The following blog post was created by my roommate, Drew Stearns, as part of my attempt to get more user generated content onto my blog.
Okay, let's get straight to the point, huh? Sasquatch is real.
Don't look at me like that, I'm serious. There is a bipedal primate roaming the woods of North America. It's all here at this website.
It's a descendent of Gigantopithecus, a relative of the orangutan. It most likely crossed over the land-ice bridge that existed between present day Russia and Alaska a few hundred thousand years back.
Today, many variations of the Sasquatch species exist, ranging from the majestic giants frequently seen in the Pacific Northwest, to the smaller more elusive kind spotted in the Midwest.
User generated reality check. Sasquatch is real!!Thousands of people across the country have reported encountering this creature; and even if ninety nine percent of those sightings turn out to be a misidentification, what about the remaining one percent?
Native American stories often reference a "wild man" and many instances of ape-like creatures have been found carved in totem poles. Newspaper clippings from as far back as the late 1800's tell of a primitive man-creature wandering about the forests, sometimes leaving gargantuan footprints. Fittingly, those footprints provide the best evidence of Bigfoot's existence.
Experts in bipedal locomotion and animal fingerprints have spent countless hours analyzing hundreds of plaster molds made by amateur Sasquatch. Their findings are quite intriguing.
Not only does the sample size of footprints produce a bell curve distribution, indicative of a real population of these animals as opposed to a couple of yahoos walking around in the mud with huge fake wooden feet, but some exceptional casts contain "dermal ridges." These artifacts are the fine impressions left by the same structures that produce the familiar swirl patterns seen in fingerprints.
There you have it. The prime example of the dangers of user generated content. While the information is exciting and new it is usually off-topic and doesn't really bring much to the conversation.
User generated content is great. It almost always attracts viewers to your site (I'm quite sure this blog post will get more views than any previous post) and it can allow new view points to any topic (This certainly is a new view point).
However, at times user generated content can detract from credibility and lead to off-topic discussions that the original writer never intended. In other words, be careful what you wish for...
Yeah, yeah. We get all that media stuff but, wow, Bigfoot is real! Holy Moley!That's far more important than the future of tv.ku.edu. Thanks, Drew.
Shoot, I'm convinced. If user-created content brings us more sasquatch-related material, count me in.
If more Sasquatch-related content is what everyone wants, more Sasquatch-related content is what everyone will get. Trust me, I'm more than willing to continue outsourcing my blog posts to my roommates.
Hey messin' with Sasquatch can be a popular alternative to what we consider news to some extent. If that drives traffic to tv.ku.edu I'm for it because nobody knows about us anyway.
This is where KUJH-TV is headed. Interactivity is quite valuable, as this post clearly illustrates.
I disagree. This post isn't too far off from 694's early posts in terms of formality, and the your content was different because you had specific assignments to follow.
Frame a question around user-gen content, list a few guidelines, and be patient as strong voices emerge. You might get something very different than Bigfoot musings.
i don't care but it's obvious that drew is the best blogger in the class.
I certainly don't mean to say there is no value in user-generated content. In fact, I'm a strong believer that it would be beneficial to tv.ku.edu. Just pointing out that it's not always as foolproof as many think.
User generated content can attract viewers and certainly the replies to this post are proof of that. But I believe the number of replies also shows that user generated content can often lead to off-topic conversations that detract from the original point of a story. Nearly all of the replies to this post are talking about Sasquatch and not the overlying point of my post.
Ah... the problem with irony is that it can be read as un-ironic. My irony was, indeed, a reaction to the point you were making Brad. And there is something to be said for fun and humor in blogging and all new media content... I actually think your post combined some fun wrapped in a valid point. And, hey, look at the thread length.
Touche!
Hmmm... I agree. Its quite ironic.
Man, Bigfoot really does exist! Doesn't everybody know?
We must never say never! Everything is possible and it is not for us to prove it right or wrong. It is for those who claim. Making a claim should be backed by factual evidence.
Here is a sample newsletter on wisdom...
1. INTRODUCTION to our subject - Gloating & Claiming
Before we explore the word gloating, let's first look at the dictionary
definition:
'Contemplate one's own success or another's misfortune with smugness and
malignant pleasure.'
During the action of gloating we acquire a tunnel vision and do not
appreciate anything outside our vision. We become so obsessed with our own
smugness we temporary lose track of where we are going and what we are
doing.
Here is an illustration given by a college student...
"I can't stand when people celebrate and show off their success, yet show no
pride when they've failed at something. I believe that if you're going to
tell everybody when you've done something you're proud of, you should be
obliged to tell them when you've done something that you don't think is so
great.
The most preferable thing to do would be to realize that nobody cares what
you've done, because it probably doesn't affect them that much, and it
probably doesn't concern them either.
To cite a specific situation, a classmate of mine got an A (99/100) on our
recent calculus quiz. So what does he do? He instantly begins to inform
everybody around him. This would have been acceptable to me, if he had done
the same thing with his previous test grade (63/100). However, instead of
showing that grade to everyone, he instead had turned it over, covered it
(great way to hide something, make it suspicious), and refused to tell
anyone what he'd gotten. Eventually, another class mate attained it by
force, and reported it to others.
My quite annoying classmate has perfectly exhibited what I hate about pride.
I hate pride, because most of the time it's conditional (although I also
hate that it wastes my time). If people are proud, they should be proud of
their successes and failures, not just one or the other. If people are not
proud, then they aren't obliged to report anything. So why not be liberated
from obligation, and keep it to yourself? Don't GLOAT. Not to say that you
should go out of your way to hide things either. Shame is just about the
same. The only thing that's better about shame is that it doesn't waste my
time."
(Unknown Author)
When you gloat you become so self-indulged in the process that you cannot
see what others think of you, what others say about you and what others are
actively doing to get even.
What gloating does in effect is make you become so off track, you own self
importance becomes so dominant, that sooner rather than later, the tables of
fortune will turn and you'll become the victim.
In effect we actively make a CLAIM. We claim that we are right.
QUOTE: "He who claims he knows, knows nothing. He who claims nothing knows."
(Socrates)
Once you have read that quote, you may think, right I've understood that,
what's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that most of us get the chance to
witness one self, doing both of these regularly. I don't refer specifically
to academic conundrums, but practical day-to-day events.
Okay I am aware that this quote is not always true in an educational
situation, but about 80% of the time it is the attachment with that 'claim'
that can become a fault line in our character. It would appear that our ego
has a desire to speak too early.
Let me give you of the dictionary definition of 'claim,' it is:
'To state as being the case, without being able to give proof.'
If you are ever within a group of people, whether that be friends or work
colleagues, and an open question is made to everyone in the group, don't you
just know who is going to speak first, generally the one who is always full
of opinions!?
QUOTE: "They think too little who talk too much."
(Unknown Author).
So we can recognise the 'claiming we know' in other people, but can we
recognise it in one self?
I, perhaps unlike most, find it amusing to witness the mind in action. It is
both confusing and amazing.
Allow me to use a parallel example in an attempt to explain how the mind is
inclined to work. Have you ever witnessed an artist in action? They paint
what they see. In effect it goes in at the eyes and out through to the
paint-brush. Those that struggle with the perfection in art, let the image
they are painting go in through the eyes and then mistakenly allow it to go
through several processes in their mind before it gets to the paintbrush.
This allows the translation of seeing to have more of 'me' or 'I' involved.
'He who claims nothing, knows,' is doing so with a very special clarity of
mind.
Yet on the other hand, those who 'claim they know,' invariable do so with
20% of the knowledge required to speak on the subject.
To 'claim we know' is an action following a process of thought. Almost as if
our ego has taken control of both our patterns of thought and our mouth and
allowed to speak at will. In fact our ego goes to such an extent at times,
we may often wonder why we have allowed it to say so much!
To 'know' on the other hand, is a result of following the process of reason.
The dictionary definition:
THOUGHT & TO THINK: to have a particular opinion, belief, or idea about
someone or something.
TO REASON: the power of mind to think, understand and form judgements
logically.
The point being made here is that 'to reason' is bigger than 'thought.'
Thinking, again isn't always rooted in the truth, it is only an opinion. 'To
reason' however, is using judgements logically, which is to assess according
to a strict principle of validity.
QUOTE: "Many people think they are thinking when in actual fact they are
re-arranging their prejudices." (Unknown Author).
QUOTE: "Five percent of people choose to reason when resolving a problem,
twenty
percent go into deep thought, twenty five percent think they think, forty
percent try to think, ten percent would rather die thank think. But it is
the five percent that change the world." (Phil Booker, Philosopher of Life).
So it would appear that 'to think' is often used instead of 'to reason.' If
someone said, "I'm going to have a serious think about this." They may well
be just saying, "I'm going to get really opinionated about this subject."
Would you prefer to apply 'reason' that has a valid and logical basis to its
compilation, or just think and allow very little intellectual virtue to
exist?
Our society over-uses the words 'think' and 'thought' to such a degree it
has become habitual. So be especially cautious when you want a comment to
have some intellectual wealth, don't say that you've just had a thought!
I touched on the subject of 'ego' earlier which is a very big subject in
itself, but that little chattering at the back of your mind has a lot to
answer for. Having spoke to many people on the path to self-realisation,
their immediate answer to the 'ego' is to ask yourself the question, "Which
is the real you; you or your ego?"
Most people in CLAIMING THEY KNOW, do so when in actual fact they don't.
It is quite clear that the ego has an important role in enforcing this
claim. Those who have a good control over their own ego would find
themselves claiming nothing.
If we don't GLOAT and don't CLAIM we will SEE. Upon seeing our world is
understood.
And now onto this weeks story...
2. STORY
When you GLOAT you become narrow minded, you will not SEE the obvious. This
next illustration is a beautiful story with a moral. Those who are regularly
gloating will miss opportunities every day to learn a new moral. They become
so fixed on their own self importance they'll miss important lessons in
life, and here is one I don't want you to miss...
THE MOUNTAIN STORY
A son and his father were walking on the mountains.
Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain:
"AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"
He receives the answer: "Who are you?"
Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"
He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?"
The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention."
And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!"
The voice answers: "I admire you!"
Again the man screams: "You are a champion!"
The voice answers: "You are a champion!"
The boy is surprised, but does not understand.
Then the father explains: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE.
It gives you back everything you say or do.
Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.
If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart.
If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence.
This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life;
Life will give you back everything you have given to it."
And the moral to this story...
YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. IT'S A REFLECTION OF YOU!
(Author Unknown)
Supplied Courtesy of:
Wisdom and Philosophy
Spain
Reinhold Messner has seen the Yeti in the Himalayas, he claims.
I think that there really is a Bigfoot somewhere out there!
That science can't figure out Bigfoot is really bad.