Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Ratings Who was the person who dreamed up the "A" is excellent and "F" is failing ratings scale?  How did that come about?  I'd really like to know.  That, and I want to know why "E" got skipped.  Not a year goes by where some student doesn't ask why there are no "E"s.  I'd like to know myself. Some people ask why we need ratings in the first place.  Some people ask, "Who needs ratings?" But I do like ratings.  I'm the type of guy who wants to know how many stars a movie gets.  Is it a thumbs up or down?  Is it a B- or a C+?  That sort of stuff interests me way more than it should.  Maybe that's how I ended up being a teacher.  My career is just some sort of sick fantasy fulfillment. That said, I found a site where I recently killed a good amount of time:  The Book of Ratings. Now while I don't think the book actually exists, the website certainly does.  Some guy (at least I assume it's a guy -- can't be sure with this name, though) named Lore spends an inordinate amount of time rating random topics.  Ever wonder how the different colors of crayons stack up?  Now you know. Ever lie awake at night trying to rate Hostess products?  Been done. Ever try to apply grades to kitchen appliances that only do one thing?  If so, you're a loser.  Also, Lore got there first. Now while I may or may not agree with all his ratings (but you'll have to wait until I bust out with my Loose-leaf Binder of Ratings -- coming soon, believe you me), I still found The Book of Ratings way entertaining.  Just click through the archive and watch an hour or two slip away. Either that or figure out the whole "E" grade thing for me. Related sites: MPAA Movie Ratings Explained How Bush is being rated by various polls The current world soccer ratings 8:16:26 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.