A thread that isn't actually about what you hoped it would be about when you skimmed the title and ignored all the words except the object

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Agemegos

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My late father used to tell a story about a friend of his who became convinced that the question on an ancient history exam was going to be "Give a list of all the pharaohs of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt", and put a lot of effort into memorising them. When he turned over the paper it turned out that the actual question was "Compare and contrast the reigns of Thutmoses II and Ramesses II". Dad's friend had not bothered to learn anything about what any of these people actually did, and he had nothing. So he wrote "Far be it from me to draw invidious comparisons between these two great kings. Rather, let me give a list of all the pharaohs of the New Kingdom", which he then did.

He got an 'F'.
 
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I had a feeling that I had to memorize a bunch of items in a list for an exam. The professor talked to me right before we started, asked me how I felt. I told him that I was a bit nervous, that I was cramming things in to make sure that I didn’t forget anything. He chastised me, saying that “if you have to memorize, you didn’t learn anything”.

Guess what was in the exam? “Name all of the X items in list Y”. While the general theory was known to me, I was really fucking glad I did that memorization.

I got great marks and got my certification, even though the prof told me that I didn’t learn anything. He had also told me that I wouldn’t get far in this career unless I had a Master’s degree.

I have a career in that field now. In your face professor.
 
I was once the teaching assistant for a professor of Greek history. He had written one of the textbooks we used in the class, a general account of Ancient Greek society. At various points, the book had short sections labeled 'Greek People'--basically capsule biographies of interesting or representative individuals, some well-known figures, some not.

Exams for the course consisted of essay questions and identifications. For the latter, students were supposed to write a paragraph describing the person, place, event, etc. and explaining its historical significance. As teaching assistants, we did not know the contents of the exams in advance (though we had to grade them), but those who had worked with this professor before told us that he liked to use the 'Greek People' for the identifications.

Students naturally asked us what was going to be on the exam. They worried most about the identifications, because there were many different things that could feature there. I, along with others, hinted that they might want to review the 'Greek People' before the test.

I still remember people handing me their blue books, saying 'I should have known those 8 Greek people...'
 
I recall an early discovery that made college much easier for me. At my college you could get copies of old tests for the last few years. Sometimes that made teats trivial because you could see professors kept the same questions minus changes in just a few numbers. Others it told you the professor changed the tests quite a bit and you needed to study but at least it guided you on what they tested like.
 
In the grand pub tradition of dragging threads in different directions...

In one class, I wasn't doing very well, a middling C. I looked at the exam. No way I was going to complete the entire exam in the 2 hours. Deciding that the best course was to have at least a partial answer for every question, I proceeded to do so. And then left the exam room after 30-40 minutes figuring I had locked up my C.

When grades posted, I had an A in the class. Talking to some (rather angry) friends the following semester I surmised:

- NO ONE finished the exam.

- I was the only one who had worked EVERY question.

- I was the only one who aced the exam.

- It was one of those classes where if you ace the final, you ace the class.

I had some pretty pissed friends as most of them had seen me leave early.
 
In the grand pub tradition of dragging threads in different directions...

In one class, I wasn't doing very well, a middling C. I looked at the exam. No way I was going to complete the entire exam in the 2 hours. Deciding that the best course was to have at least a partial answer for every question, I proceeded to do so. And then left the exam room after 30-40 minutes figuring I had locked up my C.

When grades posted, I had an A in the class. Talking to some (rather angry) friends the following semester I surmised:

- NO ONE finished the exam.

- I was the only one who had worked EVERY question.

- I was the only one who aced the exam.

- It was one of those classes where if you ace the final, you ace the class.

I had some pretty pissed friends as most of them had seen me leave early.
That’s like test taking 101.

Best approach is doing a test in waves. Start with the easy ones and solve the next most difficult ones in subsequent waves.
 
That’s like test taking 101.

Best approach is doing a test in waves. Start with the easy ones and solve the next most difficult ones in subsequent waves.
Huh, I didn't know that was a thing. I have always finished tests quickly by making multiple passes through the material, starting with the easiest problems and leaving the hardest for last.
 
That’s like test taking 101.

Best approach is doing a test in waves. Start with the easy ones and solve the next most difficult ones in subsequent waves.
Oh, but that's NOT what I did. Or at least not exactly.

I took each question in order, and started a solution for each. For some it was doing one example of several requested (the test was for a microprocessor class, one of the questions was "write the microcode for this set of instructions" - I did one). For some it was writing how I would approach the solution, but not actually trying to work the solution. But I made sure to have something written for EVERY question. NOT answer the easiest question first, then find the next easiest one.
 
Huh, I didn't know that was a thing. I have always finished tests quickly by making multiple passes through the material, starting with the easiest problems and leaving the hardest for last.
Um that's what he said...
 
I would like a clarification of this thread's title. Direct object? Indirect object? Object of a preposition? Details, please!!!
 
Huh, I didn't know that was a thing. I have always finished tests quickly by making multiple passes through the material, starting with the easiest problems and leaving the hardest for last.
That’s really the key to successful test taking, from multiple choice to full essay.
 
So back in the day I was in a college chemistry class. The professor was an old really smart/likable guy, just very forgetful and absent minded. On the second day of class he was showing us/reviewing how to calculate the atomic weight of calcium carbonate or somesuch.

“Wait! I can solve this one in my head!” I announced . With all eyes on me I clenched up my face like I was doing great calculations in my mind, before confidently blurting out a long series of numbers.

Everyone was supposed to laugh for reasons I’ll explain later. They didn’t. There wasn’t a sound in the lab, just everyone staring at me like I had gone completely sideways. I kept a poker face though.

“Well that’s an interesting guess young man but science is an exact process so let’s do this step by step” the professor continued. And so we went through all the steps from the molecular diagram to the periodic table, etc…. Eventually arriving at the exact number I’d ‘calculated’ from before.

Again all eyes were upon me, only this time in awe and wonder. (Remember this was long before the internet and cell phones so you couldn’t just ‘look up’ stuff like that on the fly.) I just shrugged saying “yesterday you told us to look through the charts in the back of the book for today. So I memorized them all just to be safe.”

For the rest of that semester the professor and other lab students revered me as some kind of prodigy God of chemistry, which came in handy a few times.

I never really did have the heart to tell them that the answer had been *RIGHT THERE ON THE FLIPPIN’ BOARD IN FRONT OF CLASS* the whole time- he must have worked it in a previous lesson then forgotten all about it! That part I can totally understand, it’s the part where a WHOLE CLASS of other lab students somehow completely missed this that has stayed with me.
 
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I remember studying for my Cisco CCNA, and being told multiple times that calculating IP ranges and Subnet masking was a big and important part of the exam. So I studied it backwards and forwards and did test calcs off an internet generator for weeks.
When I took the exam, there was ONE reference to calculating a subnet and mask, and it was one I'd done in a practice question so knew the answer from memory.
I passed with 920 out of 1000. (Passmark was 800)
 
I remember studying for my Cisco CCNA, and being told multiple times that calculating IP ranges and Subnet masking was a big and important part of the exam. So I studied it backwards and forwards and did test calcs off an internet generator for weeks.
When I took the exam, there was ONE reference to calculating a subnet and mask, and it was one I'd done in a practice question so knew the answer from memory.
I passed with 920 out of 1000. (Passmark was 800)

Was it a /24 ? ;-)
 
So I am on a jell-o making kick lately. In my head I always thought it was so much effort because as a child it took so long to set -- waiting is work at that age I guess. That and I knew I could never compete with the late 20th Cen jell-o statuary that looms across my nightmares. I mean, who knew bundt cake tins, gelatin, and table scraps were the sand for sandcastles for adults?

But it is soooo easy! Just add the hot water, next stir a couple of minutes, then the cold water, and finally chill. Yet as you eat it you know you could do more. What if you substituted some juice for water? Chilled juice or boiling juice? And when to add the chopped fruit, immediately?, no, somewhere in the waiting chill...

So the siren of potential sings to me.

What would boiling hot salsa and cream cheese do to lime jell-o? Could it take refried beans and be a corn chip dip? Is suspended cole slaw impossible because of the salt and sugar? Can you cross the streams of Jell-o gelatin AND Jell-o pudding... and put them both into a pre-made graham cracker pie crust? Could I striate them in the pie like that jar with both peanut butter and jelly? And where can I offload all my kitchen failures?

If we can deep fry butter in American County Fairs what can we not do with gelatin and pudding? It's so easy... yet not. So much potential, but should you?

Shredded beets, shredded carrots, and raisins in cranberry gelatin with whipped cream and sliced almonds in tiers leaning over the -- who are those people in white coats and why do they need to see me?
 
/30 IIRC, for a point to point link.

I kinda figured it wouldn't be one of the common subnets, but I couldn't resist :-) We use a bunch of /28's on our WAN connections. Talking about subnets is kinda like talking about DOS, or IRQ's, or memory addresses, or any of that old stuff that I know, but 90% of my IT department has no idea what I'm talking about lol.
 
I kinda figured it wouldn't be one of the common subnets, but I couldn't resist :-) We use a bunch of /28's on our WAN connections. Talking about subnets is kinda like talking about DOS, or IRQ's, or memory addresses, or any of that old stuff that I know, but 90% of my IT department has no idea what I'm talking about lol.
University grads look at me like I'm a wizard because I use the command line. Get off my digital lawn, you young punks.
 
University grads look at me like I'm a wizard because I use the command line. Get off my digital lawn, you young punks.

Fucking kids! Lol. That's the look I get when I'm hammering away at a headless Linux server via remote SSH. You can almost see their precious little brains going "How is he making it work?"
 
I was 37 when I got on the skateboard again. The last time I was 24. So that's about a myriad in skateboard years. I went straight away to the big boy half-pipe and overlooked the entire park in this way. In that moment I knew that the half-pipe would become my tomb if I were to try going off it. I would become a paralysed freak, able only to communicate in slurred grunts. I walked to the bottom of the half-pipe and looked up. This was insurmountable in a different way. So I just rode my skateboard about, not bothering with tricks. I am far too old for them, and far too attached to the full functioning of my spine.

I was a skater boy. Then a skater man. But I am afraid I am the least skatery version of myself now. Or, only more of a skater individual than one who never picks up the board.
 
What about an individual who falls off the board when it's completely stationery? Asking for a friend.
Actually, it is one of the harder things to do, as there's more stability as it is moving. Like a not-moving bike with kickstand up and your feet off the ground, it is harder staying upright then. Gyroscopic motion, plus the love from space aliens, helps us ride the board & bike. It truly is a mystery for our time.
 
Today, like every day, I broke the English language, along with any sense of decorum.
Either or both these statements can be correct:

I is the difference between hairpies and harpies.
I am the difference between hairpies and harpies.

You're welcome.
 
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Today, like every day, I broke the English language, along with any sense of decorum.
Either or both these statements can be correct:

I is the difference between hairpies and harpies.
I am the difference between hairpies and harpies.

You're welcome.
Just like "you cannot kill what can eternally lie, and in strange eons even death may die," similarly English is with brokenness. It is a Great Old One abomination of shrug-tastic structure; look not closely in its arcane rites. :skeleton:
 
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