Television Over Books

As is the case with most people my age, I really like to watch TV. I watch probably around 1-2 hours of it every night and then watch a movie on a portable DVD player when I am going to sleep. The way some people love reading books and can't get enough of them, I feel the same way about movies and television shows. In fact, I think watching stories unfold on a video screen is a much more productive and efficient way to go about learning instead of tediously active reading 500 page books like the Odyssey.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so now think about this. On television, there are about 29 frames per second that come across the screen. If we go by the ratio of 1,000 words to 1 picture, that would mean there are 29,000 words per second that you are acquiring in your mind. In a book, the fastest readers can maybe read 10 words a second tops. Television is increasing your efficiency by 2,900 times.

Another reason that I think movies/TV are better than reading is that they don't require the viewer's full attention at all times. When reading a book (which I rarely do), I often space out on what it is that I am reading and therefore don't comprehend entire pages at a time. With TV, there are commercials every 10-15 minutes which allow the viewer to take a break with their learning and learn some interesting things about weed-wackers and gold-jewelers!

My reccommendation to schools nation wide is that we remove literature from the classroom. The world is changing and becoming more technology oriented, and there is no reason that movies should not one day replace those old school things we call books.

The Dream Fight

Last night, in what was called a "Dream Matchup" by sponsors, Manny Pacquiao met Oscar De La Hoya in the boxing ring at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In order to make it a legal fight, Pacman (as Manny Pacquiao is known) had to gain weight to put him around the 147 lb. weightclass while the Golden Boy (De La Hoya) had to shed some pounds. When the two weighed in before the bout on Friday, Pacquiao was 142, De La Hoya was 145. Somehow, an unofficial weighin right before the fight put Pacman at 148.5 lbs and De La Hoya at only 147. Before I say what happened, it is important to know what they were fighting for.

Manny Pacquiao was raised in the Philippines and began boxing as a professional at a very young age. Today, he is an icon for Filipinos and is a hero to all. They people there look at him like a Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Barry Sanders, and Muhammed Ali all as one person. Recently, Pacman has been named the best pound for pound fighter. Oscar De La Hoya on the other hand is a Mexican-American boxer who is world reknowned. He won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics, but if there's one thing everyone remembers about him is his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.

So last night, the two faced off in what was supposed to be a 12-round fight, but ended up going only 8 full rounds. While the only way to see the fight in the U.S. was to purchase it on DirecTV, the fight was broadcast across the Philippines for free, so everyone there could cheer on their hero. For the first 8 rounds, the judges consistently scored Pacquiao at perfect 10's and De La Hoya a point or 2 below him. When the bell rang to begin the 9th round, De La Hoya didn't get up from his stool and forfeited the fight. He then got up to congratulate Pacquiao on his great victory.

Pacquiao's victory was celebrated world round. Even President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Phillipines called him after the fight to congratulate him. In this fight, it was clear that the bigger person won.