IT vs. Dude

It's only funny because it's true. Half of what's on here I've had to deal with at work IRL.

http://view.break.com/529693 - Watch more free videos

Points For Obsenity

WTF are we teaching kids these days?

Theodore Dalrymple
Grading on a Curse
British students get marks for obscenity.
11 July 2008

The head examiner of a British school-examination board, Peter Buckroyd, whose examinations are taken by 780,000 children, recently explained to teachers why a pupil who answered the question, "Describe the room you’re in," with "Fuck off"—an actual case, apparently—should receive a grade of 7.5 percent rather than a grade of zero. Indeed, Buckroyd went so far as to say that "it would be wicked to give it zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for."

First, the candidate had spelled the two words correctly, said the chief examiner, which showed some grasp of English orthography; and second, he had strung two words together correctly, which showed some grasp of grammatical structure and an ability to convey meaning. Had the words come with an exclamation mark, moreover, the candidate should have received a grade of 11 percent, because he would have shown some grasp of punctuation.

"We’re looking for positives," explained another examiner, who was presumably desperate to avoid provoking low self-esteem among his examinees. Buckroyd added that, after all, the candidate was "better than someone who doesn’t write anything at all."

Had the pupil written "Fuck off, you bastard!" he would presumably have received 22 percent, which these days is almost certainly a passing grade with distinction. Unfortunately, my knowledge of English expletives is not sufficiently extensive to compose a sentence that would have attracted marks of 100 percent, and such a sentence, in any case, would not be publishable here.

Theodore Dalrymple, a physician, is a contributing editor of City Journal and the Dietrich Weismann Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Mashup Music Video

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Pickens Plan

Steaming

Holy Crap! The humidity started creeping in over the weekend and by Monday night it was 83° with over 70% humidity in my apartment. At that point it starts feeling like a swamp in there and I have no choice but to turn on the Air Conditioning.

I don't normally like turning on the A/C, but I don't like it when my carpet starts to feel marshy.

More Movies

I went to WALL-E and Wanted last Friday and Hancock last night. No letdowns with these films.

WALL-E is another entertaining Pixar masterpiece. This time we follow the adventures of a trash compacting bot who finds love on an abandoned Earth and then follows that love deep into space where it ends up helping return humanity to their home planet. Very funny and great for everyone.


Wanted is an adult action-adventure film starting James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie. McAvoy plays an assassin prodigy, son of the best-of-the-best, who must accept who he is and what he must become to avenge his fathers murder. But wait, there's a twist! Very little here that's original other than the Matrix like ability to defy the laws of nature to curve bullets, leap buildings, and heal mortal wounds in a wax bath.


Hancock is the tale of a reluctant superhero with no memory of who he really is or how he became super-human. John Hancock (Will Smith) is someone who takes out his inner frustrations on the world around him while fighting crime with no regards to the collateral damage he causes with his super strength. Along comes PR guy Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) who makes it his mission to mold Hancock into a Hero. However, there seems to some tension between Ray's wife (Charlize Theron) and Hancock... The story doesn't feature a super-villain for Hancock to tackle, but he does end up having to fight for his life. I won't spoil the story, but I will say that it could have used some more story to lead up to the climax. Still, an entertaining super-hero flick.