All Good Things...

Today I gave my high school class on entrepreneurship their final. It was the first test I had ever written. I think it went over pretty well, with most students not even needing the allotted hour and a half. In the name of openness and potential curiosity, I am posting the test to this blog. To peruse what my students had to do, click here. The final covered most of the material we spent 4 months studying and reviewing. Their grades will not be based solely on the final, in case you're wondering.

How would you do?

If anyone out there loves the West Wing as much as I do, this website is a must. They notice lots of small details that you may miss after just a single viewing. Also keep up on clever references that may pass you by. Finally, it is a great catch-up tool if you were to ever, GASP, miss an episode.

A Strange, Strange Movie

I finished watching A Clockwork Orange a few hours ago. I then had a headache and am now finally coherent enough to blog my experience.

What a weird movie. I did not quite understand the point or the moral of the movie. The interesting music and strange characters made the movie compelling. But the point eludes me. All I know is that I'll never listen to Ludwig Van or Singing in the Rain quite the same ever again.

This is a very different movie from the one I saw yesterday, Top Gun. The latter is a very plain, straight-forward movie. No major ups or downs. Just a solid story told from beginning to end with minimal character development or depth (even after a death). That notwithstanding, I still like the movie. It is easy watching, has awesome music and takes you on a rush of a ride. Fun, easy, action-packed. Comfortable mindless entertainment. That's my kind of movie!

Before going to sleep I happened upon the Sci-Fi channel, which was showing the Twilight Zone. The classic 1961 episode, "It's A Good Life," stared Will Robinson as a 6 year old danger. Anything he wished for became reality. So you had better not think bad thoughts, or else you would get zapped to the cornfield.

I found a great overview of the episode, including lots of pictures, on this fine site.

I will end my blog entry as Rod Serling ended the episode:

"No comment here. No comment at all."

A few weeks ago I was invited to be a part of the Republican Party's "Business Advisory Council" as a leading small business owner and community leader. I was going to be an honorary chairman and attend regular meetings with movers and shakers in Washington. Um, yeah, ok, whatever. No matter than I am not a Republican.

Today, ABCNews finally got around to reporting on this fund-raising scam. An online article is available here. Basically, it is a deceptive fund-raising effort by the head of the NRCC - a leading "soft money" contributor with the sole goal of getting Republicans elected to Congress (a fact never mentioned on the phone or their website).

God, I love this country!

At least half of all the blogs that took, and linked to the "personality test" I offered have never heard about the "archetype" they ended up being pegged with. A typical blog entry has been "not sure who this guy is, but whatever." This result offers hope, and a wakening call, for those of us who see the blogging world as a small clique.

SHOCK! Not everyone wakes up to David Weinberger. Not everyone succumbs to Andrew Sullivan's ideas. Not everyone has been compelled to kiss the cantankerous ass of Christopher Locke or Rebecca Blood's ribald derriere. Even more so - some people who religiously read Rebecca's blog have never acquiesced to AKMA's voluptuous vocabulary. Nor has every Metafilter member meandered to Megnut's mental mastications.

Maybe it isn't surprising that readers of one archetype don't indulge in all the other archetypes. Of course, the test itself was limited by the brevity of questions and the minimal pool of final result options (only 9). Some blogs pointed out that I missed entire types of archetype - like my slight of LiveJournal and OpenDiary sites. In that way, the pool of results indicate my own "circle" of blogs - my own clique.

Now for my anti-climax of a conclusion - as readers, we tend to stick to a circle of blogs, but as bloggers, it is good to recognize that there are as many bloggers, and types of bloggers, as there are stars in the sky.