As a kid I was immersed in the House by Pooh Corner it was the ancient “book” technology and a few 72 rpm LPs of someone reading the stories. I did not have too many of the accessory toys, maybe an inflatable set of characters. I really wanted a heffalump.
The stream of memories was triggered by Stephen’s mention of the “debate”, which was but one part of the fabulous Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, where he asks the deep philosophical question, “Who would you rather be, Tigger or Eeyore?” the well known Tigger versus Eeyore Debate. I have not combed all the literature yet, but am pretty confident data will show for the hundreds of thousands of people taking this question, the sum total of people standing up and saying, “I am an Eeyore” is approximately Zero. (Hey, this ought to be on GraphJam!).
That makes poor Mr Stapled on Tail sad faced Eeyore that more pathetic, eh? Or how one commenter posted nicely to Stephen’s post:
Much of the time, I feel like a Tigger surrounded by Eeyores. For all I know, each of those Eeyores also sees themselves as a Tigger surrounded by Eeyores, with me being one of their Eeyores. Hmm.
Do you ever get these choices that seem like choices but are loaded questions?
Since my Tigger memory banks were low, I went to some of the sources (Google, of course!). Over at Just-Pooh.com which looks pretty authentic, has a bio:
That’s T – I – Double Guh – Er! Tigger is a very bouncy fella. He first came into being in ‘In which Tigger comes to the Forest and has breakfast’, chapter two of ‘The House at Pooh Corner’. He looks a bit like a tiger but the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is that “I’m the only one!” Tigger likes to bounce a lot, “cause that is what Tiggers do best.” However, bouncing can get him and the others into a lot of trouble sometimes.
Tigger lives somewhere near Kanga and Roo in 100 Acre Wood North. His favourite food is an extract of malt and he is known to hate honey (hunny), haycorns, and thistles.
Then there is a quote from Mr Tigger, and one fact- “Paul Winchell provided the voice for Tigger in the Disney Winnie the Pooh movies.”, followed by a list of audio files from the Bouncy One, weighing in at 255 words of data.
Over at WikiPedia, there’s quite a bit more…
Tigger is a fictional tiger character originally introduced in A. A. Milne’s book The House at Pooh Corner. He is easily recognized by his orange and black stripes, beady eyes, a long chin, a springy tail, and his bouncy personality. As he says himself, “Bouncing is what Tiggers do best.” Like other Pooh characters, Tigger is based on one of Christopher Robin Milne’s stuffed animals.
In literature
Tigger is introduced in Chapter II of House at Pooh Corner, when he shows up on Winnie-the-Pooh’s doorstep in the middle of the night, announcing himself with a big bounce. Most of the rest of that chapter is taken up with the characters’ search for a food that Tigger can eat for breakfast – despite Tigger’s claims to like “everything”, it is quickly proven he does not like honey, acorns, thistles, or most of the contents of Kanga’s pantry. In a happy coincidence, however, he discovers what Tiggers really like best is extract of malt, which Kanga has on hand because she gives it to her son, Roo, as “strengthening medicine”.….
a whopping 1365 words! WikiPedia or Just-Pooh.com? Maybe not so lopsided, and of course, the info is for different audiences. One might never know from looking at the results of a search, though.
And there are other gaps in the data:
So sometimes, you are presented a choice that looks like a choice, but really is not. Then there are choices where the options beg for more, e.g.. The Stupid Meter which offers a quiz to answer the key question, Are you dumb or merely stupid? Find out how you rate on The Stupid Meter!.
Hmmm, which should I be?
Choices. Sometimes lopsided, sometimes the opposite…
And then there are elections- just what kind of choices are those?
Someone vote for Tigger, please. Maybe Eeyore can get a Cabinet post.
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