Who Watches the Apple Watch While the Apple Watch Watches You?

Who Watches the Apple Watch While the Apple Watch Watches You?

Astral Facts, January 2017

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Who Watches the Apple Watch While the Apple Watch is Watching You?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” is how Charles Dickens began his story in 1859.  (Snoopy’s unfinished novel begins the same as well.)  How interesting that we can continue to relate to such content from literary works, of varying degrees of stature, as life unfolds and plays out around us. 

Perhaps more interesting is the application of such content done unknowingly in a chain of dropped reference citations.  For example, during a recent informal conversation among faculty here on campus, the discussion turned to the current trends in technology with wrist devices now counting steps, measuring heart rate, and doing everything except providing answers to questions on the SATs.  Someone mentioned that in China, people are now wearing “movement tracker” body devices that observe and record aspects of body language, noting the frequency of positive and negative body language.  Through this, the accumulation of points by using “positive” body language can be a factor in a person’s social and professional status, resulting in job promotions for those responsible for creating “positive vibes” around them. 

The immediate response around the table evoked the phrase “Big Brother is Watching.”  Of course, at our table the origins of the concept coming from George Orwell’s 1984 was understood, and the discussion then continued revolving around aspects of the “lag time” of advances of technology outpacing issues of ethics – and where/how do people, especially young people today – learn or acquire their body of ethics.  People use live video to post up reprehensible behavior. We remarked on how the emphasis on STEM content has left less time for reviewing content from literature, philosophy, the arts, etc.on life's lessons - in the best of times, in the worst of times.

At home I asked my children where does the expression “Big Brother is Watching” come from and only one attributed it to Orwell, although he admitted he had not read the book (or even seen the movie).  Another child thought it might have come from a scene in the film Fahrenheit 451, which is not so far from the truth.  That child was vaguely aware that the story was also in book form - probably as a result of the film. 

( Note:  I'm glad I read Fahrenheit 451 before I saw the movie, but when I reflect upon it, the scenes from the movie are mostly what appear in my mind as my thoughts align with the filmmaker’s views.)

In a 2006 TED Talk, “Do schools kill creativity?”, Sir Ken Robinson comments that the emphasis on “productivity” and doing things “right” has diminished the reliance on the natural creativity inherent in children.  The fear of being “wrong” supplants the curiosity and ingenuity that seeks out different approaches and innovative thinking.  Robinson tells the story of the Nativity Play put on by the four-year-old performers when his son was in preschool.  The boys in the role of the three kings mixed up the order of the presentation of gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh) as they walked on the stage, set down their gifts and said, in turn,

“I bring you gold”

“I bring you myrrh”

“Frank sent this.”

This was charming as it came from a four-year-old.  However, children a bit older would have embarrassed their families by such “mistakes.”  Later in his talk, Robinson related the story of Gillian Lynne, a dancer and choreographer who did Cats and Phantom of the Opera.  As an eight-year-old child, she was not a good student – fidgety and unable to concentrate - and consequently diagnosed as having serious learning disabilities.  When her mother took her to a specialist and used most of the session to explain all the symptoms, the doctor told the child he needed to speak privately with the mother and they left her alone in the office.  As he left, the doctor turned on the radio on his desk.  Upon leaving the room, the doctor stopped the mother and said “Let’s watch.”  Not realizing she was being observed, the child immediately stood up and began moving with the music.  After a few minutes, the doctor turned to the mother and told her, “Gillian isn’t sick; she’s a dancer.  Take her to a dance school.”  Robinson noted that this occurred back in the 1930s, before ADHD had been invented.  He speculated that today, the child would have been diagnosed with ADHD and medicated to keep her calm.  Of course, she would have been watched carefully as well.

http://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all?gclid=CNqEpeqq29ECFQ-ZfgodHkcOWw

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Or as the full quote states as Dickens looked back in 1859 to the days of 1789,

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Recently I saw a little activity on a friend’s Facebook page:  “Grab the nearest book, turn to page 117, and post up the second sentence on the page.  This will be your life in 2017.”  I happened to have my literature class anthology at hand, and page 117 put me in the middle of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”: explaining the habit of the father finishing dinner after a long hard day and then falling asleep in his armchair and later needing to go to bed for a good night’s sleep before getting up early for work the next day. 

The mother plucked at his sleeve, whispering sweet words into his ear; the sister would leave her homework to help her mother, but none of this had any effect on the father.

Hmmm….

I shared this on my Facebook page, and with very few exceptions (such as the person grabbing the 2017 Ford Explorer Owner’s Manual), the responses were “literary” in nature – writings by Mark Twain, Dalai Lama, Jane Austen, W. Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad, John Grisham, Georges Simenon, etc., which might merely reflect the preferences of my Facebook community homies. 

We could ask: 

How might the results differ on the Facebook page of the younger generations (like my former student, who posted “My Kindle doesn’t have pages!”)?

In fact, the original posting was done by the "younger" generation members of the Indie Band “Tegan and Sara.”  The hundreds of postings by their followers on their Facebook page also reveal a wide range of “literary” quotes as well.

https://www.facebook.com/TeganandSara/photos/a.389205624109.166758.29144989109/10154893058144110/?type=3&theater#

Better yet to ask – 

Which nearby book would you choose as a prediction source to look on page 117?  How do you imagine it applies? 

As you reach for that book, remember – your FitBit is watching!

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

March Madness: Incurable Disease?

March Madness: Incurable Disease?

Astral Facts, March 2016

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

March Madness: Incurable Disease?

Humanities Scientists have interests that extend beyond the classical forms of literature, art, and philosophy, for drama, film, and sports as entertainment also fall within our purveyance.  While the Natural Scientist may ponder how the final minute in a basketball or football game can actually last as long as ten minutes or more, the Humanities Scientist only revels in the splendor of life not controlled by the clock or other technology-imposed concepts that squeeze the essence out of the vintage of life with a mechanical whine!

No clearer evidence of this can be found than the national frenzy occurring every year around this time with the “March Madness” associated with college basketball.  It has been estimated that nationally over four million hours of productivity are usually lost during the time of the national basketball tournaments as workers are distracted by the events on the hardwoods. 

In the past, workers had the radio on, with regular distractions stimulated by the emotions in the announcers’ voices in the background.  Local and national television only exacerbated these distractions, adding eyes to the ears and bringing the distractions to the foreground.  The Internet spiked this even further, as people began to watch the scenes in their cubicle workstations.

 Supervisors and managers then began to patrol the hallways and cubicle aisles to crack the whip and get the workers back on track.  (Several of websites, such as CBSSports.com, ESPN.com, and even NCAA.com offered a “boss button” in the corner of the screen.  A quick click at the approach of a supervisor, and the screen changed to a complex multi-colored spread sheet.)

However, more recent research has shown that those lost man-hours (not so many “woman-hours” have been lost in the past, but that is changing with further emphasis on the Women’s Tournament) are actually more than doubled in later productivity as a result of the “bonding” and camaraderie created as workers share “the ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat” as their teams soar and/or crash and burn.  Here are the poll results from last year: http://officeteam.rhi.mediaroom.com/2015-03-04-Should-You-Celebrate-March-Madness-At-Work

This is intensified as the “office pools” stimulate interest in even the obscure match-ups not involving the individuals’ own alma mater or hated cross-town or intra state rival, for each game means points added or lost toward bragging rights in the ‘hood.

However, more than just bragging rights are involved.  This year it has been estimated that nationally approximately $9 billion will be involved from the twenty-five cent office pool antes up to the open match book bets in places like Las Vegas and discreet off-shore financial cachets.

Because our mission in the two-year colleges is to prepare students to transfer to appropriate four-year colleges and universities or directly to the workplace, for the past 15 years in conjunction with the Popular Culture class I have taught, I have offered my students an opportunity to determine if they are “Smarter Than A Teacher” by taking the March Madness Tournament Challenge.  In addition to teachers and students, the “pool” also is open to anyone else in the greater community in order to “randomize” the population sample involved.  (Minimum age is 13, so the supposition is you have to be smarter than a 5^th grader!  However, you can still get advice from a 5^th grader!)

(You will notice that President Obama reveals his bracket picks each year as well as indicated by the link from last year.  Here is the link from last year, when he predicted the victory by the University of Kentucky (Duke beat Kentucky in the final):

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/_/id/12505909/president-barack-obama-bracket-picks-kentucky-ncaa-men-basketball-title 

Are You Smarter Than A Teacher?

Now is a chance to prove it!    Non-credit activity: English, 101, 105, 126, 128, 185, and 246.

March Madness “Sanity” Test

Go online to the ESPN Fantasy game link and select the home link:

http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/2016/en/game

Click on the “Create a Bracket Now” link and follow the directions to register to participate.

Once you create your entry, you can join the group. Our group is Green River.  (Teachers are asked to put a “T” in their entry.)  

Sunday, March 13 was the day for the choosing of the 64 teams for the college basketball tournament.  Between then and the morning of Thursday, March 17^th (when the first game in the tournament starts) you can fill out your predictions regarding the winners of each round of the tournament.

(Note: You must fill out all the information including the final winner before the first game starts at 9:00 PDT on the morning of the 17^th.)

You may compose as many as ten different versions of how you predict the tournament will end.  After you register the first entry, click on the “my brackets” link again to set up an additional entry.

You will be competing against a group of teachers, members of the community, and your classmates to see how many are smarter than the teachers!!

Our group has no cash incentive per se, but we are part of the 600,000 entries submitted nationwide.  Seven years ago a sophomore high school student from Alabama had the best result in the nation, winning $10,000.  This year the top prize (in the nation) is $10,000 from Amazon and a trip to Hawaii.  In our group, top prize is bragging rights in the ‘hood.  à Almost the same!

Note: Since 2001, students have finished first eight times (including one female student, so this isn’t only a male domain), teachers have won four times and members of the community (including my wife one year!) have also won three times. 

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

The "Busman's Holiday" in the Parked Bus: Winter Break 2015-16

The “Busman’s Holiday” in the Parked Bus

Astral Facts, Winter Break 2015-6

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Busperson in the Parked Bus

Each November, while the students sequester themselves for autumn midterms, I usually realize that I haven’t used my two “personal days” allowed under the contract and those days will expire on the calendar year end, carried over from the previous contract year.  In the metaphorical “busman’s holiday,” I pack up the pile of student papers and my wife and I leave town, booking space in a nearby WorldMark facility for an extended November 11th holiday break.  In between whittling down the piles of student papers and taking walks together for physical escape, one or both of us peruse the resort’s DVD selections of past films that have passed us by while ploughing through previous fields of student papers.

For those of us not so hardy and not willing to face the madding crowds of the current winter break film lines, here are some suggestions for escape options we found for home viewing, where the popcorn is fresher and more natural (organic popcorn at Trader Joe’s is the best deal in town).  Along with real butter and Himalayan sea salt, you can supply your own favorite beverage, hot or cold, caffeinated or not.

With the discussions of multicultural issues at the forefront locally, nationally, and world-wide, we recommend The Railway Man (2013) starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidder, and Hiroyuki Sanada.  Combining scenes from the "present" with flashbacks to the wartime events, the film considers concerns such as how a survivor of a wartime POW camp might deal (or not) with issues that continue to persist many year later.  More importantly perhaps are options that others -veterans included - might have in support and how extreme these might be.  The film offers some insight.

Another film that addresses issues of immigrants bringing their cultural traditions and differences to established neighborhoods and communities is the topical issue in the film The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) with Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, and Charlotte Le Bon.  While the surface conflicts might be culinary in nature, and, as many of us acknowledge during these holiday seasons, food is a bonding substance that defines and unites cultures, the film offers commentary on that theme that goes deeper than how much is on the plate itself.

Finally, for a more “long-term” escape journey in the parked bus, we recommend a BBC mini-series To Serve Them All My Days (1980) (included in the 1982 PBS Masterpiece Theater series), which involves 13 episodes covering the time between WWI and WWII.  The setting is at Bamfylde School, a fictitious private (referred to in Britain as “public”) boys boarding school in England, with the main character a young soldier recovering from “battle fatigue” (now recognized as PTSD).  This main character (played by John Duttine) secures a position as a history teacher in the school, which is a “world” distant from his Welsh upbringing in a working class coal miner family.  The episodes cover his challenges dealing with social, political, philosophical, psychological, religious, gender, etc. issues and stereotypes stemming from class and ethnic differences coming from students, fellow faculty, community members, family, and even administrative changes at the school.  Although the original book was written in 1972, and the series itself was one 35 years ago, the issues still persist.

We have found all these also available at our local (King County) branch libraries, and all thirteen episodes of the BBC series seem to be available on YouTube.  Regardless of the medium, we wish everyone a “grande” time during our “short” break.

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

Summer Reading; Some Are Writing

Summer Reading; Some Are Writing

Astral Facts, May-June 2015

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Fanfic As You Like It!

Now that school is out for the summer just about everywhere (except for those of us teaching summer school and/or supporting those doing the instruction), it only seems appropriate to turn to the traditional summer reading lists.  While some of us can turn to the shelf with all the new materials on the bucket list, quite a few of us might choose to go back to re-experience the old favorites.

Somewhere in between we can find those doing both by combining old and new.  Like most of us, they wish the stories could have turned out differently or perhaps they recognize characters have acted in unreasonable ways just to please the author.  Even sometimes, the book has ended without finishing the story.

 While most readers might just accept that as the way life is, others haven’t been so complacent.  Rather than taking the lemons of life and making lemonade, they trade those lemons for prunes, make prune juice, and let things flow!  They are the ones who have created and participated in “FanFic” – the action of continuation or alteration of the text by its fans.

For example, why not revise all the “Harry Potter” stories into a feminist version of something like a “Harriet Potter and ….” series?  The child of the muggle dentists could then be Herman Granger, who has the book smarts but not the dauntless courage of the female protagonist. Could you image a good girl/bad boy relationship between Harriet and Draco Malfoy with Harriet’s nurturing feminine character in conflict with her role as “the girl who lived”?  More than just a love triangle, let’s put Herman Granger and Ron Weasley into the mix to create a “love rhombus” with Harriet as the hypotenuse! 

Dip your quill in the inkwell and take it from there …..

For inspiration, read what others have done: Google “fanfic” and your favorite book or author.  Try it with “Shakespeare” and over 2100 stories show up on 77 pages, including those little-known versions of scenes such as “Fresh Off the Gondola” and “The Twisted Balcony Scene.” These go much beyond the more passive cinematic version of Leonardo DiCaprio and street gangs in LA with its agonizing “balcony” scene in the swimming pool.   

We could also try to rewrite the texts in the style of another author. For those expecting academic content,  here is a link to the final scenes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as if Ayn Rand had written it:

http://the-toast.net/2015/04/09/ayn-rands-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows/

For those of us who prefer a lighter summer vacation fare, how about just rewriting Liam Neeson’s short phone statement from the film Taken (which we now know is Taken 1)?  Here’s how Ralph Jones would imagine it done by Dr. Seuss, Shakespeare, and Hemingway:

The original:  “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you’re looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money; but what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career; skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t…I will look for you…I will find you…and I will kill you.”

DR. SEUSS

“No I don’t know who you may be,

I don’t know what you want from me.

I have no money but I do

Have skills that would endanger you!

If you let my daughter go

I won’t chase you, no! no! no!

But if you keep her, oh dear me,

I will find you, you will see.

Not only will I catch you, I

Will make sure that I watch you die!”

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

“I know thy voice but know not who thou art.

Nor can I profess to know thy mind.

If ransom be thy motive, know that I

Hath money only for the clothes that cloak

My skin. In place of coins I hath acquired

Valuable knowledge of the sort that breaks

The backs of men like you. Return my girl.

If she and I are reunited, thou

Shalt have no cause to hear from me again.

But lo, if you should choose a different path

(O God! I can scarce imagine such a fate),

Scouring land and sea I will find you

And with my sword I will remove thy tongue.

A plague upon you! I will not rest until

Thy body rots six feet beneath the earth.”

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

“Will kill you if you do not return daughter.” 

These and four others are posted here:

http://the-toast.net/2015/06/09/liam-neesons-taken-speech-written-by-seven-famous-authors/

So this summer as the sands of time trickle through the hourglass, spread them out on an exotic beach, with pen, Ipad, Kindle, or other device in hand (and a cool drink with a little umbrella also at hand) and create your own reality: some are reading and summer writing!

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

Freberg and the Postmodernist Responsibility, April 2015

Freberg and the Postmodernist Responsibility

Astral Facts, April 2015

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Freberg and the Postmodernist Responsibility

In 1962, syndicated columnist and social critic Marya Mannes asked the question “How Do You Know It’s Good?” as the title of an article.  Mannes was in the midst of the shift from the “modern” to “postmodern” ages.  She began by voicing the concerns that many felt in this transition time:

Suppose there were no critics to tell us how to react to a picture, a play, or a new composition of music.  Suppose we wandered innocent as the dawn into an art exhibition of unsigned paintings.  By what standards, by what values would we decide whether they were good or bad, talented or untalented, successes or failures?  How can we ever know that what we think is right?

http://members.tripod.com/karl_p_henning/old/itsgood.html

Dating back to the times of the early Greeks, the definitions of “acceptable” cultural and literary standards were established and revised through the generations with a general consensus emerging from the dominant culture of the time.  These had an authoritative “voice” such as Plato, Aristotle, Wordsworth, [Matthew] Arnold, etc. as the spokesperson.   

In the early 1900’s the “Modern” critical view dominated.  Also referred to as “New Criticism” or “Formalism,” this continued this view of the “tradition” of good literature conforming to “formal rules” of structure, elements, and organization.  The major difference was that this involved a variety of voices with none seen as the focal point.

In her article from over 50 years ago, Mannes notes that this multitude of voices caused a shift from the modern approach to the “postmodern” era where we firmly stand situate ourselves these days.  Mannes points out that the period after WWII introduced a just because it’s old doesn't mean it’s good / just because it’s new doesn't make it bad approach that was transforming even further in jettisoning the “old ways.”  As she says, “The word ‘new’ – in our country especially – has magical connotations.  What is new must be good; what is old is probably bad.” 

The global shift in post WWII culture offered the opportunity to review and enhance past traditional approaches.  Self-reflection and self-confession became the norm as a pathway to self-knowledge and self-improvement. The shift was intended to improve the individual within the community and improve the community for the individual. 

Thus, satire became a useful tool to disarm harsh criticism if we could laugh at ourselves and with ourselves.  This would then be a avenue for understanding ourselves and our culture as a means to recognize the cultural reality while taking individual responsibility for our role in it.

One of the great masters of such self-reflective satire passed away during the month of April in the person of Stan Freberg.  It only seems appropriate to reflect upon his creative genius at getting us to look at ourselves through the lens of satire and to reflect upon how this helped us see ourselves, individually and culturally,  in a humorous and non-threatening way.

Freberg did this through his comedy monologues.  Corporate powers recognized that he had his finger on the pulse of the American consumer, and they harnessed his talents.

Before the “reality TV” rooted in the daytime soaps was probably even a concept for prime time television, Freberg came up with a “reality TV commercial” series playing upon the recognition that the commercials used paid actors purporting to be users of the products.  Freberg asked - Why not use that apparent weakness as a strength?  Here’s an example done for Cheerios:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PauDwNFPucU

Before diversity and multicultural awareness became buzzwords, Freberg was on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4_fLIPAfoY

Freberg made us aware of the hype used in our culture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqx9zbdfK9k

Probably one of his most famous creations was the “St. George and the Dragonet” story, updated here with Claymation on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT3QYb7AN6k

Freberg’s genius was in getting people to react to the humor on the surface as a means to reflect on the reality below it. 

Unfortunately, these days most people don’t have time to get very far below the surface.  We have the technique but not the skill honed by responsibility.

As technology has changed the culture and old technology speeds up the shift to new technology, we have morphed into a type of Postmodern society with the focus on self for self’s benefit.  In this approach, the emphasis is on finding fault and problems with any general status quo, which is then exposed through satire as ridicule.  Somehow knowing how messed up things are around us is supposed to help our own self-esteem in a sort of “My life isn't so bad after all” epiphany.

I often observe my children watching some pointless “reality” show (usually with people in dysfunctional relationships agonizing over how dysfunctional other people are), and I point out that this “reality” is scripted, offering nothing of substance to apply to the lives of the viewers.

“But Dad, It’s hilarious!” is how my children respond, having been well-schooled in the current Postmodern techniques used to answer Mannes’ original question, “How do you know it’s good?”

As for me, I still prefer to watch the commercials.

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

Still Crazy After All These Years: March 2015

Still Crazy After All These Years

Astral Facts, March 2015

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Still Crazy After All These Years

Humanities Scientists have interests that extend beyond the classical forms of literature, art, and philosophy, for drama, film, and sports as entertainment also fall within our purveyance.  While the Natural Scientist may ponder how the final minute in a basketball or football game can actually last as long as ten minutes or more, the Humanities Scientist only revels in the splendor of life not controlled by the clock or other technology-imposed concepts that squeeze the essence out of the vintage of life with a mechanical whine!

No clearer evidence of this can be found than the national frenzy occurring every year around this time with the “March Madness” associated with college basketball.  It has been estimated that nationally over four million hours of productivity are usually lost during the time of the national basketball tournaments as workers are distracted by the events on the hardwoods. 

Even years after our own college days, we can experience those frenetic times from the past surge up from the unconscious and subconscious domain of the spiritual hard drive.  In the past, workers would have the radio on, with regular distractions stimulated by the emotions in the announcers’ voices in the background.  Local and national television only exacerbated these distractions, adding sight to the sound and bringing the distractions to the foreground.  The Internet spiked this even further, as people began to watch the scenes in their cubicle workstations.

 Supervisors and managers then began to patrol the hallways and cubicle aisles to crack the whip and get the workers back on track.  (Several of the websites, such as CBSSports.com, ESPN.com, and even NCAA.com offered a “boss button” in the corner of the screen.  A quick click at the approach of a supervisor, and the screen changed to a complex multi-colored spread sheet.)

However, more recent research has shown that those lost man-hours (not so many “woman-hours” have been lost in the past, but that is changing with further emphasis on the Women’s Tournament) are actually more than doubled in later productivity as a result of the “bonding” and camaraderie created as workers share “the ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat” as their teams soar and/or crash and burn.  

This is intensified as the “office pools” stimulate interest in even the obscure match-ups not involving the individuals’ own alma mater or hated cross-town or intra state rival, for each game means points added or lost toward bragging rights in the ‘hood.

However, more than just bragging rights are involved.  This year it has been estimated that nationally approximately $9 billion will be involved from the twenty-five cent office pool antes up to the open match book bets in places like Las Vegas and discreet off-shore financial cachets.

The challenge significance will be once again underscored by a presentation from The White House on Tuesday or Wednesday with President Obama's selections in his bracket with an explanation of his prediction of the "Final Four" and the White House personal projections for the eventual winner.

Because our mission in the two-year colleges is to prepare students to transfer to appropriate four-year colleges and universities or directly to the workplace, for the past 14 years in conjunction with the Popular Culture class I have taught, I have offered my students an opportunity to determine if they are “Smarter Than A Teacher” by taking the online March Madness Tournament Challenge hosted by ESPN.  In addition to teachers and students, the “pool” also is open to anyone else in the greater community in order to “randomize” the population sample involved.  (Minimum age is 13, so the supposition is you have to be smarter than a 5^th grader!  However, you can still get advice from a 5^th grader!)

While this only involves “Bragging Rights in the ‘Hood” with no financial aspect in our Green River group, the group itself will be part of the national pool conducted by ESPN.  The national winner does receive a $20,000 Best Buy gift card and a trip for two to Hawaii.  Several years ago, a 16-year-old high school sophomore from Alabama was the national winner, so anything is possible!  The details as I present them to my students are listed below:

Are You Smarter Than A Teacher? 

Now is a chance to prove it!    Non-credit activity: English, 101, 126, 128, and 185.

March Madness “Sanity” Test

Go online to the ESPN Fantasy game home page:  http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/2015/en/game

Click on the GET STARTED link and then register to participate through the “sign up for free” link and set up your personal user name and personal password.  

Once you create your entry, you can join the group. (If possible teachers should include a “T” at the end of the entry name.)  Our group is Green River. 

Sunday, March 15 was the day for the choosing of the 64-68 teams for the national college basketball tournament.  Between then and 9:00 in the morning of Thursday, March 19 (when the first game in the tournament starts) you can fill out your predictions regarding the winners of each round of the tournament.

(Note: You must fill out all the information including the final winner before the first game starts on the morning of the 19^th.)

You may compose as many as ten different versions of how you predict the tournament will end.  (Thus, if you have Gonzaga beating Kentucky in the championship game, you could also do a revised version with Kentucky beating Gonzaga.) 

After you register the first entry and join the group, you can select the “create another bracket” to prepare another entry.  (If you select the “my brackets” link you can create another bracket as well.)

You will be competing against a group of teachers, members of the community, and your classmates to see how many are smarter than the teachers!!

Six years ago a sophomore high school student from Alabama had the best result in the nation, winning $10,000.  This year the top prize (in the nation) is $20,000 and a trip to Hawaii.  In our group, top prize is bragging rights in the ‘hood.  Almost the same!

Note: Since 2001, students have finished first eight times (including one female student, so this isn’t only a male domain), teachers have won three times and members of the community (including my wife one year!) have also won three times.

Even now, the anticipation of the referee’s whistle seems to be calling from the past and the future!  See you again after that final whistle, which is only a signal to anticipate the next starting tweet!

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.