This Might Be Interesting...or Maybe Not

I'm reading a book right now (The Know-It-All) about a guy who read the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica - just for kicks. Well, he also has some inferiority issues regarding his father and brother-in-law, but it was, mainly, just for kicks. He's admitting, quite readily, that he's not retaining nearly as much information as he would have liked, and this brought up an interesting topic, concerning how we remember shit we read.

Do we have a better shot at remembering something we understand? Like if I read an article about some obscure legal matter, will I be less likely to remember it than, say, an article about Kobe Bryant's shooting technique? Or maybe it has to do with interest; you have a better chance of remembering if you're interested in the subject - the more interested, the better I imagine. So if I read an article about something I understand and I'm interested in it, I'll remember it better?

I have no idea.

But I do know that I'm not remembering nearly as much as I did when I was younger. I would read a book when I was 13, some Fantasy book about dragons and shit, and I'd remember everything - plots, names, events, etc. I would watch the news and remember all the stories and relevant details, and now I listen to the news and can't remember what station I was watching ten minutes later. My brain must be decreasing in ability or something, 'cause I clearly suck more than I used to.

Of course, that might be my fault. I was brilliant when I was 13, and then I stopped caring about learning and education for a good six years. I'm paying the price now as I feel like a dummmmer more often than I'd like. I spent six long years playing guitar, pretending to learn, reading only what classes assigned as homework, and playing Final Fantasy video games over and over again. I used to read a book a week, and BIG books, too, 1000 page tomes written by some author who enjoys producing treatises within the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre. Now, I keep telling myself I don't have that much time to read, which is clearly a lie. But I'm doing better than high school, where I literally read 30 books in four years, which is awful for me. Going from a book every week/week and a half to one book every seven weeks? That's terrrrble.

But at least I'm makig progress, now. Hopefully, I can regain my brilliant prepubescent form, and remember what I read and hear, instead of barely engaging my brain when I read/hear things.

Getting old just makes you dumb, I guess. This chronology seems counterintuitive. Hmmm...Screw adulthood.

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Dr. Sir Charles Barkley, PhD (and DPhil, MPhil, and J.D.)

Go here.

I've said it before, and I'll be saying it for years, so I might as well say it now, too: Charles Barkley, in spite of his awful speech mannerisms, is a very intelligent person. When you actually hear the ideas behind the broken speech patterns, whether he's discussing Dirk Nowitzki's ability to knock down the outside jumper or the issue of racism in this country, you have to respect him, have to acknowledge he knows what he's talking about.

I've heard Charles give interviews on CNN and Fox a few times, and he just recently sat down for a longer interview with CNN a few days ago, and that link up there is the transcript. I encourage people to read it and get through his disjointed sentences so you can see that this man is very smart. And not only is he smart, but he isn't afraid (and never has been) of saying the right thing,t he direct thing.

For instance, whenever he has the opportunity, he encourages black people to "stop killing each other, get an education, and don't make fun of people who are trying to get an education" (para.). And he further recognizes and points out that the main issue in this country (and the world, he seems to think) is the conflict between rich and poor. It's cliche, old, and most people hate to hear it, but it's true: we can never get away from rich against poor, haves against have nots. And Charles sees this, understands it, and wants to combat it. He even lays out the role the president should play in America, the way it "ought" to be, according to Dr. Sir Charley Barkely, PhD.

I guess I just can't get over how smart he is, considering he's the same person who read the words "I am a dumbass" on a teleprompter when the boys at TNT pranked him. He was so into his reading he read the line right off, realized his mistake, and cracked up laughing.

And remember, kids: Charles is NOT a role model (cue mid-90's music).

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