What happened to the world?

Why are people so stupid? Literally common courtesy is what I was raised on. If I wear something that isn't mine, even if only for 30 seconds, I will wash it and return it clean and folded. But you wear my clothes for a freaking week plus weekends for the concert, you lie about actually having my things, then when i finally demand my clothes back they are crusty, smelly and gross! Like really??! Is this how you were raised? Why do you have to think you are the best thing that ever happened to dance troupe, when really you are nothing but a slob!? What has happened to the quality of everything?

As many of you know, I have been saving to get my own classic car. I walked into school on the first day of school and the first thing i heard was some kid complaining about the brand freaking new car that his parents BOUGHT him. Telling his buddies that it's horrible and all this other BS. Let me tell you first hand, cheap cars that have an engine and transmission and maybe tires is very rare in New Mexico. I am very discouraged. My dad offered to help with half of a car: insurance, gas, the actual car and repairs. Now you are probably saying, "Get the car, stupid! And stop complaining." The catch on this car is that I would share it with my sister and she wouldn't have to pay a freaking thing. I would also not be able to work on it. I would rather wait to get the car that i want and put my money towards MY car and not a car that would be practically worthless to me.

Everyone thinks I'm crazy for liking cars and even crazier to wait for the car I want. I have been teased and made fun of. I am so sick of this. Where did respect for other people go? I am so sick of being told that I "need to be more lady-like" or even that I need to pursue a career in something more "innovative" than working on cars. I can't tell you how many times I have bawled like a little baby when the people that I thought were friends turned around and laughed at me for liking cars. I do try to hide some of the things that I know so that I don't sound like a "know-it-all." There was one guy i had to work with a couple summers ago. I asked him what was the year and type of his car. He told me a 55 plymouth belvedere. I was like cool. But I looked at that car later and it was not a 55 plymouth belvedere. It was a 55 chevy bel-air. The next day I saw him I told him, "I like your 55 CHEVY BEL-AIR." He gave me the look like how should a girl know this.

Literally my family isn't really for me liking cars. So that is pretty tough in itself.  Then I met AJ and I told him this, and he told me not to believe all the crap that people may say. HE BELIEVED IN ME. That was the best thing that anyone has ever done. No i'm not talking about sending me to good schools to get a great education, but the little thing of, not believing me, but believing IN me. He was the person that gave me a bit of confidence and pride in what I loved. You may have seen the post about him. He is my best (guy) friend. He answers all my questions and wants to help me. My best friends at school have also supported me, give or take the teasing that comes with having best friends. I love them all. What happened to loyal people? Or the best friends that would take your secrets to the grave with them? I am blessed I have these people. All people care about today is being fake and having many followers and all this other shallow crap. People need to be disciplined like they were in my parent's generation. My parents instilled into me genuine kindness to everyone, faith, but most importantly COMMON SENSE. As my friend says, "Common sense: It ain't too common."

This Boy

Haha had to throw a Beatles reference in there. This boy is the most amazing person ever. I might have the worst day ever and out of the blue he sends me this:

Like this is the best greeting ever! Like what did i do to deserve this? We aren't even dating!!!!

Then he's like do you have a home number? I was like sure...ok...

This was how he responded to his b-day present. He literally ranted to me for about a week about a drawing i did...

I really don't know how to describe this. I was in france and send me this....given the 8 hour time difference. 

OMG he's gonna take me cruising!

Me wanting to kidnap him.

 He thought i was mad at him! how could I ever be mad at him. 

This is a long rant about why he is literally the best guy ever.

Greased Lightning!

So for the past dance concert, I had the honor/privilege to choreograph to Greased Lightning.  I was part of the school's Dance troupe. There are 14 people on troupe this year. There are 3 new little 8th graders. They are so cute. Cassandra is my all time favorite. She trusts me to do crazy tricks on her and not drop her. I am sure gonna miss her. The only thing about this concert was that the music was live. It was so cool. The musicians really sped up the music and it was a crowd pleaser. I also made a car. It was 12 feet long and just slightly (like a 1.5 feet) smaller than the real car.

The rehearsals before this concert was a pain. People not practicing tricks so as a result I had to take out the more complicated tricks. I was also part of my own piece and man that was hard...watching, learning my own choreography and actually dancing. But the end result was amazing. This certainly makes dance troupe memorable. 

Here is the Video:

More math in daily life

Every kid in high school: "Why are they making us learn this? I'm not gonna need it in the future. If it took my teacher 4 years to learn this math in college, why do they expect us to learn this in like 50 minutes? Why do we have pop quizzes? When I don't understand the material, then have  a quiz on it, the quiz rings my grade down!!!!!!!!" All this complaining. I do have to admit that I use these phrases more than once a day, especially when I am getting frustrated at not knowing or understanding a specific topic.

Most juniors have no idea of what they want to do in college and therefore will waste money and time. I mean it's ok not to know specifically, but one should have a decent idea. I want to go into automotive engineering and possibly later (if I have the time, money and energy) become a math teacher.

With automotive engineering, algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry and possibly trig and calc will be used everyday. Obviously if i wanted to design a faster, safer drag/race car, I will need to measure, plan, and do math all on repeat. Multiple times a day. I will not be needing the specificity of "x" equation or the exact order of the variables in "y" equation, but I will be needing math.

Right now in class, we are learning of parabolas, circles and ellipses. Tires and rims are perfect circles. If they aren't, the tires will wear weird and as a result put additional strain on the engine. The light bulbs for all the headlights, tail lights, brake lights and other lights are similar in shape to that of a "parabaliod." That is the shape that is the result of spinning a parabola in its vertex. It is almost a steep bowl like shape. How would that shape have been used if people didn't test to see which light would work the best in cost and shape?

Math is needed in everyday life. Maybe it's the ratio of 2 prices or even finding how much wear can be put on a pair of tires with "w" amount of miles on it. Yes most of the mat may seem pointless right now, as a high schooler, but it will help you once you get into the real world.

Palindromes

Palindromes are everywhere. Between race car and 5-10-2015, there are numerical and and written palindromes if you choose to look for them.  I think the best example of numerical palindromes are our telephone area codes. Not all states have area codes that read the same forward and backwards. Some are like 483. That is not a palindrome at all. But in New Mexico, as well as Hawaii, all the area codes are Palindromes. Both NM and HI are part of 16 states that have area code palindromes. In NM, the two area codes are 505 and 575. In Hawaii the area code is 808. NM isn't really known for much except for aliens, tacos and possibly needing a passport to visit this State (in the United states of America). But now we can be know for something other than that. We are one of 2 states that have only palindromes for area codes. How cool is that?

The other palindrome i like is the "race car" example. I love cars and especially race cars. These two words are used fairly frequently. But that fact that these two words together make a palindrome makes them even more special.

These hidden Easter eggs in life make life just a bit more interesting. If you know or find an Easter egg, you are an astute and very bright person.

How does China make math interesting

Here in America, if you like math or any other "schooly" subjects, you are considered a nerd, a geek, a bookworm and other derogatory names that all mean the same thing: you're not cool. And as a result the population is getting more and more math illiterate. For instance, we think that a third of a pound is less than a quarter pound. This all stems from society and pop culture. America's population is getting much more dumber than thought possible with the amount of technology we have. But in China, they have the same technology we have, and sometimes maybe more and better technology than we have. But in China math and being in school is cool. They make if fun. School is to advance you. They teach it as games and as subjects that relate to their daily lives. Here in America, school is just another word for prison. Parents drop you off, you sit all day listening to teachers drone on and on, and when you get home your parents don't push yo to be your best. All Americans care about is football and sex. They don't even worry if they are getting dumber. They just want to enjoy life. Look at the Chinese children, look how happy they are to learn. America should start teaching school in such a way that entices kids to WANT to learn, and not have school as a punishment.

Probability

What is the probability of this happening? What is the probability of that happening? Everyone uses the term "probability" loosely. But I tend to think of it a lot more seriously. I am currently in the market for a car. I will be satisfied with any car. The first thing that I want from a car is that it is manual. That significantly decreases the probability because so many cars of today are automatic. Another thing that lowers the probability of me getting a car is the price. For every dollar more that the car is, the lower the chance I have of getting it before I am a senior in high school. What increases the probability is that I am paying for the car myself. But i have a limited budget of $3000. Any more over that, the less likely it will be that i get the car. So I want a manual car that I can pay for. That is only the beginning. I want an American muscle car. That right there lowers the probability of me getting a car by a lot. My dad wants me to have a modern car with modern safety features, but I love old cars and have a major need for speed and for a car I can tinker with.  To make the probability of getting a car even less, I want two not rare, but not over abundantly produced cars : the 1966 Pontiac GTO and the 1958 Ford Edsel. (See pics below) According to Albuquerque Area Craigslist, there are no 1966 Pontiac GTO's in Albuquerque for $3000 or less. That reduces the probability of getting a car to 0. I found a 1958 Ford Edsel for $2000!!!! It even had a transmission and working engine! But this car was in California and my dad won't drive to California just so I can get an old car with no modern safety equipment. So that right there reduces the probability of me getting a car before I become a Senior in High school. So no probability of getting a GTO and no probability of getting an Edsel so that (in a sense) means that there is double the probability of not getting a car. (And my dad doesn't want to pay insurance for my car so that was a no off the bat. He also told me that I don't need a car, but I can still dream right?)

The 1958 Ford Edsel

The 1966 Pontiac GTO

Math innumeracy

A&W's burger joint serving the "Third pounder" was McDonald's competitor . The people who had the "third pounder" felt gypped that they were "overpriced for less meat." Really? Has Americans gotten that stupid? I think we really have. I say "we" because I have honestly done that once where i mistake something with a fraction of a value as less than it actually is. I think that it truly starts at the teachers. All teachers that teach in the american school system should have a math base so that the importance of  knowing how to do math in real life. Only math teachers should have a strong base in their subject material. Like they need to have passed the level of math that they are teaching with a college class for that level. But besides this level of intensity, it needs to be up to the teacher on how much they incorporate math into their classes. The math shouldn't be hard pre-calc stuff, but basic components such as the importance of fractions and their numerical values, should be taught in every classroom. Private schools that are nit-picky about the teachers they hire do not stress the importance of basic math. They assume that the students at this private school are there because they are smart enough to know that by heart and that the teachers are just to advance the students, not repeat basic math. Yes, there are some students that can multiply crazy large numbers in their heads and spit out the answer faster than their calculator, but those are only a select few. The rest of us are normal teens. We make mistakes and say things without thinking and let our math skills go to pot in public because we don't want to appear as "geek" or  "nerdy" or any of those nickname/insults that we learned in grade school. But I think that we should have a better base of mathematics because we will be ruling this world sooner than our parents would like. If we are stupid now, it's only gonna get worse as we get older. If kids have a good math base, as they get older, society won't be getting stupider. It'll just be continuing. But if the kids are stupid now and it gets worse as one gets older, we will be left with a stupid society. We pass the knowledge along to our kids. If there is not much to pass on, the future of this world will be in great trouble.

Big Numbers

Just recently I saw The Fault in Our Stars. It came out during the summer of 2014 and all my friends, family and coworkers went to see it. The all left the movie theatre, bawling their eyes out. I understand a good movie, but really? Well I watched it for an english project. Ok I admit that I bawled. But that is not the reason that I bring up this movie.

There was a line in the movie that I forgot who said it, but it goes: "Some infinities are bigger than others." See this does actually pertain to math... But if you think of infinity, it is a number bigger than what you can count. As little kids, anything past 100 was considered infinity. But as we get older that number increases. There is a math joke that goes: this 6 is a big number. Which is meant to be funny and it is. 1 is an infinity. There is 1.01, 1.011, 1.0111 and so on. And in between each .01 is a billion gazillion numbers. And even more in between each of those. Just because 1 is an infinity in itself, there are larger infinities. If you have 2 and repeat the process of finding all the numbers in between all the decimal points there is at least double the numbers because 2 is double one and therefore this infinity of numbers is even larger than the infinity of numbers that we discovered with one.

Some movie lines are paradoxes and some make absolutely no sense at all. This line about the infinities make no sense to people who don't understand math. But if you think about it...it makes perfect sense.

Transedentals

In math we learn about transcendental numbers. First of all this is math class and not english class. Where we would learn the meaning of that giant word. Most mathematicians can manipulate the most complex equations around and around until there is a nice pretty "1" as an answer, but spelling and word roots and that sort of englishy stuff is not a strong point of theirs. So how did they come up with it?

According to the Princeton University website, a "a transcendental number is a number (possibly a complex number) which is not algebraic—that is, it is not a root of a non-constant polynomial equation with rational coefficients." 

Holy cow. That is wordy and super duper confusing. Mathematicians understand this wordiness but normal people like you and I have no idea as to what this means. In plain english, a transcendental number is a non-terminating, non-repeating decimal. "Transcendent" means not limiting to the material universe. π and e have no end and go on forever without repeating a sequence of decimal places. That is what mathematicians do in real life. They take the most complex equations (in this case an explanation) and they work it and maneuver it to get a nice pretty answer that people can understand. 

In math this year we will learn about taking the super complicated and turn it into something very pretty. We will do math in the name of "pre calculus" and burn our brains working on these equations. The result is something we can be proud of. Practicing these skills is a much. Besides learning super complicated math, we will learn to think outside the box. Writing a blog posting once a cycle is the perfect way to work those skills. Mathy numbers is not going to help us in the future. Problem solving and thinking about things in a different way, even if you are the only one that understands it will get you far. Thats what we learn at school: how to use our brains to succeed at life.