failing like never before

31May/070

A Conneticut Yankee

"oh, my child, my darling, it will die! It has no home, it has no father, no friend, no mother-"

"It has them all!" said that good priest. "All these will I be to it till I die."

You should have seen her face then! Gratitude? Lord, what do you want with words to express that? Words are only painted fire, a look is the fire itself. She gave that look, and carried it away to the treasury of heaven, where all things that are divine belong.

From A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

I would call that the quote of the day, but no way am I going to pull out a meaningful quote every bloody day.

29May/071

Dangling Participles…

Just in case it isn't quite evident yet, I'm pretty desperate for some new content here. Thus my retyping of old in-class English essays. I would put more of them up but I seem to have lost a great deal of them.

As I was looking for my other craptastic essays, I found an old assignment on dangling participles. We were given obviously bad sentances and were told to fix them of their danging participles. Apparently all the all example sentances given in the assignment where taken from real sources. Some of them are rather amusing.

A woman who started selling hot dogs clad in a bikini two weeks ago was denied a vendor's license at a Town Council meeting.

A man who videotaped a couple having sex through partially open blinds can get the tape back in 20 days, a judge ruled.

Dear Abby: I was so depressed that I considered suicide on a daily basis.

Okay... so at one point I thought some of them were amusing, now I just think they're stupid. Woo hoo. I think I'll stop typing these up now...

Incidentally, if you actually read this thing, please leave a comment... I feel soooo stupid talking to myself. Yeah for stupid! (EDIT: I checked cpanel, the people that have looked at my site in the past day are, random spammer dude in the Ukraine, me, googlebot, and some other search engine spider. YEAH FOR ME!)

29May/071

Grades

Grades for my school are posted online through aeries. Why am I not surprised that V hasn't entered anything new in for the past three months. And because all the nonexistant people that read my blog will find my grades so amazing:

Band

1 Rehearsal Daily   1/3/2007 [ ] 10        
2 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #1   1/4/2007 [ ] 20        
3 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/5/2007 [ ] 10        
4 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/8/2007 [ ] 10        
5 Written Sp Trip Forms   1/8/2007 [ ] 5        
6 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/10/2007 [ ] 10        
7 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #2   1/10/2007 [ ] 20        
8 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #3   1/11/2007 [ ] 20        
9 Rehearsal Rehearsal (sub)   1/12/2007 [ ] 10        
10 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/17/2007 [ ] 10        
11 Rehearsal Rehearsal (sub)   1/19/2007 [ ] 10        
12 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/22/2007 [ ] 10        
13 Rehearsal Evening Rehearsal   1/22/2007 [ ] 10        
14 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #4   1/19/2007 [ ] 20        
15 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/24/2007 [ ] 10        
16 Marching/Pep Band Pepe Band #5   1/24/2007 [ ] 20        
17 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/26/2007 [ ] 10        
18 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #6   1/26/2007 [ ] 20        
19 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/29/2007 [ ] 10        
20 Rehearsal Evening Rehearsal (Tapestry)   1/29/2007 [ ] 10        
21 Rehearsal Rehearsal   1/31/2007 [ ] 10        
22 Rehearsal Rehearsal (sub)   2/2/2007 [ ] 10        
23 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #7   1/31/2007 [ ] 20        
24 Rehearsal Rehearsal   2/5/2007 [ ] 10        
25 Rehearsal Evening Rehearsal (brass)   2/5/2007 [ ] 10        
26 Rehearsal Rehearsal   2/7/2007 [ ] 10        
27 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #8   2/7/2007 [ ] 20        
28 Rehearsal Rehearsal   2/9/2007 [ ] 10        
29 Marching/Pep Band Pep Band #9   2/9/2007 [ ] 20        
30 Rehearsal Rehearsal   2/12/2007 [ ] 10        
31 Rehearsal Rehearsal   2/14/2007 [ ] 10        

 

Bio (notice the crappy exam scores)

1 Quiz Ch 25-28 Quiz     19 21        
2 Chapter Outline Ch 25     7 7        
3 Chapter Outline Ch 26     7 7        
4 Chapter Outline Ch 27     7 7        
5 Chapter Outline Ch 28     7 7        
6 Chapter Outline Ch 29     7 7        
7 Chapter Outline Ch 30     7 7        
8 Chapter Outline Ch 31     7 7        
9 Worksheet Plant Fill In     5 5        
10 Question Set Question set for Ch 25,26, and 27     20 20        
11 Question Set Plant Project     19 20        
12 Chapter Outline Ch 32     7 7        
13 Chapter Outline Ch 33     6 7        
14 Chapter Outline Ch 34     7 7        
15 Worksheet Invertebrate Summary Chart     10 10        
16 Worksheet Invertebrate Matching     4 4        
17 Exam Exam 8     70 86        
18 Lab Cell Respiration lab     35 37        
19 Exam Exam 9     63 82        
20 Project Animal Phyla Phylogenetic Tree     65 65        
21 Chapter Outline Ch 35     7 7        
22 Chapter Outline Ch 36     7 7        
23 Worksheet Hormone Color Plate     3 3        
24 Question Set Plant Questions     20 20        
25 Exam Exam 10     68 83        
    Plants  
26 In Class Project Tissue Activity     7 7        
27 Chapter Outline Chapter 40 Outline     3.5 7        
28 Chapter Outline Chapter 42 Outline     3.5 7        
29 Chapter Outline Chapter 43 Outline     7 7        
30 Chapter Outline Chapter 44 Outline     7 7        
31 Chapter Outline Chapter 45 Outline     3.5 7        
32 Chapter Outline Chapter 46 Outline     7 7        
33 Worksheet Herat Color Plate     3 3        
34 Worksheet Blood Color Plate     3 3        
35 Worksheet Immunity Color Plate     6 6        
36 Worksheet Physiology Diagram Packet     20 20        
37 Lab Physiology Lab     22 25        
38 Chapter Outline Ch 48     7 7        
39 Chapter Outline Chapter 49     7 7        
40 Question Set Nervous System Questions     12 12        
41 Worksheet Ch 49 Color Plates     5 5        
42 In Class Project Observing Nervous Responses     6 6        
43 Exam Exam 11     68 82        
    body systems exam  
44 Lab Transpiration Lab     33 33        
45 Lab Fly Lab     29 30        
46 Exam Exam 12     39 39        
    Quest on the nervous system  
47 Chapter Outline CH 50     7 7        
48 Chapter Outline Ch 51     7 7        
49 Chapter Outline Ch 52     7 7        
50 Chapter Outline Ch 53     7 7        
51 Chapter Outline CH 54     7 7        
52 Chapter Outline CH 55     7 7        
53 Question Set Behavior Questions     10 10        
54 In Class Project Behavior Crossword     8 8        
55 Exam Exam 13     77 84        
56 Test Corrections Spring Semester Extra Credit Test Corrections     16 0        
57 Lab E. coli Lab     15 15        
58 Project PPT Final     69 70

 

Japanese (did horrible on the final, oh well)

1 assignment Dialog   3/13/2007 10 10   3/14/2007 Yes  
2 assignment Comp. pgs. 1 - 10   3/13/2007 100 100 3/14/2007 3/14/2007 Yes  
    Each page took <30 minutes in class, make-ups were allowed through April.  
3 assignment Comp. handwriting   3/13/2007 8 10 3/14/2007 3/14/2007 Yes  
4 assignment Comp. book 11 - 23   3/13/2007 130 130 3/14/2007 3/14/2007 Yes  
    Each page took <30 minutes in class, make-ups were allowed through April.  
5 assignment Comp. handwriting   3/13/2007 10 10 3/14/2007 3/14/2007 Yes  
6 assignment C. 4 dialog   4/24/2007 10 10   4/25/2007 Yes  
7 assignment Recipe instruction   4/24/2007 20 20   4/25/2007 Yes  
8 assignment Comp. book pgs. 27-41   4/24/2007 130 140 4/25/2007 4/25/2007 Yes  
    Each page took <30 minutes in class, make-ups were allowed through April.  
9 assignment Comp. book pgs. 42-50   5/22/2007 80 90 5/23/2007 5/23/2007 Yes  
    Required 5 - 10 minutes of classwork for nine classes. Make-ups were allowed.  
10 assignment Final   5/22/2007 98 130 5/23/2007 5/23/2007 Yes

 

English (barely got an A, just like all my other classes)

1 class participation class participation   1/8/2007 100 100 5/25/2007 5/25/2007 Yes  
2 homework, quizzes, etc. dickinson poem analysis   1/9/2007 46 60 1/12/2007 1/12/2007 Yes  
3 writing assignments ap write (diary satire)   1/12/2007 82.5 90 1/12/2007 1/12/2007 Yes  
4 homework, quizzes, etc. victorian era quiz   1/16/2007 45 50 1/19/2007 1/19/2007 Yes  
5 writing assignments arcadia essay   1/25/2007 80 90 1/25/2007 1/25/2007 Yes  
6 homework, quizzes, etc. group work IN-CLASS   2/2/2007 25 25 2/2/2007 2/2/2007 Yes  
7 homework, quizzes, etc. practice ap exam   1/31/2007 32 32 1/31/2007 1/31/2007 Yes  
8 homework, quizzes, etc. p and p test 1   2/20/2007 35 40 2/20/2007 2/20/2007 Yes  
9 homework, quizzes, etc. practice exam II   2/8/2007 28 31 2/8/2007 2/8/2007 Yes  
10 homework, quizzes, etc. importance of earnest   2/26/2007 33 33 2/26/2007 2/26/2007 Yes  
11 homework, quizzes, etc. p and p test 2   2/27/2007 27 33 2/27/2007 2/27/2007 Yes  
12 writing assignments peer edited essay   2/13/2007 80 90 2/13/2007 2/13/2007 Yes  
13 homework, quizzes, etc. p and p 3   3/9/2007 36 38 3/9/2007 3/9/2007 Yes  
14 writing assignments p and p essay final   3/9/2007 90 90 3/9/2007 3/9/2007 Yes  
15 homework, quizzes, etc. the twentieth century   3/13/2007 24 30 3/13/2007 3/13/2007 Yes  
16 homework, quizzes, etc. portrait of the artist test 1   3/15/2007 25 25 3/15/2007 3/15/2007 Yes  
17 homework, quizzes, etc. portrait test two   3/19/2007 34 36 3/19/2007 3/19/2007 Yes  
18 homework, quizzes, etc. portrait test three   3/22/2007 31 34 3/22/2007 3/22/2007 Yes  
19 homework, quizzes, etc. portrait test four   3/24/2007 30 32 3/24/2007 3/24/2007 Yes  
20 homework, quizzes, etc. portrait test five   3/29/2007 30 30 3/29/2007 3/29/2007 Yes  
21 writing assignments imagery in "Araby"   3/27/2006 38 40 3/27/2006 3/27/2006 Yes  
22 homework, quizzes, etc. lit terms review test 1   4/24/2007 54 54 4/24/2007 4/24/2007 Yes  
23 homework, quizzes, etc. terms review 2   4/30/2007 48 48 4/30/2007 4/30/2007 Yes  
24 homework, quizzes, etc. terms review 3   5/3/2007 36 38 5/3/2007 5/3/2007 Yes  
25 homework, quizzes, etc. terms review 4   5/7/2007 56 58 5/7/2007 5/7/2007 Yes  
26 homework, quizzes, etc. terms review 5   5/9/2007 50 50 5/9/2007 5/9/2007 Yes  
27 homework, quizzes, etc. terms review 6   5/10/2007 40 42 5/10/2007 5/10/2007 Yes  
28 writing assignments james joyce essay projects   4/25/2007 243 270 5/13/2007 5/13/2007 Yes  
29 midterm, final final exam (vonnegut)   5/24/2007 89 100 5/24/2007 5/24/2007 Yes  
30 midterm, final final exam (objective)   5/23/2007 34 41 5/23/2007 5/23/2007 Yes  
31 homework, quizzes, etc. po-mo extra credit   5/23/2007 0 0 5/23/2007 5/23/2007 Yes  

 

Econ (hated this class with a fiery passion, mind, body, and soul)

1 all assignments Course Syllabus   1/11/2007 10 10 1/12/2007 1/12/2007 Yes  
2 all assignments Syllabus Quiz   1/11/2007 29 30 1/12/2007 1/12/2007 Yes  
3 all assignments Chapter One Quiz   1/11/2007 24 25 1/12/2007 1/12/2007 Yes  
4 all assignments Chapter Two Quiz   1/23/2007 28 30 1/24/2007 1/24/2007 Yes  
5 all assignments Stock Print Out #1   2/12/2007 50 50 2/13/2007 2/13/2007 Yes  
6 all assignments Quiz #3   2/14/2007 34 38 2/15/2007 2/15/2007 Yes  
7 all assignments Stock Print Out #2   2/14/2007 10 10 2/15/2007 2/15/2007 Yes  
8 all assignments Micro Quest   2/14/2007 70 80 2/15/2007 2/15/2007 Yes  
9 all assignments Three Great Economists   2/26/2007 20 20 2/27/2007 2/27/2007 Yes  
10 all assignments Quest Short Answer   2/26/2007 20 20 2/27/2007 2/27/2007 Yes  
11 all assignments Stock Print Out #3   2/26/2007 10 10 2/27/2007 2/27/2007 Yes  
12 all assignments Stock Print Out #4   2/28/2007 10 10 3/1/2007 3/1/2007 Yes  
13 all assignments Stock Print Out #5   3/12/2007 10 10 3/13/2007 3/13/2007 Yes  
14 all assignments Chapter 5 Quiz   3/12/2007 24 26 3/13/2007 3/13/2007 Yes  
15 all assignments Stock Print Out #6   3/13/2007 10 10 3/14/2007 3/14/2007 Yes  
16 all assignments Chapter 6,7 Quiz   3/13/2007 17 21 3/14/2007 3/14/2007 Yes  
17 all assignments Homework Check #1   3/15/2007 75 130 3/16/2007 3/16/2007 Yes  
18 all assignments MicroEconomics Exam   3/16/2007 176 200 3/19/2007 3/19/2007 Yes  
19 all assignments Stock Print Out #7   4/10/2007 10 10 4/11/2007 4/11/2007 Yes  
20 all assignments Quiz Ch. 9   4/10/2007 17 24 4/11/2007 4/11/2007 Yes  
21 all assignments Stock Print out #8   4/10/2007 10 10 4/11/2007 4/11/2007 Yes  
22 all assignments Stock Print Out #9   4/10/2007 10 10 4/11/2007  
Tagged as: 1 Comment
29May/070

James Joyce’s “Araby”

Here's a little one page thingie that I also wrote during AP Lit, on hoew James Joyce uses imagery to characterize the protagonist of his short story "Araby." Again, I didn't think this was that great, but I'm pretty sure it was graded more on content then style, so I ended up with a 38 out of 40. But now that I've read this "one-pager" again, I think the content is pretty craptastic too.

(Araby is a mispronunciation of Arabia) 

The protagonist of James Joyce's short story "Araby" is depicted through imagery to be a romantic who pays close attention to minute details and always shows a fascination with asthetics.

The detail with which the young boy describes the book drawing room hleps to show his proclivity to not looking past face values. Of the damp books, he likes The Memoirs of Vidocq the best of its yellowed leaves. His obssession with Mangan's sister is surprising as he never spoke to her, simply admired her physical attractiveness from a distance. Although the boy describes the girl's apperances in great detail, "her dress swung as she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side," he knows nothing of her beyond the physical.

The protagonist's romantic nature is also depicted through his obsession with Mangan's sister. In the scence in where the protagonist first speaks with the girl, he describes "the white curve of her neck" and how the light "lit up her hair." He thinks of things as perfect and pure, sees things in a rather romantic manner. "I may have stood there for an hour, seeing nothing but the brown-clad figure cast by imagination." In the scence where the young protagonist wlaks through the streets, "jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, :he imagines himself bearing his "chalice safely through a throng of foes." The street scence which one might imagine is a fairly normal occurance, is rendered by the protagonist to be an avenue of evil and horror through which he bravely and staunchly carries his "precious chalice." This could be considered going past simple infatuation.Also, the manner in which the protagonist pines after the girl futher contributes to characterize him as a romantic. The manner with which the boy "lays on the floor in the front parlor watching her door" every mornign and the image of this young boy tracing her footsteps, shows just how infatuated and romantic the boy is. THe protagonist also desribes his eyes as being "often full of tears," and how a "flood" from his heart "seemed to pour itself out into my bossom."

Tagged as: , , No Comments
28May/074

Pride and Prejudice Essay

My teacher in AP Lit. gave me a 9 on this in-class, 40 minute timed, essay on Pride and Prejudice (graded on the AP rubric). Personally, I thought it was complete and total crap not deserving of a six, but whatever. Here is the prompt and essay, unchanged from how I first wrote it, including spelling errors and all that nice stuff.

Prompt
: Many novels and plays that focus upon the marriage of a couple included a second couple that helps to define the central characters. Write a well-centered essay in which you discuss how the secondary couple illuminates the central characters of the work.

Throughout the course of Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, numerous couples are formed and presented to the readers. Lydia and Mr. Wickham, in particular act as foils to the main characters, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and help to emphasize their positive qualities throughout the novel. /* teacher/grader underlined the previous sentance and wrote 'good' */

Elizabeth's maturity and quickness of thought is perhaps best seen when compared to Lydia's brashness and lack of foresight. When comparing the events leading up to Lydia's marriage, to those of Elizabeth, we find that Lydia's is rift with problems and causes a great stresson other people. Althought Elizabeth may have caused some stress on Lady Catherine, she acted maturely and upon her marriage, never flaunted it in front of her sissters. While Lydia may be lively, here manners of cnduct are horrendous when compared to Elizabeth, making Elizabeth look more vivacious, and making Lyida look merely annoying.

The love that Darcy and Elizabeth share is also emphasized through the apparent emotionless marriage of Ludia and Wickham. From Wickham's massive number of debts and his previous attempts to marry Miss King and Miss Darcy for their large dowries, it is clear that Wickham's main goal in marrying Lydia is hopes of money. Lydia in her childish manner, confuses momentary infatuation with love. Comparitevly, Elizabeth and Darcy share a much better relationship. It seems that at only one point in the novel does Elizabeth remark on her marriage to Darcy could be good for financial reasons. While touring Pemberely with her aunt and uncle, she thinks about how all the elegently funished rooms could have been hers. Darcy, it appears, is so smitten with Elizabeth that the concept of marrying to a person of such low social and monetary stature, hardly seems to give him pause. /* here, the grader wrote ''yes'" */

Darcy's thoughtfulness and responsibility is also emphasized through the juxtaposition of Wickham's gambling habbits and debt history. Throughout the novel, Darcy settles Wickham's financial debts twice, once before the novel beings after Wickham had squandered the money left to him by the former Mr. Darcy and again when Wickham married Lydia. Essentially, Mr. Wickham made the the mistakes and created a mess of his affairs, and Mr. Darcy followed behind with cash in hand, fixing and mending debts. It is partly through Wickham's atrocious behaviour that the reader finds Mr. Darcy's manners so agreeable. Indeed, without a Wickham-type figure, it is doubtfull that Elizabeth could have found Darcy to be so appealing. /* here, the teacher/grader wrote "YES!" */

Although thir are other secondary characters throughtout the novel, whom, through their marriages and relationships help to define Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, none contribute as much as the juxtapositioning of Lydia and Wickham.

/* "Great Job" */

28May/070

Closing site?

I'm thinking about closing down the blog hosting service, generally because it really really sucks. Granted, I had every intention of maintaining this site even after school was out, but now I don't think this could be a viable enterprise. I simply do not have any features, or options that any users would find very attractive.

If I am able to bring this site up to a deccent standard, then I may consider keeping it, as it is I going to try my hand at something else. So all you people that use my site for blogging (that would be zero) and those of you that actually read my blog (still zero), you'll have to move your crap somewhere else.

Tagged as: , No Comments
23May/070

Referrer Spam…

Amazingly enough, my puny site that draws a few vistors per day, has suffered the attacks of a spammer. Some bugger named Andrei Kislizin, lives in the Ukraine, has been putting up links in comments to sites that sell "viagrax" and crap like that. I ran his IP through whois and blocked all his IP addresses, weeee.

Here's the data that whois gave me:

inetnum: 85.255.112.0 - 85.255.127.255
netname: inhoster
descr: Inhoster hosting company
descr: OOO Inhoster, Poltavskij Shliax 24, Kharkiv, 61000, Ukraine
remarks: -----------------------------------
remarks: Abuse notifications to: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com
remarks: Network problems to: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com
remarks: Peering requests to: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com
remarks: -----------------------------------
country: UA
org: ORG-EST1-RIPE
admin-c: AK4026-RIPE
tech-c: AK4026-RIPE
tech-c: FWHS1-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PI
mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-HM-PI-MNT
mnt-lower: RIPE-NCC-HM-PI-MNT
mnt-by: RECIT-MNT
mnt-routes: RECIT-MNT
mnt-domains: RECIT-MNT
mnt-by: DAV-MNT
mnt-routes: DAV-MNT
mnt-domains: DAV-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered

organisation: ORG-EST1-RIPE
org-name: INHOSTER
org-type: OTHER
remarks: *************************************
remarks: * Abuse contacts: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com*
remarks: *************************************
address: OOO Inhoster
address: Poltavskij Shliax 24, Xarkov,
address: 61000, Ukraine
phone: +38 066 4633621
e-mail: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com
admin-c: AK4026-RIPE
tech-c: AK4026-RIPE
mnt-ref: DAV-MNT
mnt-by: DAV-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered

person: Andrei Kislizin
address: OOO Inhoster,
address: ul.Antonova 5, Kiev,
address: 03186, Ukraine
phone: +38 044 2404332
nic-hdl: AK4026-RIPE
source: RIPE # Filtered

person: Fast Web Hosting Support
address: 01110, Ukraine, Kiev, 20 , Solomenskaya street. room 201.
address: UA
phone: +35 79 91 17 759
e-mail: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com
nic-hdl: FWHS1-RIPE
source: RIPE # Filtered

Tagged as: , No Comments
14May/070

Code Updates, 14 May ’07

- CSS Fixes:

- Fixed a problem where the text areas were extending too far when using Windows operating system. Although this problem has been fixed in Windows, I now have a problem while running Ubuntu and Fedora Core linux, so I assume that the problem is due to font size. If you're running linux, you may notice that the text areas are a little smaller then the box gray box that encloses them

- Fixed and rearranged some of the options in the text area toolbar. Now it consumes only two lines, instead of three.

- Fixed a problem where Internet Explorer was not rendering the CSS wrong. Before, it was taking the left-hand menu thing and sticking it all the way at the bottom of the page. There was never a problem while using Konqueror, Opera, or Firefox. This problem still seems to persist with IE5 for some reason.

- Things To Do:

- Adding help and tutorial type stuff to make the site more user friendly.

- Improving the home/index page and making it more functional, perhaps adding a 'featured blog.'

- Adding a function to search users and blogs and list them.

- Adding a better form of sorting pictures in the gallery (still a little hazy 'bout what I'm going to do, but I will do something to it).

- A way for people to upload their own stylesheets and make them avaliable to others.

Tagged as: , , No Comments