I'm a total dork who really likes metal rulers?
Yeah so the mood is "pissed off" today. Don't worry, it's not your fault. Unless you happen to be my mother, but I'm rather certain that my mother does not even know that LiveJournal exists, much less how to use it or even know that this is the LJ of her son. Any mothers out there who read this and are not my mother, I implore you not to get confused and worry that this might be the LiveJournal of your son, complaining about you.
Now we must move on to better and happier things. Before we're done here today I want to talk about this cool new metal ruler that I got my hands on, how I am really getting the hang of Physics because of something I realized today, and these two kids who didn't speak a stick of English.
First, let me address the metal ruler. Usually, a ruler is used for measuring objects of lengths not too small and not too large. Most rulers are only 12 inches long, and thus cannot measure objects longer than a foot. However, this ruler is 18 inches long so it can measure an extra 6 inches. How cool is that? Secondly, most rulers are made of wood or plastic and thus are cheap pieces of crap. This ruler, on the other hand, is made of stainless steel and backed with cork, so not only is it sharp, thin, and easy to use, but it is also shiny and I like shiny things. Finally, because most rulers are made of wood or plastic, if you smack an object really hard with them then they will break instead of the object being smacked. However, when I smack objects really hard with this metal ruler (like CDs and coke cans) they variously implode or shatter, leaving the ruler unscathed. In conclusion, I think every ruler should be 18" and made of metal and cork.
Now I will talk about something strange and physics-related that happened to me today. As I was pulling open a heavy door at school, I noticed that I was increasing the force which I exerted on the ground slightly (digging in my heels), and without realizing it I began to consider the forces that were acting upon my body. I was pulling on the door, therefore, the door was pushing on me. To counteract this force, I was instinctively digging in my heels to increase the normal force between myself and the ground, which would in turn increase the force pointed toward the door of static friction between my feet and the ground. The next heavy door had a wall placed next to it, and I found myself using one hand to pull open the door as I pushed on the wall with the other. Since the push balanced the pull, I didn't have to dig my heels in as much. Wow, I am such a total nerd.
Finally, I want to mention what I did on Wednesday between morning rehearsal and Mowat's class at 9:10. I had told Ms. Kolb that I was going to help her with some stuff, so I went over to the new building to see her. She told me that this other teacher needed my help with these two kids in her academic pre-algebra class who didn't speak a stick of English. So I went in to help them. Pretty much all we did was go over their math quiz in Spanish, and they were really behind and didn't even understand the most basic concepts on the quiz (like, what the inequality symbols meant and how to express 0.57 as a fraction) so I had to try to explain to them. Of course, it wasn't really their fault for being behind since they didn't speak English. Now, mind you, I'm alright at Spanish but I really don't know barely any mathematics vocabulary so I had a difficult time. Angela, if you read this: you would have laughed because at times I sounded like normal, but at times I sounded like I was in Spanish I or something. The funny thing was, though, they caught on really quick despite my mediocre linguistic skills. If the class had been in español they would probably be like the straight-A students. That would be so weird to be in a class and not understand a word the teacher was saying... oh wait, I already took AP English 11.
Final notes - I have been too busy/lazy to download pics from Mexico onto my comp so those'll be later. Until then, have a nice life everybody!!
Now we must move on to better and happier things. Before we're done here today I want to talk about this cool new metal ruler that I got my hands on, how I am really getting the hang of Physics because of something I realized today, and these two kids who didn't speak a stick of English.
First, let me address the metal ruler. Usually, a ruler is used for measuring objects of lengths not too small and not too large. Most rulers are only 12 inches long, and thus cannot measure objects longer than a foot. However, this ruler is 18 inches long so it can measure an extra 6 inches. How cool is that? Secondly, most rulers are made of wood or plastic and thus are cheap pieces of crap. This ruler, on the other hand, is made of stainless steel and backed with cork, so not only is it sharp, thin, and easy to use, but it is also shiny and I like shiny things. Finally, because most rulers are made of wood or plastic, if you smack an object really hard with them then they will break instead of the object being smacked. However, when I smack objects really hard with this metal ruler (like CDs and coke cans) they variously implode or shatter, leaving the ruler unscathed. In conclusion, I think every ruler should be 18" and made of metal and cork.
Now I will talk about something strange and physics-related that happened to me today. As I was pulling open a heavy door at school, I noticed that I was increasing the force which I exerted on the ground slightly (digging in my heels), and without realizing it I began to consider the forces that were acting upon my body. I was pulling on the door, therefore, the door was pushing on me. To counteract this force, I was instinctively digging in my heels to increase the normal force between myself and the ground, which would in turn increase the force pointed toward the door of static friction between my feet and the ground. The next heavy door had a wall placed next to it, and I found myself using one hand to pull open the door as I pushed on the wall with the other. Since the push balanced the pull, I didn't have to dig my heels in as much. Wow, I am such a total nerd.
Finally, I want to mention what I did on Wednesday between morning rehearsal and Mowat's class at 9:10. I had told Ms. Kolb that I was going to help her with some stuff, so I went over to the new building to see her. She told me that this other teacher needed my help with these two kids in her academic pre-algebra class who didn't speak a stick of English. So I went in to help them. Pretty much all we did was go over their math quiz in Spanish, and they were really behind and didn't even understand the most basic concepts on the quiz (like, what the inequality symbols meant and how to express 0.57 as a fraction) so I had to try to explain to them. Of course, it wasn't really their fault for being behind since they didn't speak English. Now, mind you, I'm alright at Spanish but I really don't know barely any mathematics vocabulary so I had a difficult time. Angela, if you read this: you would have laughed because at times I sounded like normal, but at times I sounded like I was in Spanish I or something. The funny thing was, though, they caught on really quick despite my mediocre linguistic skills. If the class had been in español they would probably be like the straight-A students. That would be so weird to be in a class and not understand a word the teacher was saying... oh wait, I already took AP English 11.
Final notes - I have been too busy/lazy to download pics from Mexico onto my comp so those'll be later. Until then, have a nice life everybody!!