#38 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday May 25)
Good morning,
QUIZ ANSWER—NAMES YELLED IN MOVIES
Lots of people who got at least half of these—Mark Shpall, Peter Bain, Howard Kroll, Jesse Sharf, Dave Swartz, Julie Robinson, Adam Torson. And these are just the people answering in the first two hours!
This is a great list of iconic screams. The first four were uttered as true “excited utterances,” while the fifth offers a rejoinder that makes me smile whenever I hear it.
Adrian! (Rocky)
Shane! (Shane)
Stella! (Streetcar Named Desire)
Elaine! (The Graduate)
Khaaaaannn! (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Maaaa! [Where’s the meat loaf?] (Wedding Crashers)
ENTRIES I HAD NOT CONSIDERED
Wilma! (iconic from the Flintstones TV show; must have been in the movie), Bobby Katz
Jonathan! (Rollerball), according to Jesse Sharf
Fletch! (Fletch), according to Dave Swartz
Shoshana! (Inglorious Basterds), Dave Swartz
Clarice! (Silence of the Lambs), Dave Swartz
Clarence! [I want to live again!] (It’s a Wonderful Life), Adam Torson
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Not really correct answers, but good anyway because they were uttered with such verve:
Freedom! (Braveheart)
Wilson! (Castaway)
This is Sparta! (The 300)
Hoowah! (Scent of a Woman)
Soylent green is people! (Soylent Green)…okay, so four words, but I love this one…
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS BOLD IDEAS
From Mark Schwartz: “I have enjoyed your musings about the college admissions process. Given how difficult it is to admit applicants from a large pool of qualified applicants, why not take 25% of the available slots and select them from a highly qualified pool on a random basis?”
Mark’s idea has merit. Given that schools acknowledge they have far more qualified applicants than slots to fill, why should they go through the agonizing, inefficient, and probably not terribly predictive, process of splitting hairs among those who are demonstrably qualified?
Taking this a step further, how about giving students a set number of “preference points.” Say that the applicants can designate up to five schools as their top choices. These preference points would commit a student to attend one of the five if they are admitted (or choose among those among the five to which they are admitted). If they are in the pool deemed qualified for that school, their preference will move them into a smaller lottery of those who, like them, have already indicated a predisposition to attend.
I still maintain colleges should be required to increase class sizes by 5%, in order to free up spaces for the disadvantaged. Doing so would mitigate against the argument that affirmative action reduces the number of otherwise qualified students. If the pie can’t easily be sliced (or it is too politically painful to do so), make the pie a little bigger.
All the best,
Glenn