Saturday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Star 69.

Today's question is:
What was the title of Madonna's first album, released in 1983, which contained the songs Borderline, Lucky Star, and Holiday?

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1992.

Today's question is:
What appropriately-named REM song contains the lyrics, “I know you called, I know you called”?

A Living Legend Might Not Live Much Longer Without Our Help

Jaime Escalante, on whom the movie Stand and Deliver is based, is a legend and hero amongst math teachers. Today he's in Reno, Nevada, for cancer treatment, but can't afford it. Edward James Olmos, who portrayed Escalante in the movie, presents an appeal for donations:

Jaime didn’t just teach math. Like all great teachers, he changed lives. Gang members became aerospace engineers. Kids who had spent their youth convinced their lives didn’t matter discovered they were leaders.

Now, Kimo needs our help. He is seriously ill, and the treatment he needs has depleted all the funds his family can raise. They did not want to ask for help, but we took it upon ourselves to get the word out to all the country and around the world, to make his final days as comfortable as possible – and maybe even give him a chance to beat the cancer that has afflicted him...

How to help

Send a check payable to:

“Friends of Jaime” c/o FASE
236 West Mountain Street, Suite 105
Pasadena, CA 91103
For questions call: 626-793-5300
Suesan Walker, email - swalker@fasenet.org or via fax 626-577-2677

I hope my readers will join me in making even a small donation to help a great man.

Thursday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1975. (I believe they performed it on television in December of '74, though.)

Today's question is:
In what year did Billy Ray Cyrus release Achy Breaky Heart?

A Stitch In Time Saves Nine

My local union wants to alert parents to the strain our district will be under if presumed drastic cuts to the education budget are implemented. To do this, we've been asked to stand across the street from school either tomorrow morning or Friday and hand out fliers--I assume these fliers will ask parents to contact their legislators and tell them not to cut education.

I'm a teacher. When the education budget takes a hit, I personally take a hit--either in the wallet, or in more work because of more students. So I have a personal stake in hoping that education isn't cut too much.

But I'm also a California taxpayer, one who plans on living in California for a very long time. This state is in a financial mess, and it's not going to be fixed if we declare 47% of the state budget off limits. We can either take our medicine now, or take even more of it later, and I'd rather just fix it now. If we don't fix it, the state will collapse--and I'll collapse with it.

So I can't in good conscience go out and ask parents to advocate for fewer cuts in education. To do so would not only be exceedingly self-serving, it would also violate some of my deepest political beliefs.

Wednesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Midnight Oil.

Today's question is:
In what year did Captain and Tennille release the hit song Love Will Keep Us Together?

Hella Good Idea, Or Hella Bad?

This story is certainly making the rounds in the math and science world today--a local university student wants to add a new metric prefix, "hella", which would be 10^27.

Austin Sendek, a UC Davis physics student, has started a petition to establish a new, scientifically accepted prefix, "hella," to be used in front of units of weight, distance or computer storage, much as "milli," "kilo," "mega" and "giga" are now used.

His petition already has hella signatures.

"Hella" is a Northern California term that is a slangy synonym for "really" or "a lot of."

Under Sendek's proposal, the International System of Units would adopt "hella" to follow "zetta," which indicates 1021, and "yotta," 1024.

"Hella" would indicate 1027, or 1 followed by 27 zeros.

Thanks to the poster in Mr. Tsuda's chemistry/physics class when I was in high school, I've memorized many metric prefixes:

• exa (10^18, quintillion) peta tera giga mega kilo hecto deka
• deci centi milli micro nano pico femto atto (10^-18, quintillionth)

That was as far as the poster went, and the quoted story above mentions two others--but not 10^27.

Note that the prefixes for "greater than one" are all Greek and those for "less than one" are all Latin. These prefixes are decided by an international standards-setting organization in France, so the chances of getting a slang term for "very" included as a new prefix seem somewhat remote. I can, however, imagine lesser scientific pursuits, such as reclassifying Pluto from a "planet" to a "dwarf planet".

Tuesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Chumbawamba, in their song Tubthumping.

Today's question is:
Which Australian group performed the 1988 hit with the lyrics, “How can we dance when our Earth is turning, how do we sleep while the beds are burning”?

High School Freshmen To Get College Credit For Ethnic Studies Class

It's in San Francisco, of course.

San Francisco high school students, just months out of middle school, can start earning San Francisco State college credit this fall through a ninth-grade ethnic studies course.

Currently, five ethnic studies courses are offered at three high schools, but they offer only high school credits. The school board voted to expand the ethnic studies program last week, increasing the number of courses to at least 10 sections at five high schools.

My favorite quote was this:

"I don't ever learn about the accomplishments and contributions of the people who look like me and the members of my family," said Balboa High School freshman Monet Cathrina-Rescat Wilson during public comment at Tuesday's school board meeting. "How can I know who I can be if I don't know who I am? Ethnic studies provides me with the foundation to learn who I am."

What have I written/quoted before on that very topic? Ah yes:

One person questions "the idea that 21st century people should feel proud of what people who looked sort of like them did centuries ago, maybe"...

Young people need to be shown that they need to accomplish something in their own lives and be proud of that, not to be proud by dubious association with a group hundreds of years and thousands of miles removed from them.

It was true when I quoted it 4 1/2 years ago, and it's just as true today.

Hat tip to NewAlert.

More Money To Combat High School Dropout-ism

President Obama highlighted stronger federal efforts Monday to help lower a high school dropout rate that, according to the president, is undermining America's future economic potential.

Obama noted that the administration has committed $3.5 billion in new federal support for underperforming schools. Among other things, the Education Department is attempting to encourage states to identify and take new measures to reverse trends in schools with graduation rates below 60 percent...

The president argued underperforming teachers will need to be replaced in struggling school districts. But more accountability and higher standards, he said, need to be matched by greater federal funding and more parental involvement. link

I'm curious to see how more parental involvement will be tackled.

Monday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Father.

Today's question, the first in Pop Music Variety Week, is:
Which British musical group performed the 1997 hit with the lyrics, “I get knocked down, but I get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down”?

Historic Black Schools

I'm not so sure this is a federal issue unless the schools are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, but certainly some of the schools that were once segregated black schools should be preserved as historical sites:

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- In the shadow of a worn steeple, a gray wooden building that used to be the Mount Calvary School stands held together by sheer will despite years of weather and termite damage.

The school is one of only a handful of former black schools in Horry County that have survived the decades since they were built starting in the mid 1920s and since they became obsolete when the school system integrated in 1970.

Seeing Pink

California law requires school districts to notify, by March 15th, any tenured teacher who might conceivably be laid off at the end of the school year. Every year around March 15th you see stories like this one, which is more ominous than any in recent years:

Unlike previous years when many layoff notices were rescinded, school officials say more of those employees will likely lose their jobs this year...

The rising numbers of pink slips locally are part of a statewide wave. David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association, said the deluge could be worse then last year, when 28,000 teachers received pink slips and 16,000 lost their jobs.

Sanchez and his ilk are part of the problem.

Sunday Trivia

The answer to Friday's question is:
1976.

(My bad for not posting yesterday!)

Today's question is:
Which of the following positions is/are/was/were not associated with, or held by, Sir Isaac Newton: Mathematician, alchemist, theologian, physicist, astronomer, warden of the Royal Mint, member of the Royal Society, author, father, uncle, Member of Parliament, knight, and/or Justice of the Peace?

Tomorrow will begin Pop Music Variety Week for trivia questions!

What's Another Name For "Reconciliation"?

The liberals in Congress, trying to push through an exceedingly unpopular health care bill, are considering doing so via the "reconciliation" process.

Do you remember what the "reconciliation" process was called in 2005? Back then it was called the nuclear option--and Senators Obama, Biden, Clinton, Reid, et. al., were steadfast against it. What a difference a day makes!



Hear them in their own words.

Update, 3/3/10: Ann Althouse has more of the current president's former words.

Racist Occurrences at UC Campuses

It's good that the governor is speaking out about this, but it's going to take more than his bully pulpit to fix this problem.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Saturday he is deeply troubled by recent acts of racism at three University of California campuses.

Schwarzenegger's statement comes after a string of incidents this month on the campuses in Davis, Irvine and San Diego.

Protests in Berkeley Over Budget Cuts

Nothing says "don't raise my tuition" like breaking into a campus building and trashing the restaurants.

I’m just wondering what Sweetie has against some minimum-wage worker at Subway.

You know, the guy who pays the taxes that (subsidize) the University of California, Berkeley.

I also contrast this to the peace protests.

Sweetie seems to be far less angry about people dying overseas than having to shell out a few more bucks in tuition.

It's stories like this that cause me to seriously question the amount of money we pay for California's higher education system.

Which States Are In The Worst Economic Trouble?

The five states in the worst financial condition--Illinois, New York, Connecticut, California and New Jersey--are all among the bluest of blue states. The five most fiscally fit states are more of a mix. Three--Utah, Nebraska and Texas--boast Republican majorities and two--New Hampshire and Virginia--skew Democratic. link

I'm not surprised.

Video Applications For College

Among the stupidest ideas ever, for all the reasons in the comments to this post.

Firing All The Teachers

Last week, when Toyota executives were being grilled before Congress, it was hard to know whom to root for: root for Toyota and you root for a company that knowingly ignored serious safety concerns in its cars, root for Congress and you root for a bunch of grandstanding blowhard idiots. Tough choice.

Likewise, I'm torn regarding this story of the Rhode Island school that's fired all its teachers because they won't work a few extra hours a week without extra pay. I admit enjoying the relative job security I have, and I don't want to think that could ever be jeopardized (especially since I'm one of those rock-the-boat teachers). Additionally, I wouldn't really want to be required to work extra time at no additional pay. On the other hand, when you're working at one of the worst-performing schools in the state, you can't just expect to continue the status quo. The fact that the teachers union is rocked by this is just gravy for me :-)

Is there any indication that the requested additional work would do any good? Read about the community surrounding this school; has there been any outreach to get the community to "do its part" to improve student achievement, or is it all to come down on the shoulders of the teachers? Did the teachers offer anything, or just expect to keep on keeping on?

It's hard to know whom to root for.