Scratch
I don’t know how universal it is, so I’ll explain – when I sat my GCSE maths exam back in ’96, there was a page, about half way through the booklet, between sections that read:
[ This page has been left deliberately blank ]
Perhaps if I had spent less time pondering the perplexing nature of this statement (a self-refuting meta-reference) and concentrated on the rest of my exam, I would now be a financial advisor, or maybe a quantity surveyor.
The phrase, tabula rasa/clean slate, is a reference to the nature/nurture debate… that is we are born a blank slate and all that we are is all that we learn.
I learned, for example, that examiners don’t really appreciate sarcastic comments about their papers… I imagine there were hundreds of us that year that just had to write something next to such an obvious goad.
It also has connotations of a fresh start, a chance to do things differently. I know I wouldn’t take it, should the opportunity arise, I like the mistakes I have made and I like how they have made me.
Oh Flowfield, how I have missed thee!
Just an excuse for my recent absence: I had a lot of work and such-like to be getting on with.
And now I am on holiday in the awesomeness that is Canada.\
Just finished the first week and now I have two left. It’s pretty awesome.
I miss the Unity, though.
Also, they still have those in the exams. Except now they just write
[BLANK PAGE]
Still. I think just about everyone feels the need to write “Really!?” underneath it.
On another note. I had an idea for a comic, if I may suggest it.
Something to do with the pun of bare hands/bear hands.
Wow, canada.
One of my top 3 places to visit.
I hope you are having fun!
Better than Canada? Alaska! Still my heart resides there, spent a good seven years living amongst its wondrous beauty.
Self-referential statements that seemingly exist to both explain and contradict themselves are beautiful, yet simplistic linguistic joy. Douglas Hofstadter wrote about the concept in a wonderful little book called Metamagical Themas. It’s been over 15 years since I read the book and a I imagine it’s concepts are somewhat dated but it’s relevant to this discussion.
I spent a good number of months typesetting exam papers. If it hadn’t been for the wonderful people I worked with (brilliant, sarcastic, funny, etc…) then the job would have been unbearable. I do recall seeing one equation though, unfortunately the details have been lost to me but it went something like this:
N2O4+ C2 = pond scum
I turned to one of my colleagues and said in an excited tone of voice: “I’ve found the meaning of life in an exam!”
Ha! I too typeset exam papers for a while… alas I did not find the meaning of life, nor did I get to inset the ‘blank page’ statement…
They were medical exams… pleny of gruesome pictures.
I’m going to get hold of a copy of ‘Metamagical Themas’ if for nothing other than its superb title… Thanks.
i’ve just come home from a poorly planned trip in Canada, i liked the plants and the houses in spite of all the bad luck.
And we’ve missed you too Philippa, glad to have you back.
I understand about the whole busy thing, this last week has been a bit daft at the flowfield headquaters… Still keeping yourself busy makes the holidays far more enjoyable.
As always, I’m interested in any ideas…
The nature/nuture debate is very complex, esp. considering how similar the words are.
I really believe it is a equal mix of the two.
I also believe that with out a degree in psychcology, etc, a person is not well equipped to discuss it.
I find that if you can just stand there shouting ‘Nature!’ whist someone else shouts ‘Nurture!’ you pretty much cover the debate.
Tabula rasa is one of my favorite phrases and it goes well with another phrase I’m fond of: “Be careful what you learn in case you can’t forget it”. I started off my adult life studying the field of forensic psychology. That left a lot of writing on my mental slate I’d like to blank.
forensic psychology?
so you psycho-analyze dead people?
the blank stare would be unsettling,
but their silence on word association
would drive me… um… nuts.
You meant forensic psychic, you
meant you used a crustal ball to
contact dead people, didn’t you.
[This comment intentionally left blank]
*is taken away by the joke police*
/b
I think that deserves a banning from the internet.
Adam is the one who enforces that, as I have found out, twice.
Indeed, because of that terrible, pun-based comment, Beemoh, I’ll be banning Ben from the internet.
I hate taboula. as much as i hate cous cous. or bulgar.
anything that has curry in it. or olives. i just don’t like it.
some kinda of foods should be left out of exams totally.
Yes, we have those too. I’ve always wondered why…
On another note, I wrote one of the essays for my MCAT in the most veiled sarcastic tone I could imagine (I forget what teh question was, but it was some inane query into philosophy of sciences a la Karl Popper). The readers either found it hilarious, or didn’t pick up on it at all: I got a perfect score on that essay.
The blank pages are there so you can have a question (or group of related questions) that spans more than one page can appear on facing pages rather than being split on both sides of a page. Also section breaks often will start on the left page rather than the right for the same reason.
Hey! Now that you say that, it seems so clear: I wonder why I never realized…?
Unrelatedly, Pink Floyd is amazing.
And I really should read things before hitting that save button >_<
Oh, those pages in exams always amuse me. But these days, Adam, they say “Please do not write on this page” instead of just pointing out their blankness. The temptation to write under this statement always wins over, at least in practice exams. Look through my paper after a mock, it will always say
“Please do not write on this page”
“oops!”
mine say ‘This page has deliberately been left blank’ still, and hopefully they always will because its a very unifying thing, everyone laughs at those pages.
and this is perfect, because speaking of a self-refuting meta-reference, i discovered one just the other day that i was thinking i should put out there: did you ever think that when as soon as someone tells you something is going to be a let down, it can no longer be a let down?
Unfortuently not.
Cloverfield was sooo much worse then I had been led to believe, I was more let down then I anticipated.
my sister was reading over my shoulder and said “it should’ve said ‘this page has been left intentionally mostly blank’, now I’m angry!”
They still do it now. I asked a teacher some years ago why they do it, and his answer was because some people were stupid enough to think that the page hadnt been printed properly, so they had to let everyone know that there wasnt anything there.