Random thoughts that are pointless and too dumb to say anywhere else thread: 2021

[nodakfan17]

Do celebrities ever have kids that grow up to be totally normal people? Like, is there any chance Blue Ivey Carter becomes an actuary?

 

In my head, I’m assuming all kids of celebrities either ride their parents’ coattails to pseudo-celebrity status or become serial entrepreneurial failures because they have access to capital, but lack talent.

[adambr2]

Do celebrities ever have kids that grow up to be totally normal people? Like, is there any chance Blue Ivey Carter becomes an actuary?

 

In my head, I’m assuming all kids of celebrities either ride their parents’ coattails to pseudo-celebrity status or become serial entrepreneurial failures because they have access to capital, but lack talent.

 

Many times their parents don't even have any actual talent.

[igor67]

I had a first cousin of Paul Molitor's. Very normal kid, she took 2 years to say anything about the Molitor connection. It might be difficult with kids, but certainly associated family can be quite normal in my modest experience.

[CheezWizHed]

I have my BS and MS from Madison in engineering and I feel like my education was just a piece of paper. I bet school only taught me 25% of the stuff that I needed to know in my current position. I also thought all those liberal arts classes (zoology, sociology, etc.) did not make me a better person. I feel like we need to have a 3 year bachelor's degree equivalent that axes these meaningless classes and just teaches you what you need to know. It should make getting a bachelor's degree way cheaper. In my opinion, we should be pushing for tech schools more and remove the negative stigma. College isn't for everyone.

 

Here's an example. We trained a very detail-oriented drafter how to do engineering. Out of everyone on our team, he routinely produces the highest quality work. He outperforms team members who have a 4 year engineering degree. He doesn't really understand all the technical theory behind things, which hampers him a little bit, but he is great at asking questions. He also wants to take zero responsibility and has no desire to be licensed. I believe Wisconsin still allows tech school graduates to get their PE if they have enough experience and they pass the PE exam. I bet with some training, he could pass the exam.

 

[sarcasm]Well... you did graduate from UW Engineering...[/sarcasm] (Said the MSOE BSEE; Penn State MS Eng management)

 

For engineering, college is not meant to teach you everything... it couldn't. It is meant to give you a foundation for the company to build upon. To give you a common language and understanding of the basics before you start learning the specialization they need.

 

Your drafter-to-engineer person sounds like they do quality work, but I'm guessing it is in a well defined area where they produce production ready information. Whereas a person without a strong engineering foundation might struggle more in a research type engineering area. Even when you hire 4-year degreed engineers, some will handle the detail-orientated development type work and others better in research-figure-it-out type work. We are just wired that way.

 

I would counter your 3-year degree idea this way. My oldest daughter took PSEO classes in high school. Now in her second year of college, she might actually graduate in 3 years. Most of the PSEO classes she took were elective and entry level classes. In MN, PSEO is offered for free, so she basically cut off 25% of her college costs. I have a son who is a senior that is going into engineering...it will be interesting if he can do the same.

 

I do think the rounding of those classes is important for the degree. Breadth in knowledge and thinking is nearly as important as depth (in one subject). Some of my electives have long been forgotten, but several have stuck with me and been useful through my career.

[zurch1818]

[sarcasm]Well... you did graduate from UW Engineering...[/sarcasm] (Said the MSOE BSEE; Penn State MS Eng management)

 

For engineering, college is not meant to teach you everything... it couldn't. It is meant to give you a foundation for the company to build upon. To give you a common language and understanding of the basics before you start learning the specialization they need.

 

Your drafter-to-engineer person sounds like they do quality work, but I'm guessing it is in a well defined area where they produce production ready information. Whereas a person without a strong engineering foundation might struggle more in a research type engineering area. Even when you hire 4-year degreed engineers, some will handle the detail-orientated development type work and others better in research-figure-it-out type work. We are just wired that way.

 

I would counter your 3-year degree idea this way. My oldest daughter took PSEO classes in high school. Now in her second year of college, she might actually graduate in 3 years. Most of the PSEO classes she took were elective and entry level classes. In MN, PSEO is offered for free, so she basically cut off 25% of her college costs. I have a son who is a senior that is going into engineering...it will be interesting if he can do the same.

 

I do think the rounding of those classes is important for the degree. Breadth in knowledge and thinking is nearly as important as depth (in one subject). Some of my electives have long been forgotten, but several have stuck with me and been useful through my career.

That's an interesting thought and I can see where you are coming from. Yea, our drafter engineer doesn't really understand structural engineering theory, but he grasps the concepts once I explain them to him. I guess I'm advocating trying to find ways to make school more affordable and getting rid of those fluff classes could do wonders.

 

In my experience with liberal arts classes at UW Madison (2009 grad), they are more about teaching you what to think rather than how to think. It was very frustrating. For example, in one particular class, I got a D on a paper when I wrote something that was an opposing viewpoint and a B when it echoed what they were teaching. Luckily, I was taking the class pass/fail. Give me calculus or some other logical class any day of the week. I actually found out after college that I liked coding and have gotten pretty good at it in my free time. That may have been something that would have helped over some of those other classes. But I guess as someone else alluded to is they still didn't have any experience with Azure. However, the knowledge of how to loop things is incredibly valuable. It seems learning the first language is the most difficult, then it is just syntax after that...at least for scripting languages. I also had an engineering leadership class. This was incredibly useful for what I do now. I just think you could do a better job and trim out some of the fat.

 

At least with engineering, I think a required co-op with practical experience is a much more beneficial than liberal arts classes. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for classes that don't prep you for actual work, you can get paid to learn how to actually be an engineer and solve real world problems. When I hire someone fresh out of school, they a lot of times lack the practical skills. We also hire co-ops with the hope they want to work with us when they graduate. Unfortunately, we have been losing our best co-ops to the highly competitive market as now they can get a job virtually anywhere.

[CheezWizHed]

I tend to think the bigger Universities are worse at the fluff classes. I work with many U-MN grads that talk about taking bowling and other odd "college" classes. I took American Government, Poli-Sci, German, Business Law, Oceanography (ok, fluff), Physics of Acoustics, Creative Thinking, etc..

 

Creative Thinking was actually very useful. It taught about different ways people learn. One of the most valuable things I've learned is how I best learn (ironically). I often coach my team to understand how they learn.

 

I just hired a new grad. My main criterion was finding someone that was eager to learn with a strong engineering base. My team will develop the specific skills we need.

[JimH5]

I think I've had enough of Dan Levy for awhile. All the ads and Twitter memes.

 

Let's give that a rest for a bit.

[owbc]

I think I've had enough of Dan Levy for awhile. All the ads and Twitter memes.

 

Let's give that a rest for a bit.

 

Hope you like Jason Sudeikis then...

[nodakfan17]

I think I've had enough of Dan Levy for awhile. All the ads and Twitter memes.

 

Let's give that a rest for a bit.

 

Hope you like Jason Sudeikis then...

I know those guys are a little overexposed right now, but I find them both very likable relative to most other pop culture figures.

[stoutdude04]

I tend to think the bigger Universities are worse at the fluff classes. I work with many U-MN grads that talk about taking bowling and other odd "college" classes. I took American Government, Poli-Sci, German, Business Law, Oceanography (ok, fluff), Physics of Acoustics, Creative Thinking, etc..

 

Creative Thinking was actually very useful. It taught about different ways people learn. One of the most valuable things I've learned is how I best learn (ironically). I often coach my team to understand how they learn.

 

I just hired a new grad. My main criterion was finding someone that was eager to learn with a strong engineering base. My team will develop the specific skills we need.

 

I had softball and badminton. Ha.

 

I do think college should focus more on core classes, but I cant it wasnt nice to have an easy 2 or 3 credit course when I did 18 credits.

 

For me, college was a great opportunity to grow myself and learn to be independent. I met people that were much different than myself and I quickly learned what was and wasnt acceptable to say and do around others. I dont think I necessarily became smarter, but I did learn a lot. If that makes sense?

[Thurston Fluff]

I tend to think the bigger Universities are worse at the fluff classes. I work with many U-MN grads that talk about taking bowling and other odd "college" classes. I took American Government, Poli-Sci, German, Business Law, Oceanography (ok, fluff), Physics of Acoustics, Creative Thinking, etc..

 

Creative Thinking was actually very useful. It taught about different ways people learn. One of the most valuable things I've learned is how I best learn (ironically). I often coach my team to understand how they learn.

 

I just hired a new grad. My main criterion was finding someone that was eager to learn with a strong engineering base. My team will develop the specific skills we need.

 

I had softball and badminton. Ha.

 

I do think college should focus more on core classes, but I cant it wasnt nice to have an easy 2 or 3 credit course when I did 18 credits.

 

For me, college was a great opportunity to grow myself and learn to be independent. I met people that were much different than myself and I quickly learned what was and wasnt acceptable to say and do around others. I dont think I necessarily became smarter, but I did learn a lot. If that makes sense?

 

It makes perfect sense. Intelligence and ignorance are two separate things. The former is fixed the latter fixable.

[FVBrewerFan]

I tend to think the bigger Universities are worse at the fluff classes. I work with many U-MN grads that talk about taking bowling and other odd "college" classes. I took American Government, Poli-Sci, German, Business Law, Oceanography (ok, fluff), Physics of Acoustics, Creative Thinking, etc..

 

Creative Thinking was actually very useful. It taught about different ways people learn. One of the most valuable things I've learned is how I best learn (ironically). I often coach my team to understand how they learn.

 

I just hired a new grad. My main criterion was finding someone that was eager to learn with a strong engineering base. My team will develop the specific skills we need.

 

I had softball and badminton. Ha.

 

I do think college should focus more on core classes, but I cant it wasnt nice to have an easy 2 or 3 credit course when I did 18 credits.

 

For me, college was a great opportunity to grow myself and learn to be independent. I met people that were much different than myself and I quickly learned what was and wasnt acceptable to say and do around others. I dont think I necessarily became smarter, but I did learn a lot. If that makes sense?

 

I get that, but is that due ti college itself or just leaving home? As I said earlier if you go to the military, tech school, or directly into the workforce you're just as likely to learn independence and meet others not like yourself. Probably moreso.

[zurch1818]

I get why people are talking about enjoying taking one of these classes, but I'm guessing nobody would take those classes as stand alone credits.

 

Sure, I had elementary logic which was fun, but it was pretty much useless. I also had a 1 credit wood identification class. This class didn't actually count towards my degree at all. It met 5 times total. Those include a midterm and final exam. Plus the professor brought in homemade treats from his wife for each session.

 

I'm with FV on this one. It's all about being independent. College is one way to be on your own, but it isn't the only way. We need more practical experience training in college and cut out some of the fluff.

 

Give students a chance to see if they actually like what they are paying for. For example, I don't think anyone would buy a brand new $50k to $100k car without being sure if you would like it or not. Using buying a house is probably a better example as it at least goes up in value roughly 1-2% above inflation each year but that gets more complicated as you can sell it if you really don't like it. Regardless, it just seems backwards to me.

[stoutdude04]

I tend to think the bigger Universities are worse at the fluff classes. I work with many U-MN grads that talk about taking bowling and other odd "college" classes. I took American Government, Poli-Sci, German, Business Law, Oceanography (ok, fluff), Physics of Acoustics, Creative Thinking, etc..

 

Creative Thinking was actually very useful. It taught about different ways people learn. One of the most valuable things I've learned is how I best learn (ironically). I often coach my team to understand how they learn.

 

I just hired a new grad. My main criterion was finding someone that was eager to learn with a strong engineering base. My team will develop the specific skills we need.

 

I had softball and badminton. Ha.

 

I do think college should focus more on core classes, but I cant it wasnt nice to have an easy 2 or 3 credit course when I did 18 credits.

 

For me, college was a great opportunity to grow myself and learn to be independent. I met people that were much different than myself and I quickly learned what was and wasnt acceptable to say and do around others. I dont think I necessarily became smarter, but I did learn a lot. If that makes sense?

 

I get that, but is that due ti college itself or just leaving home? As I said earlier if you go to the military, tech school, or directly into the workforce you're just as likely to learn independence and meet others not like yourself. Probably moreso.

 

Valid question for sure. I'm sure there isnt one correct answer. I will say, there was very little diversity in my town growing up and had I gone directly into the work force here I'm sure I would have views similar to many others with the small town mentality.

 

I also think college forced me to make new friends a long with my current ones. Not sure how that would have gone had I just moved.

[Thurston Fluff]

I get that, but is that due ti college itself or just leaving home? As I said earlier if you go to the military, tech school, or directly into the workforce you're just as likely to learn independence and meet others not like yourself. Probably moreso.

 

I worked and lived on my own for seven years then went to college. The first couple months working next to adults of all ages and learning how to live on my own were as useful in learning independence as college did. Nothing like having no money, half a jar of peanut butter and a box a Ritz crackers left to eat for the week to learn how to budget for example. It did well to learn day to day adult living. It did not do well to expand my knowledge base after I learned those basic skills. I learned more about the unseen world around me in one year than I had in the seven previous.

I guess what I'm saying is you don't need college to learn how to learn independence but it does help you learn that on top of teaching you things you cannot learn without it. Those are things job training alone does not do.

[nate82]

The State Farm commercials really make Mahomes and Rodgers look like real entitled butt holes. Just saying.

[Samurai Bucky]

The State Farm commercials really make Mahomes and Rodgers look like real entitled butt holes. Just saying.

At least they aren't turning into a cardboard cutout. Poor commercials at best.

[MrTPlush]

The State Farm commercials really make Mahomes and Rodgers look like real entitled butt holes. Just saying.

 

Speaking of commercials…I cannot stand the advertisement for Siri that is like, “Who leads the NFL in TDs this year?” *Insert awkward silence for 5 seconds with no answer to the question.

 

Why don’t they just pick some record that Siri can then answer as part of the advertisement. Siri giving you silence with no answer doesn’t seem like a great advertisement of her abilities.

[stoutdude04]

The State Farm commercials really make Mahomes and Rodgers look like real entitled butt holes. Just saying.

 

Speaking of commercials…I cannot stand the advertisement for Siri that is like, “Who leads the NFL in TDs this year?” *Insert awkward silence for 5 seconds with no answer to the question.

 

Why don’t they just pick some record that Siri can then answer as part of the advertisement. Siri giving you silence with no answer doesn’t seem like a great advertisement of her abilities.

 

True! I'm always thinking. Well, tell me the answer so I can see if I'm correct.

[nate82]

 

Speaking of commercials…I cannot stand the advertisement for Siri that is like, “Who leads the NFL in TDs this year?” *Insert awkward silence for 5 seconds with no answer to the question.

 

Why don’t they just pick some record that Siri can then answer as part of the advertisement. Siri giving you silence with no answer doesn’t seem like a great advertisement of her abilities.

 

Conspiracy theory...... Apple is checking to see if Siri is activated on your iPhone. If it is it repeats the stats if not it sends a signal to Apple.

[TURBO]

The State Farm commercials really make Mahomes and Rodgers look like real entitled butt holes. Just saying.

 

I find it hilarious that Jake from State Farm, somehow, mysteriously turned into a black guy...

 

Couldn't they have given the replacement a different name since the replacement is obviously an entirely different person?

[jerichoholicninja]

The State Farm commercials really make Mahomes and Rodgers look like real entitled butt holes. Just saying.

 

I find it hilarious that Jake from State Farm, somehow, mysteriously turned into a black guy...

 

Couldn't they have given the replacement a different name since the replacement is obviously an entirely different person?

 

I believe the first commercial with the new guy established that he is a different person just with the same name. Could be wrong though.

[CheezWizHed]

Didn't they redo the "What are you wearing Jake from State Farm?" commercial with the same actors calling in, but the new Jake actor for the first one? I thought that was a bit odd...

[hawing]

Even if this clip doesn't specifically answer CWH's question, it seems relevant:

 

https://www.suggest.com/jake-from-state-farm-actor-re-cast/576/

[igor67]

When we had to switch agencies due to retirement. Our new agent actually was Jake from State Farm