Part Three...A Really Big Post
CHAPTER THREE: EXCEEDING OUR EXPECTATIONS
“Genius is intensity. The man who gets anything worth having is the man who goes after his object as a bulldog goes after a cat - with every fiber in him tense with eagerness and determination.”
-C. Holman
“There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.”-Norman Vincent Peale
ONE
MCRGES Status Report #29, December 3, 1997 (Earth Time)
To: Council of Elders and Scientific Council
From: Chief of MCRGES
The experiment is continuing as planned. It is too early to make any definite conclusions, but I believe that it is safe to say that this experiment may conclude as being a successful one.
All Agents of Influence conclude that the subject is exceptionally bright (one Agent of Influence, using some human phrases called him “a walking encyclopedia” and “so smart, it’s scary”) and shows a talent for memorization and recall. The younger agents of influence, those in his classes, consider this talent to be impressive, yet quantify these conclusions with unusual statements questioning whether or not he is human but actually an alien in disguise. (This is ironic as he is human, and we are alien.) This may seem to show that he is becoming psychologically unstable, but this is normal human development according to the psychologists we have shaped to be AOIs. This is good, as it shows he has a sense of self worth as a person and is a fully functioning individual.
Because he shows a talent for information memorization and recall, the subject is pursuing school extracurricular activities that emphasize this talent. Extrapolation programs predict that he will be highly successful in this pursuit, assuming the faculty representatives best utilize this talent.
As the worst-case results, the subject will win 75% of the tournaments he enters. At the best-case results, he wins nearly 100% of the tournaments he enter, including the upper level tournaments like State and National level tournaments [Note from Editors: See Note from Editors, Chapter Three, Part Three, Extrapolation Report for a discussion on this topic]. This prediction was made from his previous success in academic-style tournaments. He has won the school level Geography Bee earlier (four straight times), made it to the state level (four straight times) and the National level twice. He has won state honors in academic tests involving subjects like math, chemistry, natural science, physics, English, Spanish, English literature, political science, etc.). I believe that he should prove to be a tour-de-force-a true competitor who will win constantly and convincingly.
TWO
Excerpts from Riverview Times
March 23, 1998
LOCAL SCHOOL EXCELS AT ACADEMIC QUIZ BOWL
By: George Vincent
In high school athletics, they have a mercy rule. Once a team scores a certain amount of points before a certain time, the mercy rule is invoked as to spare the other team the indignity of losing by a preposterous amount. For example, the mercy rule was invoked at the Camden North vs. Camden East football game in 1987 when Camden North was leading Camden East 73 to 0…five minutes into the second quarter. In academic quiz bowl, there is no mercy rule, but the opponents that Riverview High faced this year might want one. Riverview High has been dominant this year.
The coach of the Riverview High Academic Quiz Bowl team, Steven Stone does keep records and they are very meticulous records. Consider the following statistics:
“David King, he’s so smart, he’s scary,” commented Bill Wolfson, a junior at Riverview High. “Once he starts answering questions, he is unstoppable. It’s amazing how much he knows and how fast he can press the button.”
Jessica Berg echoed these comments as well. “He’s fast and he is never wrong.”
Stone commented, “He’s the best I’ve seen, period. He has the speed on the buzzer that is amazing. He has the knowledge up here and buzzer speed to match. At practices, we have 10 on 1 games and King will constantly beat the 10-member team. And that is with a 100 point, sometimes 200 point advantage to the 10 member team.”
When asked if he would like King to be on the team in the future, Stone laughed. “Are you kidding? You’d be crazy not to have in on your team. He simply is the best.”
We tried to ask King some questions at a recent team practice, but he was too busy answering questions. And he was correctly answering them.
March 25, 1999
RIVERVIEW ACADEMIC QUIZ TEAM: TWO IN A ROW
By: Sam Thompson
Riverview High’s Academic Quiz Bowl team continued their dominance in quiz bowl competitions by winning the State Tournament for the second time in a row. In addition to winning the State tournament, the team won Knowledge Bowl and was the state’s top team in Knowledge Master Open. It was the second Triple Crown in Academic Quiz Bowl.
The Riverview Team that successfully defended their title at State and at Knowledge Bowl consisted of David King, junior; Bill Wolfs, senior; Nathan Richardson, senior; Karl Bjornsen, junior; and Patrick Young, senior.
“Some of the games were really close,” joked Richardson. “I mean, we were only ahead by only seventy points in some rounds. But David did his usual performance.”
“I was a little off this year, a little slow. I guess that doing Number Theory homework sort of was overkill. We still won. The school might need a new trophy case,” said King, referring to the plaques from State and regional, as well as the Knowledge Bowl traveling trophy sitting on a table nearby. “The other plaques the team won, I’m not sure where they’ll go.”
When asked if he would predict what his final year would be like, King said, “We’re going out on top as a Triple Crown winner.”
Stone was more cautious. “I wouldn’t guarantee another Triple Crown, but it’s very likely. We’ve got King and Bjornsen coming back and we’ve got a good pool of talent. It will be a good year.”
March 22, 2000
RIVERVIEW ACADEMIC QUIZ TEAM: THREE-PEAT
By: Franklin Brooks
Riverview High’s Academic Quiz Bowl team continued their dominance in quiz bowl competitions by winning the State Tournament for the third time in a row. In addition to winning the State tournament, the team won Knowledge Bowl and was the state’s top team in Knowledge Master Open. With this, they have now won Triple Crown in Academic Quiz Bowl three times in a row.
The Riverview Team that successfully defended their title for the third time at State and at Knowledge Bowl consisted of David King, senior; Jesse Dean, junior; Ian Vinson, junior; Karl Bjornsen, senior; and Levi Janstead, sophomore.
“We had another excellent year in Academic Quiz Bowl this year,” said Steven Stone. “The pieces fell into place this year. David King was the cornerstone this year.”
Bjornsen and Dean echoed this sentiment. “This is one of the best years of Academic Quiz Team we’ve had. Even better than last year,” said Bjornsen. “I have to agree. In addition to making it a triple-Triple [Crown], we’re competing in a national competition.”
“The National Academic Quiz Tournament is a great thing to happen to this team. We’ll have the opportunity to compete against the best high school teams in the nation,” said Stone. “In order to get there, we will have to raise funds. If you would like to donate, that would be great. The team has worked hard and this would be a great reward for them, going to the High School NAQT.”
The High School NAQT for 2000 will be held in Atlanta, Georgia.
Donations should be made to Steven Stone at Riverview High School.
THREE
MCRGES Status Report #47, April 6, 2003 (Earth Time)
To: Council of Elders and Scientific Council
From: Chief of MCRGES
The experiment is continuing as planned. It is too early to make any definite conclusions, but I believe that it is safe to say that this experiment may conclude as being a successful one.
The subject is currently in college and given his high school record, his academic success in college is not a surprise. At this moment, we expect him to pursue a post-graduate degree. Our agents of influence at the college are suggesting that he go to law school given his analytic skills. The A&OP Department, using their extrapolation program (their newest one), state that there is a 97.34% probability that he will enter into law school after he graduates from college.
(ADDED IN MANUSCRIPT)
We have heard from our agents of influence that the subject has signed up for the Law School Entrance Exam (LSAT) and has begun the process of signing up for various law schools. The A&OP Department’s extrapolation program is excellent. I believe it can be used in other fields.
-SMERLON
CHAPTER FOUR: FOR ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE
“Facts don't cease to exist because they are ignored.”
-Aldous Huxley
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound of fury,
Signifying nothing.”
-Macbeth, Macbeth, Act V, Scene v, 24-28
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.”
-Polonius, Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii, 205-206
ONE
Entry in David King’s Electronic Journal (Decrypted)
[Note from Editors: This is a confusing and most perplexing document about how Mr. King knew that the Itanimulli, or as he refers to them in this document and later documents, “They,” were involving him in an experiment. How he discovered this plot and the shadowy agents of influence is amazing. One could interpret this in several ways. The first way, is that he is obviously suffering from a psychological problem like paranoid schizophrenia, came up with this theory, and in an amazing coincidence, is soon discovered to be right in all aspects. The second option is that he discovered this plan in some mysterious way. How, we are not sure. His later documents do not explain how he knew since childhood. He never has told anyone how he knew and when asked, he has a strange smile on his face and he states, “I just knew it and I don’t know how to explain it.” From this behavior, one can surmise his is hiding something, though one cannot absolutely conclude he is lying in any way. We will never know and nobody, it seems, will ever know, unless some document shows up.
One also has to wonder why the Itanimulli, with all of their technology, never considered to break into his computer to see if Mr. King had any other secret documents. According to the Itanimulli, that would have been a violation of the Non-Integration Treaty they speak so much about. It is confusing logic and other Itanimulli documents have proven to be unhelpful. No Itanimulli we talked to could explain this logic. We can safely conclude that the logic involved in this decision was based upon personal standards.]
{ENTRY LOG}
[LAST LOGIN DATE: 09/20/04]
[LAST LOGIN TIME: 11:39:03PM]
[LAST LOGIN NAME: DKing]
[ENTRY TIME: 3:18:49PM]
[LOGIN NAME: DKing]
[ENTER PASSCODE: QdePo9#vm0PiC2$LcBeqwsA6oUyWxh5HntY8u3DFjlb61PV#&y1DxQiUYVbn9mBvCeRu5OO8kHcM49uRVyPL1%Kbm3IxVbwp]
[PASSWORD ACCEPTED]
[RUNNING E-JOURNAL]
[ENTER E-JOURNAL PASSCODE: cQ7LhG5%1DXv3Z0IkeM@9YpJdOi9#7fSZv6py!cb2Nr]
[PASSWORD ACCEPTED]
3:18:57 PM 09/21/04
I’ve resorted to typing my private thoughts into a text file on the laptop computer that I bought last year. It’s been double encrypted with two passwords using a 1024-bit encryption algorithm based upon RSA and PGP.
Why am I using this elaborate security at a paranoid level of encryption for such a meaningless file? One that has my private thoughts? Thoughts that nobody really cares that much about? It’s because of Them, actually They.
“They.” That sounds like the nameless enemy that people with crippling paranoid delusions have. The nameless enemy that inhabits their mind. The nameless ones that are always planning against them. You know, before this, I would have considered this crazy. But now that I know that they exist in real life, and they don’t exist in my mind, I can’t laugh anymore.
Ever since I was young, I knew what I was. I was sure of myself. I knew that life was worthwhile and worth living to the fullest. I was at peace with myself and the world I was living in. I was good and I knew life was good. My mistake was that everyone-the creatures around me were like myself. Those creatures I am referring to are children. But they are part of the plot that involves me. And only me.
I knew nothing about violence or viciousness until I met them. Those little devils that were put in my life to make it hard. To destroy my perfect sense of the world, the way it was meant to be if I was in control. They were different. Sure, they looked like me-that is, human-but they were different in some way. They were not like me, as least mentally.
If I tried to say anything that mattered to me, at least to those demons, they would just stare at me and laugh out loud. Then they would find some way of punishing me for having said whatever I said. The physical hits, the screaming, the teasing, and the taunts of being called a nerd, an egghead. It was the supposedly normal behavior of children. But I knew the difference. They were there to change my personality, to make me be like everyone else of my age. They, the nameless ones, the ones that are involving me in some experiment, are telling them to do this to me. I know it.
And then, there are the adults. They are playing a role in this experiment. I never thought about them while I was a young child. Adults don’t matter to children, at least not in the beginning. We are not that important, despite their fawning behavior, their assurances that children matter and that children are important. They were busy with things that matter little to children. It was only when I grew up did I notice that adults were playing a role in the experiment.
Adults. They do different things. When I was around, they did one certain action, but when I entered the picture, they did a different action, one completely different action. How do I know this? By watching and listening. I would catch them stopping when I was around. One minute, they are talking about something important. When I would walk in, they would stop, appear guilty, look around, and then they would talk about a foolish topic. Something about the weather and how nice it was and how it was terrible during the weekend. When I hid, they would resume talking about their mysterious topic. Things I did not understand, but something that was very important. Something involving me in some way. I knew it instinctively.
As an adult, I know that adults consider children strange in some way and that children should be protected from adult matters. It’s the way of life. They are part of an unwritten code of convention. But it’s not enough. There was something wrong. I had to find out.
After much listening and talking and watching, I found out what the discrepancy was that bothered me for so long. People talked about things, and people did things, but these things were not important. What they were doing, what they must be doing, was important.
They wanted me to follow a basic pattern, one that never changed substantially. I was told to do well in school to get a good education to get a good job so that I could get paid good money to buy good food to get strength to wake up the next day to go to the good job to get paid good money to buy good food to get strength to wake up the next day-this cycle repeating itself day after day until I died. If the pattern changed, the end result was the same. Everyone ended up dead. Everyone was telling me to follow this basic pattern of working and eating, working and eating until I fell over dead.
I know you’re saying right now, “Life does look it is futile, and you know what, it just might be futile. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Even if it is that way, this is the only life that we are given. Just enjoy it as much as possible. Make the most out of it. Live like you were going to die the next day. Be a damn Epicurean.” Can I eat, drink, and be merry and forget about this matter?
You know what, I could do live life that way. But I know that it is all a giant sham, a huge artifice to sufficiently confuse me. Just like Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage and we are all merely players.” All these people, this motley swarm are just actors. They have a rhyme and reason to be here, not just make meaningless noises at each other.
There has to be a meaning to this. There has to be some meaningful explanation, not some damn meaningless babble. I’m not going to believe that I’m waiting for Godot and this is an existentialist sham. It must be an insanely complex plan. It has to be planned.
I know what the plan is for me, just only me. I am special in some way, but I just don’t know how. I just know. It’s an instinct.
It’s kind of like Shakespeare. It’s a play to divert me, to confuse me, to make me busy so I can’t think about what this giant mess is all about. All these tiny details are microscopic red herrings to lead me away from the true meaning of why this is being done. Everyone is part of this plan, every one I see is a part of the plan. A lot of you are a just puppet, mindless robots without any sense. They just do what they are told. No thinking at all.
But there are the important people, the real agents of influence, and the ones who have specific roles in this plan. They have power. They are the true conspirators. There has to be some troubleshooters out there who force me to play the role I’ve been given. I’m not going to play this role. I am going to be independent from them. I know I will.
It’s part of a conspiracy. I know I have been chosen for special attention. It can’t be a joke on everyone. I’m the only victim.
All of the creatures, the controllers, the agents of influence, have been set up to look like me. I can’t prove it, but I can find a way. They’re here to prevent me to from knowing that I am the center of their arrangements. I am the center of the universe. This is the key fact.
I am the only sole individual. There aren’t millions like me. I can’t communicate with the other millions or billions. I try to communicate my thoughts and I get wrong answers, confusing contradictions, meaningless words. The millions are just shells. Empty shells.
The best I can do? I will do as Hamlet does. I won’t feign madness, though what I write about sounds like madness. Pure and simple madness. No, I shall use Hamlet’s strategy that Shakespeare writes about. I shall make them think what I want them to think. I will let them assume. I will pretend to play along, to pretend to be docile.
They will think I am unaware of their ambush, their tactics to get me back into the fold they want me in. But no, I will circle around and ambush them. And when I do, they will be in for a very big surprise. That I guarantee.
What will I write about publicly to fool them? I think I will catch them like any good fisherman. Toss out a cunningly crafted piece of bait. When they bite, I will snare them and reel them in. The best bait? Casually talk about their plan. Yes, talk about the one that I shouldn’t know about. Toss it around, pretending to be blind, as if I don’t know. Just as a joke.
Let’s see how They react to this monkey wrench tossed into their plans. I can just imagine what would happen. They aren’t going to win this round.
At best, just like a game of chess, I win with a checkmate. At worse, instead of a win, I end up with a stalemate with neither side winning. There might be many stalemates before one side breaks down strategically and loses. I can handle a stalemate…forever.
Hamlet said it best (English major speaking here):
For ‘tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard.
-Hamlet, Act III, Scene iv, 213-214
I’m going to blow them up with their own weapons. It’s going to be fun.
TWO
“The Meaning of Life”
As a former Philosophy major (as well as English) in college, there were many basic questions that we tried to find the answers to. These were the really deep questions that have fueled the greatest minds in civilization. Questions so fundamental that no matter the country the person was born in, no matter the background the person was born into, no matter what beliefs they followed, people have consistently asked these questions. From the beginning of human history, all the way to today, and all the way until the end of time.
The question that has nagged everyone-including myself-has been “What is the meaning of life.” Yes, the question that people think every philosopher devotes their entire life to answer. It’s true. Philosophers spend a lot of time trying to answer this question. I’m one of them, though it’s now an amateur hobby that I do when I have free time and not my entire life. Despite asking myself this question, I haven’t figured this one out. Every major religion has tried to give some meaning to this question. Nobody has come up with a satisfactory answer that everyone can agree completely to.
It seems like that everyone in human history has tried to find the meaning of life. Whether the person is a philosopher, a poet, a mythical ordinary every man, they have tried to define life in terms that people will understand. The definitions and explanations for what life is have ranged from the amazingly philosophical to the sublimely ridiculous.
Forrest Gump, in a bit of homespun Southern wisdom, stated that “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” This is an apt and simple meaning for life, but it seems to be lacking in a way. Sure, it seems that you never know what you’re going to get in life. If you, however, look in most boxes of chocolates, you might notice the little diagram they include. The one that tells you what chocolates are which and what fillings they have inside.
There is also an industry chocolate code. The little squiggles on the top and the shape of the chocolate also tells you what is inside. Technically, you can tell what you’re going to get. The only problem is that you might want the caramel nut, but you get stuck with a chocolate you hate. For me, it’s the vanilla cream center. I absolutely hate it. If you over think it, you know what you’re going to get it life and in the end, you get stuck with something you will loathe.
Douglas Adams, the famed science-fiction/fantasy writer, humorously stated in one of his books, that the meaning of life was 42. His meaning for life, at first glance, seems to be ridiculous. This definition for life makes no sense what so ever. What does “42”or any number have to do with the meaning of life. It should be something vaguely related to Zen or at the least, deeply philosophical.
But examine his meaning of life a little deeper. It truly is an accurate meaning for life. The answer is just like the question: absolutely meaningless. It’s akin to the old Zen koan asking if a cow or any animal in general has Buddha sense. The answer to the Zen koan, “MOO,” is a ridiculous answer to a ridiculous question. Why bother trying to discover the meaning of life? To sum, there are much better things to do like living life to the fullest.
Shakespeare, in his plays, said that the world was a stage and we are merely players in life. We all accept various roles as we age. Which seems to be valid. After all, as we progress through life, as we age, we become children and then teenagers and then adults. We take on the role as students, sons and daughters, possibly parents and grandparents. We have jobs-the average person change occupations at least eight times in life. And we accept them smoothly in general. Sometimes, not so smoothly. But, in the end, we go and accept them. After all, it is just another part, another role we play. There are so many roles to play in our lives, some of these roles we play at the same time. How to play both roles skillfully can prove to be a massive problem, a total headache.
Like the other metaphors, there seems to be a fundamental problem with this poetic description of the world, the people that live in the world and life in general. If we are all merely actors as Shakespeare writes, and the world is a stage, then we are all following some kind of plot that has been determined earlier by some unknown person. Whether or not this plot is a well-scripted plot or a poorly scripted (even non-existent) plot, does not matter at all. Everything, including what we do, what we say, is not done by us with some kind of free will. It’s all planned for us. Just follow the script and things will be fine. Sure, some amount of ad-libbing and personal freedom is allowed, but it is very little. To think that all our actions have been pre-planned is disturbing. It goes against what most western minds think. We can’t change what will happen next. Nothing we do can change what will happen. It is the will of God, Allah, or some deity/deities up in the higher reaches.
Hmm…that would be an interesting question. What if Shakespeare and everyone else who have had this similar idea were right? What if the world was an elaborately designed stage with all the buildings and trees and everything else created just to make the ruse seem real? What if everything we did was elaborately scripted and we are all actors or worse, puppets controlled by some higher power of some sort, not necessarily God? But let’s take that to an extreme degree. You’re the only person that exists in this fantasy world. The only independent person there. Everyone else is there to get you to conform and follow an established set of behavior. One giant conspiracy and you are the sole focus of this conspiracy against you. Yes, it is one person against the entire world. I’m not sure how I would deal with that type of situation. I’d feel much better if everyone was part of this delusion.
Those of you out there in electronic world might be thinking, “There he goes again. He’s just like the stereotypical philosophy major. Thinking too much and not doing enough living life. What’s the point of asking this question? You’re over thinking everything. Do something else.”
You’re absolutely right. I am thinking about this question way too much. But it’s just the way I am and the way my mind thinks and the way I act. I can’t change that.
It’s time to study for a test tomorrow. Income taxation. Why did I ever decide to go to law school after graduating from college? I seriously should have done something different. You know, I think that I should have gone to California to be a stand up comic. Why I didn’t decide to do something else, I’m not sure. It seems like a waste of talent to be a lawyer when I could do something else…something I enjoy.
God, it is going to be a long night.
That’s it for today. Stay tuned for another rambling from the edge.
Posted By DKing on 09/21/04 at 11:53PM, CDT
“Genius is intensity. The man who gets anything worth having is the man who goes after his object as a bulldog goes after a cat - with every fiber in him tense with eagerness and determination.”
-C. Holman
“There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.”-Norman Vincent Peale
ONE
MCRGES Status Report #29, December 3, 1997 (Earth Time)
To: Council of Elders and Scientific Council
From: Chief of MCRGES
The experiment is continuing as planned. It is too early to make any definite conclusions, but I believe that it is safe to say that this experiment may conclude as being a successful one.
All Agents of Influence conclude that the subject is exceptionally bright (one Agent of Influence, using some human phrases called him “a walking encyclopedia” and “so smart, it’s scary”) and shows a talent for memorization and recall. The younger agents of influence, those in his classes, consider this talent to be impressive, yet quantify these conclusions with unusual statements questioning whether or not he is human but actually an alien in disguise. (This is ironic as he is human, and we are alien.) This may seem to show that he is becoming psychologically unstable, but this is normal human development according to the psychologists we have shaped to be AOIs. This is good, as it shows he has a sense of self worth as a person and is a fully functioning individual.
Because he shows a talent for information memorization and recall, the subject is pursuing school extracurricular activities that emphasize this talent. Extrapolation programs predict that he will be highly successful in this pursuit, assuming the faculty representatives best utilize this talent.
As the worst-case results, the subject will win 75% of the tournaments he enters. At the best-case results, he wins nearly 100% of the tournaments he enter, including the upper level tournaments like State and National level tournaments [Note from Editors: See Note from Editors, Chapter Three, Part Three, Extrapolation Report for a discussion on this topic]. This prediction was made from his previous success in academic-style tournaments. He has won the school level Geography Bee earlier (four straight times), made it to the state level (four straight times) and the National level twice. He has won state honors in academic tests involving subjects like math, chemistry, natural science, physics, English, Spanish, English literature, political science, etc.). I believe that he should prove to be a tour-de-force-a true competitor who will win constantly and convincingly.
TWO
Excerpts from Riverview Times
March 23, 1998
LOCAL SCHOOL EXCELS AT ACADEMIC QUIZ BOWL
By: George Vincent
In high school athletics, they have a mercy rule. Once a team scores a certain amount of points before a certain time, the mercy rule is invoked as to spare the other team the indignity of losing by a preposterous amount. For example, the mercy rule was invoked at the Camden North vs. Camden East football game in 1987 when Camden North was leading Camden East 73 to 0…five minutes into the second quarter. In academic quiz bowl, there is no mercy rule, but the opponents that Riverview High faced this year might want one. Riverview High has been dominant this year.
The coach of the Riverview High Academic Quiz Bowl team, Steven Stone does keep records and they are very meticulous records. Consider the following statistics:
1. Riverview has entered in 24 state-sanctioned tournaments and they have won all 24 of them.Everyone on the Riverview High Academic Quiz Bowl team is smart. They all are taking AP level courses and some are taking courses at Riverview University like Organic Chemistry, Russian, and Number Theory. The members of the team, however, consider one member in awe. Even the coach considers this member one of the best he’s seen and he has been a coach for 27 years.
2. They have played a total of 203 rounds and they have won all 203 rounds.
3. They average a total of about 135 points a round. This may not sound impressive, but once you consider that there are only 16 questions each round, with a correct answer worth 10 points, for a total of 160 possible points. They get 84% of the points possible.
4. At this year’s state tournament, they had a perfect 12-0 record. They scored the impressive average of 125 points each round. In the final, they shut out the opposing team.
5. They won Knowledge Bowl by outscoring their opponents by an average of 270 points.
6. They competed in Knowledge Master Open and they were the top team in the state. 7. They outscored the second place team by 568 points.
“David King, he’s so smart, he’s scary,” commented Bill Wolfson, a junior at Riverview High. “Once he starts answering questions, he is unstoppable. It’s amazing how much he knows and how fast he can press the button.”
Jessica Berg echoed these comments as well. “He’s fast and he is never wrong.”
Stone commented, “He’s the best I’ve seen, period. He has the speed on the buzzer that is amazing. He has the knowledge up here and buzzer speed to match. At practices, we have 10 on 1 games and King will constantly beat the 10-member team. And that is with a 100 point, sometimes 200 point advantage to the 10 member team.”
When asked if he would like King to be on the team in the future, Stone laughed. “Are you kidding? You’d be crazy not to have in on your team. He simply is the best.”
We tried to ask King some questions at a recent team practice, but he was too busy answering questions. And he was correctly answering them.
March 25, 1999
RIVERVIEW ACADEMIC QUIZ TEAM: TWO IN A ROW
By: Sam Thompson
Riverview High’s Academic Quiz Bowl team continued their dominance in quiz bowl competitions by winning the State Tournament for the second time in a row. In addition to winning the State tournament, the team won Knowledge Bowl and was the state’s top team in Knowledge Master Open. It was the second Triple Crown in Academic Quiz Bowl.
The Riverview Team that successfully defended their title at State and at Knowledge Bowl consisted of David King, junior; Bill Wolfs, senior; Nathan Richardson, senior; Karl Bjornsen, junior; and Patrick Young, senior.
“Some of the games were really close,” joked Richardson. “I mean, we were only ahead by only seventy points in some rounds. But David did his usual performance.”
“I was a little off this year, a little slow. I guess that doing Number Theory homework sort of was overkill. We still won. The school might need a new trophy case,” said King, referring to the plaques from State and regional, as well as the Knowledge Bowl traveling trophy sitting on a table nearby. “The other plaques the team won, I’m not sure where they’ll go.”
When asked if he would predict what his final year would be like, King said, “We’re going out on top as a Triple Crown winner.”
Stone was more cautious. “I wouldn’t guarantee another Triple Crown, but it’s very likely. We’ve got King and Bjornsen coming back and we’ve got a good pool of talent. It will be a good year.”
March 22, 2000
RIVERVIEW ACADEMIC QUIZ TEAM: THREE-PEAT
By: Franklin Brooks
Riverview High’s Academic Quiz Bowl team continued their dominance in quiz bowl competitions by winning the State Tournament for the third time in a row. In addition to winning the State tournament, the team won Knowledge Bowl and was the state’s top team in Knowledge Master Open. With this, they have now won Triple Crown in Academic Quiz Bowl three times in a row.
The Riverview Team that successfully defended their title for the third time at State and at Knowledge Bowl consisted of David King, senior; Jesse Dean, junior; Ian Vinson, junior; Karl Bjornsen, senior; and Levi Janstead, sophomore.
“We had another excellent year in Academic Quiz Bowl this year,” said Steven Stone. “The pieces fell into place this year. David King was the cornerstone this year.”
Bjornsen and Dean echoed this sentiment. “This is one of the best years of Academic Quiz Team we’ve had. Even better than last year,” said Bjornsen. “I have to agree. In addition to making it a triple-Triple [Crown], we’re competing in a national competition.”
“The National Academic Quiz Tournament is a great thing to happen to this team. We’ll have the opportunity to compete against the best high school teams in the nation,” said Stone. “In order to get there, we will have to raise funds. If you would like to donate, that would be great. The team has worked hard and this would be a great reward for them, going to the High School NAQT.”
The High School NAQT for 2000 will be held in Atlanta, Georgia.
Donations should be made to Steven Stone at Riverview High School.
THREE
MCRGES Status Report #47, April 6, 2003 (Earth Time)
To: Council of Elders and Scientific Council
From: Chief of MCRGES
The experiment is continuing as planned. It is too early to make any definite conclusions, but I believe that it is safe to say that this experiment may conclude as being a successful one.
The subject is currently in college and given his high school record, his academic success in college is not a surprise. At this moment, we expect him to pursue a post-graduate degree. Our agents of influence at the college are suggesting that he go to law school given his analytic skills. The A&OP Department, using their extrapolation program (their newest one), state that there is a 97.34% probability that he will enter into law school after he graduates from college.
(ADDED IN MANUSCRIPT)
We have heard from our agents of influence that the subject has signed up for the Law School Entrance Exam (LSAT) and has begun the process of signing up for various law schools. The A&OP Department’s extrapolation program is excellent. I believe it can be used in other fields.
-SMERLON
CHAPTER FOUR: FOR ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE
“Facts don't cease to exist because they are ignored.”
-Aldous Huxley
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound of fury,
Signifying nothing.”
-Macbeth, Macbeth, Act V, Scene v, 24-28
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.”
-Polonius, Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii, 205-206
ONE
Entry in David King’s Electronic Journal (Decrypted)
[Note from Editors: This is a confusing and most perplexing document about how Mr. King knew that the Itanimulli, or as he refers to them in this document and later documents, “They,” were involving him in an experiment. How he discovered this plot and the shadowy agents of influence is amazing. One could interpret this in several ways. The first way, is that he is obviously suffering from a psychological problem like paranoid schizophrenia, came up with this theory, and in an amazing coincidence, is soon discovered to be right in all aspects. The second option is that he discovered this plan in some mysterious way. How, we are not sure. His later documents do not explain how he knew since childhood. He never has told anyone how he knew and when asked, he has a strange smile on his face and he states, “I just knew it and I don’t know how to explain it.” From this behavior, one can surmise his is hiding something, though one cannot absolutely conclude he is lying in any way. We will never know and nobody, it seems, will ever know, unless some document shows up.
One also has to wonder why the Itanimulli, with all of their technology, never considered to break into his computer to see if Mr. King had any other secret documents. According to the Itanimulli, that would have been a violation of the Non-Integration Treaty they speak so much about. It is confusing logic and other Itanimulli documents have proven to be unhelpful. No Itanimulli we talked to could explain this logic. We can safely conclude that the logic involved in this decision was based upon personal standards.]
{ENTRY LOG}
[LAST LOGIN DATE: 09/20/04]
[LAST LOGIN TIME: 11:39:03PM]
[LAST LOGIN NAME: DKing]
[ENTRY TIME: 3:18:49PM]
[LOGIN NAME: DKing]
[ENTER PASSCODE: QdePo9#vm0PiC2$LcBeqwsA6oUyWxh5HntY8u3DFjlb61PV#&y1DxQiUYVbn9mBvCeRu5OO8kHcM49uRVyPL1%Kbm3IxVbwp]
[PASSWORD ACCEPTED]
[RUNNING E-JOURNAL]
[ENTER E-JOURNAL PASSCODE: cQ7LhG5%1DXv3Z0IkeM@9YpJdOi9#7fSZv6py!cb2Nr]
[PASSWORD ACCEPTED]
3:18:57 PM 09/21/04
I’ve resorted to typing my private thoughts into a text file on the laptop computer that I bought last year. It’s been double encrypted with two passwords using a 1024-bit encryption algorithm based upon RSA and PGP.
Why am I using this elaborate security at a paranoid level of encryption for such a meaningless file? One that has my private thoughts? Thoughts that nobody really cares that much about? It’s because of Them, actually They.
“They.” That sounds like the nameless enemy that people with crippling paranoid delusions have. The nameless enemy that inhabits their mind. The nameless ones that are always planning against them. You know, before this, I would have considered this crazy. But now that I know that they exist in real life, and they don’t exist in my mind, I can’t laugh anymore.
Ever since I was young, I knew what I was. I was sure of myself. I knew that life was worthwhile and worth living to the fullest. I was at peace with myself and the world I was living in. I was good and I knew life was good. My mistake was that everyone-the creatures around me were like myself. Those creatures I am referring to are children. But they are part of the plot that involves me. And only me.
I knew nothing about violence or viciousness until I met them. Those little devils that were put in my life to make it hard. To destroy my perfect sense of the world, the way it was meant to be if I was in control. They were different. Sure, they looked like me-that is, human-but they were different in some way. They were not like me, as least mentally.
If I tried to say anything that mattered to me, at least to those demons, they would just stare at me and laugh out loud. Then they would find some way of punishing me for having said whatever I said. The physical hits, the screaming, the teasing, and the taunts of being called a nerd, an egghead. It was the supposedly normal behavior of children. But I knew the difference. They were there to change my personality, to make me be like everyone else of my age. They, the nameless ones, the ones that are involving me in some experiment, are telling them to do this to me. I know it.
And then, there are the adults. They are playing a role in this experiment. I never thought about them while I was a young child. Adults don’t matter to children, at least not in the beginning. We are not that important, despite their fawning behavior, their assurances that children matter and that children are important. They were busy with things that matter little to children. It was only when I grew up did I notice that adults were playing a role in the experiment.
Adults. They do different things. When I was around, they did one certain action, but when I entered the picture, they did a different action, one completely different action. How do I know this? By watching and listening. I would catch them stopping when I was around. One minute, they are talking about something important. When I would walk in, they would stop, appear guilty, look around, and then they would talk about a foolish topic. Something about the weather and how nice it was and how it was terrible during the weekend. When I hid, they would resume talking about their mysterious topic. Things I did not understand, but something that was very important. Something involving me in some way. I knew it instinctively.
As an adult, I know that adults consider children strange in some way and that children should be protected from adult matters. It’s the way of life. They are part of an unwritten code of convention. But it’s not enough. There was something wrong. I had to find out.
After much listening and talking and watching, I found out what the discrepancy was that bothered me for so long. People talked about things, and people did things, but these things were not important. What they were doing, what they must be doing, was important.
They wanted me to follow a basic pattern, one that never changed substantially. I was told to do well in school to get a good education to get a good job so that I could get paid good money to buy good food to get strength to wake up the next day to go to the good job to get paid good money to buy good food to get strength to wake up the next day-this cycle repeating itself day after day until I died. If the pattern changed, the end result was the same. Everyone ended up dead. Everyone was telling me to follow this basic pattern of working and eating, working and eating until I fell over dead.
I know you’re saying right now, “Life does look it is futile, and you know what, it just might be futile. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Even if it is that way, this is the only life that we are given. Just enjoy it as much as possible. Make the most out of it. Live like you were going to die the next day. Be a damn Epicurean.” Can I eat, drink, and be merry and forget about this matter?
You know what, I could do live life that way. But I know that it is all a giant sham, a huge artifice to sufficiently confuse me. Just like Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage and we are all merely players.” All these people, this motley swarm are just actors. They have a rhyme and reason to be here, not just make meaningless noises at each other.
There has to be a meaning to this. There has to be some meaningful explanation, not some damn meaningless babble. I’m not going to believe that I’m waiting for Godot and this is an existentialist sham. It must be an insanely complex plan. It has to be planned.
I know what the plan is for me, just only me. I am special in some way, but I just don’t know how. I just know. It’s an instinct.
It’s kind of like Shakespeare. It’s a play to divert me, to confuse me, to make me busy so I can’t think about what this giant mess is all about. All these tiny details are microscopic red herrings to lead me away from the true meaning of why this is being done. Everyone is part of this plan, every one I see is a part of the plan. A lot of you are a just puppet, mindless robots without any sense. They just do what they are told. No thinking at all.
But there are the important people, the real agents of influence, and the ones who have specific roles in this plan. They have power. They are the true conspirators. There has to be some troubleshooters out there who force me to play the role I’ve been given. I’m not going to play this role. I am going to be independent from them. I know I will.
It’s part of a conspiracy. I know I have been chosen for special attention. It can’t be a joke on everyone. I’m the only victim.
All of the creatures, the controllers, the agents of influence, have been set up to look like me. I can’t prove it, but I can find a way. They’re here to prevent me to from knowing that I am the center of their arrangements. I am the center of the universe. This is the key fact.
I am the only sole individual. There aren’t millions like me. I can’t communicate with the other millions or billions. I try to communicate my thoughts and I get wrong answers, confusing contradictions, meaningless words. The millions are just shells. Empty shells.
The best I can do? I will do as Hamlet does. I won’t feign madness, though what I write about sounds like madness. Pure and simple madness. No, I shall use Hamlet’s strategy that Shakespeare writes about. I shall make them think what I want them to think. I will let them assume. I will pretend to play along, to pretend to be docile.
They will think I am unaware of their ambush, their tactics to get me back into the fold they want me in. But no, I will circle around and ambush them. And when I do, they will be in for a very big surprise. That I guarantee.
What will I write about publicly to fool them? I think I will catch them like any good fisherman. Toss out a cunningly crafted piece of bait. When they bite, I will snare them and reel them in. The best bait? Casually talk about their plan. Yes, talk about the one that I shouldn’t know about. Toss it around, pretending to be blind, as if I don’t know. Just as a joke.
Let’s see how They react to this monkey wrench tossed into their plans. I can just imagine what would happen. They aren’t going to win this round.
At best, just like a game of chess, I win with a checkmate. At worse, instead of a win, I end up with a stalemate with neither side winning. There might be many stalemates before one side breaks down strategically and loses. I can handle a stalemate…forever.
Hamlet said it best (English major speaking here):
For ‘tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard.
-Hamlet, Act III, Scene iv, 213-214
I’m going to blow them up with their own weapons. It’s going to be fun.
TWO
“The Meaning of Life”
As a former Philosophy major (as well as English) in college, there were many basic questions that we tried to find the answers to. These were the really deep questions that have fueled the greatest minds in civilization. Questions so fundamental that no matter the country the person was born in, no matter the background the person was born into, no matter what beliefs they followed, people have consistently asked these questions. From the beginning of human history, all the way to today, and all the way until the end of time.
The question that has nagged everyone-including myself-has been “What is the meaning of life.” Yes, the question that people think every philosopher devotes their entire life to answer. It’s true. Philosophers spend a lot of time trying to answer this question. I’m one of them, though it’s now an amateur hobby that I do when I have free time and not my entire life. Despite asking myself this question, I haven’t figured this one out. Every major religion has tried to give some meaning to this question. Nobody has come up with a satisfactory answer that everyone can agree completely to.
It seems like that everyone in human history has tried to find the meaning of life. Whether the person is a philosopher, a poet, a mythical ordinary every man, they have tried to define life in terms that people will understand. The definitions and explanations for what life is have ranged from the amazingly philosophical to the sublimely ridiculous.
Forrest Gump, in a bit of homespun Southern wisdom, stated that “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” This is an apt and simple meaning for life, but it seems to be lacking in a way. Sure, it seems that you never know what you’re going to get in life. If you, however, look in most boxes of chocolates, you might notice the little diagram they include. The one that tells you what chocolates are which and what fillings they have inside.
There is also an industry chocolate code. The little squiggles on the top and the shape of the chocolate also tells you what is inside. Technically, you can tell what you’re going to get. The only problem is that you might want the caramel nut, but you get stuck with a chocolate you hate. For me, it’s the vanilla cream center. I absolutely hate it. If you over think it, you know what you’re going to get it life and in the end, you get stuck with something you will loathe.
Douglas Adams, the famed science-fiction/fantasy writer, humorously stated in one of his books, that the meaning of life was 42. His meaning for life, at first glance, seems to be ridiculous. This definition for life makes no sense what so ever. What does “42”or any number have to do with the meaning of life. It should be something vaguely related to Zen or at the least, deeply philosophical.
But examine his meaning of life a little deeper. It truly is an accurate meaning for life. The answer is just like the question: absolutely meaningless. It’s akin to the old Zen koan asking if a cow or any animal in general has Buddha sense. The answer to the Zen koan, “MOO,” is a ridiculous answer to a ridiculous question. Why bother trying to discover the meaning of life? To sum, there are much better things to do like living life to the fullest.
Shakespeare, in his plays, said that the world was a stage and we are merely players in life. We all accept various roles as we age. Which seems to be valid. After all, as we progress through life, as we age, we become children and then teenagers and then adults. We take on the role as students, sons and daughters, possibly parents and grandparents. We have jobs-the average person change occupations at least eight times in life. And we accept them smoothly in general. Sometimes, not so smoothly. But, in the end, we go and accept them. After all, it is just another part, another role we play. There are so many roles to play in our lives, some of these roles we play at the same time. How to play both roles skillfully can prove to be a massive problem, a total headache.
Like the other metaphors, there seems to be a fundamental problem with this poetic description of the world, the people that live in the world and life in general. If we are all merely actors as Shakespeare writes, and the world is a stage, then we are all following some kind of plot that has been determined earlier by some unknown person. Whether or not this plot is a well-scripted plot or a poorly scripted (even non-existent) plot, does not matter at all. Everything, including what we do, what we say, is not done by us with some kind of free will. It’s all planned for us. Just follow the script and things will be fine. Sure, some amount of ad-libbing and personal freedom is allowed, but it is very little. To think that all our actions have been pre-planned is disturbing. It goes against what most western minds think. We can’t change what will happen next. Nothing we do can change what will happen. It is the will of God, Allah, or some deity/deities up in the higher reaches.
Hmm…that would be an interesting question. What if Shakespeare and everyone else who have had this similar idea were right? What if the world was an elaborately designed stage with all the buildings and trees and everything else created just to make the ruse seem real? What if everything we did was elaborately scripted and we are all actors or worse, puppets controlled by some higher power of some sort, not necessarily God? But let’s take that to an extreme degree. You’re the only person that exists in this fantasy world. The only independent person there. Everyone else is there to get you to conform and follow an established set of behavior. One giant conspiracy and you are the sole focus of this conspiracy against you. Yes, it is one person against the entire world. I’m not sure how I would deal with that type of situation. I’d feel much better if everyone was part of this delusion.
Those of you out there in electronic world might be thinking, “There he goes again. He’s just like the stereotypical philosophy major. Thinking too much and not doing enough living life. What’s the point of asking this question? You’re over thinking everything. Do something else.”
You’re absolutely right. I am thinking about this question way too much. But it’s just the way I am and the way my mind thinks and the way I act. I can’t change that.
It’s time to study for a test tomorrow. Income taxation. Why did I ever decide to go to law school after graduating from college? I seriously should have done something different. You know, I think that I should have gone to California to be a stand up comic. Why I didn’t decide to do something else, I’m not sure. It seems like a waste of talent to be a lawyer when I could do something else…something I enjoy.
God, it is going to be a long night.
That’s it for today. Stay tuned for another rambling from the edge.
Posted By DKing on 09/21/04 at 11:53PM, CDT
posted by J.U. at 11/05/2006 04:58:00 PM
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