Thoughts on Failure

My day was going all too well today... until about 1:40 PM. It was then when I was given back a quiz on Le Morte D'Arthur. Well, despite the fact that I read the whole book, as well as a plethora of Spark Notes-style synopses and theme analyses, I managed to bomb the quiz, with a 35/55, or 64%, which is one point below the D/F threshold. This is literally the first time I've failed a test or quiz. Luckily, quizzes only count for 25% of my quarter average, which will now fall to a 90%. At least I didn't bomb it completely.

Opinion/Rant (Urbanity)

NOTE: My English teacher requires us to write in a flowery manner, and I wrote this piece for his class, so it's a bit more flowery than I'd like. Nonetheless, here's the piece:

One lone oak tree, a sign of the past, stands alone in a land of urbanity. Its weathered, gnarled branches speak of the ages through which it has lived. Its trunk is short and stout, the primary support of its limbs and branches, all that hold the tender signs of its life, leaves and the buds of flowers, that hope to be nurtured and produce the seed that will fall to the asphalt ground, only to be crushed by the careless feet of people, thinking nothing of the life that it could be. Hundreds of years ago it was but an acorn as well, one of many acorns that rained from the sky of oak canopies, part of a prospering forest, before man’s cruel, unrelenting destruction ruined it all, leaving only one lone oak tree to remember it by.

Kings Mountain Campout Chronicle

Here's a new sort of post: a sort of travel blogging, only about hiking and camping. On Friday, April 18, my troop left, without me, to Kings Mountain State Park [I was at the Honor Forum at Porter-Gaud School, in Charleston, SC (I serve on my school's Honor Council)]. I woke up at about 6:30 AM, and by about 7:15 my dad and I were on the road. We arrived at the trailhead at 9:00 and were hiking, with the troop, at 9:15. The views along the 11 miles of the trail we hiked that day, which encompassed both Kings Mountain State Park and Kings Mountain Military Park, were, at least in some parts, stunning. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera, although I now think the extra weight woul have been well worth it. We finally arrived at the campsite at about 4. The campsite was just past the state park/national park boundary, so the sight of the boundary line could be described as ecstastic. We set up camp, and our hunger soon found us, and a friend of I took a walk about .35 miles each way to the nearest stream to gather and purify some water to boil and cook with. We soon were eating some backpacking food (in my case Chicken Teriyaki from Mountain House.) and sitting around the fire. Sitting by the fire consisted of most of the next few hours (plus skipping rocks at the stream and a short-lived game of Sardines). On Sunday, we were up and, after some more water collection, were on the trail to hike the 5 miles necessary to complete the 16-mile circuitous trail. We eventually made it as rain began to fall (rain was on-and-off throughout the hikes and the night), and a thunderstorm converged upon us. We then proceeded to drive to the Military Park's Visitors' Center/Museum, learned about the history of the site, and chatted with the reenactors. Hunger, once again, became an unbearable force that led us to a Wendy's restaurant near Rock Hill, SC. While the rest of the troop devoured burgers, fries, etc., I sat next to them eating an Odwalla bar, having given up fast food after reading Fast Food Nation. And now I find myself here, a day afterwards, sore beyond belief. Looking forward to next time!

Here's the campout in pictoral form:

The brown line is the trail we took. The red circle is the general area where we slept.

Pennsylvania Predictions

As suggested by the polls and the pundits, Clinton will win Pennsylvania, but the thing to watch is the margin. I'm predicting that Clinton will win by 3-4%, and will net very few delegates. The polls don't seem to reflect the remarkable voter turnout, which supports Obama strongly. While I doubt he'll win, this article makes a good argument. Results and analysis tomorrow.

Thoughts on an Election and the Year Forthcoming

No, not the primaries! I spent what seemed like at least an hour lying in the hammock this afternoon, thinking about my workload for next year (Classes: AP European History, Honors Biology, Honors PreCalculus, English 10, Latin III, Spanish II; Extracuriculars: Key Club Historian, Honor Council Member...) and considering running for a class office. I eventually decided to run for Sophomore Class Treasurer. As of yet, I'm running unopposed, but I've begun politicking, primarily by identifying likely votes, how many are likely to vote for me, and starting a Facebook group. We'll see how it plays out.

The Superdelegate Gap

Clinton now leads Obama by only 19 superdelegates according to The Politico. Wow.

South Carolina's Unconstitutional Clause

I recently stumbled upon a clause in the South Carolina Constution that can be desctibed only as unconstitutional. Thus, I started a petition, which is located here. Please take a moment to sign this petition and send a message to the South Carolinian government!

Podcacher: A great podcast about geocaching

While I imagine most of you all are Podcacher listeners, I thought I'd plug their great, weekly podcast about geocaching. The quality is amazing, the content even more so. Check them out at podcacher.com.

A Nonsensical Ad

This ad prefixes video content on The Politico.

Issues with this ad:
-"Hi, my name's TJ. I'm in the seventh grade…I like virtual games, but there's rules to stay safe, like you can't say your name." Well, ignoring the grammatical mistake ("there's rules…"), TJ just gave us an internet safety tip: don't say your name; thanks TJ!
-The ending shot states: "The Cox Family is net safe." Ok. So now we know that TJ Cox is a seventh grader, who enjoys virtual games and, apparently, lacrosse. Nice job! The Cox family is not as net safe as previously thought...

Why Students Hate Textbooks...

In addition to the obvious, I found this quip in my World History textbook: "In spite of the problems of students studying too much—or sometimes too little—medieval universities brought prestige and profit to the cities in which they were located."

What?! I guess appealing to teachers is always a good idea when they control which books their students buy...

UPDATE: Banks can, in fact, spell

I stand corrected; lollypop is, in fact, a valid spelling for the candy.

CNN Ticker Mistake

(Blurry, sorry)

Text: "...apologized for to its customers for the airline's..."

Correction: "...apologized to its customers for the airline's..."

Reuters Error

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton may be the Democrat who Republicans love to hate, but some Republican strategists say they have no fear of a match-up with her rival Barack Obama in November's presidential election. ..."

Text: ... may be the Democrat who Republicans love to hate ...

Corrected: ... may be the Democrat whom Republicans love to hate ...

Link: Reuters

Reuters Error

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton may be the Democrat who Republicans love to hate, but some Republican strategists say they have no fear of a match-up with her rival Barack Obama in November's presidential election. ..."

Text: ... may be the Democrat who Republicans love to hate ...

Corrected: ... may be the Democrat whom Republicans love to hate ...

Link: Reuters

Church Sign Error

Text: "I assend to my father and your father and my god and your god Mark 20:17 / Celebrate Jesus!"

Correction: "I ascend to my father and your father and my god and your god Mark 20:17 / Celebrate Jesus!"

Location: Church, Columbia, SC.

Banks' Expertise are Numbers, Not Words

Text: Lollypops

Corrected: Lollipops

Location: First National Bank of the South, Columbia, SC

UPDATED

Cake Misspelling

Text: "Happy birtday Mrs. Brook"

Correction: "Happy birthday Mrs. Brook"

Location: Cake, Columbia, SC.

Nationally Branded Mistake

Text: "Cremey Curl Honey Bun"

Correction: "Creamy Curl Honey Bun"

Location: Gas Station

Websites: UPC Search, Company Website.

Bi-Lo UScan Note

Text: "Please do not remove items from scale until finish order."

Corrected: "Please do not remove items from scale until you have finished your order.

Location: UScan aisle in Columbia, SC Bi-Lo.

Welcome!

13.7 Billion Years ago a tiny speck of mass exploded, creating the universe in which we live. Where do we stand today? This is the personal blog of a high school student in Columbia, SC and contains his opinions on society, etc., grammatical and spelling mistakes found primarily in Columbia, political predictions and analyses, reviews, and whatever other whims come to mind—essentially a perspective of where we stand as a society.