Classic Big Tex I

I realize that there are new readers who are starting to frequent this site. I relaize that I have a links section, but there are some posts that I really liked writing and I think new readers should get a look at. This is becuase the blog has been very encompassing and broad since I started it, and I want newer readers the oppertunity to see some of the very different kind of comments. This is why I am introducing something called Classic Big Tex. I hope you new readers enjoy it and my established readers enjoy rereading it. Perhaps it will remind you what you were doing when you first saw it .

This article was originally written Sep 11, 2004. I had recently read an article about the benefits of the hybrid car and did some research on it. I hope you like it as much as I liked writing it.

I was reading the newspaper, and it mentioned that there is a 6 month waiting period to purchase most hybrid vehicles. I thought this was interesting, so I thought about why a person would purchase a hybrid vehicle. The obvious answer of fuel economy comes to mind, but how much money is actually saved?

One example of a hybrid is the Toyota Prius. This car does not have a sole gasoline version, so for the purpose of comparison, I will use the Toyota Corolla.

The price difference is about $2500 more for the Prius than the Corolla As far as miles per gallon are concerned, the Prius has been tested at 40 miles per gallon and the corolla at 34 miles per gallon. The average American drives approximatly 6000 miles per year. That transaltes to about 150 gallons of gas per year for the Prius and 171 gallons of gas per year for the Corolla. If gas costs approximatly $1.85 per gallon, then if a person had a Prius, they would save $38.70 for the year. If you consisentally saved $38.70 per year it would take 64.5 years to recover the extra $2500 you paid initally. In fact if you dont pay for the car outright(as most people are not able) you will pay a lot more in interest rates. Since the base value of the Prius is higher than the base of the Corolla, clearly the amount of money paid in interest will also be higher.

Therefore in my opinion, a person should not purchase a hybrid car in order to save money, becuase you won't. Clearly you do not save enough money on gas to eliminate the higher inital price tag of the hybrid.

So, should you buy a hybrid? I cannot make that decision for you. You might have other reasons for buying a hybrid that have nothing to do with fuel economy. However, from the stand point of fuel economy the answer would seem to be no.

Um, no.

So, I was sitting on the bus today minding my own business and I heard a couple of people discussing how much American has changed in the last 25 years. Now initially I was thinking they were referring to technology and way of life. If that was what they were talking about, I would say well sure. I would completly agree. However they were talking about politics.

This statement could not be further from the truth. The US has not moved at all in the last 25 years. Think about this. In 1980 Ronald Reagan was the president and defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter somewhat handily. In the first few years of the Reagan administration, he pushed for a conflict with the USSR, built up the military and introduced the idea of Reaganomics. What was his reward? Another 4 year term in which he recorded the biggest lopsided victory in presidential politics. Now granted he was facicng Walter Mondale, but his victory was still an achievment. In 1988 Bush 41 defeated Massachustes nobody Michael Dukakis.

Again Bush tried to continue the Reagan legacy and was succesful up until a point. He was semi succesful in the First Gulf war and recorded an approval rating in the 90's Unfortunatly for him the economy started to wane and Ross Perot kept doing the hokey pokey(left foot in, left foot out) and he lost the 1992 election. The democrats in 1991 believed Bush was unbeatable so they ended up choosing some unknown Arkansas governor. Bill Clinton on that day became the luckiest man alive.

In 1996 the Republicans put up Bob Dole(sorry, bad joke I realize) against Bill Clinton. The normal liberal Clinton leaned right and ended up winning the election. The clinton legacy would be a matter of opinion once he left office and not something that I need to even get into.

In 2000 two term Texas Governor George W. Bush defeated Vice President Al "who am I" Gore in one of the closest elections in US history. The real idea from this election is that Gore never established himself, never made himself look different, and never gave the voters any reason to vote for him. It was becuase of this and many other reasosns that George W. Bush would win a closely contested election. Finally in 2004 George W. Bush defeated Massachustes nobody John Kerry. Even as Kerry tried to lean right it was obvious the American People wanted the genuine article and dismissed him quickly.

So what are my conclusions you ask? How about this: in the last 25 years the following people have been President:Reagan 8 years, Bush 41: 4 years, Clinton 8 years, Bush 43: 5 years(still in office). Of these 5 two could be considered conservatives(Reagan and Bush 43), one a right moderate(Bush 41), and one an election moderate(Clinton). In essence I ask you, where has the country moved? I honestly see no movement whatsoever. Perhaps there was a slight movement from right, to right center. Hpwever, we never got to centrist center or even left center, let alone left- left. The fact of the matter is that Bill Clinton's presidency was full of conservative and moderate policies.

It is this which compels me to point out that we have not moved politically in the last 25 years. I am not saying if that is good or not becuase, that is a matter of opinion, and this comment has been a matter of fact!!!

Take the Wonderlic!

Take the Wonderlic is the test which the NFL gives to its prospects to determine overall intelligence. It is a 50 question test in which you have 12 minutes to complete. This here is of course not the real one, but it has questions similar to wat you would get on the Wonderlic. In this case there are only 16 questions, so you only get 4 mins. Now remember, getting a lower score does not mean you are not intelligent. Ready! Go!
I will post my raw score on this and then my accompanying score on the Wonderlic. Each correct answer here is worth 1 point, there is no penalty for guessing or getting incorrect answers. Highest score possibly on this is 16, 50 on wonderlic, so create a ratio and figure out the what your score would be on the wonderlic. Then post it in the comment section.

Ready!

Are you sure?

Ok. scroll down and ENJLOY!

See how you score on some examples from a Wonderlic IQ test.
Answers appear at the bottom of the page.

The Wonderlic Personnel Test ™
WPT ™ Sample Questions

(START 4 MINUTE TIMER NOW)

1. Look at the row of numbers below. What number should come next?

8

4

2

1

½

¼

?

2. Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final one:

1. true,

2. false,

3. not certain?

The boy plays baseball. All baseball players wear hats. The boy wears a hat.

3. Paper sells for 21 cents per pad. What will four pads cost?

4. How many of the five pairs of items listed below are exact duplicates?

Nieman, K.M.	Neiman, K.M.
Thomas, G.K.	Thomas, C.K.
Hoff, J.P.	Hoff, J.P.
Pino, L.R.	Pina, L.R.
Warner, T.S.	Wanner, T.S.

5. PRESENT/ RESERVE . Do these words
1. have similar meanings, 2. have contradictory meanings, 3. mean neither the same nor opposite?

6. One of the numbered figures in the following drawing is most different from the others. What is the number in that figure?

7. A train travels 20 feet in 1/5 second. At this same speed, how many feet will it travel in three seconds?

8. When rope is selling at $.10 a foot, how many feet can you buy for sixty cents?

9. The ninth month of the year is

1. October,

2. January,

3. June,

4. September,

5 May.

10. Which number in the following group of numbers represents the smallest amount?

7

.8

31

.33

2

11. In printing an article of 48,000 words, a printer decides to use two sizes of type. Using the larger type, a printed page contains 1,800 words. Using smaller type, a page contains 2,400 words. The article is allotted 21 full pages in a magazine. How many pages must be in smaller type?

12. The hours of daylight and darkness in SEPTEMBER are nearest equal to the hours of daylight and darkness in:

1. June,

2. March,

3. May,

4. November.

13. Three individuals form a partnership and agree to divide the profits equally. X invests $9,000, Y invests $7,000, Z invests $4,000. If the profits are $4,800, how much less does X receive than if the profits were divided in proportion to the amount invested?

14. Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final one:

1. true,

2. false,

3. not certain?

Tom greeted Beth. Beth greeted Dawn. Tom did not greet Dawn.

15. A boy is 17 years old and his sister is twice as old. When the boy is 23 years old, what will be the age of his sister?

These are sample test questions and are intended for demonstration purposes only. The Wonderlic Personnel Test is published by Wonderlic, Inc.

16. The hours of daylight and darkness in SEPTEMBER are nearest equal to the hours of daylight and darkness in:

June
March
May
November

Answers
1. 1/8
2. true
3. 84 cents
4. 1
5. 3
6. 4
7. 300 feet
8. 6 feet
9. September
10. .33
11. 17
12. March
13. $560
14. not certain
15. 40 years old
16. March

Stop bugging me

I have not seen Star Wars Ep 3, so do stop bugging me. I do nto plan to see the movie for awhile and am not sure if I will see it at all. I do not plan to go for at least a month so that all the light sabor swingers are long gone at that point. I honestly have no desire to share a movie theatre with a group of people reeating battles, but that is just me.

So I went to Lake Geneiva last weekend. Good time actually. It also means I get to add Wisconsin to the list of states I have been to!!! Congrats me! Trip back was quite eventful as we couldnt quite find the freeway and ended up driving through numerous south Wisconsin and Northern Illinois towns en route back to Chicago. I enjoyed this and even though the driver seemed dissapointed, I could tell he enjoyed this too. There is definitly somethign to be said baout driving through small town America. Those of you who know what I am saying, good for you, those of you who don't, be ashamed of yourself.

In other news, I am getting back into shape as far as the summer schedule goes. It is only one class but its twice a week and has a lot of reading and writing. Also classes have started at the new location. In terms of that, I would rather not address that at this time. Other then that, things go well I suppose. Hope things go well for you too. Till next time...

Back to It

I had a great time in Texas, but now I am back in Chicago for the summer semester. I did well in all my classes from last semester and even improved the ol GPA from the previous semester. The school I go to has moved to a new location. It shares space within the confines of a giant area. Classes are not all in the same area so it is actually somewhat confusing finding things, but so far so good. I am not thrilled with this place nor are many people I have met, but we are moving forward through it. I plan to take my digi cam in the next month or so and will grab some shots and will email out to those that request it.

I am actually heading to Lake Geneva this weekend(Wisconsin not Switzerland) so I will be out of town there. I might take my digicam with me and grab a few shots. Till you see me again.
BT