When a Random Thought Leads to History and Learning

When ever I have a doctors visit and i am waiting in the examination room; I entertain myself by weighing myself on the scale, I take my own blood pressure. and I've used the stethoscope to hear outside the door. Yup! kid in a candy store playing nurse until the doctor arrives. At my most recent visit i had very low energy.  My eyes were forced to do the entertaining these hands couldn't as i waited for the doctor.  


I began reading the posters on the walls.  I found it interesting that the human bodies dictionary is seemed so limited. When sick we can possess the same symptoms as the flu, but still possess 6 out of 10 symptoms of perhaps a stroke victim. As my eyes moved further I noticed a examination room favorite. The WONG-BAKER pain scale.  I don't think I've ever understood the importance of this scale. I have seen it in every medical facility even those non-pediatric. I wish I was cleaver enough to have invented a happy-face scale used by the entire USA.  I pondered and wondered about it's simplicity.  After leaving the doctor I did some research. The research led me to Wong Baker Faces website.  Here is an example of when " a Random thought leads to History and Learning. " Blow is a what I learned, please enjoy.

The WONG -BAKER story

During her career, Donna Wong served as a consultant, instructor, researcher, and mentor.  Well respected for her work as a writer, she is best known for her textbooks in pediatric nursing, including Nursing Care of Infants and Children, Clinical Manual of Pediatric Nursing, Pediatric Quick Reference, and Essentials of Pediatric Nursing.  

In addition to her work in publishing, Donna Wong is also well known for her extensive research on pediatric pain management.  In 1981, she worked in the burn center at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a nurse consultant.  Working alongside Connie Morain Baker, a child life specialist, Dr. Wong frequently witnessed young children in pain who had difficulty communicating their feelings to the healthcare staff (Wong & Baker, 2002).  The two women realized that many times the children’s complaints and cries were misinterpreted which led to ineffective pain control (Wong & Baker).  They believed that with the proper tool, children would be better able to communicate their pain, which in turn would aid healthcare providers in providing more effective pain assessment and control (Wong & Baker).  In what led to perhaps her most well known contribution, Donna Wong teamed with Connie Baker to develop the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale.  Consisting of six faces ranging from happy to severe pain, the FACES pain scale is a visual analog that is now utilized worldwide to assess pain in children.  In addition to its usefulness as a nursing tool, the FACES pain scale has served to inspire additional research in the area of pain management (“Donna Lee Wong,” 2008). 

RANDOM THOUGHTS OF PEOPLE WE DON'T KNOW

This funny little list is from this site, Reddit.com.  It is two years old but  really funny.  Some of the quotes you might have heard or read in forwards to your emails or on other social networking sites.  If you are looking for a speck of entertainment during your work day, evening home, or in the midst of being board.  Below should bring a few chuckles your way. I also took the liberty to make my own personal comments to the quotes i agreed with or disagreed with. ENJOY!!!

Random thoughts from people our age 

·         I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.(personal thought of mines as well)
·         More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.(This happens in class alot)

·         Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong. ( this is the moment you try to act like why are we even discussing this )

·         I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter? (lol)

·         Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk. ( lol.. that's a "WTF" moment for sure)

·         That’s enough, Nickelback.

·         I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger. (This is Gospel)

·         Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with? (haaaa....)

·         Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft. ( seriously...perhaps being raised in the "crack /cocaine error actually had some advantages O,O )

·         There is a great need for sarcasm font. ( More Gospel )

·         Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it. (lol)

·         I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it. ( Random face)

·         How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? ( this is truly like a science. Ive watched pple at laundry matt do in in awe- and still cant :/)

·         I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in. ( the lazy and we know it OATH, we all take)

·         I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die. ( this is probably what i'd say with my last breath )

·         The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

 ( This is starting to feel like church...preach)

·         A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it. (idk bout this..but i did chuckle)

·         Was learning cursive really necessary? ( lol )

·         Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

( or the new way to insult people and then they cant get mad, i.e) your such a jerk lol)

·         I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.(this could be the cause for obesity in America)

·         Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying. (lol)

·         My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro. ( haaaaaaa..........)

·         Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”. (lol)

·         How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said? ( I personally feel after 3 times you just loose interest)

·         I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers! (Boo, since im usually "the dick" left lane is for passing cars not time- HATERS!)

·         Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies” ( that's hilarious )

·         What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other? ( even more hilarious)

·         While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart. 

·         MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. ( Or take off the waking route that takes 3 days to arrive at a destination that the drive is 20min )

·         Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. ( maybe even a you-tube clip O_O )

·         I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water. ( #1 way to avoid a slip and fall )

·         Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. (lol)

·         I would like to officially coin the phrase ‘catching the swine flu’ to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: “Dave caught the swine flu last night.” ( that's mean )

·         I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired. ( that's sad)

·         Bad decisions make good stories ( that's damn true when its not you )

·         Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do! ( Real SAD )

·         Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year? (Especially in the winter..what up with the youth today and anti coats)

·         If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible. 

·         Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….( lol )

·         You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day. ( This is the result of this BLOG )

·         Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection. 

·         There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far. ( lol..then there's the moment everyone else feels because they want to laugh but not sure if u did )

·         I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to. ( Student Anxiety )

·         “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever. (lol, or one time wear )

·         I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’ ( O_O )

·         I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away? 

( haaaaaaaaaaa...everytime)

·         I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste. ( lol...funny )

·         When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking. (weird)

·         I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

·         Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles… ( this is probably the funniest, altho it shouldn't be )

·         As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists. ( The universal bond )

·         Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. ( LOL )

·         It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood. (LOL- that's so wrong, but more true than not )

·         I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. ( More church Gospel..let the congregation say AMEN )

·         Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

·         Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time… ( classic..haha moment)

·         My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that? (lol)

·         It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text. 

·         I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit. ( nope, this is how they pass time on a boring day)

·         I think the freezer deserves a light as well. ( haa... )

·         I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

·Bottom of Form

1. http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/9lo59/random_thoughts_from_people_our_age/ 

That's Not What Random Means

Does RANDOMNESS exist? According to the society of neuroscience "randomness" is referred to is a neuroscience of chance.  The society goes on to explain Neuroscience as," the study of the nervous system and how it advances the understanding of human thought, emotion, and behavior"(Society of Neuroscience). The article "How Randomness Rules Our World and Why We Cannot See It" is written by  Michael Shermer.  Shermer compares probability to what we typically view as chance or luck; and explains how the brain has a "natural tendency to rationalize irrationally." Below is an excerpts of the article as it explains in greater detail: 

"Imagine that you are a contestant on the classic television game show Let’s Make a Deal. Behind one of three doors is a brand-new automobile. Behind the other two are goats. You choose door number one. Host Monty Hall, who knows what is behind all three doors, shows you that a goat is behind number two, and then inquires: Would you like to keep the door you chose or switch? Our folk numeracy—our natural tendency to think anecdotally and to focus on small-number runs—tells us that it is 50–50, so it doesn't matter, right? Wrong. You had a one in three chance to start, but now that Monty has shown you one of the losing doors, you have a two-thirds chance of winning by switching. Here is why. There are three possible three-doors configurations: (1) good, bad, bad; (2) bad, good, bad; (3) bad, bad, good.  In (1) you lose by switching, but in (2) and (3) you can win by switching. If your folk numeracy is still overriding your rational brain, let’s say that there are 10 doors: you choose door number one, and Monty shows you door numbers two through nine, all goats. Now do you switch?  Of course, because your chances of win­­ning increase from one in 10 to nine in 10." 

The excerpt above basically states divine science is not the cause of luck; and that  luck does not exist.  For the average person who believes in "luck," this passage could be a little difficult to understand. Let me attempt to explain my prospective on what is said. Pretend your a contestant on national TV game show like "The Price is Right." Hundreds of onlookers and contestants are in the audience awaiting the opportunity to play; they are hoping you don't get the right answer so they can have a shot at winning the prize.  Their are also millions of people watching you on the TV game show; subliminally trying to transmit the answer they think is correct to you...In this moment it's likely you wish you spent more time concentrating in your high school math class on the probability questions.  This is in essence what the article is attempting to explain.  Luck is a form of  probability.  The article further explains by quoting a book written by psychiatrist,  Leonard Mlodinow of the California Institute of Technology called "The Drunkard’s Walk": 

The “Monty Hall Problem” is just one of many probability puzzles physicist Leonard Mlodinow of the California Institute of Technology presents in his delightfully entertaining new book The Drunkard’s Walk (Pantheon, 2008). His title employs the metaphor (sometimes called the “random walk”) to draw an analogy between “the paths molecules follow as they fly through space, incessantly bumping, and being bumped by, their sister molecules,” and “our lives, our paths from college to career, from single life to family life, from first hole of golf to eighteenth.” Although countless random collisions tend to cancel one another out because of the law of large numbers—where improbable events will probably happen given enough time and opportunity—every once in a great while, “when pure luck occasionally leads to a lopsided preponderance of hits from some particular direction ... a noticeable jiggle occurs.” We notice the improbable directional jiggle but ignore the zillions of meaningless and counteracting collisions.

This article in my opinion, says a lot about nothing.  Throughout the reading the author does not disprove luck; or prove how probability is really the source of  randomness.  I do not agree with Shermer's theory. I  doubt the public has the capacity to change our "natural tendency to think anecdotally."(Michael Shermer).  Especially since it is as Shermer states, "NATURAL TENDENCY."   However, if the purpose of this article is to throw a monkey wrench in the faith machine for the believers of luck; it may have raised a brow.  Their could be some mathematical science to life's happenstance, In my personal opinion the author, Michael Shermer went mining for oil in a bath tub. Great idea but your map is wrong!  Please see the full article and judge for yourself.

Introductory Message

Hello Readers

I decided to create a blog on Randomness as a means to discuss different topics my readers. I consider myself a thinker.  When I receive information I enjoy sharing this knowledge with other's. Prior to deciding to create "Randomness Blog, " I considered topic's such as, dating and Student & Family Life Balance. However, those topic tend to be to personal and spark heated debates.  Majority of blogs have one specific topic and pattern. This blog is different, there is no pattern or specific topic.  Just information being re-distributed to you as I receive it from other sources.  There's no redundancy, you the reader are provided with a fresh topics and information.  Thing's one may miss in daily travels.  The topic's are also also subjects you the reader perhaps once learned. If so Randomness will serve as a refresher course. 


The News paper gives the reader a chance to read what is happening in the world; with this blog filled with random information, I hope to introduce or re-introduce information and entertain the readers with my humor on the subjects i discuss.
It is my hope you the reader, will enjoy and perhaps find a laugh that was desperately needed. 


Wikipedia defines Randomness as "somewhat differing meanings as used in various fields. It also has common meanings which are connected to the notion of predictability (or lack thereof) of events."


The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'random' as "Having no definite aim or purpose; not sent or guided in a particular direction; made, done, occurring, etc., without method or conscious choice; haphazard." This concept of randomness suggests a non-order or non-coherence in a sequence of symbols or steps, such that there is no intelligible pattern or combination." 


Thank you for joining!