight crew were women. She stopped the stewardess and asked if she could go to the cockpit to meet this all-woman crew. The stewardess chuckled and responded, “Oh, I’m sorry. We don’t call it the cock-pit anymore.”

Yup, that’s women studies humor for you. I was feeling almost ornery enough in class last night to raise my hand and ask if I could tell a real joke about airplanes. In retrospect, my impulse control won out last night. Too bad that didn’t hold true tonight.

“So how are you liking your knob,” asked the plastic surgeon.

The woman replied, “It’s great except for these two bumps that have shown up — one under each eye.”

The plastic surgeon was alarmed and exclaimed, “If you don’t quit turning that knob so much, soon you’ll have a beard too!”

The moral to this story — Hillary Clinton has the knob.

Now, I don’t mean to criticize women having a little (or a lot of) work done. Hell, I’ve been seriously considering getting some botox and some eye work. Hillary gets run down from all the campaigning, she twists the knob and looks a lot better. But the real kicker to this story is whether Chelsea Clinton will need to go to the same plastic surgeon and say, “I’ll have what my mom had” so that she will look like her mom as she gets older.