The Open Notebook of an Atypical Teenager

5001 hits! 

Yes, mathgeek, you were the 5000th hit.  Good job! And thank you!

Okay, well, this is a rather local news incident, but I will explain the incident and ask you what you think.

The short of the story is that a man and his daughter decorated the pillars in front of the daughter’s public school with red and white stripes swirling down it. This was done with red and white wrapping paper. A mom of a child who attends the said school called the school administration and complained, complaining that it depicted candy canes, which are symbols of Christmas. Because it is a public school, the school is obligated to be secular in everything. I do not know the verdict though I believe the school did take the paper off their pillars.

Ridiculous. Insane. Candy canes, while they are more commonly eaten during the holiday season, are absolutely 100% secular. They represent food. Perhaps they embody the spirit of a cold snowy night and sitting in front of a fireplace. But no way are they tied directly to Christmas and Christmas only.

I know I have a multi-cultural audience, so, please, what do you think of this?  Are candy canes secular or was the parent morally correct in telling the school to take down the decorations?

In other news, 4,999 hits! Wow. We are this close to 5,000 hits. Woohoo! 5,000 hits is halfway to my ultimate goal of 10,000 hits before this blog dies entirely [but let's stay optimistic. 5,000!!!!!]. And hopefully many more after that.

This is just a kind reminder to Mathgeek: please finish those math puzzles. By the way, more to come. [In the sub-subject of acute angle Trigonometry!]

You know what really grinds my gears? (Shameless Family Guy reference, for those of you that caught it.) Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The day after Thanksgiving, we oh-so-frugal Americans kick off the holiday season with a day where stores make huge sales. They advertise ridiculously low prices on “this season’s hottest gear/electronics/whatever else” (Another thing: Hottest – such an overused advertising buzzword), but “only today! So hurry in right now!”. So, in this economy, who in their right mind wouldn’t go and get 99% off the newest computer? Well. I think that these “holidays” are just dumb. If my facts are correct “Black Friday” is a real Christian holiday, but I don’t know exactly about what.  Now we’re giving it the wrong connotation. Now all you hear is “Black Friday deals!” and “Only today, Black Friday, 70% off!”. In addition, in an extreme effort to receive these deals, the companies are promoting the consumer to wake up (or stay up rather) at 2 AM to stand in line in freezing cold weather, and people do it to get the deals. That’s fine, if you really want the $1000 off the TV. However, what happened at a Wal-Mart on Black Friday is unforgivable. As people were charging in, an employee holding the doors open was trampled TO DEATH and the customers KEPT SHOPPING, even after the other employees ordered them out of the building because someone had DIED. That’s simply  no-brainer. No amount of money is worth the life oh a human being. I don’t care if it was 50000% off and they were paying you to take them. There is no excuse for that behavior-and the big corporations are only egging it on by providing these ridiculous deals on only one day. Maybe we should allow these deals at a lesser extent but for a longer period of time. When people think they have to be the first one in the store to get the product, that’s when the consumers trample other people and each other to achieve it. People are naturally attracted to money, and by correlation to deals that save them money. Regardless, it is absolutely inexcusable to kill people over MONEY. 

So, Black Friday and other days with the same idea really do grind my gears. Created by corporation so that they will reap the profits – but with the potential consequences of human lives.

Hmm, now looking at the snow suddenly made me discover that you cannot actually see the snow very much, with the exception of the title strip at the top and when the snowflake passes through sections of dark text.

I will attempt to remedy this by changing the theme. Feedback, please.

It’s snowing here at WordPress!! Just look at the web page. 

Happy holidays everyone, even if it’s not actually snowing outside.

PS: I do plan on updating more. Today’s a banner day, huh? First update in nearly a month!