This is a USA Today article about how some schools are rounding up an F from whatever the score is to a 50% automatically. In other words, they’re taking someone who signs their name to a test and hands it in blank a 50%, because if they got a 0% it could become mathematically impossible to pass the class. Well no shit. This is the kind of bullshit teaching/life-preparation that has allowed people to get to young adulthood without half a clue as to what is required to, you know, live.

Now, more than anything else, there’s one part of this article that really just pisses me off.

“It’s a classic mathematical dilemma: that the students have a six times greater chance of getting an F,” says Douglas Reeves, founder of The Leadership and Learning Center, a Colorado-based educational think tank who has written on the topic. “The statistical tweak of saying the F is now 50 instead of zero is a tiny part of how we can have better grading practices to encourage student performance.”

Seriously? Ok, so you, Mr. Douglas Reeves, obviously have no clue as to how grading is handled at an elementary school level. To get an F, you do not need to get a 0. Believe me, I know. I’ve gotten them. You need to get a 59%. Or a 49%, or whatever other percentile that is less than or equal to 59%. Sure there is a greater than average chance that they’ll fail… … if their teacher grades by chaos theory. Yes. That’s right, if I were a teacher, labeled my steps with 0-100 in intervals of 5, then threw my kids names onto the stairs and that was their grade, sure… they’d have a better chance of failing. If, however, I work with them and they, you know, are capable of thought they have a better than average chance of passing. Why? Because people aren’t governed by laws of statistics, it’s not random and teachers are capable of turning the most bassackwards thinking kid into someone who can at least pass some standardized tests so s/he won’t be “left behind.”

I will say if my kid gets a 45% on a test, I want them to get a 45% F, not a 50% F. It was good enough for me… …. …… yes. I am that crotchety.

-Jon

MTV is evil. This Parental Control show is absolutely everything that is wrong with America. Really. I just watched 10 minutes of it, and I don’t know if I’ll ever feel clean again.

-Jon

Seriously, this (registration required) is not a good thing. I really have little to say beyond that… but… wow. Aight, really, food now.

In yet another update in my never ending search for the signs of the Apocalypse… here we go…

This is an example of how laws can begin to get a tad bit too intrusive. How, in the blue hell, can anyone justify to themselves that this law was worth suggestion, let alone passing? Instead of passing a law that prohibits your citizens to, you know, shower, why don’t you pass a law like, "If you’re gonna get nakke, draw your blinds, thanks…" Actaully, that would probably work better as a suggestion, but whatever. Also, I have a serious question for the folks who dreamed up this law — are you going to arrest and fine every couple who conceives a child post-Jan 1? because they have, almost definately, broken your law. Another little problem would be (as noted in the article) anyone who catches someone illegally-naked would also face charges of being a peeping tom. What motivation does anyone have to report such behavior?

In other Apocalyptic news, I’ve now seen a music video that absolutely positivley signals the end of the world. Shania Twain singing with, none other than, Mr. Extra Correspondant himself — Mark McGrath. No. Really. The song, also, is a perfect example of what I mean when I say "S**ty Country Music." It’s derivitive, it sounds almost exactly like pretty much everything else that I’ve heard Shania sing, it has a painfully simplistic story told over really shiney, but bad, music. It’s everything about the music industry that I hate. Really. Here’s the formula for this song — take one part Shania, one part other-genre Singer (preferably male), 1/3 part each of three chords (preferably the I, IV and V), lots and lots of Pro-tools Auto-tune or equivilant, and 1 part each of many Nashville session players so our studio budget doesn’t get overblown by silly things like "musicianship" or "playing music that evokes emotion." Have you noticed that I don’t like the song much?

Have you noticed that I’m grouchy? Yeah, that’s because I forgot how to sleep. Or eat well. Or smile. No, wait… I can still smile. But sleeping and eating well — those are things of the past. The grouchy is a direct decendant of the non-sleep that I’ve been getting lately. I have, however, gotten a lot done in my video games. That’s good, right? Oh… no, wait… that’s just kinda geeky. Aight, I’m going to vaccum my room, go run some errands, come home, pack my clothes for home, and go to bed. Hopefully I’ll be asleep by 10. That’d be sweet.

Seriously, I try not to knock on peoples religion or faith. It’s something that I feel I have no right to do. I take issue with folks who try to force their religion and/or faith on others, but that’s an issue with the person and not the faith. I just saw the single most insane things I’ve seen in weeks. And I see a lot of insane stuff in any given week.

I just saw a comercial for a debt relief group. What you do is you "sow into" this thing, and your debt is going to be forgiven. By God. Just because. There was a couple on the comercial that said their debt was forgiven supernaturally. Seriously. They sent in a list of their debt, and their "love gift" and they got all their debt forgiven. Now, does that sound like something that the creditors of the world are likely to take part in? If you’re Master Card, and you get a call from God Himself on a phone that isn’t plugged in and he proves it’s Him by causing it to rain frogs. You’re not going to cancel that person’s debt. It just wouldn’t happen. I hate people who take advantage of the beliefs of others, it’s sad and pathetic and I wish folks would realize that there are no easy solutions to debt. It doesn’t just go away.

Also, I was woken up by a phone call today. This was the conversation that I had.

Me: Hello.
Guy — in a timid voice: Yeah, I was just wondering. Uh… do you service propane in Lawton?
Me: Uh, what?
Guy: Do you service Lawton.
Me: Um.. Do you realize that you called a residence?
Guy: Uh… … … … …
Me: You called me at home man…
Guy: uh… … … … …
Me: I think you got the wrong number
Guy: uh… … … well… …. *click*

Seriously, the least a person could do in that situation is say, "Oh, sorry about that." And hang up. I hate when people get the wrong number and just hang up. It’s even worse when they talk to you for a while, realize they have the wrong number, then just hang up. Pepole suck.

They have a cartoon. They’re secret agents. They have a friend called I.Q. The first five minutes of the episode I was watching delt with TV reception and how they, as secret agents, need to "go check it out."

I feel so freaking dumb right now. I mean. Oh god. The four horsemen. They’re comming. NOOOOOO!!!!