Whoa, where did the time go?
Dec. 9th, 2006 01:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptToday was spent mostly making revisions to the paper that accompanies the presentation going on on Tuesday. I am thus meeting with my project partner tomorrow to go over the last bits, write up the last report, and then do the slide construction thing. We’ll do pretty well on it, I suspect. When I wasn’t working on the paper and having my word processor crash on me repeatedly, I went to see a performance on Electronic Civil Disobedience, net.artists, on-line Zapatisas, and other such interesting things. It wasn’t necessarily completely understandable, but that was part of the idea. It’s really all about Mayan technology, anyway.
Anyway, because it’s already later than it should be and I need to get in order, let’s get on with the linkies, which I suppose could be likened to the presents for the season. Yeah, that’s what I’ll say. Maybe I’ll believe it, too.
The holiday-season link for tonight is the crucified Santa, which may go well with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greyweirdo‘s Christmas Noir story. What, however, takes the cake, and makes me laugh big, is The Pentacle versus the Nativity: A Cage Match in the Making, which is basically a holiday-celebrating Pagan with a gigantic pentacle in the decorations living next door to a holiday-celebrating Fundie, complete with nativity set. This could be better than the brawl for all. I hope this blogger keeps an eye on this as it develops. Unfortunately, no pictures.
Another fine upstanding example of good Christian behavior can be found in a Houston suburb that didn't want a mosque built near them. To their credit, most of their concerns seemed not to be religious in nature. To their detriment, there were still some wingnuts. Luckily for all, it seems to have resolved quietly and peacefully. (Surprisingly enough - perhaps there are some sane people left in this country.)
It appears that once I put up one example of a very silly behavior, other examples gravitate toward my informants. And thus, I have, to the everlasting shame of the person who made this story happen, a story of a four year old accused of sexually harassing a teacher's aide. I think I have to retract the “some” part of the above statement. There are sane people. I just can’t say how many anymore.
Strummer's Law, or how the Counterculture Gets Co-Opted. Pretty interesting to revisit after the presentation today, which suggests that there’s no outside space, but there are niches inside that can be taken over by the alter-culture minded.
Critiquing the critiquers - Time Out New York rates the critics. Well, we knew this would happen eventually. And it might not actually be a bad guide to have, so that you can figure out who’s influential and who’s actually good.
Earthlink users, be aware - your ISP has been losing 90% of your e-mail for a long time now. Poor service tends to have very negative repercussions. Is anyone still using Earthlink?
Two African-American gentlemen escape a rap by performing a rap. Now, I’ve got an idea as to why people might be outraged at this, and there are people outraged. But I’m not fully aware why. Is it because there was an unexpressed racial stereotype that happened there, or what?
Pushing the boundaries of science (SCIENCE!) further, chewable birth control (spearmint flavor) will be on the markets soon. I don’t really have any witty remarks that I’m willing to say on that. So I’ll distract you with more wonders of nanotech - nanomuscles that are about 100 times human muscle strength in per-area strength, yet a fraction of human muscle size (the original article title just says “100x human muscle”, so there’s a bit of deception in the title), and micro-algae serving as templates for possible nanomaterial construction. Insert Moore’s Law remark here, I guess. Going even smaller than that, scientists may have found an axion - a no-charge, very tiny, very low mass particle with a sub-nanosecond lifetime. Something that small and that short had better not be just a blip in the sensors. We’ll see. If it hold up, people think that the axion might be responsible for “dark matter”, which would probably then become “matter so very small and quick you can’t really see it.”
After being trained in Iraq, the soldiers will put it to use as the gang members they were before, according to W. S. Lind. After receiving such high-tech training and how to spot, defend, and possibly use IED and low-tech warfare, when they get home, those who would be on the other side of law will probably not hesitate to use that training to their own ends. Which could mean the terrorists of tomorrow are the soldiers of today. At least their victims don’t have to worry about the assailants having the Giant Swiss Army Knife to use. Those people who want to come back may be there a long time, though - it appears that Mr. Bush believes that wanting to win means that winning follows automatically. If wanting to win guaranteed victory, well, I’d be a lot more successful in life.
The high school social order, all in one note. Ah, the joys of a caste system imposed by and large by people who don’t have a clue. So, to all those nerds, geeks, and unpopular folk, yes, they are conspiring against you, and yes, they now are putting down documented proof of the matter. Good luck on finding it or getting it shown to you, but it’s there.
For the grammarians, or those interested in new punctuation, check out the history and usage of the Interrobang, which is what you should do when you want to go “?!” Which might describe the best reaction to the knowledge that O RLY has his own website. Either that, or it’s final proof that as a meme-y thingy, it’s dead, Jim.
Fonts for your handbills, elegant cursive, or odd printing types. Most of them look rather good, and some remind me of those kidnap notes made out of magazine cuttings.
My musical talents laugh out loud at this series of posters: War Is Peace; Ignorance is Slavery; Major is Minor. The first one’s a real inspirational-type poster. And it sucks. The two after it are far better at being funny, at the very least. Again, my musical self laughs heartily.
Last, but certainly not least, the keepers of lists. The place where Letterman goes for his inspiration. Or something.
Anyway, because it’s already later than it should be and I need to get in order, let’s get on with the linkies, which I suppose could be likened to the presents for the season. Yeah, that’s what I’ll say. Maybe I’ll believe it, too.
The holiday-season link for tonight is the crucified Santa, which may go well with
greyweirdo‘s Christmas Noir story. What, however, takes the cake, and makes me laugh big, is The Pentacle versus the Nativity: A Cage Match in the Making, which is basically a holiday-celebrating Pagan with a gigantic pentacle in the decorations living next door to a holiday-celebrating Fundie, complete with nativity set. This could be better than the brawl for all. I hope this blogger keeps an eye on this as it develops. Unfortunately, no pictures.Another fine upstanding example of good Christian behavior can be found in a Houston suburb that didn't want a mosque built near them. To their credit, most of their concerns seemed not to be religious in nature. To their detriment, there were still some wingnuts. Luckily for all, it seems to have resolved quietly and peacefully. (Surprisingly enough - perhaps there are some sane people left in this country.)
It appears that once I put up one example of a very silly behavior, other examples gravitate toward my informants. And thus, I have, to the everlasting shame of the person who made this story happen, a story of a four year old accused of sexually harassing a teacher's aide. I think I have to retract the “some” part of the above statement. There are sane people. I just can’t say how many anymore.
Strummer's Law, or how the Counterculture Gets Co-Opted. Pretty interesting to revisit after the presentation today, which suggests that there’s no outside space, but there are niches inside that can be taken over by the alter-culture minded.
Critiquing the critiquers - Time Out New York rates the critics. Well, we knew this would happen eventually. And it might not actually be a bad guide to have, so that you can figure out who’s influential and who’s actually good.
Earthlink users, be aware - your ISP has been losing 90% of your e-mail for a long time now. Poor service tends to have very negative repercussions. Is anyone still using Earthlink?
Two African-American gentlemen escape a rap by performing a rap. Now, I’ve got an idea as to why people might be outraged at this, and there are people outraged. But I’m not fully aware why. Is it because there was an unexpressed racial stereotype that happened there, or what?
Pushing the boundaries of science (SCIENCE!) further, chewable birth control (spearmint flavor) will be on the markets soon. I don’t really have any witty remarks that I’m willing to say on that. So I’ll distract you with more wonders of nanotech - nanomuscles that are about 100 times human muscle strength in per-area strength, yet a fraction of human muscle size (the original article title just says “100x human muscle”, so there’s a bit of deception in the title), and micro-algae serving as templates for possible nanomaterial construction. Insert Moore’s Law remark here, I guess. Going even smaller than that, scientists may have found an axion - a no-charge, very tiny, very low mass particle with a sub-nanosecond lifetime. Something that small and that short had better not be just a blip in the sensors. We’ll see. If it hold up, people think that the axion might be responsible for “dark matter”, which would probably then become “matter so very small and quick you can’t really see it.”
After being trained in Iraq, the soldiers will put it to use as the gang members they were before, according to W. S. Lind. After receiving such high-tech training and how to spot, defend, and possibly use IED and low-tech warfare, when they get home, those who would be on the other side of law will probably not hesitate to use that training to their own ends. Which could mean the terrorists of tomorrow are the soldiers of today. At least their victims don’t have to worry about the assailants having the Giant Swiss Army Knife to use. Those people who want to come back may be there a long time, though - it appears that Mr. Bush believes that wanting to win means that winning follows automatically. If wanting to win guaranteed victory, well, I’d be a lot more successful in life.
The high school social order, all in one note. Ah, the joys of a caste system imposed by and large by people who don’t have a clue. So, to all those nerds, geeks, and unpopular folk, yes, they are conspiring against you, and yes, they now are putting down documented proof of the matter. Good luck on finding it or getting it shown to you, but it’s there.
For the grammarians, or those interested in new punctuation, check out the history and usage of the Interrobang, which is what you should do when you want to go “?!” Which might describe the best reaction to the knowledge that O RLY has his own website. Either that, or it’s final proof that as a meme-y thingy, it’s dead, Jim.
Fonts for your handbills, elegant cursive, or odd printing types. Most of them look rather good, and some remind me of those kidnap notes made out of magazine cuttings.
My musical talents laugh out loud at this series of posters: War Is Peace; Ignorance is Slavery; Major is Minor. The first one’s a real inspirational-type poster. And it sucks. The two after it are far better at being funny, at the very least. Again, my musical self laughs heartily.
Last, but certainly not least, the keepers of lists. The place where Letterman goes for his inspiration. Or something.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 06:29 am (UTC)Your high school is an outlier, from what I've gathered. You went to Bizarro high school. And I'm kind of jealous of you for doing so.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 06:36 am (UTC)Yeah, I did go to Bizarro High School...why are you jealous of me though?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 08:55 pm (UTC)remedial
standard
honors
humanities (though no humanities for math or science, just english and history)
advanced placement
granted, if an honors kid got stuck in a standard class, it felt like remedial (I took Honors Geometry in ninth grade, and only got a "C" in it, so i decided to take a step down to Standard Algebra II...I was the only Sophomore in a class of Juniors and Seniors and I wound up tutoring half of them).
If you were "too smart" for the honors or AP math classes, you got shipped over to the community college daily for lessons. they did the same thing with middle schoolers who were smart - sent them over to the HS. We had a seventh grader in our ninth grade geometry class.
As an honors student, I felt that most of the standard classes were too easy - but I'm sure there were some kids who felt even standard was too hard on them.
We offered three foreign languages - French, German, and Spanish at levels I - V, where level V was the AP class, and level IV was considered honors level. We started our foreign language in seventh grade, but they split level I into two years (seventh and eighth) of course, you could still start or switch a language at any point in HS, hence still offering level I in the high school.
As far as music went -
Evrey period of the day (we had 9) there was SOME form of music class offered, sometimes two.
homeroom choir
Choir
Advanced Choir (honors credit class)
Schola Cantorum (honors credit class)
guitar I and II
Band (Concert/Marching/Symphonic all met the same period)
Jazz Ensemble
Music Composition
and of course, we had the opportunity to take private lessons during our study hall periods from the instructors if they were also free that period. Actually, as part of band, we were required to take weekly lessons, but if you weren't in band and wanted to learn an instrument, you could still sign up (like if you wanted to learn how to play so you could be in band the following year)
I don't know what other classes were offered, since I generally stuck to the college prep core (Math/Science/English/History) and then the rest of the time I was either in the foreign language corridor, or in the music corridor.
After school activities varied, but our largest clubs were Drama Club, Red Cross Club, and KEY Club.
because of starting on requirements in middle school for high school graduation, those of us who were "smart" were able to take it easy senior year and like me, participate in four of the choirs, band, and a foreign language. We also had "block scheduling" of double periods every other day, so if you HAD to, you could take a single period of choir every other day because it fit in your schedule that way, and if you got in good with the language teachers, they might let you take the language class every other day.
It was nice.
i've heard things have declined considerably.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 08:58 pm (UTC)all Honors/Humanities/AP classes were weighted grade-wise, so it was entirely possible for someone to be piss at english or math, but still maintain a decent average because of their other classes. I really credit having 2 honors choirs and an honors language my junior and senior years for my really good GPA (i don't recall ti right now, however)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 09:11 pm (UTC)Plus, you've got electives and a seriously large amount of non-core classes. Add on the extracurriculars, and it looks like your school might have actually had their heads screwed on straight!
If things have declined, I'd almost wonder whether it was because of stupidity like No Child Left Behind rather than any self-inflicted administrative decision. Seriously.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 09:17 pm (UTC)well, part of the decline for the music department was the "scandal" my senior year that resulted in the senior band director being caned, and the assistant didn't like Marching Band. he never did, so when he took over, the Band pretty much was on auto pilot with the kids who were sophomores my senior year (Erin's class) taking tings over, and then after they left it fell back apart, and on the choir side, Mrs Petri passed away rather unexpectidly last September (2005) and the replacement's been piss.
as for academia...I'm inclined to agree with you on that. The No Child Left Behind seems to have really messed with a lot of schools and how they ran themselves. Honestly, I'd rather have seen schools doing what my school had been doing.