Fun with Homophones

According to my son, meet...

The Incredible Honk

Worldview: God vs. Toyota

Two views of the world and our place in it...

God:

Genesis 1:28: God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Toyota:

...the best way to have an impact on the environment is to have as little impact as possible.

In the Future, Everyone will be Stupid for 15 Minutes

The appeal of pop culture amazes me. Sure, I have favorite actors. I have even been known to spend real time on imdb.com following a "Six Degrees" thread of links. But it is crazy the degree to which people get caught up in it.

Some time ago I was watching an episode of 1 vs. 100 (which may or may not still be on the air -- I proudly don't know). It is a quiz-type of show, which, as the name implies, pits one person against 100 others. It is multiple choice, and although not all of the questions are easy, it is no Jeopardy.

In this episode, there were two questions that I thought really illustrated to problem of people simply not paying attention to what is important.

Question #1: Ashton Kutcher is the stepfather of ______
The question involved knowledge of the soap opera that is Hollywood. You had to know that his is with (married?) Demi Moore, who used to be married to Bruce Willis, so they name of the kid in the multiple choice has the last name Willis. Out of the 100 people (or however many were left at the time of the question) only 5 people got it wrong! Almost everyone knew the answer.

At first that sounds great. People are smart. They are paying attention. Maybe. But paying attention to what? The next question didn't go quite as well.

Question 2 was regarding the government. What is a position in the House or Senate:
A. Majority Whip
B. Majority Chain
C. Majority Paddle

25 people did not know the answer to the question. Twenty five! That question came after the Ashton Kutcher question, so every one of those 25 had gotten that one right. But they didn't know the legislature does not employ chains or paddles. Mind you, they didn't have to name who the Majority Whip was, they just had to recall that such a thing existed.

It is as this point that I humbly suggest some sort of simple test before allowing someone to vote.

Anticipating the counter-proposal, I would gladly submit to a test of Hollywood trivia before I am allowed to watch the latest Ashton Kutcher movie.

Oh, and the picture inset...that's Dick Durbin, Senate Majority Whip as of the writing of this entry...not Ashton Kutcher. Mr. Durbin may or may not have something to do with the title of this entry.