Kevin's Watch

Feel free to make a funny comment but answer the poll truthfully with your initial thought.
I'm curious to see home many optimists vs pessimists we have on the watch.

So far, the optimists are winning by a landslide.

I've always considered this "test" fairly arbitrary and a little stupid. The choice between one or another when identifying a glass as such on-the-spot is a matter of context, not a person's overall attitude.

And yes, that was my initial thought on seeing the glass.

The first thing I thought of was my memory of Seasame Street.

The optimist - It is half full
The pessimist - It is half empty.
The Realist - Meh, its only water
The Cynic - Its probably laced with lead
The Republican - who drank half of my water?
The Democrat - let's split this quantity into 500 parts and give it to the 500 neediest, if they fill out these twelve forms. We have to sell the water first to pay to get the forms printed, though. We need to raise taxes.
The surrealist - It is angry.
The Deist - It is proof that God exists.
The atheist - it is proof that God doesn't exist.
The Televangelist - God told me last night that you should give your water to me.
The Poet - It is life and death
The Writer - It needs ice, bourbon, and a stronger protagonist.
The Engineer - the glass appears to be twice as large as it needs to be.
The Scientist - with sufficient quantities of liquid nitrogen and a perfect vacuum, I can make a perfect ice crystal.
The Theoretical Physicist - in the absence of gravity and time, if this water were heated with the bursting of a star, it could be pretty.
The Astrologer - let me drink it, and I will tell you whether you have encountered it in a past life.

dw (a classic optimist - 'Al-ways look on the bright, side of life...')

In the desert we look at a quarter full glass as full. Now you've made me thirsty.

I've always thought it impossible to distinguish between the two, without knowing the delta(V), which is the change in volume of water over time. A glass which holds exactly half of it's total capacity, cannot be described as HE or HF, unless you know:
A: By what means the water entered the glass

And even more importantly:

B: If the the water is disapearing or being added over time.

HLT's pet Party Pooper

Before my trip to the US it was half empty...but now it's definitely half full!!!

If it's half full of vodka I'm not really going to give a

Spoiler

....

in the end

danlo wrote:If it's half full of vodka I'm not really going to give a

Spoiler

....

in the end

You rock, Danlo!

DukkhaWaynhim wrote:The Engineer - the glass appears to be twice as large as it needs to be.

Honestly, this was my first thought.
My second thought was "It doesn't matter because I'm not going to drink it anyway". I dislike the taste of water.

half full. definitely.

odd, isn't it Seabub, that this thread should appear just now?

it's the fix, i tell you.

i saw swallows out my window today!!

no..no no..The Surrealists says,,whaddaya mean , is the glass half full or half empty..? That is Not a glass!

Murrin wrote:I've always considered this "test" fairly arbitrary and a little stupid. The choice between one or another when identifying a glass as such on-the-spot is a matter of context, not a person's overall attitude.

And yes, that was my initial thought on seeing the glass.

My initial thought was "I wanna be a pessimist, but I don't actually remember which one is for pessimists."

I mean, I'm pretty sure it's "glass is half empty" but I've always figured you could just toss an "only" in there. I mean, honestly, if it's just half a glass of water, it's just gonna make me more thirsty. Even 3 or 4 glasses of water isn't enough for me, I drink lots of water. So if you're not gonna give me a pitcher on the table, I'd rather not have any water at all, and I'm not tipping unless you come back to refill several times. Unless you charge for water, or you only serve that fizzy stuff, in which case I'm not even eating at your restaurant. So, frankly, thank god it's only half empty, any more water in there is just a waste considering the recent discussion on water shortages, what with underwater water sources drying up and all that.

I need to know what was happening to the glass just before the picture was taken before I can respond.

I see a 100% full glass. Partially filled with water, partially filled with air.

My response has always been, "depends on what is in the glass."

I don't believe the water exists.

I've always thought of the glass being half full. Never considered it to be otherwise.

Great post Dukkha!

Truthfully, my initial thought was "where's the ice?".