On returning from kindergarten, a little boy polished off a big portion of chocolate cake his grandmother served him, and declared with great satisfaction: "When I grow up, I shall may Granny."
"You cannot marry Granny," objected his father. "She's my mother!"
"Didn't YOU marry my mother?"
**
From the world of science… tetotronics…
The Earth's plates move just a few inches a year – about as fast a person's fingernails grow. This continental pattern predicts that 2350 million years from now, a new supercontinent will be born.
(Me: hmmmm. Yaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn)
**
Reduced sleep over long periods has been linked to low productivity and depression…
//
Grape intake may protect against organ damage…Consuming grapes can help protect against organ damage associated with progression of metabolic syndrome: a new study.
(Me: looks, grape is a wonder fruit due to the various health benefits it offers..)
Mindchow
A man in debt is a slave…
(Me: absolutely!)
**
Weird world
Sex for success!
TV reporter says team had 'sex' instead of 'success'.
A Chicago reporter was left red faced after accidentally saying "sex" instead of "success" when talking about the ice hockey team's regular season play on live TV. Reporter Susannah Collins said that the Chicago Blackhawks players enjoyed a 'tremendous amount of sex during the regular season".
(Me: hmmm. Not that some may not agree with the commentator…)
**
Woman demands $20 from boyfriend 10 yrs after break up.
Connecticut: Ten years after their break up, a woman, Carol A.M., 44, showed up on her ex-boyfriend's porch in New Haven, demanding $40.
(Me: me thinks the woman is only too right: why should he live in a new heaven leaving her in the lurch for 10 long years!)
**
Non-news of the day…
Maharashtra state teachers NOT TRAINED to tutor kids with special needs.
Schools in Maharashta are not yet equipped for inclusive education, as teachers are not trained to handle children with special needs, a recent study has revealed.
(Me: This is no earth-shaking news: 99% teachers having flunked a recent examination held to test their skills in teaching, they – well most of them – are not fit to teach even pupils with ordinary IQ levels..)
**
Sunday musings.
Let's admit India is a poor country. The BPL stands at 30% or a whopping 400 million, the government is hoping it would reduce 27.5% in another 3 years. Fact is the absolution numbers will remain the same, the culprit being the population boom.
Poverty –poverty of fiscal fitness, power of ideas and poverty of rational thinking - owes a lot to illiteracy. Most of those that do get some education are practically literates – and thus not readily employable - too due to the abysmal quality of our education system.
Me humbly suggest – some may call it hare-brained - that we reduce the number of subjects taught at schools and colleges to three: Science, Maths and English; science will open up your mind to distinguish what is believable and what is plain superstition without no scientific basis, so utter rubbish; maths will make up for an analytical mind; Knowledge of good English would ensure employability, for instance for a BPO job that offers upwards of Rs.20,000, the only eligibility criterion is spoken English; moreover, besides private sector jobs, even government departments insist on knowledge of Enlgish.
The subject Social Studies that include geography and history in no way helps a man or woman in India to eke out a living; and if anything, history is all highly exaggerated, if not totally cock and bull, stories cooked up and served by historians who, having to make a living, toe the line of their paymasters in government.
Economics is all but a dismal science, as their theories rarely work or has worked uniformly everywhere; where they have worked, purely under fortuitous circumstances or just by law of averages, the economists take all the credit, and where they have flopped, the same wise guys find convenient scapegoats.
Statistics is a dicey subject: by cleverly using or manipulating – highlighting or side-stepping some figures - the same set of available statistics – in India their veracity is always in doubt – one can argue for or against anything or to prove their point in a discussion.
In India we do have a very serious resource crunch: the funds available have to be judiciously used on myriad needy causes; so what is ear-marked spent on education can be best utilized on imparting top training available to the teachers and who can then produce brighter men and women with far higher employment potential.
Of course, the other less important subjects may be offered as elected to those desirous of learning them.
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