Sunday, April 30, 2006
We're all going to die!
Or at least if Al Gore gets his way. He was whining again this week about global warming. Apparently the planet is getting warmer and we’re all being slow roasted. Considering it was below 40F most of today and snowing in some places around here, Al Gore can go do something that can’t be mentioned on network TV. If snow on the last weekend in April around Seattle is a sign of global warming then I’m waiting for the heat wave to begin.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
WTF!?!
My humble little school, Bellevue Community College (affectionately and hereafter referred to as BCC), has made national news thanks to one of our teachers. Apparently one of our math teachers gave a math problem that was horribly offensive. Here’s the math problem:
Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300 -foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second. The height of the watermelon above the ground t seconds later is given by formula h= -16t2 + 20t + 300
Only one usable word went through my mind when I heard this: “HUH?” Apparently this simple algebra problem offended a black student who in turn complained about this question and the teachers was reprimanded. Maybe this student was just upset that they couldn’t answer this pre-algebra problem. I’ve read two differing conclusions from various commentaries on said math problem.
The first is that this algebra teacher is obviously racist and must be fired at once. If this teacher had substituted the name Condoleezza with the name Jessie, Al, or Martin there would be massive riots on campus and it would have to be shut down. Any reference involving a black person and a watermelon is obviously racist and must be punished immediately.
The second opinion given is that this teacher is obviously getting a free swipe at Bush. By using the name Condoleezza in a simple math problem, this teacher is subliminally telling the students that Bush is bad. Because there is obviously only one Condoleezza in the world, this problem is apparent exists for the sole purpose of demeaning Dr. Rice.
I set out to discover a little more about this. First I wanted to know how common of a name Condoleezza is. So I took out my three volume set of “Neemund’s Index of Weird Names Black People Give Their Children,” commonly referred to as my high school yearbooks, in search of the name Condoleezza. I flipped through the index of the first book, got bored, and gave up my search. I didn’t see a Condoleezza, but I found a Condolisha. I looked up Condoleezza online and learned that con dolcezza is an Italian musical term referring to a piece being played “with sweetness”.
Apparently any reference involving both a black person and a watermelon cannot be anything but racist. At one time, it is believed that slaves had to pick watermelons on watermelon farms. Most of these slaves were also black. It is so blatantly obvious of its rampant racism that heads must roll for this, in the literal sense. Personally I’ve never heard such associations as being racist before. I really don’t think a watermelon cares who eats it, or who picks it, or who throws it off of a federal building. I’ve heard associations of black people picking cotton used in a racist sense; but a problem involving Condoleezza throwing a cotton ball off of a federal building would be something you’d find in a physics class since it requires a few more variables and calculations than most algebra students could handle.
So is this teacher a racist? Or is this teacher a Bush hater? You decide.
Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300 -foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second. The height of the watermelon above the ground t seconds later is given by formula h= -16t2 + 20t + 300
Only one usable word went through my mind when I heard this: “HUH?” Apparently this simple algebra problem offended a black student who in turn complained about this question and the teachers was reprimanded. Maybe this student was just upset that they couldn’t answer this pre-algebra problem. I’ve read two differing conclusions from various commentaries on said math problem.
The first is that this algebra teacher is obviously racist and must be fired at once. If this teacher had substituted the name Condoleezza with the name Jessie, Al, or Martin there would be massive riots on campus and it would have to be shut down. Any reference involving a black person and a watermelon is obviously racist and must be punished immediately.
The second opinion given is that this teacher is obviously getting a free swipe at Bush. By using the name Condoleezza in a simple math problem, this teacher is subliminally telling the students that Bush is bad. Because there is obviously only one Condoleezza in the world, this problem is apparent exists for the sole purpose of demeaning Dr. Rice.
I set out to discover a little more about this. First I wanted to know how common of a name Condoleezza is. So I took out my three volume set of “Neemund’s Index of Weird Names Black People Give Their Children,” commonly referred to as my high school yearbooks, in search of the name Condoleezza. I flipped through the index of the first book, got bored, and gave up my search. I didn’t see a Condoleezza, but I found a Condolisha. I looked up Condoleezza online and learned that con dolcezza is an Italian musical term referring to a piece being played “with sweetness”.
Apparently any reference involving both a black person and a watermelon cannot be anything but racist. At one time, it is believed that slaves had to pick watermelons on watermelon farms. Most of these slaves were also black. It is so blatantly obvious of its rampant racism that heads must roll for this, in the literal sense. Personally I’ve never heard such associations as being racist before. I really don’t think a watermelon cares who eats it, or who picks it, or who throws it off of a federal building. I’ve heard associations of black people picking cotton used in a racist sense; but a problem involving Condoleezza throwing a cotton ball off of a federal building would be something you’d find in a physics class since it requires a few more variables and calculations than most algebra students could handle.
So is this teacher a racist? Or is this teacher a Bush hater? You decide.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Update
School has finally started. I’ve got two online classes plus one class that meets twice a week. I’m taking Accounting 210, English 201, and Animation 121. So far it doesn’t look like this quarter will be too painful, but I’ve only had one day so that may change really soon.
I’m still playing my same game of Defend Your Castle. I am now on level 375 with 447,875,200 points. I have 125 wizards, and 690 craftsmen. I have 365,350,596 points available to me which is still short of my goal of 90% total points available. It takes almost an hour to complete a level at this point so progress is slow, and I don’t have time to sit at my computer and play all day.
I should probably start on my taxes pretty soon. I should have done that a while ago since the government owes me a ton of money, but I keep putting it off. I guess that’s about it for the update category. I’ll post again shortly if I get inspired.
I’m still playing my same game of Defend Your Castle. I am now on level 375 with 447,875,200 points. I have 125 wizards, and 690 craftsmen. I have 365,350,596 points available to me which is still short of my goal of 90% total points available. It takes almost an hour to complete a level at this point so progress is slow, and I don’t have time to sit at my computer and play all day.
I should probably start on my taxes pretty soon. I should have done that a while ago since the government owes me a ton of money, but I keep putting it off. I guess that’s about it for the update category. I’ll post again shortly if I get inspired.
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