14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:11pm

Today in my science class, we watched a video. One segment showed Professer Hawking giving a lecture to his class, and someone had to translate for him because it's difficult to understand him when he speaks. And there were kids sitting there, laughing at him.

I'm really bummed about it.

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:17pm

Never-you-mind, BMonkey - all those who count REVERE him as where we MIGHT evolve to someday.

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:18pm

I was just, like...I felt like turning around and telling them all to shut the hell up. I mean, he's a genius.

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:20pm

Why didn't you?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:20pm

You should have the teacher explain to them how beyond amazing it is that he's lived for about 30 years with a disease that kills most people within 1 - 3 years.

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:21pm

DGrant- My science teacher would have flipped that I interupted his video. He didn't appear to hear them, anyway. But a lot of our teachers go by the "I hear nothing" rule.

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:22pm

. . . and understood more about the nature of the universe than the collective whole of the rest of us have.

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 10:23pm

Thank Superman you guys understand me.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:00pm

Hawking is the perfect example of how the mind of a genius is not limited by the imperfections (and betrayal) of the body.

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:02pm

What happened to him? I know the name but little more.

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:04pm

He's this brilliant scientist, but he has a disease that affects the central nervous system, and it leaves him basically paralized and unable to speak clearly.

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:05pm

What kind of science?

[imcuteloveme]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:07pm

I've always wondered too. I've never been too clear on that.

And as for the "I don't hear anything" policy so many teachers have, I find it absolutely ridiculous.

And if anyone was wondering the point of this post was that I think LAUSD is headed by incompetent fools. The end.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:08pm

What is ALS?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain (upper motor neurons) and spinal cord (lower motor neurons).

These motor neurons control the movement of voluntary muscles. When the motor neurons can no longer send impulses to the muscles due to ALS, the muscles begin to waste away (atrophy), causing increased muscle weakness. Motor neuron, or nerve cell, death makes it impossible for the brain to control muscles or signal them to move.

Symptoms of ALS include twitching and cramping of muscles (called fasciculation), loss of motor control in hands and arms, impaired use of the arms and legs, weakness and fatigue, tripping and falling, dropping things, slurred or thick speech and difficulty breathing or swallowing.

In most cases, ALS patients do not experience impaired intellectual reasoning, vision or hearing. Eye and bladder muscles, along with sexual function and drive, are not normally affected.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:10pm

Quantum physics, I believe...

http://www.hawking.org.uk/

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:24pm

*shivers*

That's frightening. I am scared out of my mind by diseases, and Lou Gherig's is one of the worst in my opinion (topped by Ebola, but not much else). Is there any kind of treatment?

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:25pm

OMG! EBOLA! AHHHH!

I went through a phase, right after I read The Hot Zone, that I was afraid I was getting Ebola. Creepy virus.

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:27pm

No, insomniak, there isn't. But as Rath pointed out, Dr. Hawking has managed to survive MANY years past the expected time limit. He is a SHINING example of not being defined by what others may tell you are limitations - or death sentences.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:28pm

insomniak, not really. Most people die within 1 - 3 years, closer to the 1 than the 3. The fact that he's alive close to 30 years after diagnosis is an incredible fluke.

Trivia: Lou Gehrig's family does not condone using his name to refer to the disease ("Lou Gehrig's Disease") - they don't want his name linked so strongly to that when he did so much else to be remembered for, and it also diminishes the other millions of people who have also suffered with it.

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 11:30pm

Thanks, DGrant and Rath... but I do have a serious phobia of diseases that has just increased because a girl in my community just died of menegitis. It only took a few hours. I remember we had to watch a health video once about flesh-eating skin disease and I almost passed out 'cause it bothered me so much... sorry, you didn't need to know that.

No day but today, I guess. The future will bring what it will. Updated On: 9/16/04 at 11:30 PM

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 9/17/04 at 12:11am

I'd have to say the scariest thing I've watched was an autopsy.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 9/17/04 at 1:11am

What a mean little bastard that kid is!

Updated On: 9/17/04 at 01:11 AM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 9/17/04 at 2:19am

Yea, I'll bet he would laugh at someone losing an eye to a brain tumor and being raped by a doctor. What a loser.

[Mamie]

Posted: 9/17/04 at 2:22am

It was Dr. Hawking's study of quantum mechanics that led him to the theory (and eventual proof) of black holes. Although he has required 24 hour a day nursing care for the ALS, his study of black holes has continued and only last month he discovered another aspect of black hole mechanics that had always bothered him and other scientists. His prior theory stated that the gravitational pull of a black hole would prevent any particals of matter from escaping once it had been 'sucked in'. This did not explain where that matter went when the black hole disappeared. Basic physics told them that the matter had to go somewhere - and thus the idea of the 'mini' or 'baby' universe was born. From this, science fiction authors had a field day using black holes to transport characters across the universe.

In July Dr. Hawking proved that the matter swallowed by the black hole was not transmitted to an alternate universe. In fact, it was released right here into this universe, but in a 'mangled', unidentifiable form. (He apologized to all the science fiction fans for the disappointing news! lol)

It isn't the theory of black holes that fascinates me. It's the fact that while that deadly disease destroys his body, that incredible brain is producing this kind of work today. The miracle of life!

[lildogs]

Posted: 9/17/04 at 10:11am

if some high school students laughed at Hawking, it's the 'folly of youth'; they're just kids, ignorant and awkward, and people often laugh at things they don't understand...

I loved hawking's cameo on "The Simpsons".... Homer: Larry Flynt is right!