{Math} ∩ {Facebook}=∅

You know what really grinds my gears?

Plain and simple: Facebook Questions. Ever since Facebook decided to add the Questions option, which flood my News Feed with nonsensical nonsense, people feel the need to get other people's opinions on topics, like who looks better and what browser do you use. Really? Like I need your opinion, when I have my own.

However, there is one thing where your opinions do not matter, and that is the Facebook Questions that are math problems. Math, being the universal truth, needs no arguing, at least for basic algebra. Basically, for my readers living without the internet, Facebook randomly will have math questions, like "What is 6+7×2×0?" or "What is 1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1-1×0?"and people will respond with what they think is the answer. Regrettably, not all people have the best math skills, and so they will respond with an answer that is incorrect, for example, 0 in both cases. And of course, since Facebook is stalker heaven, the answer you put down will be available for everyone to see. So imagine how embarrassing it would be to answer a 3rd grade math question incorrectly when you're in high school?

There are a few reasons why this whole math question thing grinds my gears. One, it just gives me little faith in the math skills of our nation. While we are answering simple algebra expressions incorrectly while surfing Facebook, students in other countries are working on complex equations while surfing a textbook. Hello? It's called the order of operations. Remember PEMDAS, that silly thing with Aunt Sally? Well, it actually means something that has daily applications. And the whole "Well, it's multiplication, then division" argument? Yeah, no. It's multiplication and division grouped together as an operation, and they are performed reading left to right. Remember, division of two numbers is the same as the product of the multiplicative inverse of the divisor. And just because you see a ×0 in the problem doesn't mean the answer is zero! Parentheses matter! Call me a math elitist all you want (I'll take it as a compliment), but that's my opinion.

Another reason why the whole math questions thing grinds my gears is that the problems are so easy! I mean really? Algebra? And not even good algebra, just basic pre-algebra. The math connoisseur in me needs to be challenged while I'm wasting the majority of my life on Facebook. We could be using Facebook as a tool to teach people math instead of embarrassing them when they can't solve simple problems. We could have calculus problems, linear algebra problems, and other types of questions that would challenge me, and when people get them wrong, it won't be as awkwardly hilarious.

I would post more reasons for my anger, but I think I've established a strong enough syllogism to prove my point. Maybe not a sound mathematical proof, but it's good enough for me.

So please, stop with the math problems, Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg. I think you've embarrassed America well enough.

And that is what really grinds my gears.

So Much for Higher Education...

You know what really grinds my gears?

Thanks to our wonderful government, one of the scholarships I receive, the Robert C. Byrd Scholarship was cut out of the federal budget, so we could try to "balance" the budget and "reduce" our deficit. This scholarship awarded $1,500 to about 28,000 college students every year for four years, and while $1,500 may not seem like anything when it comes to college expenses, this can reduce (note the lack of quotation marks here) student loans, cover textbook expenses (and being an engineering/math major, textbooks can be worth more than the scholarship), and maybe eliminate work study. Yet the government has decided to ignore education, once more, and eliminate the scholarship.

I'm so irate that I will actually use a column made by a Tar Heel, and that's saying something. You can read the column here, but I want to pull out an except that is really well-written (why am I being so nice to a Tar Heel?)

"$1,500 a year may seem an insignificant portion of the astronomical costs of a university education, but the help of $1,500 less in loans or out-of-pocket payment cannot be denied. At the least, it confirmed that hard work in school is noteworthy. If we believe education is a tool for better workers and citizens, why do legislative actions indicate otherwise?

The Byrd scholarship cut was a part of the April 12th federal budget signing, meant to help balance the nation’s deficit. But when military spending increased $5 billion in the same signing, really how much scrimping was the $42 million that would have gone to the Byrd scholarship? How can we deny that investing in students is the best way to invest in the future?"

If there is one thing that you want to do that really grind my gears, mess around with our education system (ahem, state legislatures). The author of the above letter makes a great point. Why do we encourage higher education as a means to a better nation, yet turn around and cut the funding for such a scholarship that would encourage higher education? I may have only had one year of higher education, but I believe that's called a contradiction. And also, let's cut $42 million from the scholarship, and yet increase our defense budget. I did the math (thanks to higher education). $42 million divided by $5 billion is .84%. What we provide as an increase for the defense budget is about 120 times more than what we eliminated for the scholarship. It would've really sucked for the defense budget to receive a $4.958 billion increase, and still maintain the Byrd Scholarship.

Now I'd like to point out the contradiction from our government. In President Obama's State of the Union address, he said these words:

"Of course, the education race doesn't end with a high school diploma. To compete, higher education must be within the reach of every American. That’s why we've ended the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that went to banks, and used the savings to make college affordable for millions of students. And this year, I ask Congress to go further, and make permanent our tuition tax credit –- worth $10,000 for four years of college. It’s the right thing to do."

...............................................................Ummmm, anybody see a problem with this? I didn't think that this part of the speech meant to cut a scholarship from the budget. I guess I need a higher education to pick up on the irony of this situation.

President Obama also made a very strong point with increasing our nation's power as an innovator in the sciences, highlighting increased funding to biomedical research, information technology, and clean energy research. Well Mr. President, do you know where these researchers, inventors, and engineers come from? College. Surprised? Me too!

With the cancellation of the Byrd Scholarship, our government has sent another message to the youth of our nation. We want to talk up a big game so you can want to go to college, but we won't help you get there. And in fact, I even have another quote that supports that from the News and Sentinel:

"Officials with President Barack Obama's administration said since the program was designed for high achieving students, those students likely will receive grants, scholarships and financial aide from other sources."

If you're really that misguided to think that every smart person gets tons of scholarships and grants thrown at them so they can go to college, I suggest you go and search for the scholarships yourself. Hopefully, you'll see my point. Thanks government, for helping us out. Delegating to "other sources" is always the best idea.

And that's what really grinds my gears.

Shaq, Don't Be a Tweet!!

You know what really grinds my gears?

The Twitterverse is my next attack, specifically in light of Shaq's retirement over Twitter. For my unaware readers, which wouldn't be any of you since you all are "hip with the times," Shaquille O'Neal, a great basketball player, announced his retirement in a video, and then a link to that video was made available to his followers on Twitter.

Now granted, he was gracious enough to provide us with a 15-second video announcing his retirement instead of cramming it into 140 characters, but really? Twitter has really expanded to such worldwide fame, so I will give Shaq credit for reaching out to his 3.85 million followers in a quick fashion. But he just tweeted a link; no information about the link, just, a link. If I were one of his followers, I probably wouldn't have clicked the link...until the twitterverse exploded with the popular trending topic (a.k.a. a hashtag) #shaqretires.

I'm not upset about the fact that he is retiring. He's been in the business for a long time and I'm sure he's tired. I'm just upset that he essentially summed up his retirement in the 26 character link. He had 114 more characters to use! That could have been plenty of room for an inspirational quote, a hashtag, or even four more links, so he could have split up his retirement video in 5 3-second clips! (For those of you that read The Onion, you will understand that last bit)

I'm also very upset with his method of retiring. Really Shaq? Twitter? This was the perfect opportunity for you to take out an hour time slot on ESPN to announce your retirement in a dramatic interview with Jim Grey. You could've had a press conference with the media right there in the room, and they would have every well-calculated statement ready. Hey, if it's worked for Brett Favre 12 times, it would've worked for you.

Well, this was an opportunity lost for you, Mr. O'Neal. I suppose you'll have to un-retire and come back, then retire again (see Brett Favre above). But you've made a great run in the NBA, you're a great citizen with your work in the Sheriff reserves and multiple charities, and you're a great conductor (look it up). I wish you a happy retirement, even though you'll never read this blog post.

Now for the rest of you, summing up your lives in 140 characters. Twitter was created so you could be stalked easier, not so you could spill your entire lives to the twitterverse! That's why Tumblr and Facebook were created. Save it for there. (Also, since I'm on the topic of Twitter, I would like to add that hashtags are #unacceptable on Facebook, but that's another post)

And that's what really grinds my gears.