Help. So simple yet so many people don’t really know how to help themselves. The answers are right in front of them but they haven’t learned to look a little harder and instead fall back on having someone else do it for them.

Unfortunately all that does is create a dependency and they never actually learn to figure things out for themselves. Give a hobo food and he/she will eat for a day but teach a hobo to hunt, fish, or work like the rest of us and he/she will have something to eat every day.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love helping people. I get a great feeling of satisfaction from it, but there is a point when people are just using you. I don’t like to be used, makes me feel dirty.

I think the most common problem I come across is failing to use the “Help” feature in whatever software is involved with the problem. People ask, “Hey, how do I do this?”. I know the answer, it’s a simple answer, but if I tell them, they will just ask me again another time.

Instead I ask them, “Did you look at the Help section?”. 95% of the time the answer is no and 80% (or more) of the time, they find the answer themselves using the Help section. Next time, don’t bother me until you have at least made an effort to figure it out yourself.

So step 1 to being a do-it-yourselfer is use the Help section/feature. For more complicated problems the Help section can and will likely fail you (doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try though). In instances such as those…stop…think…and use the wealth of knowledge at your fingertips (the internet).

A large majority of questions I get, I don’t actually know the answer to. I do, however, use the internet to my advantage and quite well. My first response to something I don’t know, Google It! 9 times out of 10 I can find the solution or answer to the problem or question within minutes (often times seconds) with a quick search on Google.com

This gets very tiring though. I am just relaying information (and learning something in the process) that I don’t really care about. So step 2 is go searching through the internet for a few minutes, read and dig for information.

Once you have done those two steps, you are almost there! The last step is the easiest. Gather and organize your information. It drives me crazy when someone comes to me for help with only half the story. It takes me longer to help/solve and agitates me.

So, three simple steps to taking a giant step towards smart (and becoming smarter by learning from your probems).

• Step 1 - use the Help feature/section
• Step 2 - research/search through the internet (Google it!)
• Step 3 - gather information about the problem and organize it (helps everyone)

Nobody wants to be pinned as being stupid but only you can prevent forest fires…oops, I mean only you can prevent stupidity.

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In college I took a Critical Thinking class and boy oh boy did I feel like it was a total waste of time. It really just seemed like common sense to me. I attended less than %60 of the class and still pulled off over a 100% in the class (extra credit).

What I didn’t realize until later in life was that not all people have the correct thought process to be a critical thinker but most definitely have the ability. Thus the reason for the class.

So to start off let me clarify what critical thinking really is.

Critical Thinking is a form of judgment, specifically purposeful and reflective judgment. Using critical thinking one makes a decision or solves the problem of judging what to believe or what to do, but does so in a reflective way (Wikipedia.org).

Quite often I get frustrated with people around me and shoot my mouth off complaining about how Stupid Sucks. What is the real problem here? It isn’t really stupidity, as much as it is a lack of critical thinking. A better judgment thus decision could have been made but by ignoring simple steps of critical thinking, an inferior decision is chosen.

What can you do to be a critical thinker? Follow along:

1. Learn how to discern the difference between opinion and fact. As simple as that sounds, you would be very surprised and how easily people are mislead by cleverly advertised opinions appearing as facts. Developing your ability to separate the two will take you a long way and prevent you from misleading others as well.

2. Question opinions but in a non-confrontational manner. It’s really surprising at how many opinions don’t have anything factual to back them up yet are dished out as if factual material. We are all entitled to our opinions but minimize the use of opinions in decisions and judgments. By questioning opinions you’ll find yourself making much more accurate choices.

3. Put some effort into higher quality thinking & problem solving. The majority of questions I am asked are usually the derivative of being lazy. In turn, those choosing not to put effort into critical thinking lack the ability when it is necessary. Practice walking through these activities to improve your capabilities. (This list is in thanks to an article by Joe Old.)

• Prioritize
• Identify Purpose
• Determine Consequences
• Determine Effects
• Identify Bias
• Identify Assumptions
• Draw Conclusions
• Make Contrasts and Comparisons
• Do Syntheses
• Develop Hypotheses
• Use Figurative Language
• Make Critiques
• Make Summaries
• Make Evaluations

4. If you want to be a critical thinker, follow the characteristics of one. Nobody said you couldn’t copy the characteristics of those ahead of the curve. Sometimes watching closely and following the people who are really good at something will help you pick up things faster.

So observe and practice. If you have nobody to follow here are some good characteristics:

• Ask Pertinent Questions
• Assess statements and arguments
• Examine problems closely
• Readily admit a lack of understanding or informaiton
• Discard incorrect or irrelevant information
• Maintain a sense of curiosity
• Be interested in finding new solutions
• Clearly define a set of criteria for analyzing ideas
• Examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions, weigh them against facts and look for evidence
• Listen carefully to others and give feedback
• Make critical thinking a lifelong process of self-assessment
• Suspend judgment until all facts have been gathered and considered

5. Don’t be afraid to change sides. Sometimes after you find new facts/evidence you’ll have to switch sides. This is all part of making the best judgment/decision possible. It goes against our nature but is something we must learn to do.

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Do you think newspapers ever sit there and wonder why they are slowly dying? I would doubt it as the last two I have worked for are too caught up in sacrificing any and all genuine quality and value of the publications they produce to make a quick dollar.

It’s interesting how such large players in the media industry could be so ignorant. Your readers are the same as the customers walking into a store. Without them you are nothing. The customer is always right.

So why is it that newspapers produce so many publications that are utter crap? Something that hardly nobody picks up to read. The majority of special sections I see produced are essentially a giant advertisement and provide nearly no real valuable reading content.

That goes to show that they don’t really care. They are in the survival mentality and staring at their feet so they don’t trip and go down. What they should be doing is looking at the path ahead and building a reputation of quality reading publications.

If you care about what you print, you’ll make sure it’s quality and it will show. People will read it and people will care (especially small communities). But when you care more about making money, it will show and people won’t like you.

So give a crap about what you produce and as a byproduct, you’re going to make money. But produce crap and as a byproduct you’ll ultimately fail.

This way of thinking is quite obvious in the blogging world. Trends come and go quite quickly on the internet and the print world could take a few lessons from the online world.

Open your eyes newspapers and get with the program.

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Today my girlfriend sends me an instant message on the topic of JuicyCampus.com mentioning it’s incredible talent for being ridiculous. Obviously just by the domain name you can tell there’s going to be drama.

I took a quick peek at the site and it took about 10 seconds to deem the site and its use utterly pathetic. While the site intentions are for anonymous free speech at college campus’ throughout the nation, it’s obvious they’re seeking the “juicy” content.

I do have to admit that if someone was looking for a way to generate traffic, this would be one way. While it’s incredibly stupid in my books, others might find it amusing. From what I’ve read around the net though, it’s generally just raising eyebrows and problems.

Now, if the content being posted wasn’t a mile passed the socially acceptable line and was actually amusing, it would have a lot of potential. But I’m not interested in suicide notes, school shootings, rapes, beatings, sluts or anything of the like.

What are we coming to? …what have we already come to? I suppose it’s worth a peek as there is some funny content there but most of it is just gossip, shit talk and worse.

What’s worse is that by allowing completely anonymous social interaction without boundaries you leave an giant open door for the grouping of ideas that could result in events like school shootings, rapes, beatings, etc. Although students have already been arrested, your postings are supposedly completely anonymous protecting you from prosecution.

Not to mention that by openly allowing and spreading gossip, JuicyCampus.com makes it easier for anyone to humiliate, hurt and degrade anyone of their liking without the whisper of consequences.

JuicyCampus.com gets a big fat giant STUPID SUCKS! from me and I hope they don’t last long.

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Why is it that old people are so resistant to learning new things? Specifically the common technologies available today. Ok, even people that aren’t old are like that but what gives? Our elders should know by now that learning is part of life.

What I really don’t understand is how people can go around not realizing that by being so resistant to learning new technology, they put themselves at risk for being useless. Ok, thats a little harsh but there is some truth in it.

Technology is the way of tomorrow and already the way of today, it’s just progressing faster and faster. More and more of our world is becoming technology oriented and the jobs of yesterday are becoming obsolete. There is definitely no sign of that changing either.

In school, learning a second or third language was strongly stressed (which I regret not taking advantage of) but today technology is almost like a language that will set you apart from the rest of those people out there trying to get the same job you are. Why wouldn’t you get ahead of the curve?

Most of you reading this are probably not so technology resistant but it’s always a good time to learn something new. The geeks and nerds of yesterday are today’s millionaires and billionaires, don’t get left in the dust!

Here are some cool places to catch up on your tech-savy-ness:

• Webopedia: Quick reference guide for the tech. lingo that sounds like a foreign language.
• AARP.org: Online classes and more for learning tech stuff
• Edublogawards.com: Big list of educational blogs (Don’t know how to blog, go to lorelle.wordpress.com)
• internet4classrooms.com: Nice collection of technology tutorials
• Google Features: Good place to learn how to use Google and the services/features they have to offer
• Learnwebskills.com: Lots of stuff to learn about the web. Good info. on search engines

Thats a start at least for those of you looking to learn new technologies. If you know of a good place to learn new tech. stuff let me know by commenting and I will add it to the list!

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Went grocery shopping at Winco today and as usual, I had encounters with…some rather frustrating people. I’m not quite sure what possesses these people to be completely unaware of their surroundings….oh wait, yes I do, STUPIDITY.

Ok, ok, maybe thats a little harsh but is it too much to ask to be able to go get some food without having to drive the shopping cart around like I’m trying to avoid the stupid plague with every fiber of my being?

These people just stand there, blocking the whole isle, looking at me like i’m rude for waiting to pass by. Are you kidding me? Then they proceed to take their time, while I stand there calmly waiting for them so I may continue my shopping. I’m generally a very patient and polite person but Winco (and Walmart) always seem to test that in me to the core.

From experiences like isle blockers (mentioned above), snail movers, and the “I must be first’s”, I have learned to drive a shopping cart like my life depends on it. If you like drifting, you should try hauling ass through a grocery store with a full shopping cart at warp speed Just don’t hit anyone!

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