I don't know what y'all have against the u.

It's just so showy . We are a plain people.

My parents wouldn't show us our IQ scores. All I know is that I'm not as smart as I wish I was. And not as smart as I used to be.

Cosmogirl q & a with Scott Porter.

Non-spoilery.

The IQ questions that I hate are the ones that are series of numbers and you have to complete the series. I can usually reason through a few, but then my brain gets tired and I guess the rest.

Sometimes there's more than one rule to completing several of the series. I was told once about a very brilliant mathematician who got such a question wrong, because he saw a connection inside all the series of numbers, in each one of the choices in a multiple-choice question. And it wasn't because he didn't see the answer that the writers of the question thought of, it was because he saw more (correct) possibilities than they did.

But I bet 10 of those points are just my multiple choice test taking skills.

We probably evolved this skill. Like back in the cavemen days, a cavewoman might be surrounded by four cougars. She might figure that two of the cougars look really strong, healthy and/or hungry, and thus decide to run past one of the remaining two cougars, hoping she will by random chance run by the one that has a stomach ache and is feeling depressed that day....

Sometimes there's more than one rule to completing several of the series. I was told once about a very brilliant mathematician who got such a question wrong, because he saw a connection inside all the series of numbers, in each one of the choices in a multiple-choice question. And it wasn't because he didn't see the answer that the writers of the question thought of, it was because he saw more (correct) possibilities than they did.

I've always assumed brilliant mathematicians would have this problem.

I recently took a test for a nursing class (I am not a healthcare professional) for End of Life Nursing Care. I got one question wrong. This is completely test taking skills and the ability to figure out what unknown words mean.

I look at much of multiple choice test taking as acting class. Who do they want me to be? For the driver's license, I can image the pedantic careful and annoying driver they want, and be her for the purposes of the test.

And sometimes you have to work out who they think they are, which translates to how they want to trick you.

Tiny, cute, kitty

When I worked retail, there would be people lined up outside the door at Penney's for our 5 AM opening. It was crazy!

My Pier 1 management experience, let me show you it. I had people pounding on the door at 4:45 a.m. one Black Friday, and we didn't even open until 6. That was also the year of having to physically restrain a guy from coming in to our store on Christmas Eve as I was escorting our last customer out - an hour after we had closed. No one but no one needs overpriced crap from overseas that badly.

All hail online shopping.

I worked retail for several years, Black Friday and the day after Christmas are just nuts. Black Friday you have cranky parents, dragging their cranky spouses and kids around trying to buy crap. Or I'd end up with people trying to stealthy buy something for the person they are shopping with.

Then the day after Christmas you have people with opened merchandise and no receipt wanting a refund.