You are currently browsing the archives for the year 2006.
After listening about the top 100 toys I had a fun idea for a science project. The Slinky came in at #9. I think a fun experiment would be to find an equation to relate the speed a slinky has to be pushed in order to make it down a stair case given the ratio of the stairs width to the height of each stair.
Fun.
Popularity: unranked [?]
I am going to be uncharacteristic and put my top 12 for American Idol out there.
I will keep it by sex and I will post it in order.
Top 6 Girls
Lisa Tucker
Paris Bennett
Katharin McPhee
Becky O’Donohue
Mandisa
Kelly Pickler
Top 6 Boys
Ace Young
Chris Daughtry
Taylor Hicks
Elliot Yamin
Jose “Sway” Penala
David Radford
For the girls, I think I might be a little biased towards Kelly Pickler. Maybe Melissa McGhee could sneak in. Possible also Ayla Brown, but I just don’t like her.
For the boys, I am not really sure what to make of Sway yet. He sang one song in all falsetto.
Should be a good show.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Going to a high school dance is always an interesting sociological study. It seems that it is different now then when I was a kid. There is a lot more bumping & grinding and less slow songs. We were in the gym for the last 90 minutes of the dance and there were only 2.5 slow songs played. It was continuous techno after techno. Very strange.
The dresses were also pretty good tonight, not a lot of trashy numbers. There were a few, but overall very classy and pretty. (I think I am allowed to say that without being considered a sexual offender.)
Overall, I had a good time. A lot of students said hi to me and that makes me feel welcomed and accepted.
Hope everyone had a fun night doing whatever they did.
Popularity: unranked [?]
I am pleased with the high number of attractive women in the top 12 for the girls, that is not always the case. Between Kelly, Melissa, Heather, Katherine, and (I think) Alay, Becky, Stevie, it should be fun to watch. From the start I have really Kelly Pickley because she is very nice and had the rough past. I am looking forward to the competition.
I don’t really like Alay much, she seems like she just expects things to go her way. I know people like this, some of my students, and they think the world operates on their schedule and their rules, and it bothers me. I will try to reserve too much harsh judegment though. In general I think there were a lot of unassuming contestants who were really happy and surprised to make it when they had no reason to feel that (I am speaking specifically of Lisa and Paris.)
I was just now looking through the contestants, and I noticed that there is a huge divide in the ages. There is no one ages 23 or 24 and only age 22. That is interesting to me.
We have 7 minors, which doesn’t really surprise me because this is there first shot, but the number of older, 26 – 28, people is a little surprising.
I wonder if Taylor is slightly autistic. The way he moves and the way he acts just reminds me of that. I think he looks a little like George Clooney (at least a young George Clooney he was Dr. Ross.)
Popularity: unranked [?]
I liked this episode. A few more odd balls, but still fairly positive.
Denver
*Lisa Tucker – Pretty little girl and sings really, really well. I
can’t tell if she is cocky or not. Skinny black girl with curly hair.
*Brett “Ace” Young – I didn’t really recognize his sign. He did
have good control I think. Ripped body, high voice.
*Rochelle Elaine Dye – Sang the Chain
song good, but I don’t know if it was really that impressive. Tall
black girl.
*Chris Daughtry – Not really knowing the song, it is hard to tell
how good he is, but I liked it. You could tell he had some skill.
Bald Rocker Guy.
*Heather Cox – Very pretty, she was a little flat on one note, I
thought, but good enough to get through.
*Garet Johnson – Cowboy guy. Very nervous, I think messed a word
up. Clear voice. Very dorky though.
Best
Lisa Tucker
Chris Daughtry
Popularity: unranked [?]
The more I read and learn the more I still find amazing the people that say money doesn’t help schools. Even on the basic level of salary, people say more salary doesn’t increase the quality of teacher. Recently a letter said that if I pay the same teacher more money, will they be a better teacher? Well, the answer is obviously no. But, over time, if you pay teachers more money, better people will become teachers. Further, the better teachers will come to your district.
I am reading a book about the best practices in education and the ideas they have are very clearly excellent, but they require money to implement. Usually it involves hiring more teacher (hence lowering the student to teacher ratio) so that more individualized attention can be given. There are people out there that believe that class size doesn’t matter, but that is absurd. Reasearch and common sense contradicts that logic. This is very frustrating.
Popularity: unranked [?]
I like the first episode. They didn’t focus on the negative as much as last year. Here are my thoughts on people.
Chicago
*The twins (Darrell & Terrell
Britenumm) – Sound good. Good personality.
*Gina – dental hygentist – sounds
good and is pretty
*Mandisa Hundley – Good touch. Soft
and powerful.
Christine Davis – Cute, but need to
age.
*Brooke Barretsmith – Strong voice
and powerful. Very short.
*Leah Barrettsmith – Started kind of
weak and then picked up. Good looking.
*Zachary Smits – Crooner with a laid
back surfer look. Not a big fan myself.
Crystal Parizanski – Not a big fan of
the tan. She did the growling thing too much. I can’t believe Simon
brought the mom in.
*Josh Simmons – Nice harmonies with
his brother.
*Jarrett Simmons – A little better
than his brother. I like his sweet high voice.
David Hoover – He wasn’t very good,
but Randy was dumb. Of course, Paula said yes, unbeleivable. Simon is
PISSED!
Best
Jarret Simmons
Mandisa Hundley
Leah
Barrettsmith
Popularity: unranked [?]