Origin XT Blog

Look at Page 6E of today’s Mercury News (Business section). The title is “VMWare: Software Fuel’s Firm’s Explosive Growth”. Anyone notice the incorrect usage of the apostrophe? I was thinking of emailing them with the same tone I employed the last time I emailed a reporter:

Regarding Your VMWare Article

I cannot understand what you mean by “Software Fuel’s Firm’s Explosive Growth.” Is it my lack of English skills, or is the phrase just poorly constructed? Can you explain to me what it means — or what you meant to say with that phrase?

Perhaps my inability to comprehend that seemingly simple phrase is because of the fact that the apostrophe was used incorrectly. After all, in formal writing — which I expect Mercury News articles to be — apostrophe’s should only be used for possessives.

Did you catch that? Are you sure? If you did, why did you not for your article? The apostrophe after word “apostrophe” should not exist. The mistake you made is similar.

Newspapers should gain trust from their readers by presenting to them an accurate image, in language and content. With common acts by media companies tarnishing the image of all of the news and media, do you not agree that it is important for each individual contributor to a newspaper to do their best to ensure the quality of the articles are, well, at least understandable?

The simple mistake of misusing an apostrophe is unforgivable in publishing companies — perhaps this is why reading proficiency levels have not seen the strong growth it once saw.

With full regard,
Jinghao Yan
Faithful reader of the Mercury News

I should bring in Ms. Jankowski for this email, if I decide to send it.

My high is 418 tons for US and 215 tons for China. My low can go down to zero. You guys? Yes, I did steal this from BP

FRESNO: A California woman who sued her former employer after she was spanked on the job has been awarded $US1.7 million in damages and compensation.

Janet Orlando, 53, said she was embarrassed, permanently scarred and mentally anguished by the fraternity-like atmosphere and sales-building exercises at Alarm One, which included paddling if an employee was late for a sales meeting.

The jury initially awarded her $US500,000 in compensatory damages for lost wages, emotional distress and medical expenses. After further deliberation, the jury added another $US1.2 million in punitive damages, lawyers said.

Imagine that. Some woman who lives not far from where we live got 1.7 million dollars because she was “embarrassed, permanently scarred and mentally anguished” by the “paddling” (spanking) for tardiness. So, if she was late, she was spanked — and was permanently scarred?

Look at this too: 500,000 USD was paid in compensatory damages … for medical expenses. That’s insane!

I really can’t think of a 500,000 dollar fee for expenses for … spanking. The laws these days.

By the way, why is this on a New Zealand news website?

Yesterday at 4 PM or so, I was debating with myself whether to go to the evening lecture Mr. Kerwin kindly offered, so I decided to go online to check the powerpoint to see whether I should go or not.

To my dismay, my internet did not work. Because this problem has occured intermittently over the past few … months, I got sick of this problem and called Comcast. The first thing the “tech support” said in response to my question (”Is there any connectivity issues with my area code - 408? I cannot connect; I have experienced intermittent disconnectivity since subscription, and I am sick of the inability to connect, especially when needed. Do you have any information on this?”) is “That question is a frequently asked question. Please refer to www.comcast.com slash support for the answer to that.”

Does that make any sense? How can I access the webpage he told me to access if I cannot connect? I noted that, and responded: “Damn it, I am being serious; I have no time for your stupid jokes. I am well aware that I can go to the website you gave me, IF I CAN CONNECT. Didn’t you hear what I said? I said I cannot connect! Oh, by the way (I said in a different tone), maybe you want to note how Valley businesses are outsourcing jobs similar to yours to places such as India, where people get paid less to tell me shit. Now, tell me how I can connect.”

He then proceeded calmly: “Ok, sir. Calm down. Just unplug the modem, wait a minute or so, then replug it. That should do the trick.”

“Don’t you think I would have tried that? I did that already, several times. It does not work. What do you suppose is the problem?”
“I don’t know. Your problem is not normal. You must schedule a technician to come to your house. Sir, are you eighteen or above?”
“Do I sound like an adult? I am not.”
“Oh ok.” *hangs up*

What the hell? That was quite unproductive. Anyway, I called my dad to give him directions on where to find the document I want to see. He printed it and came back 10 mins before 7 and gave it to me. I did not have enough time to review it, so I decided to take it and go to school.

Anyway, when I came back home today, I noticed that my net did not work either. But I also noticed that my neighbor’s Wifi was connected - and unprotected with encryption, so I signed onto that.

His printer also is accessible by me, so guess what I did? I went to google images, queried “o_o”, and printed the page.

That’ll teach ‘im not to leave his network unsecured

I will keep this as short as possible in order to conserve (my) time. So, today was the STAR math and science, both of which I thought was extremely easy. I was quite confident others felt the same, and that we would achieve our desired goal.

That is, until I saw people getting up within ten minutes of the end of lunch to turn in their test - the science portion. They either drew pictures, or bubbled Cs all throughout - and Mr. Woytek (whose room I took the test in) did not mind. He actually seemed to endorse it, telling us - the only good students (apparently): “Hurry up you three. I want to go home too. … I could care less about that goal.”

This all was caused by Mr. Woytek telling our class, right after today’s lunch ended, that “once you finish, you may leave.” That statement ruined it all; it gave people no incentive to stay any further and take the test seriously. Apparently he feels confident that he will not be affected should the school see its science STAR scores; he explained to us that very few physics teachers are qualified and experienced, and he is one of those few.

Does he want the district to see the scores, and decide to fire Monsees? Perhaps he wants the district to respond to the devastating scores by cancelling the online physics course, which he believes to be ineffective in teaching a class. Funny, since from what I heard, he hardly teaches either; instead, he relies on “silent, sustained reading.”

Perhaps only three - maybe four - people took the science section seriously: me, Jeffrey, Tiffany and maybe Patrick (Rohan tried, but I bet he got lower than those who bubbled in all Cs). Sure, it’s unlikely that those who blew the test would have done any better if they took more time, but there was still that chance, the chance that maybe a couple of them had the brains to take on a few simple chemistry, biology, or physics problems.

What do you notice about the people whose names I pointed out?

Do they sound Asian to you?

They should, because they are. (EDIT: I admit, the names don’t SOUND asian…)

But I found it funny how Woytek went through each formula and variable in our formula sheet (for physics) and explained what each meant. I took the chemistry STAR though, which I think was great for me and the school. I took chemistry last year, and this, so I have a pretty good advantage. Anyway, It is somewhat discouraging to note that a few minutes after Woytek gave the physics test-takers a lecture, all but those I named either left, or were about to leave. What a waste, eh? (Where’s woo when we need him? — nice alliteration eh?)

So, what about your testing classes? Does this situation I described resemble that in your room?

Today, Joey and I went to Big 5 “Sporting Goods” to look at - guess what? - archery bows! We were deliberating for a whole hour whether it would be wise for me to buy it. When we decided to, I took it up to the counter, waited several minutes (in the line), to see it rejected.

“Do you have an ID, sir?” the counter lady said.
“No, do I need one?” I responded.
“Yes. You must be eighteen in order to purchase the bow.”
“But on the front, it clearly states it is a ‘Junior Bow’, meant for kids. Why do we need an ID?” I asked, with no response
“So I cannot purchase it without an ID that states I am eighteen or above?” I continued
“Neither of you are at least eighteen?”

… and so on.

So we wasted an hour at big 5s + gas + transit time. What a bummer. I wanted the 18-pound (draw weight) compound bow. It would have served well to replace my age-old hand-made bow.

By the way, if you notice that my quality and quantity has decreased, please blame Ms. Jankowski; she recently informed my class that she has my blog bookmarked. Please do not complain if you notice the content may seem “filtered”.

Thank you !:)! !:P!

EDIT: Albert Q said he, being 18, will take me to Big 5s someday so I can get my bow!

How was yours? I really did not get much done. I had hoped to review AP Chem, AP Physics C (which I really need to review), some AP US History and do my DJs. What did I get done? Not much. I read Snow Falling on Cedars, but what use is that? I still need to do the DJs - I failed to mark the quotes I was to log. So, DJing will take forever.

You guys?

In order to convince my parents that I was indeed studying for the SATs, I pointed out that I was subscribed the QotD (and still am). I still find the math parts really easy XD (which is why I look at these and nothing more).

Take a look at this problem, for instance

In the xy-plane, line L is perpendicular to the graph of the function ƒ(x) = 5x – 2. Line L could be the graph of which of the following functions?

1. g(x) = –5x
2. g(x) = -1/5x
3. g(x) = x – 2
4. g(x) = 1/5x
5. g(x) = 5x

If you ask me, I’d say this was easy enough for most of the people I know (including you, Joey !:)!) to do with a quick glance. Check out the answer:

Answer (B)

CORRECT! Here’s why:

If two lines are perpendicular, the product of their slopes is equal to –1. The function ƒ(x) = 5x – 2 is in slope-intercept form, so the slope of the graph of ƒ(x) = 5x – 2 is equal to 5. Therefore, the slope of line L must be equal to -1/5. The only choice that corresponds to a slope of L is g(x) = x.

Difficulty: Hard

Look at the difficulty: hard. I wonder what ETS is struggling with !:P!

Too bad the “critical reading” section is nowhere as easy as this. I think I missed more “easy” questions on that section than “hard”.

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You Were a Rabbit You are fast thinking and tend to live by your wits. Getting over fears is important to you, as is strengthening intuition.

How ironic. How many rabbits died under my care?

You Are 41% Selfish You are quite balanced. You are able to compromise when it’s in the best interests of those involved. But you’re no pushover. If something is important to you, you’ll get it!

You Were Nice This Year! You’re an uber-perfect person who is on the top of Santa’s list. You probably didn’t even *think* any naughty thoughts this year. Unless you’re a Mormon, you’ve probably been a little too good. Is that extra candy cane worth being a sweetheart for 365 days straight?

Ha. Ha. Right !:P! Sometimes you don’t need to think over something to do something !;)!