Revenge of the Pencils

Well, the old WKCE testing strikes again! Poor little sophomores get their nerves all hyped up and then after it's all over, let out a huge sigh of relief. I had the pleasure of sitting in a chair at the Madison Public library for about seven hours today. After waiting for a few minutes for a group of people to clear out of the room we were going to use, (I occupied my time with straitening shelves which I have gained the habit of after volunteering at our local library. Where are those silly Madison library volunteers anyway?) I found a seat and couldn't wait to get started!! heh.... yeah. So, the wonderful teachers, Mr. Wright and Mrs. Pease, (that we are so grateful for for spending most of their day watching high schoolers take a test) went through the instructions and handed out our number 2 pencils (remember, ONLY number 2 pencils) and other helpful things including calculators and a nice little cardboard ruler. Then we were off! We had around 35 minuets to complete each "session" or test. The first three contained around three types of stories and then we had to answer a few multiple choice problems. After completing each session we would quietly show one of the teachers that we had in fact completed it. They would write down the time we had completed the session and we would then move on to the next.

After going through three sessions of reading, three sessions of mathematics (which I will confess, I don't think I represented our school to well. I hope I got at least a couple right...) and around two sessions of science, I started to get a little tired of it. This was the first booklet. While I sat there at the table, almost becoming hopeful that I would finish this wonderful booklet of questions, Mr. Wright announced that it looked like some of us were rushing through the test (not I) and that there was still another to come! That definitely made me excited. I eventually made it through the first booklet and decided to keep on going without stopping to take a lunch break. Who needs energy for this magnificent test anyways? Once again I found myself trying to make it through a couple sessions of social studies and writing. I actually almost feel confident that I did close to alright with writing. I wrote about the Age of Technology! Fun stuff... I even mentioned online learning. I think I should get an award for that! After a few more grueling hours of multiple choice questions and filling them in with my number 2 pencil, I was done! All I can say is, I'm glad this does NOT count toward our grade and that it is not our lovely school alone making us poor kids do the test. I also would like to say, those who have this wonderful experience ahead of them, try to at least think of doing your best and representing our school! And that's about it. I can't think of any other reason to be thankful for the test at the moment... Oh, I know. I won't have to use a #2 pencil to take a test again for the rest of the year!

Six Hours Later...

While some of your jaws may have droped to the floor, thinking I had worked 6 hours straight on the blog revampment, such was not the case. (This is not to say I didn't want to...)

Check it out! The tabs do what the tags do, but they look so pretty, and the extra space allows for other functionality. (Hence, RSS button as well. Maybe I'll put another button or two in there as times goes by...)

You like?

-H²

New iQb Template to undergo development

Having stumbled upon several resources for modifying Blogger templates, I find the prospect of such modifications very enticing, and will be working on enhancing our very own Student Blog in the coming weeks (potentially months.) Stay tuned for more news as I relate my experiences!

-H²

A Replacement iQ Commons Discussion Board

We all know the discussion board is broken. And it hurts your eyes to look at.

So to continue talking amongst each other in a more civil place, Hilary Siebring, a Senior at iQ, has created a replacement forum. You can get there by clicking the title of this post.

The iQ Blog is a wonderful idea and its done very well. But its not meant to be a replacement for discussion boards. When it comes to really getting in there and holding a conversation, it doesn't hold up well. Its use lies somewhere else.

To join the forum, you're going to need to sign up as you normally would, then post your username here as a comment, so it can be verified you are an iQ student. Anyone other than iQ students will not be able to see what is posted on the forums.

Poll Results for Archive

In a brilliant administrative move, I've decided to do this the easy way. Stay tuned for the next one...

Did you know?

- The amount of people who choke to death each year is on average about 100 people.
- The only author to have a book in every Dewey decimal category is Isaac Asimov.
- Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
- An atheist convention is gathering together this weekend in Madison for a day of breakfast without prayer and to give out awards. As the news reporter said, " God bless them!"

A Moment of Silence

I've come to realize, despite all the promises and mildly-competent attempts to follow through on them, that things in the iQ Commons are never going to achieve their former organizational glory. We have homepages that no one knows about, we have forums that no one cares about, and the commons announcements are messed up nearly to the point of illegibility. Even our faithful macs are being phased out now, in favor of PC's. Things are changing, and certainly not for the better...

When I first joined iQ, there were at least 3-4 intelligent students who were consistently involved in serious discussions in Commons. While I was just a freshmen, I saw something there that I wanted to be involved in, and did so. Several major flame wars and a bunch of other stuff later, I was a full fledged member of the discussion board group. If something came up that I was interested in, and back in the day things did, I joined in and had my say. My Sophomore year was similar, though slightly more students were more interested in chatting than discussion. (And that year, last year, was the year they shut down the chat rooms.) Back then, we had real, heartfelt discussions where we furiously disassembled the other side's arguments, until we grew tired of that subject and started another. It was a community, like any other community, and it was a great enjoyment to participate.

Now, this year, after the whole blackboard system seems to have been renovated, everything is, to put it bluntly, a mess. The announcements in commons should be in the announcements section of the Discussion Board "Course" and they shouldn't be in obnoxious colors, and they shouldn't stretch the screen so you have to scroll sideways to read them. The Homepages should be right there too, where people can see them. The discussion boards should have all the functions set up, so people can edit the errors in their posts, etc. They should be able to mark posts as read or unread too, like we used to be able to do.

Unfortunately, the thing that really matters, the people, seem to have disappeared. The veterans of the first several years of iQ Academies have gone now, and in their absence, no one has showed up. There might be 10 participants in the discussion boards at the moment, but none of them care to start an serious discussion, and sadly enough, they all seem to agree completely on everything. Not to mention, no Philosophy and Religion board, AND they actually removed the Politics board! So the primary composition of topics is literally "How's the buddy program going?" "How's school going?" and "Homework help".

I should've seen this coming. Similar situations have played out in other organizations, especially online, that I've been involved in. Things fall from their glory as time drags on. People get worn down and lose ambition. Ever since Stacy McKnight left, things truly haven't been the same for iQ's student-to-student relations. (For those of you who don't know, she was our Go-To person for all the commons stuff, and Proms/Dances/Basketball tournaments etc.) I thought someone else would pick up the baton, but it's apparent that there isn't anyone else with the talents Stacy had to organize things for our sake, and make things more interesting for *us*.

Maybe someone else will come along eventually, but who knows. Maybe the iQ Administration is no longer interested in hip younger (pre-30's) people to work for them. If things continue down the road as they are, however, I fear for iQ's success as a whole. You simply cannot maintain a school without giving the students a significant, well thought-out and appropriately-managed commons (Not to mention the need for someone who can relate to students, and the organization of fun events.)


All that said, I'd like to take a moment of silence in memory of the past.

And they're off!

Good news folks! If you weren't already aware, the commons discussion boards are finally to a point of flexibility that allows for a reasonable amount of real discussion! New sections include (with comments by yours truly):

• Green Bay Packers (In annoyingly capital letters that I've decided not to adhere to.)

??? Why not just a sports section? *sighs* Oh well... Go Pack!... Go...

• General Discussion

Yay! Except for the horrible clashing colors in the subtitle area, it's great to finally see this one up and running!

• What's your favorite TV show? (Also in caps...ahem...)

Uhm, alright. Not so bad, but less useful than some of the missing ones. (No Phil/Rel, for instance!)

• Political Issues

Oh snap. This one's gonna get ugly...

• What are your hobbies?

Well, at least this one was requested by quite a few people... And it doesn't have obnoxious colors in the subtitle... and it's not in caps... three cheers for that!

• How is school going?

First of all, the "question as a title" thing is getting rather old. Secondly, dduuummmbbb topic. I don't even need a thirdly.

• Have you checked THE commons for school events?

"THE?"


Might see you around in there sometime soon. If you've never experienced chaos before, you should join in! Trust me, it's a blast... Really. Like, *kaboom* *screams* *machine gun fire* *death*

*not so subtle wink*

-H<sup>2


Edit: Added two DB's</sup>

Motivational Images: Vol. 1

Hip-hop/Rap Lyrics.

Rap lyrics, are terrible.
They're all about money, and 'hoes' and sex.
And they use positively horrendous grammar.

So when I'm extremly bored, I take rap lyrics and revise them so they are formal and proper and such.

An example:
From Ludacris' 'Get Back.'
The original Lyrics are "Get back, get back, you don't know me like that."
My lyrics? "Please keep your distance, please keep your distance, you are not acquainted with me in an intimate manner."

From Will.I.Am's 'Got It From My Mama'
Original: "Baby, where'd you get your body from?" and "I got it from my mama"
Revised: "Young female member of the human race whom I am attracted to, from what specific intersection of latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates did you attain that physical shape consisting of flesh, blood and bones?" and "I have acquired it from the woman who gave birth to me."


I will add more at another time, for now, enjoy this installment of Formal Rap Lyrics.

Somebody set us up the Poll

All your votes are belong to us. We asked, and you answered. Thanks to all who voted in the recent poll, providing us with key insights into your desires for material.

Now, I don't know how many of you realized that the poll allowed you to select as many options as you wanted to, but it's pretty obvious that at least some of you did, so the final tally is probably at least a little valid. The top three results, which we'll try to put more emphasis on in the coming months, were "Just foolin' around with your heads," "Spamming our rants," and "Helping you with your issues," in no particular order... or paraphrasement.

-Henry !!

Did you know?

- The most dangerous animal is the common housefly. They transmit more diseases than any other animal because they have a habit of visiting animal waste.

- October 10 is National Metric Day. The United States is one of three countries in the world who have not adopted the metric system as their official measurement system.The others are Myanmar and Libia.

- The Statue of Liberty's official dedication was on Thursday, October 28, 1886.