Jack Says

Star Wars

2005-05-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Andy “Soff-Dog” Soffer and I went to see Star Wars earlier. Somewhat surprisingly, we got to the theatre at 7:28 for a 7:30 show and still got tickets, and somehow found seats in the dead-center of the theatre, just a little bit above the middle of the screen.

The movie was great (Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the ending or anything). The special effects and fight scenes were amazing. However, it also had a great plot and storyline, something that Episodes 1 and 2 lacked. I have only two complaints. First, because episodes 4, 5, and 6 are already out, the ending was fairly predictable. By that I mean after the third scene, one could pretty easily figure out what would happen with the rest of the movie. Also, after the last (amazing) fight scene, there was about half an hour devoted to tying up loose ends and setting the stage for the fourth movie. Basically the resolution was too long. However, this was unavoidable because of the fact that the movies were filmed out of order.

My recommendation? See the movie. Even if you didn’t like the Phantom Menace and whatever the second one was called, the Revenge of the Sith was much better.

JB

From the Library

2005-05-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm in calc class right now. We're in the library to research our projects. I really should be researching Fibonacci numbers, but blah... My project isn't due until May 20, and no matter how much I "research" the fibonacci numbers, it won't really improve my poster that much.

American AP tomorrow. I need to study tonight. I'm not really looking forward to that test at all. The good thing is that tomorrow, its all over. Like, kickball, Frisbee, and Bulderdash for the rest of the year.

I wanna go sleep. Fibonacci numbers are boring me right now. I wish they wouldn't have taken minesweeper off the library computers.

Luke and Danny and Sam want me to put this up now, so I have to go. No one has won the competition yet.

Fine, Danny can win.
Danny wins.

Sam wants me to edit, so I just did.Are you happy now?

This is the last time I do this in the library

JB

USAMO day I

2005-04-19T06:33:00.000-07:00

SO today is USAMO, Day I. I’m really looking forward to taking this. I haven’t actually sat down with a set of USAMO problems, so I’m a little curious as to what I can do and how far I can get.

Anyway, taking USAMO has some massive perks. For instance, on Friday during math I got a call from food services asking what I wanted for lunch on the two days. Then my parents and I collectedly decided that I’m more awake and refreshed if I get to sleep until 8:00 instead of 7:00 (actually, my mom decided, I nodded, and I think my Dad was playing Age of Empires). So they called me in for first and 2nd period! YEAH missing endurance and fitness days in swimming.

Seeing as how USAMO is today, this may very well be my last day writing to you. Not because I want to stop. Rather, my brain just might fry. So here it is, John’s will:

Make sure Sam gets Engle and Zeitz back.
Donate Art of Problem Solving book and ARML book, along with any of my mathematics books to the new EMNC library.
All my stuff to my family members, each taking what they need (hey, that was pretty socialistic!)
My room space to Kevin, so that he can have a bigger room than Kristin.
Please reimburse my mother for all that candy I ate over the years.
Any other stuff I borrowed from anyone and have not yet returned, make sure they get THAT back, too.

And, of course, my death wishes:
Donate my body to science to investigate the effects of brain fry on the human body.
If I go into a coma and cannot possibly be retrieved, pull my plug.
I want my plug to be pulled by, oh, say, I dunno … I’m thinking of a number between 0 and 1. Let’s see who can guess it.
Donate my working organs to the greater good.
And for my epigraph:
“Beauty is the first test. There is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematic[ian]s.” (G.H. Hardy).

Now that that’s out of the way, congratulations to our contest winners:

In third place … ANDY, with:
Sing an F# two octaves above the treble clef.

In second place … ANDY, with:
Take a shower. It’ll fog up the house.

And our winner … ¿WHAT? with:
Play with lasers. You know that who refractive property of glass. Someone could go blind o_O .

New contest. Complete the following statement:
You know you’re a nerd if ________.

JB

By the way, Hardy’s REAL quote is
“Beauty is the first test. There is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.”

Why Bureaucracy Sucks 101

2005-04-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

So today I had a little crash course in Why Bureaucracy Sucks 101.

It all started back in March, right after ARML tryouts. Our ARML team has a 200 dollar participation fee (to help pay for bus, crappy food, etc). Some schools agree to pay this fee for their students who make the team. Last year, Dan and I (meaning our parents) each ended up paying it ourselves. This year, since we had three more people going, I asked my teacher if there was any way the school could pay our fee. He talked to our director of student activities, and the answer came back in the form of a resounding “Yes!”

Naturally, everyone was happy. All we had to do was to fill out a “student activity form” (basically a permission slip for a field trip) so that the school would pay.

This is where it starts to get weird. Skip ahead to last night after practice. After my mother dropped Gavin off at home, I heard her say “shit” to herself. Asking what was wrong, she said she had brought her checkbook to pick us up from practice, but had forgotten to tell me to ask about the check. “What check?” I inquired “The school paid our fee!”

She proceeded to tell me about a phone message she got from my math team coach about a month ago. Basically, what came across was “Well, we might not be able to pay the ARML fee, so you might have to pay it and would that be okay with you?” Apparently, my mom called back to ask about it, and never heard back from my math team coach. I had heard nothing of the new development until that night (the night the check was due). I called the parents of two of the other Oak Park ARML kids. Their parents had received no such phone call. My mom and I assumed it was a mistake and everything was fine.

So this morning, I went to my math teacher’s room during study hall and asked him if our fees had been paid. He told me “no.” Apparently, between the times they promised to pay for us and the due date for the check, our student activities director talked to our like vice principal or some shit like that. SHE said that in order for it to be payable it had to be a “student activity,” meaning the school would have to provide transport to and from practices and such. None of the teachers had time, and we already had a carpool in place, so they decided not mess with what was already in place, and therefore it did not count as a “student activity.”

So it was the job of my math team coach to call us and tell us. Except her phone call would have been easier to understand (and certainly more definite) had it been in hieroglyphics. Then, when we tried to call back, we got no return call. And none of my friends received this call. And NO ONE ever told me personally about this … not my teacher, not my coach, not the department head, no one.

I’m a little peeved at my mother for not notifying me of this phone call until 10:00 PM OF THE DUE DATE. And I’m a little upset that my math team coach did not return her call to clarify. And it ticks me off a little bit that I personally was never informed of this. But mostly, I blame bureaucracy. I’m upset that after the decision was made, and seemed set in stone to everyone including my teacher, a higher-up reversed it.

This is the problem. You can’t have people try to lead what they cannot see. Donna Stevens sits up in her office, unaware of what goes on outside her door, and tries to direct stuff like this. Sue Bridge steps out her office only during full moons, and she tries to make decisions that directly relates to student’s lives. The Board of Education never, ever is in school during the day and tries to make important decisions about how to allot funds and run the school. I have news. IT DOESN’T WORK.

There have been multiple instances where stupid decisions have been made because no one ever sees what goes on. Last year, due to their apparent “danger,” our school tried to ban flip-flop style sandals. The ban (no pun intended), flopped. Student’s responded with “flip flop Fridays.” Our student newspaper openly bashed the ban the net week. The deans were upset because they had to deal with the kids sent up to their offices for this heinous crime, when they had much better things to worry about. And Security couldn’t deal with everyone who wore those shoes. The ban stopped being enforced about 3 weeks later, and I don’t think it’s on the books anymore this year.

This year, the board proposed putting Physical Education of the GPA, starting with next year’s freshmen. Never mind what this means for the integrity of your GPA score. Never mind it shafts the kids who are inherently non athletic. Never mind that in some team sports classes, half of your grade is based on the performance of your TEAM.

A couple of months ago, my teacher showed us the book we are planning to use for our “Advanced Topics in Algebra” class next year. He had also shown the books to a member of the board. Naturally, there was some notation that he could not understand. Math is like that. However, he used it as a way to bash the books. “Look at this…no kid can understand that…no one will want to learn from this.” So my teacher had to go to a board hearing to explain why he wanted to use those books. And my teacher and I had a good laugh over what a dumbass this board member was. He was like a Spanish major who looks at a Japanese class textbook and condemns it as unreadable. He should have come to my math team practice or my calc class. He would have seen about 20 kids who could understand those books and want to learn from them.

So basically, schools cannot be run by bureaucracy. Decisions cannot be made by those who don’t see what happens on a daily basis. I don’t know if there is a better way. I don’t know how much better this way will be. But I do know one thing: schools cannot be run by bureaucracy.

JB

USAMO and other such stuff

2005-04-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

So today Sam, Turcza, Alexey, Gavin, Andy and I had a little party after school to talk about inequalities. I seriously hope there is an inequality on the USAMO next week. I might actually walk away with a point total x x e {s} where s is the set of positive real numbers. Hey look! Set notation!

Honestly, though, I think I might actually get partway through an inequality if one should grace me with its presence. In the last week I’ve learned how to use (effectively) AM-GM, Cauchy-Schwartz, Cauchy-Schwartz II (return of the squares), Nesbit, Jensen, and the Rearrangement Inequality, plus (!) x + 1/x ³ 2. I still have a couple to get to, and then there is the added pain of having to find out how to use them effectively, but anyway, hopefully I’ll get lucky and one will come.

ARML Practice II (return of the mathletes) is also tomorrow. I have all my Homework done, including the evil #10, which is the worst problem in the history of mankind. Also, Math Team State is in a couple of weeks. Our sophomores are looking really strong. We might take top 5 this year.

No track today, and a free day in swimming! Thank goodness! Also, thank goodness for late arrival tomorrow! Happy day!

JB

PS I have another challenge for you all. Complete the following statement:

If you live in a glass house, you shouldn’t _______.

Have fun with it. Don’t give anything boring, like, oh, say, throw stones.

JB

Poker

2005-04-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to Turcza’s house for a game of poker. Also there was Gavin, Todd, Charles Barrows, and Mike Hirsch. It was buckets of fun.

Now, I really enjoy the game of poker. I like the strategy involved. First and foremost, poker is a game of math. The person who wins is the person who knows exactly which hands to play and which hands not to play. He or she knows when to call and when to fold. He knows when to bet and how much. And that is all based on probability. But there are other things a good player must be able to do. Which is why I am not a really, really good player.

More about last night. First off, no more sugar for Gavin. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him act so drunk in my life – and all he had was Coca-Cola and 7-UP. By the end of the night, he was on the biggest tilt ever. Seriously, I’ve never seen that kid sp crazy. Which is probably why he left Dan’s house 5 dollars poorer than he arrived.

I ended up winning $5.50. Not bad for a days work. Ass that to the 18 cents I found during track practice, and I can get a Panda Express or Chipotle meal, using money I did absolutely no work for?

By the way, Gavin, when are you finally getting your internet access hooked up? Why am I asking? If you are reading this, you most likely have it up already. Anyway, no more sugar for you.

JB

Another Life Update

2005-04-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing exciting in the last week ...

Swimming is going okay. Actually, it’s almost refreshing. I'm never ready to get up when I get up, but hopping into that cold, (very, very cold) pool is somewhat nice. It's the dips and the sit-ups and the pushups and the laps and the more laps and the more laps that make that class difficult.

In other news, the swim trunks are really, really short. I think they are maybe 2 inches longer than my XC uniform shorts (Really good quote at the bottom pertaining to this subject). Coach Black says its so no one steals them. It seems like a good enough deterrent – who the hell would steal swim trunks no one would ever be caught dead wearing.

In other news, Sam came over the other day to let me borrow his some of his math books. USAMO stands less than two weeks away: I have a bunch of reading to do.

In other news, the Cubs suck. How the hell do you lose 2 to the Dbacks? Stupid Stupid, Stupid...

In other news, I went running with my dad last night. I felt a lot better than on Monday/Tuesday. Obviously, I still have a lot of catching up to do because of my four-month break. But I am getting somewhat back into the groove.

In other news, I called Bank One today to see about a summer job. I talked to the manager on Saturday, and he talked to his recruiter on Tuesday, and I was supposed to call him back Thursday.

In other news, every paragraph of this entry has started with the words "in other news."

In other news, I want to know your take on an argument I was having. Let's assume that the future can be known for certain. Do we have choice? (Note: I am asking whether or not the future can be known for certain. I am not asking if we have choice. It is an if-then question.)

JB

Quote I promised:
"Damn, these things are short. I look like a wh0rΣ ... trying to get a ride from a trucker ... "
--Dan Diamond, from my swim class

Web site design

2005-03-30T10:03:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, my Dad collects gangster photos. He collects photographs of really anyone related to organized crime: Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Tony Accardo, and all those other Prohibition era mobsters. He also has photos of famous bank robbers like Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde. When the discovery channel or history channel or someone wants to do a special on, say, the St. Valentine's day massacre, they often come to my dad for photos. He's also got a book out that includes like 180 of his pictures.

About a month or so ago, my Dad decided that he needed a website. The problem was, he doesn't know HTML or any other website design language, and professional website designers are expensive. So he commissioned me to make his website.

Anyway, creating making these things is actually lots of fun. Typing in all the code and stuff can be really annoying, but it is fun. Plus, seeing the changes you made pop up on the browser screen is pretty satisfying. Not to mention finishing the whole thing.

When I get this finished, I'll give you guys the URL.

JB

Really funny, but unrealted, quote:
"So Michael Jackson compared himself to Nelson Mandela. Mandela immediately got on the phone, called him, and said, 'shut up before I put my foot up your ass' "
-- Conan O'Brian

Track

2005-03-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have to start track practice on monday, and I am not looking forward to it...

First of all, I don't even want to DO track. Between math team, ARML, and other schoolwork,
I already have enough going on. Not to mention I did track last year and hated it. The only reason I'm even considering doing it is because my Cross Country coach pressured me into it.

I tried to run today. Actually, the only reason I even went running today was cause my mom indirectly made me. She was yelling at my brother because he was sleeping in (?) and said he was lazy cause he's not going to some soccer camp tomorrow. She said she "wanted him to get out" and that I "was going running" he "could go with me." Except that I had no such plans to go running...

So anyway, I decided that we'd go from my house to the tracks and back, about three miles round trip. I found out today how shot I am. Honestly, I'm sooo out of shape. I started cramping at about a half mile. Barely made it all the way.

Basically, I'm not looking forward to track. I can think of about a billion things I'd rather do thatn to sprint around Concordia's godforsaken track. Again, I hate sprinting, and even If I do a distance event, I'll still end up doing some short and fast workouts. Oh well...Enough complaining from me...

JB

My life update

2005-03-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I'm, finally back from St. Louis.... Trip was fun, especially cause I got to see my grandparents, which is always a plus.

On Friday, we took a tour of the Anheuser-Bucsh factory, which was really cool. Their factory is really awesome, and we got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, which my little sister really enjoyed. At the end of the tour, they gave out free samples to all tourgoers over 21, which my mom really would have enjoyed if she didn't give up beer for lent. Sucks for her ...

Then we went to see the Wash U campus. Its a nice campus, and I know its a really good school. Picked up two books at the library -- one math book with stuff you should know for Olympiads (USAMO and such), and another on puzzles. Also picked up a shot glass for my collection.

Saturday, we went with my uncle to see a "quaint" old-style town. You know, where all the buildings are old style and everyone sells old-style souvenirs and stuff like that. Like, the kind of town that got left behind years ago so they stopped progressing and now the only reason people actually visit it is because it is old-style. It was really boring, but it was nice to see my uncle.

On another note, who saw that Illinois game? Absolutely AMAZING...Down 15 with like 4 minutes to go... amzaing...

In other news, I wrote finally wrote the Trig problem I needed to write for ARML. Here it is...

1.) If arctan (k) = arccot (3) + arccot (5) + arccot (7) + arccot (11), find the exact value of k.

I'm working on another which I may use instead.

JB

Have a happy break

Math problem, Steroids in Baseball

2005-03-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

For my ARML homework this week, I had to write two math problems that were about as difficult as ARML tryout problems. I just wrote one tonight, and was wondering whether it was too easy...

Let R1, R2, R3, ... Rk, be the roots of the equation:

LOG2 [8 ^ (x + 2/3) - 2 ^ (x - 4/5) - 1/4 ] = 3x + 1
Find the sum R1 + R2 + R3 + ... + Rk.

To those of you who don't know ARML: NO CALCULATOR!!!
If you get the answer, DON'T put it in the comment section, in case someone else wants to work on it, (IM or Email me). DO post if you thought it was too hard/easy.

On another note, is anyone as sick of I am of this steroids thing?
It's bad enough that steroids have ruined the game of baseball, especially the record book. Since 1997, 3 players have broken Maris's home run record: McGuire, Sosa, and Bonds. All of them were probably juiced. If you ask me, Maris still holds that record.

What's worse is that the Senate is getting involved. Don't they have better things to worry about, like, oh, say, a war? Or the millions of homeless in America? Or Health Care? Social Security? Crime? ANYTHING?

Then there's the players, who are unwilling to confess to their actions. Everyoen knows McGuire took a type of steroid before it was illegal, yet at the Senate hearing, all he said was "I don't want to talk about the past...I don't want to talk about the past..." Then theres' Sosa and Bonds, who gained about 30 pounds each, all in muscle, after the age of 35. Weight Training, they say. BS, I say. Weight training doesnt gain you that much, especially at that age. Bonds' answer was particularly funny: "I thought it was lintseed oil."

Actually, Sammy most likely wasn't juiced this year. Explains his crappy hitting...

I like the Cubs, and before this year, I really liked Sosa. Now I can't stand him. He's a selfish bastard who has more money than he'll ever need and has to cheat to earn him more. Even if he's not juiced, I cite his corked bat. Thank god we traded him.

It will be a sad, sad day for baseball if Aaron's record is passed. I wouldn't mind it if it was as it was. But for a fair player to have his home run record passed because of steroids is unacceptable.

Except I forgot, it was lintseed oil.

JB

Paper finished

2005-03-22T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's finally over.

The tyranny that has dominated my life for so long, has finally fallen. I shall never again see the outline of its Bastille darken my door again ... no more pain, no more suffering, no more damned editing for stupid dependent clauses and unnecessary "that"s.

I finally finished my history paper.

Never again will I type the words "Equal," "Rights," and "Amendment" in direct succession. Never again will I read sit for hours at my desk plowing through some Jstor article I don't understand. Never again will I sit in my desk and slave away at a keyboard and moniter, and leave only to see the red markings on my page send me back.

At least, not until my next quarter paper.

JB

Pat -- dictionary.com lists 21 definitions for "clean." Here's the one I think you're looking for:

12). Fit for all readers, listeners, or audiences; not ribald or obscene: a clean joke.

Perfectionism

2005-03-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

It's official. I'm a perfectionist. I hate to admit it, but it's true. Can't hide it much longer.

Here's what happened. I was writing my report for my English project. I checked it. I had a friend read it. I took it home. I editied it. I gave it to my mom. She edited it. I made her editions. She looked at it again. I made the editions. Printed it, and checked it against the copy she had just editied to make sure I didn't miss anything. Went through it once more myself. As I'm printing it, my mom comes in and says "ya know, you should read it one more time, just so you can be suer it made sense."

I shouldn't have listened. I should have resisted the urge to read it one more time. I should have three-hole punched it, put it in my binder, and left it until tomorrow.

No, instead I took it to my desk and read it. I didn't want to change it again, I swear, but I saw it right in the first paragraph. "Between 77 and 38." Should have been a "from 38 to 77." I reached for my pen, but then checked myself. The urge, though, was too great. I picked up the pen and crossed it out, putting in the correct phrase.

5 pages and a dozen editions later, I finished the report. Tail between my legs, I returned to my computer. The urge had caught me, and I was forced to print yet antoher set of corrections.

JB

BTW, JB lover, quit messing with my comments section. I will block you from posting.

And Luke, I'll have my brother tell your daddy on you

JB

Ed!

2005-03-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

I asked one of my good friends, Ed Hoffman, what I should write this entry about. I was hoping he’d give me something interesting, like the Chicago 8 Trial, his quarter paper topic. And, Ed, the selfless man* he is, gave me an interesting, deep, profound topic*. Himself.

What is there to say about Ed? Lots. Ed and I go way, way back*. I met him back in Chemistry class, when good ol’ Ms. Bardeen was our teacher. He, Barlow, and I used to sit in the front row and listen attentively to everything Ms. Bardeen had to say*.

We were also in swimming together. Ed was Mr. Geovanes’ favorite student*. He loved when Ed asked him to tell “frat” stories*. Swimming was fun*.

Questions surround Ed. Who is Ed? What is Ed? Why is Ed here? What is Ed’s purpose?

Who is Ed? That is really a good question. I doubt there is a man on this earth, including Ed himself, who knows the answer. For instance, all of sophomore and part of junior year, Ed had long, dirty, disheveled hair. Honestly, he looked like he had been taken straight from a drug trip in the sixties. Then, out of nowhere, he comes to school last week with his hair suddenly shaved and clean cut. Honestly, he looked like a recently sheered goat. What the hell?

Why is Ed here? What is Ed’s purpose? Ask Mr. Meves, the physics teacher whose hair, or lack thereof, is a frequent butt of Ed’s jokes, and he will say “To be annoying.” Ask me, and I will say, “to be the frequent butt of my jokes about his hair. He looks like he got sheered.”

If I had to define Ed in 5 words, they would be, in ascending order:
5). Hilarious
4). Annoying at times
3). Crazy
2). Hippie
1). SHEERED!!

No Ed, that joke never gets old.

JB
*Denotes a blatant lie in this entry.

Quote of the day:
“Binder, if you use that ‘sheered’ joke one more time, I will beat the living **** out of you”
--ED

Math Stuff

2005-03-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

I havent written anytrhing for a while, but I'm finally gonna unload about ARML, AIMEs, Scholastic Bowl, etc etc etc.

Lets see....last week, ARML tryouts...I got 13 out of 24, which is a little under what my goal was, but the test was harder than usual. Made the A/B team, which I was pretty happy about. I've already done my whole homework problem set, and am so ready for the first practice.

No really exciting problems this year. Last year, there were a coupld of really good problems, but nothing really cool this year.

P.S. Four other kids from my school made various teams, plus I already know a bunch of people who were on the d team last year. Should be a party.

Scho Bowl Regionals ... Morton Forfeitied, and we got the living crap beat out of us by Fenwick. They have a good team.

AIMEs...Note: AIME answers are available at http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e7-aime/e7-1-aimearchive/2005-aa/05answersaime1.html. Looks like I got a 10, which is much better than I expected. I was able to avoid careless mistakes, which always helps.

If I am taking the USAMO, I can't wait! Nothing excites me more than sitting in a room for 9 hours over 2 days writing 6 essays about how to do 6 problems which I don't know how to do. I figure I'll attempt one for a while, give up, and then make pretty pictures with my compass.

Again, no really good problems this year. And, the general consensus of the AIME experts on ArtofProblemSolving.com is that this was easier than most years.

Last night, there was a math team meet. Our school had a total of ten people going. We had three people taking the sophomore test, and the top three scores count. And somehow, we still got second place.

I need an explanation. The last question of the test was:

Al and Bill agree to arrive at a cafe seperately at a random time between 6 and 7 pm. They also agree to wait 40 minutes for the other, and if the other does not show up in 40 minutes, they leave. What is the probablility they will end up meeting each other.

My friend tried to do this problem using limits. He got the wrong answer. If anyone has ANY IDEA how one could possibly do this with limits, LET ME KNOW. I'm interested in how he thought he could do this.

I'm out
JB

PS: JBlover, (Danny or Ben or Luke or Pat or Mike), why do you insist on posting bogus comments in my comments section?

Springtime

2005-03-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

Spring is finaly here. After months of weather in the 30s, the 20s, and below, it is finally springimte, with all that comes with it.

For the first time in months, I went down to the park to play Frisbee. It was sooo much fun. The only regret is that it was a little too windy, sending our disk more to the east than it should have ended up. However, overall, it was a good time for everybody.

The best part was playing in shorts. I havent worn shorts for a good long while. I'm glad its springtime.

Thats all I have for today. I want to talk about ARML tryouts, but am temporarily sworn to secrecy. Either tomorrow or Monday, you willl here about them.

Scholastic Bowl regionals tomorrow. You'll here about them soon.

JB
No quote today.

I love the Supreme Court

2005-03-01T19:50:00.000-08:00

It's a beautiful Day...Don't let it get away...It's a beautiful daaaay hay he yah haaaay! Don't let it get away!

Wow that is a good song...

But that's not important. The following news is:

Today, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling. It was a very important ruling. Basically, the ruling ended one of the crulest practices still alive in America today.

No, not forcing people to listen to Metallica.

Today, the court ruled, in a five-four decision, that capital punishemnt for minors is illegal under the 8th amendment. In 1989, the court had ruled that it was illegal to execute offenders under 15. Later, it ruled that mentally retarded defendants could not be given the death penalty.

Before the ruling, 19 states still allowed capital punishment for minors, but only three had executed a minor in the last ten years. This ruling will take 72 16 and 17 year olds off of death row.

The majority included Justices Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Stephen Breyer. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote an angry dissent, and was joined by Chief Justice William Renquist and Clarence Thomas. Sandra Day O'Connor wrote her own dissent.

Thank goodness this practice is finally over in America. Thank goodness we have left the ranks of China, Iran, and Pakistan in terms of human rights. Maybe, just maybe, Europeans will no longer look at us and shake their heads in shame.

Thank goodness for the court.

JB

Quote of the day:
''It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty, resting in large part on the understanding that the instability and emotional imbalance of young people may often be a factor in the crime''
-- Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the majoritt opinion.

REGIONALS!!!

2005-02-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was regionals. What a fun day it was. Our sophomore written test people are headed downstate, along with our oralist and junior/senior 2 person team. Otherwise, our team was decent, but, unfortunately, I don't think our team as a whole will make it downstate. . .

Our sophomore written team scored 126. A brief look at the scores from the other regionals said that that was the second highest score in the state, after Naperville North, our state's perennial winner. Still, we had a good day.

One really challenging question from regionals:

2 cirlcles, P and O, are externally tangent. Circle P radius 9, and Cirlce O has radius 4. Their common external tangent is line AB. Circle Q is externally tangent to circles O and P, and is also tangent to line AB. Find the radius of circle Q.

Next up in the life of John is ARML tryouts.

No good quote today.

Songs

2005-02-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

We've all been there. It's three minutes before the bnig meet/game/race/whatever. Butterflies are killing your stomach walls. You need to settle down, but you can't.

I'm there pretty frequently. Which is why I've come up with a list of "big-game" songs, songs that are encouraging, and I don't want to say soothing, but more along the lines of "this is your time!" They include:

ACDC : For those about to Rock (We Salute You)
Chariots of Fire
Aerosmith: Dream on

Also, a lot of rap music is helpful. I don't listen to rap, but often times, if you need to get settled, rap is actually helpful...

Quote of the Day:
We Saluuuuuuuuuute You...For those about to Rock!
--ACDC

Day in the life...

2005-02-24T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well, everyone, rise and shine...It's time to spend a day in the life of me...

I wake up anywhere between 6:00 and 7:00, but usually don't actually get out of bed until 7:00 or 7:10, which is really too close to my car-pool time, which is 7:30. Doesn't leave me with much time to do anything, so I don't get a chance to eat anything in the morning. Which is ironic, because I somehow find time to feed the dog...

First perod, I have gym. I have Adventure Ed, which is fun...right now we are rock climbing, which is fun but challenging. I'm not very good. After that, I have study hall, and usually I visit my math teacher, where we discuss math. Sometimes we go over what we went over in class to a more challenging level, other times he just runs other things by me. For instance, today we briefly discussed the Riemann Hypothesis. After that, I go to history class, which is soooo much fun, and my teacher is soooo awesome. But, it doesn't last long, because after another 50 minutes, I go to French Class, which I absolutely abhor.

Lunch is too quick, and the food tastes like crap. Afterwards, I go to calc, which I am enjoying very muhc. Then its off to English. Usually, I don't enjoy english, but this year it's nice because my teacher is super-cool and we are reading lots of great stuff, like High Fidelity and Brave New World. Afterwards, I go to Physics, which is somewhat interesting, but by that point of the day I'm worn out of my mind anyway...

My after school activity depends on the day. Monday is scholastic bowl day. Tuesday is a day off, but usually I have a scholastic bowl meet. Wednesday is Math Club. Thursday is Math team practice or meet. Friday is off, so I usually end up going to a friend's house to play cards.

When I get home, my life is devoted to homewoprk, checking email, and then wasting my life in front of the TV screen. Everyone's gotta have his own guilty pleasure...

JB

No quote today. Can think of nothing good.

President's Day

2005-02-23T19:40:00.000-08:00

As president's day has passed, I've decided to dedicate this blog to the best of, and worst of, the presidents. By the way, "modern" presidents do not count, so as much as I want to put Reagan, Clinton, and Bush Jr. down on this list, I can't say I will...

Worst presidents:
5). Ulysees S. Grant
That he won us the civil war is irrelevant (besides, not everyone agrees that he did win us the Civil War. It's possible that the South eventually would have collapsed throguh lack of conscripts.) He presided over one of the most corrupt periods in U.S hsitory...whether he knew or not is irrelevant.

4). Richard M. Nixon
Watergate is more or less a strike against him...

3). Samuel J. Tilden
Wait a minute...Tilden lost? Bull, he had more votes and he would have had more of the electoral votes. Oh, what the hell. This brings me to...

3). Rutherford B. Hayes
First of all, he only won the presidency because an independent commission voted along strict party lines (8 to 7) to give him 20 deep south electoral votes, so that he pulled out a slim win over Tilden, 185-184. However, he also ended Reconstruction and pulled all of our troops out of the South, without a regard to protecting the Freedpeople.

2). John Adams
Never really liked this guy much. His Alien and Sedition acts were possibly the worst pieces of legislation ever drafted or signed into law...

1). Andrew Johnson
This fool only became president when Lincoln got shot, and really, he was only ever vice president so that Lincoln could appease the Democrats. Among other things, he was pro south, and he didn't accomplish much because he fought a lot with Congress. Thanks to Secretary of War Edward Stanton for barricading himself inside his office when Johnson tried to fire him, which would have been a blatant violation of the Tenure of Office Act.

Best Presidents:
5). Woodrow Wilson
I'm not sure why I love this guy so much, but I love this guy so much. Maybe it has something to do with his helping along of the 19th Amendment, and his relative progressivism compared to other presidents. I also think he had a tough job during WWI.

4). George Washington
After a masterful handling of the Revolution, he became our unchallenged first president, and helped us become what we are today. I also think he pushed us in the right direction when deciding how to run the government in the critical first years, even if he did let Hamilton push him around a bit.

3). Thomas Jefferson
Even if it was a "dangerous precident," he doubled our nation's size (at a bargain price, I might add), carefully steered us diplomatically to avoid war with England (which came during Madison's presidency but may have been inevitable), and decreased the power of the federal government, which Adams had increased.

2). Abraham Lincoln
Here's a guy who had it tough. Even before he takes office, eleven Southern states succeed, and he has to deal with getting them back. At the same time, he has to comvince the North and the rest of the world that he is not the aggressor. Even if the Emancipation Proclamation was a ploy to help with the war, it can't be denied that it was a good thing.

1). Franklin Delano Roosevlet
Got us out of the Depression, handled WWII and the Pearl Harbor attacks masterfully (I don't believe this conspiracy bunk), established Public Works programs that still exist today, the list goes on and on. Definately our best president.

That's the list. Feel free to post comments, agreements, or disagreements....

JB

NUMB3RS

2005-02-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

I finally caught some of that new CBS show last night: NUMB3RS, the one where the mathematician helps his brother, the FBI agent, with his cases. In this episode, some mathematician was working on the Riemann Hypothesis, and his daughter was kidnapped. The kidnappers wanted him to turn the Riemann Hypothesis into an algorithm which could be used to generate large primes, which would be used to crack internet security encryptions.

It was, I will say, difficult to watch this show, because of all the explaining that had to go on. I already knew a small bit of stuff about Riemann and his hypothesis. Most of America does not, which is why there was so much explaining to do. So, whereas the explanations of the repercussions of the solving of the Riemann Hypothesis may have seemed like an interesting computer-fantasy story to some, to me it was just filler, which detracted from the plot.

Another part that annoyed me was the relative ease with which some aspects of mathematics discussed on the show were figured out. Towards the middle, the two mathematicians were working together to put the Riemann hypothesis into an algorithm/formula. And suddenly, the FBI agent's brother is like "Ya know, I don't think you can make a formula for this. I don't think this data supports an algorithm..." And the other mathematician, who has supposedly been working on this for 15 years, after one more quick glance at his computer screen, is like "Damn it!" Because clearly, it only takes one glance to realize that a set of data does not support an algorithm, after you didn't notice in 15 years of work.

My opinion on NUMB3RS: It's a decent cop show, but if you are actually into higher lever mathematics, it can be excruciatingly painful to watch

JB

Today's Quote:
"Everything is Numbers."

Math Team

2005-02-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not writing in a couple of days ... haven't really had time.

Had a math team meet last night. Was a "loner" meet, meaning it didn't affect any of the other meets, and it wasn't part of the state tournament. One thing it did do, though, was gain us some fear in the math team community. My friend and I did three events: the sophomore written test, the junior-senior eight person test, and the freshmen-sophomore full team test. All events won first, plus both of us got all-conference for our written tests. In addition, our sophomore written test team score (found by taking the score of the top 4 individual scores on the team and multiplying by two) was 128, an average of 16/20 correct. Last year's regional winner got 15/20.

Afterward, we were walking in front of a coach and some students from another school. This school is in our regional next week, and we're kind of almost rivals. So we hear the coach, telling presumably a sophomore "we gotta watch out for them next week, especially their sophomores ... they got 128 on the written geometry test ... we're gonna have to practice pretty hard to get them back at regionals..."

Yes, you will. But practice alone won't do it :-)

JB

Quote of the day:
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself"
-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Nothing much to say today

2005-02-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

Woke up today and still felt like crap. Didn't go into school this morning, but it's like 11:30 now and my fever is down a bit. I'll probably end up going in later, because I have a physics test tomorrow and I don't know anything about angular momentum, which was discussed in class yesterday without me. Furthermore, conference meet for scholastic bowl is today, and apparently we only have four people going, so if I can get in to school we'll be able to field a full-sized team...

More on scho bowl. Going into the conference meet, we are seeded second. We will play the winner of the 7th and tenth seed. Ironically, we were seeded seventh last year, beat 10, then upset the 2nd seed to get into final four. Now, positions are reversed. Let's hope history doesn't repeat...

JB

Quote of the day:
I've seen better days
-- Thrice

Valentine's day

2005-02-14T01:35:00.000-08:00

Yippee yay! It's Valentines Day. You can't hear it, but a tone of sarcasm mixed with cynicism permeates my voice.

It doesn't help my mood that I'm still sick with a fever today, and am missing school, which is not always a bad thing, except that I am already envisioning being up till 1:30 tonight with makeup work.

Back to valentine's day ... it's never really had any meaning for me. Back in first grade, everyone bought littlle from Walgreens, and then everyone got one, ate whatever candy they received, and either stashed their cards away or threw them out. Then came middle school. I sent a card to someone way out of my league in fifth grade, nothing happened in 6th or 7th. In eighth grade, I went out of my way to buy my g/f a necklace. She broke up with me a month later.

So anyway, this holiday has not been good to me. But who am I to complain? At least I wasn't killed on valentines day, which is very possibly the most bloody day in history:

1) The St. Valentine's day Massacre (1929), when members of Al Capone's crime syndicate dressed as policemen, went to Bug's Moran's headquarters, had the men put their hands and arms up on the grage wall for "search," then raked them with machine gun fire.
2). Strasbourg, 2/14/1349: 2000 jews burned at the stake.
3). King Richard II was murdered in prison on Valentine's day, 1400.
4). In 1633 and 1779, respectively, Galileo's trial began and Capt. James Cook was killed by Hawaiian Natives.
5). In 1945, the Firebombing of Dresden by American Planes started.
6). 1989: Ayatolla Khomeini called for the deaht of "the Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie, and.
7). Afghan Tourism Minister Abdul Rahman was beaten to death in a Kabul airport on 2/14/2002.
8). Last year: 40 people die when a roof of a Russian Water Park collapses.

Just some tidbits I thought it was important for everyone to know...
JB

Quote of the Day:
Today is Valentine's day, or, as men like to call it, Extortion Day
--Jay Leno

Math problem question

2005-02-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone...I'm trying out for ARML in early Match, and have been doing all sorts of problem sets. Anyway, one problem in particular is driving me crazy:

Represent 989 * 1001 * 1007 + 320 as a product of primes.

I have an answer, but I have no idea how to find it. I can send it to anyoen who asks, as long as they provide a solution.

Thanks very much
JB

Boredom

2005-02-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

It's just one of thos mornings. I wanted to sleep in until at least ten...instead my body wakes me up at 7:30. Really, a dream wakes me up. I'm in a cross country race. I don't think its a meet, because no one has any school uniform and there are kids and adults of all ages there. Anyway, I cross the finish line (11th), go over to my mom, and wake up...

So now I'm here, at my computer, cause I'm bored out of my mind. I've already checked out the AMC forum on Artofproblemsolving.com, looked at the news (nothing new -- North Korea still has/is developing nuclear weapons), and played like 5 games of Windows Pinball. I probably could have checked the TV, but there's usually nothing on Sunday morning. I'm the only one awake (even my dog went back upstairs). I have nothing to do ...

It doesn't help that I have a sore throat, a stuffed nose, and homework I really don't feel like doing.

Oh well, good things come to those who wait. And stop whining and moaning. Thanks for listening.

JB

Todays quote:
Good things come to those who wait.
-- Grandma Sally's restaurant menu

Blog #1

2005-02-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Welcome to Jack Says, the blog where I talk, you listen, you comment, I talk some more.

After checking out some of the blogs at Artofproblemsolving.com, I decided it would be interesting to get my own going.

So, what am I into? Good question! Let's name them in order of ascending importance:

10: Madden 2005 and other fun video games
9: Chicago Cubs (is it next year yet?)
8: St. Louis Rams (When will Mike Martz learn?)
7: Scholastic Bowl (aka Nerd club)
6: Poker (Only playing, I rarely watch it on TV)
5: History (especially political, and somewhat military. Social history bores me)
4: School (Really not the being there part as much as the learning cool stuff part)
3: Liberalism (would have been #1 in October)
2: Cross Country (Would have been #1 during season)
1: Math

That's really it. You'll probably find that my blogs have a lot to do with these 10 subjects. Right now, I'll be talking math a lot, since february/march is the heat of the math team season.

Don't really have much more to say, other than I'll be back soon

JB

Quote of the day:
You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. (William Jennings Bryan, at the Democratic National Convention in 1896).