IAtionary: Racial Test

Ra-cial Test [REY-shuhl test] n.

1. A manner of determining the convergence or divergence of an infinite series based solely on its outermost appearance, including the color of the ink with which it was written; IB test: Discuss the convergence or divergence of the series Σ1/n. IB student: It's written in white, so by the Racial Test it must be convergent.

In HL math, we spent an insane amount of time covering infinite series. The basic idea is that you have an infinitely long list of numbers like the example above: the harmonic series, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5 ... 1/n. When you add all the numbers together, sometimes they will add up to a certain number and sometimes they won't. The harmonic series is divergent, meaning it will never settle on a single number, but a series like 1, 1/2, 1/4 1/8 ... (1/2)^n is convergent; it adds up to 2. We had to learn an unhealthy amount of tests to determine this property of any series Mr. IB could throw at us. It starts off calmly enough, then before you know it you're taking the integral of a series which (as you'd never notice) happens to be similar to the arctan formula, then asking if it's continuous, positive, and decreasing, then trying to evaluate said definite integral from here to infinity. Ouch. Anyway, one of the tests we learned was called the Ratio Test, and it was misheard this way at least once.

A Strange Game

A short time ago I watched the movie WarGames with my dad. It's about a kid who accidentally hacks into the government's supercomputer and starts a nuclear war simulation which the computer interprets as real and he has to try to stop. My dad told me I would like it, and it turns out I did. I thought it was a bit unrealistic at times, i.e. when the FBI just shows up and next thing you know he's locked up; it seemed to jump around a bit. However, the idea behind the movie was pretty cool, and for the most part it was well done for its time.

Interestingly, we happen to be talking about the Cold War in history, and the movie is a great representation of how people felt at the time as well as of how on the way to destruction we were. The next class I actually understood a good portion of what Mr. Majask was saying due to my having seen the movie, which is quite a rare occurrence for me; history isn't exactly my strong point. Since then I've been trying to convince him to let us watch it in class, as it would help with our understanding of the public's mindset and the propaganda of the time period. I think it would help, as it has indeed helped me.

Today I decided to write a paraphrased version of *SPOILER* that scene from WarGames on the whiteboard to see if he'd notice. It's not all from that same scene, more loosely based on the scene but with lines from other parts as well. Crossing out "professor" was my anonymous friend's idea. And by the way he did notice, but mostly because he came in right as I was finishing writing. I wonder what would have happened otherwise...oh well:)


See also xkcd.com/601 and xkcd.com/696.

Submissions, Part II

Irayo! Tute fpìmeie' oe-ru hiyìk-a lapo: nìn po-ti! In other news, I'm learning Na'vi. Anyone else want in? It's super fun, not terribly difficult, and it'll make one heck of a secret code!

Today at lunch I was marking my Bible with chalk for my weekly religious lesson readings. The people at my table, after realizing what I was doing, continued an ongoing theological debate about my religion and whether or not its name, Christian Science, was a misnomer. OAIA.
-Abby S.

Today, I saw a license plate that said 'ESCAPAY' on in. In Spanish we were talking about finding Nemo. IMMD.
-Bridget S.

Only at IA when a lit teacher gives you the full hour to read and annotate 5 chapters worth of information, do students actually gasp and clap their hands in happiness.
-Bridget S.

Today, I was talking with a group of friends in the hall when Mr. E. approached. He said that it seemed the same people meet there to confer each day, and that he wondered what we could be plotting. He hypothesized the taking over of the world, but I said that we planned to start smaller, with the IA, from there the IBO, and from there the world. He suggested that when we take over the IBO, we should ask them to give us credit in the "Risk-Takers" category for taking the risk to overthrow them. OAIA.
-Me:)

Today, the library didn't open until after everyone had to go to class. Nobody knew what to do with themselves. OAIA
-Caitlin M.

Over Christmas break I went on vacation with my boyfriend, only to find myself spending hours burning myself with hot glue and traveling to and from the public library for internet so we could complete our physics extra credit electric house project. OAIA
-Julia K.

Today in IB2 Physics, my seat partner and I were balancing pens on their tips. When the Oakland Press came into class to do their story, we claimed the pens represented the emission spectrum of an electron. OAIA
-Kyle S.

Mr. Lyons' IA Fight Stories

This post has been a long time in the making. And by that of course I mean I've been meaning to write it since December. But that's beside the point; I took notes so as not to forget stuff, so nothing but time has been lost. On that note, let's get started.

In mid-December in fisix class a student asked Mr. Lyons if he had ever taught math before. He responded with a story about how he had indeed taught math at his old school, but then he thought to ask himself why he enjoyed math. His answer to himself was "to do fisix," so after that he because a fisix teacher. He continued to say that at his old school, as at many normal non-IA schools, it was quite common for fights to break out in the hallways. In fact, it was so common that it became second nature for him to scan for signs of potential fights so he could go break them up as soon as they started.

"Wait," you ask, "doesn't this sound familiar?" Yes, it should. But not to worry, they are different stories entirely from this point on. Well, save for the next sentence.

It was Mr. Lyons' first year at IA, and he hadn't quite learned the IA way yet. Actually, hang on a moment. He told us this story first, but let's save it for the end. Meanwhile...

The second fight story he told us was about two French students (from France, not that take Francias). He said that he entered a room to find that one student had pushed another into a whiteboard. Why? The pusher believed that the pushee was being disrespectful to his (the pushee's) girlfriend and wanted to defend her honor. I really want to know what exactly was said, but alas I do not.

OK, back to my favorite one. In fact, it was not just his first year but his first two days at IA. While walking in the hallway he heard two boys start to raise their voices. Accustomed to his old school, he automatically went over to them to begin to break up the coming fight. However, true to IA form, the exchange contained no physical violence whatsoever and the dialogue was as follows:

A: You know, when you said that to me, that really hurt my feelings!

B: I'm sorry! I didn't mean you to take it that way! *Looks at watch* We're gonna be late! We gotta get to class!

And they both went their separate ways. The end.

And to conclude, I apologize for all the sentences in this post that begin with conjunctions. This situation is well known as tung and the meaning of this in English is "allow" and it is spelled a-l-l-o-w.

Some Fun and Out-of-Context Quotes, Part XXXVIII

I will post more this week, don't worry. I have several mental posts that simply need to be digitized, I've just been in either vacation mode or Careers in Medicine mode this week. Meanwhile, here are some quotes:

"Teachers were not amused by me. I was amused by myself."
-Sra. Riggs on her educational experience

"Oh that's...biblical."
-Sra. Riggs on the number 666

"It's a curse, not a skill."
-Mr. Lyons on being punny

"The spindle fibers are chomped like Pacman."
-Ms. Sturt on Mitosis

"¿En serio, chicos? ¿En serio?" *raises eyebrow*
-Srta. Fernández on stupidity.

"Don't blame me, I'm perfection."
-Sra. Riggs

"I am going to randomly replace one fact in your brain with this one: protons taste like chocolate."
-Mr. Lyons on test preparation

"Really? You're gonna say that?"
-Mrs. Hessler on That's What She Said

"Look at what I have: a CD, but it's old!"
-Sudheer on a cassette tape

"We have a little bit of unnaturally high expectations."
-Sra. Riggs on IA's language B program

The Official Only At IA Screensaver

About a week or so ago I figured out how to make custom screensavers. Actually I wanted a The Office one but there were only desktop wallpapers available on the website, so I decided to learn how to put them together into my own screensaver. Once I had done so I realized that it would be pretty fun to design a screensaver for Only At IA, and I decided to give it a shot. The animation took a long time - it was all done in Flash, which is awesome but can be painfully slow - but it was really fun to do and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Here's what it looks like:



It has 45 different quotes, IAtionary entries, OAIA stories and logos that it displays randomly. It nearly always starts with my all-time favorite quote, then continues however it pleases.

If you like it, click here to download and install. Installation is pretty straightforward: just download and run the *.exe file and follow the on-screen instructions. The screensaver will automatically adapt to fill your screen size. Please let me know what you think- I'd love to hear from you!

In a ToK 1 class...

Mr Wolf: So, the other two areas of knowledge are....the natural sciences....and...?

Student: The unnatural sciences?

Mr. Wolf: No, the human sciences.

Student: Wait, so humans are unnatural?

Special thanks to Bridget S. for this one:)

To Read or Not To Read

We just finished reading Hamlet in English class. It was good, but I liked Much Ado better. Anyway we did a lot of the reading in small groups. We formed groups of 4 or 5 at the start of the play and read in the hallway with those same people throughout it. Somewhere around Act II (of V) I think, I was trying to encourage my group members to focus - quite unsuccessfully, I might add - and someone suggested I read a page out loud as all of the characters. I declined, but they asked me again the next class. And the next class. And the next. Somewhere in there it turned into a whole scene, and eventually a whole act, with everyone else claiming that it had been that way all along. One day I gave in and read a page out loud, telling them that that was what they had said originally and it would have to do. One group member was absent that day, but it was the only day I imagined I would feel like reading as all the characters, and I wanted to get it over with. I did, and it went rather well, so I figured my debt (for what, I know not) was paid, but alas it was not.

The next class I was reminded that one group member had missed it, and that it was supposed to be much more than a page, and that I needed to pick a part with more characters, and that I needed more enthusiasm...etc. This continued for a while, until finally the very last reading assignment arrived. I decided that I would go for it, seeing as they were so intent on listening to my pitiful excuse for acting, and I told them that I would try again. I meant with the small group out in the hallway, so I headed that way, but Mrs. Fuelling called me back inside. She had been informed that I would be performing for the entire class. I decided to go for it, and ended up reading as three different characters and using different places on the "stage" to represent my multiple identities. There were only about ten minutes left of class by this point, so I didn't read for very long, but I must say it was really fun. I navigated the obsolete words fairly well, having had months to get used to them, and I ended up quite glad I did it. And that was the end of the faux complaints from my group, so there.

Some Fun and Out-of-Context Quotes, Part XXXVII

A few gems this time- particularly...well on second thought, I'll let you decide for yourself. Or you can read the mouseovers.

"If you pull the fish out of his hat you become the next king of England."
-Jon D. on my dad's fish hat

"I'm so sarcastic I think I'm rubbing off on you."
-Mr. Giromini

"Do you know how dangerous it is to taste the rainbow?"
-Mr. Lyons on Skittles

"It looks as awkward as it sounds."
-Ms. Sturt on cleavage furrows

"That's sort of a weird thing just to make up your own endings for tenses."
-Anonymous in the alternate form of the past subjunctive

"I remember when we were little, when Friday night came around it would be like, 'Yay! Friday night! I can stay up late!' but now it's 'Yay! Friday night! I can sleep some more!'
-Kenny W.

"The matrices are attacking! Good thing we know scalar multiplication!"
-Aaron on the seniors' Olympics shirts

"It's like killing off all the skinny people by decreasing the heat to a point where they can't survive."
-Anthony G. on using radiation to kill cancer cells

"I have to sing a song in my head to write my last name."
-Hania on being Polish

"You should try harder to be bothersome."
-Mr. Stibitz on his rewarding the juniors' nagging with paella

"Most people have life styles; I have a styled life."
-Mr. Stibitz

Irony

An interesting little anecdote for you today: I was in German class the other day and Marie said she had a story for me. She was at home and her mom had given her a huge pile of laundry to put away. She was in her closet sorting through it while talking on the phone to her youth pastor. They were discussing Proverbs chapter 31 - which is about being a good Christian woman - when Marie's mom entered the room and told Marie to "come out of the closet already!" Marie started laughing, asked her youth pastor if she had heard and told her what happened when she said she hadn't. While telling me the story she drew this artistic representation of the situation which she gave me permission to publish:

I even let her borrow my Stabilos. Which, by the way, I now have a bunch more of after going to the only store in the state that I have been able to find that carries them! Woo!