In order to illustrate the discrepancies between Jean Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development, my Educational Psychology TA showed my classmates and I a video of a second grade class learning simple addition and subtraction. However, while watching the video, it wasn’t Jean Piaget I was thinking of. The video reminded me of democracy in its simplest form, and how, despite all of the education we may receive, nothing can save us from the inner child within all of us.

  I planned on posting two videos. Unfortunately, however, the embedded code for the Jean Piaget video was “disabled by request,” so I can only post a clip of the British Parliament’s House of Commons during one of their weekly “Questions for the Prime Minister” sessions. Please, please, I strongly advise that you click on this link to the Jean Piaget video before viewing the Parliament video.  If you do, the parallels between the two clips may be surprising.

Hah, this clip reminds me of chickens running around with their heads cut off (with the exception of the video game expert).

This video is a companion to my column in the January 24, 2008 Daily Illini.

For more, please visit ScottSays.com.

  Watch out! The middle aged women of America are pissed! “At who?” you may ask yourself. Well, read it and weep…literally:

I cannot believe that women all over this country are not up in arms over Oprah’s backing of Obama. For the first time in history, we actually have a shot at putting a woman in the the white house and Oprah backs the black MAN. She’s choosing her race over her gender — hypocracy at it’s finest!! Oprah — you should be ashamed of yourslef!!!” — austaz68

To better put this quote into context, check out this link.

I have two great hopes in life–that someday, I will taste this magnificent coffee, and that I will own a siphon bar.

  We’ve all experienced it. You’ll be sitting in your room, mindlessly scrolling through facebook profiles, when a sudden sensation envelopes your body. “What could this be?” you ask yourself. “Oh, yeah,” you realize, “I have to go to the bathroom.” So, you make your way to the bathroom, open up the stall door, and there it is, floating in a pool of toilet water. “Ewwwwwwwy,” you think to yourself, “STOOL!” Quickly, you flush the toilet in disbelief.

  Now, normally I wouldn’t waste my precious time writing a blog on the phenomenon floating, stranger turds, but this has become a serious problem, especially within my dorm. Every other time I pay a visit to the little boys room, I am  greeted by one of these little surprises.

  Who or what is to blame for this strange, yet repuslive phenomenon? Do my floormates, blinded by spite, want to punish everyone on the floor with their smelly, pooh grenades? Are they crippled by peer pressure, and everytime they encounter a stranger turd, they feel the pressure to follow suit? Or do they have a latent desire to become one with the wild and detest our technological confines?

  After much unecessary pondering, however, I’ve concluded that the most likely answer is stress. “What is this kid thinking?”you may ask yourself, but yes, I attribute our lack of flushing to stress. With our thoughts consumed by so many things (sex, homework, relationships, sex), we tend to pay less attention to the little, less important tasks that constitute our daily lives. We readily discard them, taking their second nature for granted.

  So please, do not let your numerous stressors supersede the fundamental task of flushing the toilet. We are all stressed out, and when we see your little surprise mocking us with its bouyancy, it just adds to the pile of crap (no pun intended) we have to deal with.

  Oh, yeah, don’t forget to wipe!

Animaniacs-Presidents video

I admit it, I love cartoons. I even go down to the workout room just to watch Spongebob.
One of my favorites shows as a kid was Warner Brother’s Animaniacs. Not only did Yacko, Wacko, and Dot entertain, but they offered a variety of cultural and political satire during the early 90s. Sometimes they even presented a few history lessons. The Animaniacs’ Presidents song provides a silly review of our country’s past presidents with an ending that should be especially amusing to anyone involved in the media.

Step right up ladies and gentlemen…

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is a 1993 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, directed by Bill Duke, and released by Touchstone Pictures. It is a sequel to the successful 1992 movie Sister Act. Most of the original cast reprise their roles in the sequel, including Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, and Mary Wickes. Like the original, Sister Act 2 contains several musical performances, which are integrated into the main plot. Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is widely considered the greatest movie ever made.

Obviously, the entry is missing “after Roland Emmerich’s 1998 tour de force Godzilla“

October 31, 2007: A day to remember.

Brenda Kay Zylstra: With the fairer sex especially, this is a prime opportunity to dress in the tradition of Julia Roberts’ character from “Pretty Woman.”

Lee Feder: Happy Halloween, Ms. Slutty Cop and Mr. Pimp. Welcome to the least enjoyable day of the year for me. With ghouls, ghosts and ghastly, slutty nurses, Halloween on campus is … uhm … an experience.

Me: According to Thorgsten V. Christberg, a professor in cultural studies, psycholinguistics and alchemy at probably Harvard or somewhere, “This particular oeuvre of ’slutty’ costumes showcases the desire of an entire generation of young women to HOLY COW DID YOU SEE THE BAZONGAS ON THAT SLUTTY COP?”

Oh and by the way, were you aware that a large number of people wear “slutty”-themed costumes on Halloween?

You know how you all threaten to flee to Canada every time something minor goes wrong in this country, such as the re-election of a President who can’t pronounce “nuclear”?

Turns out Canadians are just as dishonest as Americans, as we learn in this news clip about computer repair scammers:

I especially enjoyed the owner of the company that wanted to charge $2,000. He seems terrified, not angry. Unless he is angry that the guy didn’t try to charge $3,000.

NOTE TO CUBS FANS: I just wanted to point out that your team is so bad, they got swept by a team (the Diamondbacks) so bad, they got swept by a team (the Rockies) so bad, they got swept in the World Series. Playoffs-wise, you really can’t do much worse.

Still, “100 years” will look really good on t-shirts, won’t it? When your grandkids are old, they can wear the “200 years” shirts.