IT Insights Blog — TestOut Continuing Education

Earlier this week I stopped at a roadside fruit stand to buy some apples. A teenager was working there who I know to be an honor student at the local high school. I bought a case for $12 and handed her a $20. She paused for a second and then began searching for her phone. An older worker asked what she was doing. She responded, “I’m getting my calculator.” The older worker rolled his eyes and said, “Change is $8.” I thanked them, pocketed my change and walked away more worried than ever about the quality of education in America.

Halloween began as a celebration of the western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It was a time of year dedicated to the remembering of the dead, especially saints, martyrs and other departed faithful. Over the years, pagan influences built upon the religious foundation of All Hallows’ Day, leading to the modern-day Halloween celebration.

Every so often, something happens to remind you that you're not the spring chicken that you used to be. Everybody out there raise your hands if the last high school reunion that somebody told you about had a double-digit number assigned to it. Time passes all of us by, and usually this is right about the moment in discussions of this nature that we start to hear the opening chords of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" spewing from our mental jukebox.

One of my favorite actors is Paul Giamatti. His performances John Adams and Cinderella Man are spot on. Whether screaming pugilistic encouragement to Russell Crowe or reluctantly accepting acting advice from a family of cinephiles, he always seems to sum the situation up with a sentence or two. In the 2015 disaster flick, San Andreas, Giamatti (son of former baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti) plays Caltech seismologist, Dr. Lawrence Hayes.

Over the last two weeks, America has witnessed the rise and subsequent fall of a cultural icon by the name of Ken Bone. We were introduced to Ken on the night of the second presidential debate between POTUS hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Ken stood up in a white shirt, white tie and red sweater to ask a straightforward question about the energy crisis. Hours later he was a celebrity.