Oh well...

looks like im gonna have to shit my pants and sell myself into slavery...

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a

Merry
Christmas

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and a superb rest of break.

And there will be no physics review today, in case you were wondering.

x.x

CGS Directory?

So...I was just thinking about college, and us staying in touch after we all graduate. Do you think it would be a good idea to put together a sort of directory for all of us--with home addresses, home and cell phone numbers, birthdates, AIM/MSN/whatever SN's, non-groupwise email, and whatever else?

I could easily do it on Excel, and post it on here/groupwise it around.

So, directory: y/n?

(And Merry Christmas, guys! I'll be at Dad's in Beaverdam (without cell reception), and most likely not online, so have a great one!)

STATS

Do NOT do the stats homework Mrs. O assigned us. We're going to do the problems in class tomorrow.

Faces!

I don't remember exactly how, but I came across this amusing face generator on the internet. You just click around on the different facial features, and they change; usually with comical results. Anyway, I thought it was worth the five or so minutes of my time I spent with it, so I figured I'd share it with you guys.

http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html

Check out this sexy beast:

How can you say no to a face like that?

-Eric

New Year's

So every year I've had a New Year's party. Does any really really want me to have one this year (read: does anyone care if i DONT?)

-Toni

Quick Question

Do you guys want to have a physics review Tuesday? I realize we have nothing due, and are about to start a new unit, so I'm leaving it up to you guys. If you do, it'll at the usual time, place. If not, it won't be there.

Thanks.

x.x

The horror.... the horror....

Oh my god... her eyes... wow.

Bad movie choice, Tyler :(

Party

White Elephant Party
My House
SATURDAY DECEMBER 15 @ 7:00 PM or 19:00 hrs.
Bring:
A white elephant gift (nothing expensive probably just $5 or so or it can be made like brownies or something)
We're gonna play a few Christmas games and the probably watch a movie. or poker. but most likely a movie.

Golden Compass?

So I was at dinner the other night, just peaceably eating my chicken or whatever we were having, when my mom brings up this new Golden Compass movie. Now, I read all the books (there are three) back in 8th grade, and really liked them, so I figured I'd go see the movie eventually, and said this aloud.

My mom piped up, saying that this catholic priest is telling the people at his church to not watch the movie because it has aesthetic themes.

At this point, I couldn't help but proclaim my disgust for this, declaring it church censorship.
My dad quickly entered the arena, comparing the movie to a poisonous food, saying something along the lines of, "isn't it his duty to stop you from hurting yourself?"

So I was wondering what you all think about it. Not necessarily the movie specifically, but the idea that a priest/pastor/pope/religious figure should tell people what to not watch/read, for fear of their "religious health."

I consider myself a Christian, but I'm of the opinion that people should be able to watch what they will--if the church is so worried about a movie/book turning people into atheists, it must have some good points, and I'd like to be able to see both sides of the argument, not forced into a religion by ignorance.

Oh, and I found this:



-Eric

Christmas Party

Ok, so i guess the White Elephant Party will be this saturday, Dec 16. at my house. Directions mapquest
8401 W. Hildy Ct.
Spotsylvania, VA. 22553
White Elephant Party rules.
To get a gift you must bring a gift. They can be anything funny, serious, nice, or mean. Try not to get urself thrown out of my house. gifts cant be specifically for anybody. More rules at the party.
Cookies, or brownies or drinks, would be appreciated but not mandatory.
Thanks,
Ty

Groupwise Down Again

IMPORTANT

I just got news from Doctor Walker that Groupwise will go down at 5 PM tonight for the weekend for maintence. So, get what you need off it now.

x.x

fire

so i'm wondering if anyone knows why someone set chancellor on fire
now my stuff is stuck there

Sunday Study

There'll be a physics study group on Sunday at the Salem Church Library at noon, or thereabouts.

EDIT: It'll be at 1 PM, when the Library opens.

But, if you come, please have already worked on the study guide. That's what we'll be going over the most, I think.

x.x

Physics Review

There will be a short physics review tonight--6:30 at Salem Church Library
It'll probably just be a short review of torque. Not covering stuff on the the past test.

x.x

Christmas Dinner

I gots tired of seeing that kitten everytime I opened this page. (not that it's not cute, Toni :p)

Anywho, Lauren and I are trying to put together a Christmas dinner this year, instead of everyone having to buy everyone else gifts.

So far the places/ideas we've thought of have been:
Sakura's
Carlos O' Kelly's
O'Charleys
A pot luck type thing
Olive Garden (Which I'm none to fond of, because they don't have reservations)

And what I'm wondering from you all is if you have any better or like any of these suggestions.
We'll send out an e-mail with the actual date, time, resturaunt, etc. when it gets closer to Christmas.

Any help will be rewarded with mine and Lauren's eternal affection!

Peace&Love
-Dannielle

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

What are you thankful for this year?




moar funny pictures

Saturday Study

So, after the play Saturday, if you guys'd like (actually, I think it's happening anyway), we're going to have a study group for the physics test. I suggest you bring book/notes, since I don't want to do it like the library ones. I think it works better with one-on-one review, so we'll try and make it work.

Alright guys. So it'll be about 5, but I dunno where yet. Any suggestions?
Talked to Mr. Bywaters. Only 8 questions--5 multiple choice and 3 free responses.

x.x

Clip the Apex.

I apologize for the lack of updates over the weekend. As some of you may know, I was in Tennessee over the weekend, to attent the UT v. Arkansas game (W, 34-13). I didn't have time before I left Friday to update, and couldn't do it over the weekend. It's updated now, and I apologize for the delay.

Reminder: Tuesday, 6:30, Salem Church Library: Physic Study Group.

Also, about the Senior Gift--I've heard that we can't paint the walls. So, I was thinking--what if we painted on a big canvas (they sell it by the yard, and shouldn't be too expensive)--it wouldn't be stretched, but if we put a glaze or cover on it, we could paint on it. If we do it the size of the broadcast room wall, it'll be like painting the wall. Also thinking, how cool would it be if we did caricatures of us all? Plus some personalization around it--but I think that'd look pretty tight.

x.x

There are 10 types of people in the world...

Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Nevermind, I found it funny. Anyway:

First off, who voted for the tree idea? Painting leaves? Come on, the wall is a much better/permanent/cooler idea. Excepting the fact that we only have a few artistic people in the class, I think it's a great idea. Let's do it.

Secondly: INSPIRATIONAL POSTERS!

I especially like the last one.

-Eric

Reminder.

Physics Study Group.
6:30.
Library.

Mmhmm.

x.x

these are fantastic.

you know, in case you get bored.


"You all have AIDS"
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40976

"Ninja parade slips through town unnoticed again"
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/ninja_parade_slips_through_town

"Parents outsourcing childcare overseas"
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/report_many_u_s_parents

"Ground Zero"
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/al_qaeda_also_fed_up_with_ground

Morning Pondering.

What do you think those hooligans do during the off season?

Experimenta design?

What do you guys think about the experimental design here:

What're the odds?

Another tie. One more tie-breaker--you have until Sunday night. Please do not vote more than once, I'd like to find a winner.

Also, for the Physics Study group--I need to know when and where works best for everybody. I've heard that and evening would work best because of the start of winter sports. So possibly a Tuesday or Wednesday evening, at the library?

Let me know.

x.x

Football?

Eric/Isaac mentioned something about football on Monday... is that true? Confirmation needed please.

Tie Breaker, Senior Gift, Studies

Firstly, our little poll for Band of the Week ended up in a dead heat between Fall Out Boy, Alkaline Trio and Coheed and Cambria. You have until Halloween night to vote to try and decide on a winner.

Nextly [is that a word?], does anyone have any alternate ideas about our senior gift to Gov. School? To refresh, Diana's idea was a tree with personalized leaves. I think personalization is good, but a bit more order is needed. Anyway, discussion of it is welcome.

Lastly, I was thinking of starting a physics study group, for lack of a better word, perhaps next week, to help people with homework and the physics concepts. This is more of a testing-the-waters type of post. Who all would be interested? It'd be open to all, whether you excel at physics or not--it'd be for people to come learn and refresh their memories, and for others to gain a deeper understanding (mmhmm) while teaching. Anyway, let me know what you think.

x.x

Saw 4

So I was thinking about what would be a good topic of discussion for the blog.

Tell me, what do you think of the Saw series? If you've never seen it, then what do you think of movies with lots of gore? Is Saw pointless blood and gore? Is the plot substantial and believable?I just saw Saw 4 on Saturday and I thought it was pretty good. The ending was really a twist.

Action

This thing is getting boring people. Whatever happened to the arguments we used to get in?
Band of the week anyone? Me thinks Silverstein.

DC Metro

What the heck. DC metro is now heavily suggesting and about to start forcing their workers to be bilingual. Basically feed into the plague that is illegal immigration. I will die, before you see the day I learn Spanish for a job so that illegals will have an easier time. I don't want them to have it difficult, but if they're gonna be here they're gonna have to learn English. Stupid Beaners.

Your Conservative Chauvinistic White Freind,
Tyler

IHOP and Field Trip

So im pretty excited. I hope i remember to wake up for breakfast tomorrow

Finally Updated

I'm sorry about the long stretch between updates. As you may know, I don't yet have internet in the new house--but I should have it this Wednesday. Homework is updated through what's due Thursday.

White Stripes, have won band of the week--feel free to request new bands. Also, I've put up a different poll, over Diana's idea for the senior gift.

Feel free to discuss. If wanted, I could make it so that only members of this blog can read it. Up to you guys.

x.x

GO SKINS!

Just wanted to put that out there.
this may be the last time we slaughter for a while.

For the Record

Chancellor CGSers--I talked to Mrs. Holmes after school (along with Stableford)--it's probably not worth missing CGS for Josten's. It's just a sales pitch, basically.

Also, just to let you guys know. Updates may be even slower, if I can't get around to them in school. My new house won't be fully internet capable for at least two more days, and my old house is already disconnected. So, I'll try and update when I can, but I'm just informing you--you may need to keep an eye on blackboard. Of course, the homework is right through tomorrow, and there's a field trip on Wednesday, so we should be ok.

Sounds like it's decided: Monday, 11 AM, Loriella.

x.x

Football

Just wondering, are we playing football on the 8th (Monday, we have it off)? If we are, let's plan it soon so more people will be able to make plans to come.

Dropkick Murphys

Dropkick Murphys--the victor by a narrow 2 vote margin over Avenged Sevenfold

You guys know the drill by now. Request bands.

By the way, this is the 499th post. Impressive, guys.

x.x

Change of Pace, Change of Place

This is really more of an update, to try and keep you guys informed. As you may or may not know, I'm moving...tomorrow. All this really means is that I'll be without internet access, for the most part, until next Monday. While I should be able to update everything at somepoint over the weekend, I'm just giving you guys a heads up, in case an update doesn't arrive.

If you need me, though, you can call.
[287.3100]

x.x

Modest Mouse?

Modest Mouse has been voted band of the week.
I'm very pleased that 23 people voted. Except I somewhat doubt it. Please do not vote more than once--then it just comes down who's more obsessed.

Though I'm glad it's not the Spice Girls.

Anyway, make suggestions for new bands of the week. This week, let's keep them current, kay?

x.x

Come on now..

How come I'm the only one who voted for Modest Mouse?

More importantly, I found this on YouTube, and it reminded me of Stephen Iero, who was dancing to it today at golf practice.




Make sure you watch the very last five or six seconds.

-Eric

Fuck and Racism

Racism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Adj6GpY1uc

Fuck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp1QyOSiNNU

Thought you guys would enjoy these videos.

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack is the new band of the week, by a 9-3 (Coheed)-2 (Underoath)-1 (Alkaline) vote. Overwhelming majority.

For this week's poll, you have until I go to bed tonight to submit your suggestions for candidates for band of the week. I dunno what time that'll be...notice: those bands that lost can be put up again, but not in two consecutive weeks. Also, MCS can also be put up as a candidate again...just as soon as we go through every other band in the world.

x.x

Machines and Modern Art

I dunno how many of you guys saw the new Mythbusters on Wednesday night, but they were testing Tesla's supposed invention of the Earthquake Machine. It was interesting.

In other news, over the course of three days, six earthquakes hit Indonesia. Hmmm...

Also, I have some very important news. The famed artist Martin Creed (I'd never heard of him either) has opened up a new exhibit, appropriately titled Work No. 227: The Lights Going On and Off. That's right. Don't you love modern art. Basically, the exhibit consists of a plain room--white walls, just a room of any size the gallery happens to have--in which he has programmed the lights (well, controlled by a laptop) to turn off and on at intervals of five seconds. Yes. This masterpiece--which won a notable prize--(note the sarcasm) brought to you by the same artist who brought you Work No. 88: A sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball. Mmhmm. Right. And people praise him for his genius. My favortie quote from the article (http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/09/13/on_and_off/?page=1) must be "'This guy got 20,000 pounds for demonstrating the same artistic talent as a defective circuit breaker,'" said by Dave Barry.

Mmhmm.

x.x

Stats Homework

Note: I did not know this to be the case, but Mrs. O's blackboard states that she wants the article assignment tomorrow. Just to keep you all up to date.

x.x

New Band of the Week

By request, the band of this week is The Used.
However, after this week, I will put up as the poll 4 bands (or artists), so that everyone can have a say on which band is the band of the week. They won't all be from the same genre, but I'll try and have a good spread. Suggestions welcome.

Remember, no need to check blackboard for homework! All the homework I post on the sidebar for our convenience!

x.x

That feeling

Anybody ever have that feeling like you just dont want to move? it could be 35 degrees outside and you're in a slightly wet and grassy field and you just feel like lying there. Right now im listening to the second MCR cd and i feel like everything isnt alright, when really it is. Sketchy...

Colin:

Isn't it annoying for you to update all this stuff (like the homework section) everday?

Renovation and Rejuvination

First, to restate, basically, what Kevin said: football tomorrow, 11, at Loriella. Show up, if you can make it.

Now, to the reason I actually posted. I've made some changes to the blog, in hopes to improve it and spark some involvement. Let's see how it works.

Firstly, there's a new poll, for now asking which class you are most looking forward to--feel free to vote! This can be changed easily, so feel free to make suggestions--you can leave a comment or e-mail me.
Next, there's the band of the week. Really, it's just a slot for any video clips--I just happened to look up Rise Against. We can leave it as band of the week, and vote on it each week (a poll subject) or it can be changed. Up to you guys!
Thirdly, there is a list of links. These are the ones I thought to include while doing it. Many more can be added--so feel free to make suggestions!

Those are the primary changes for now, but I plan on adding a list feature later on tonight, and writing the assignments that will be due in CGS over the course of the week, to keep us all easily informed. Of course, these are all easily edited, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to offer them!

If you have trouble posting, feel free to e-mail me for another invitation!

x.x

Football

Just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow at 11 there will be the CGS football game, at the same place as usual, Chancellor vs. Riverbend. Riverbend will need some good players, so if you're a RB'er, show up please.

Videos

Okay basically these videos just made me laugh so I put em here for your enjoyment:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2034785816

and

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2025174654

Kevin

Eric's Post

Hey guys, what's up? I haven't seen most of you guys in a long time.

Hey Tyler, how's RB's golf team doing? Chancellor is UNDEFEATED-- that's right, 2-0! (True, we've only played Spotsy and Caroline, but still.)

And, big news-- I've learned to juggle! Yup, I've become quite proficient.

Also, I'd like to take a vote of all the people that have seen the Bourne Ultimatum on whether or not it is indeed the most awesome ever. I vote "Aye."

Speaking of movies, I finally saw 300 today, but it was brutally censored by my dad for the benefit of my younger brother. He must have fast-forwarded through half the movie. Still, it was pretty cool, but the slow-mo got annoying after a bit, and that bit at the end was just stupid. Why would they uncover themselves and get shot up? All I can figure is that they were gambling it all on that one shot at Xerxes, and when that failed, they were kinda SOL.

Well, that's all I've got to say for now, back to Physics homework. (Incidentally, is everyone else not being allowed onto the Physics Blackboard page? Kevin says he was, too.)

See you all Monday!

-Eric

Kill the Moose

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,501145,00.html

Moose are also to blame for global warming. Oh i also learned in yellowstone, that moose can swim underwater for over a minute without needing to breath and they can go deeper than 18 feet! can you imagine kayaking and all of a sudden a moose floats up next to you? rifreakindiculous

WTF

people.....someone other than me, blog about something, this thing is weak

Now accepting donations

Im broke.

College App

I just started my first college application this morning....yea i know.....anyway I realized i actually did a lot of crap in HS, much more than i thought......I might actually have a chance at getting into college, especially if i start capitilizing all of my "I"'s. Oh and Chyea... I went on vacation all over the country (ROAD TRIP!) and it was freakin amazing. and i went to Boys State and Younglife Camp... Lets just say those 4 consecutive weeks away from home were pretty freakin' amazing. Good luck on all of your apps.

Posting

Since nobody else has for a while and I don’t have much else to do.

For those of us who have been spending most of our time on games this summer, E3 is this week, which means all the upcoming video game announcements are coming out, for those of you who have lives. (if you get G4TV you can watch it there, or just get info online somewhere) For my time-wasting I only use a computer, so most of the console-only games don’t interest me that much, but many good games are also coming out for the pc, its only too bad there isn’t a Starcraft 2 demo yet.

The new Harry Potter movie came out, did anyone see it yet? Is it worth seeing? If so, are any groups of people planning to see it at some time when I might be invited? such as what some of us cgsers did for HP4 and the last Star Wars movie? Otherwise I’ll probably just wait until it comes out on dvd then get it through the library so I don’t have to pay anything. (on a related story, the Salem Church library branch is going to be closing for about a whole year starting some time this fall, for some kind of expansion)

Also, has anyone else not been able to log on to groupwise for the last few days? I’ve been getting "The page cannot be displayed" every time I click GroupWise Login on the cgs page. However I can still get on everything else associated with cgs, in case I wanted to start the summer assignments. (I don’t)

SRGS

Here I am in the University of Richmond Library. I'm on break during our first class, Colin is right behind me. Diana is over to my left, Brian is to my right. Starbucks is to my left. Not that any of you cared about all of this. Send me some mail? I'll try to respond, but I now realize I'm going to have very little free time here at SRGS.

~Kevin

I'm back

I’m sure you all missed me, and my input on this blog very much, so I’m now reassuring you that I’m here again. Or, perhaps you didn’t know I was gone, in which case you should know that I was on the CBF (Chesapeake Bay Foundation) trip, saving the bay, which was great fun, or at least I thought so. More of you should have come, you don’t know what you missed. (because I don’t have time to tell you everything now, I might get to it later, or Kelly or Jessica can tell you what a great trip it was) Even if you’re one of those people who thinks environmentalism is evil, its still a fun trip.

Now that I’m back I again have little to do, not even a job/planned activities so I’m reduced to checking this blog often and continuing my usual gaming activities and getting started on some of my work for next year.

I’m back just in time to say goodbye to all the SRGS people, I hope the blog doesn’t shrivel up and die without some of the most frequent posters/commenters.

Monastery Life

A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.

He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up! In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.

The head monk, says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son."

He goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery
where the original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked
vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go
by and nobody sees the old abbot.

So, the young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head against the wall and wailing,
"We missed the "R" ! , we missed the "R" !"

His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying
uncontrollably. The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?"

With A choking voice, the old abbot replies, "The word was...
CELEBRATE!!!"

SOS

As some of you already know, I am working on my Girl Scout Gold Award this summer. For my project, I am making an audio library for Battlefield Elementary School. I need people to help read books so that I can record them. You'd need to come over to my house to do it, but it should take a half hour or less and these are very easy kids books (the Bernstein Bears, Arthur, and the Henry and Mudge Series.) You are welcome to decide when you all want to come so that you can do a book together (like one person be a character and the other person be the narrator). Email me if you are interested in helping. I'd like to get these done as soon as possible, so if you are free this week or next week tell me the day and time and I will be home.

and yes this does count for community service:)

I finally found an American hooligan!

So I was at a DC United game on Saturday and a Chicago Fire (the other team for those ignorant soccer people out there) fan came down out of his section into a DC one and then started a fight with a DC fan (they both looked drunk too). It took 4 cops to break it up and when they took the DC fan out of the stadium, he got a standing ovation from the entire side of the stadium. Gotta love hooligans!

Question

Does anyone know what we're supposed to do for the english summer assignment? All I know is to read the books. I emailed DW about it the other day and he said we didnt have to do the stuff on that sheet he put in our boxes. But he didn't really say what we did have to do, so yeah. Anybody know?

The Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race

"The Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race"
by Jared Diamond, Prof. UCLA School of Medicine
Discover-May 1987, pp. 64-66

To science we owe dramatic changes in our smug self-image. Astronomy taught
us that our Earth isn't the center of the universe but merely one of billions of heavenly
bodies. From biology we learned that we weren't specially created by God but evolved
along with millions of other species. Now archaeology is demolishing another sacred
belief: that human history over the past million years has been a long tale of progress. In
particular, recent discoveries suggest that the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our
most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we
have never recovered. With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the
disease and despotism,that curse our existence.

At first, the evidence against this revisionist interpretation will strike twentieth
century Americans as irrefutable. We're better off in almost every respect than people of
the Middle Ages who in turn had it easier than cavemen, who in turn were better off than
apes. Just count our advantages. We enjoy the most abundant and varied foods, the best
tools and material goods, some of the longest and healthiest lives, in history. Most of us
are safe from starvation and predators. We get our energy from oil and machines, not
from our sweat. What neo-Luddite among us would trade his life for that of a medieval
peasant, a caveman, or an ape?

For most of our history we supported ourselves by hunting and gathering: we
hunted wild animals and foraged for wild plants. It's a life that philosophers have
traditionally regarded as nasty, brutish, and short. Since no food is grown and little is
stored, there is (in this view) no respite from the struggle that starts anew each day to find
wild foods and avoid starving. Our escape from this misery was facilitated only 10,000
years ago, when in different parts of the world people began to domesticate plants and
animals. The agricultural revolution gradually spread until today it's nearly universal and
few tribes of hunter-gatherers survive.

From the progressivist perspective on which I was brought up to ask "Why did almost all our hunter-gatherer ancestors adopt agriculture?" is silly. Of course they adopted it because agriculture is an efficient way to get more food for less work. Planted cropsyield far more tons per acre than roots and berries. Just imagine a band of savages, exhausted from searching for nuts or chasing wild animals, suddenly gazing for the first time at a fruit-laden orchard or a pasture full of sheep. How many milliseconds do you think it would take them to appreciate the advantages of agriculture? The progressivist party line sometimes even goes so far as to credit agriculture with the remarkable flowering of art that has taken place over the past few thousand years. Since crops can be stored, and since it takes less time to pick food from a garden than to find it in the wild,
agriculture gave us free time that hunter-gatherers never had. Thus it was agriculture that enabled us to build the Parthenon and compose the B-minor Mass.


While the case for the progressivist view seems overwhelming, it's hard to prove.
How do you show that the lives of people 10,000 years ago got better when they
abandoned hunting and gathering for farming? Until recently, archaeologists had to resort
to indirect tests, whose results (surprisingly) failed to support the progressivist view.
Here's one example of an indirect test: Are twentieth century hunter-gatherers really
worse off than farmers? Scattered throughout the world, several dozen groups of socalled
primitive people, like the Kalahari Bushmen, continue to support themselves that
way. It turns out that these people have plenty of leisure time, sleep a good deal, and
work less hard than their farming neighbors. For instance, the average time devoted each
week to obtaining food is only twelve to nineteen hours for one group of Bushmen,
fourteen hours or less for the Hadza nomads of Tanzania. One Bushman, when asked
why he hadn't emulated neighboring tribes by adopting agriculture, replied, "Why should
we, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world?"

While farmers concentrate on high-carbohydrate crops like rice and potatoes, the
mix of wild plants and animals in the diets of surviving hunter-gatherers provides more
protein and a better balance of other nutrients. In one study, the Bushmen's average daily
food intake (during a month when food was plentiful) was 2,140 calories and ninety-three
grams of protein, considerably greater than the recommended daily allowance for people
of their size. It's almost inconceivable that Bushmen, who eat seventy-five or so wild
plants, could die of starvation the way hundreds of thousands of Irish farmers and their
families did during the potato famine of the 1840s.

So the lives of at least the surviving hunter-gatherers aren't nasty and brutish,
even though farmers have pushed them into some of the world's worst real estate. But
modem huntergatherer societies that have rubbed shoulders with farming societies for
thousands of years don't tell us about conditions before the agricultural revolution. The
progressivist view is really making a claim about the distant past: that the lives of
primitive people improved when they switched from gathering to farming.
Archaeologists can date that switch by distinguishing remains of wild plants and animals
from those of domesticated ones in prehistoric garbage dumps.

How can one deduce the health of the prehistoric garbage makers, and thereby
directly test the progressivist view? That question has become answerable only in recent
years, in .part through the newly emerging techniques of paleopathology, the study of
signs of disease in the remains of ancient peoples.

In some lucky situations, the paleopathologist has almost as much material to
study as a pathologist today. For example, archaeologists in the Chilean deserts founds
well preserved' mummies whose medical conditions at time of death could be determined
by autopsy (Discover, October). And feces of long-dead Indians who lived in dry caves in
Nevada remain sufficiently well preserved to be examined for hookworm and other
parasites.



Usually the only human remains available for study are skeletons, but they permit
a surprising number of deductions. To begin with, a skeleton reveals its owner's sex,
weight, and approximate age. In the few cases where there are many skeletons, one can
construct mortality tables like the ones life insurance companies use to calculate expected
life span and risk of death at any given age. Paleopathologists can also calculate growth
rates by measuring bones of people of different ages, examine teeth for enamel defects
(signs of childhood malnutrition), and recognize scars left on bones by anemia,
tuberculosis, leprosy, and other diseases.

One straightforward example of what paleopathologists have learned from
skeletons concerns historical changes in height. Skeletons from Greece and Turkey show
that the average height of hunter-gatherers toward the end of the ice ages was a
generous 5'9" for men, 5'5" for women. With the adoption of agriculture, height
crashed, and by 3000 B.C. had reached a low of 5'3" for men ,5' for women. By classical
times heights were very slowly on the rise again, but modern Greeks and Turks have still
not regained the average height of their distant ancestors.

Another example of paleopathology at work is the study of Indian skeletons from
burial mounds in the lllinois and Ohio river valleys. At Dickson Mounds, located near the
confluence of the Spoon and lllinois rivers, archaeologists have excavated some 800
skeletons that paint a picture of the health changes that occurred when a hunter-gatherer
culture gave way to intensive maize farming around A.D. 1150. Studies by George
Armelagos and his colleagues then at the University of Massachusetts show these
early farmers paid a price for their new-found livelihood. Compared to the huntergatherers who preceded them, the farmers had a nearly fifty percent increase in enamel defects indicative of malnutrition, a fourfold increase in iron-deficiency anemia
(evidenced by a bone condition called porotic hyperostosis), a threefold rise in bone
lesions reflecting infectious disease in general, and an increase in degenerative conditions
of the spine, probably reflecting a lot of hard physical labor. "Life expectancy at birth in
the preagricultural community was about twenty-six years," says Armelagos, "but in the
postagricultural community it was nineteen years. So these episodes of nutritional stress
and infectious disease were seriously affecting their ability to survive."

The evidence suggests that the Indians at Dickson Mounds, like many other
primitive peoples, took up farming not by choice but from necessity in order to feed their
constantly growing numbers. " I don't think most hunter-gatherers farmed until they
had to, and when they switched to farming they traded quality for quantity." says Mark
Cohen of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, co-editor, with Armelagos, of
one of the seminal books in the field, Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture.
"When I first started making that argument ten years ago, not many people agreed with
me. Now it's become a respectable, albeit controversial, side of the debate."

There are at least three sets of reasons to explain the findings that agriculture was
bad for health. First, hunter-gatherers enjoyed a varied diet, while early farmers obtained
most of their food from one or a few starchy crops. The farmers gained cheap calories at
the cost of poor nutrition. (Today just three high-carbohydrate plants--wheat, rice, and
corn--provide the bulk of the calories consumed by the human species, yet each one is
deficient in certain vitamins or amino acids essential to life.) Second, because of
dependence on a limited number of crops, farmers ran the risk of starvation if one crop
failed. Finally, the mere fact that agriculture encouraged people to clump together in
crowded societies, many of which then carried on trade with other crowded societies, led
to the spread of parasites and infectious disease. (Some archaeologists think it was
crowding, rather than agriculture, that promoted disease, but this is a chicken-and-egg
argument, because crowding encourages agriculture and vice versa.) Epidemics couldn't
take hold when populations were scattered in small bands that constantly shifted camp.
Tuberculosis and diarrheal disease had to await the rise of farming, measles and bubonic
plague the appearance of large cities.

Besides malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic diseases, farming helped bring
another curse upon humanity: deep class divisions. Hunter-gatherers have little or no
stored food, and no concentrated food sources, like an orchard or a herd of cows: they
live off the wild plants and animals they obtain each day. Therefore, there can be no
kings, no class of social parasites who grow fat on food seized from others. Only in a
farming population could a healthy, nonproducing elite set itself above the disease-ridden
masses. Skeletons from Greek tombs at Mycenae c.1500 B.C. suggest that royals enjoyed
a better diet than commoners, since the royal skeletons were two or three inches taller and
had better teeth (on average, one instead of six cavities or missing teeth). Among Chilean
mummies from c. A.D. 1000, the elite were distinguished not only by ornaments and gold
hair clips but also by a fourfold lower rate of bone lesions caused by disease.

Similar contrasts in nutrition and health persist on a global scale today. To people
in rich countries like the U.S., it sounds ridiculous to extol the virtues of hunting and
gathering. But Americans are an elite, dependent on oil and minerals that must often be
imported from countries with poorer health and nutrition. If one could choose between
being a peasant farmer in Ethiopia or a Bushman gatherer in the Kalahari, which do you
think would be the better choice?

Farming may have encouraged inequality between the sexes, as well. Freed from
the need to transport their babies during a nomadic existence, and under pressure to
produce more hands to till the fields, farming women tended to have more frequent
pregnancies than their hunter-gatherer counterparts-- with consequent drains on their
health. Among the Chilean mummies, for example, more women than men had bone
lesions from infectious disease.

Women in agricultural societies were sometimes made beasts of burden. In New
guinea farming communities today, I often see women staggering under loads of
vegetables and firewood while the men walk empty-handed. Once while on a field
trip there studying birds, I offered to pay some villagers to carry supplies from an
airstrip to my mountain camp. The heaviest item was a 11 O-pound bag of rice, which I
lashed to a pole and assigned a team of four men to shoulder together. When I eventually
caught up with the villagers, the men were carrying light loads, while one small woman
weighing less than the bag of rice was bent under it, supporting its weight by a cord
across her temples.

As for the claim that agriculture encouraged the flowering of art by providing us
with leisure time, modem hunter-gathers have at least as much free time as do farmers.
The whole emphasis on leisure time as a critical factor seems to me misguided. Gorillas
have had ample free time to build their own Parthenon, had they wanted to. While postagricultural technological advances did make new art forms possible and preservation of art easier, great paintings and sculptures were already being produced by hunter-gatherers 15,000 years ago, and were still being produced as recently as the last century by such hunter-gatherers as some Inuit and the Indians of the Pacific Northwest.

Thus with the advent of agriculture an elite became better off but most people
became worse off. Instead of swallowing the progressivist party line that we chose
agriculture because it was good for us, we must ask how we got trapped by it despite its
pitfalls.

One answer boils down to the adage "Might makes right." Farming could support
many more people than hunting, albeit with a poorer quality of life. (Population densities
of hunter gatherers are rarely over one person per ten square miles, while farmers average
100 time that.) Partly, this is because a field planted entirely in edible crops lets one feed
far more mouths than a forest with scattered edible plants. Partly, too, it's because
nomadic hunter-gatherers have to keep their children spaced at four-year intervals by
extended nursing and other means, since a mother must carry her toddler until it's old
enough to keep up with the adults. Because farm women don't have that burden, they can
and often do bear a child every two years.

As population densities of hunter-gatherers slowly rose at the end of the ice ages,
bands had to choose between feeding more mouths by taking the first steps toward
agriculture, or else finding ways to limit growth. Some bands chose the former solution,
unable to anticipate the evils of farming, and seduced by the transient abundance they
enjoyed until population growth caught up with increased food production. Such bands
outbred and then drove off or killed the bands that chose to remain hunter-gatherers,
because a hundred malnourished farmers can still outfight one healthy hunter. It's not that
hunter-gatherers abandoned their life style, but that those sensible enough not to abandon
it were forced out of all areas except the ones farmer didn't want.

At this point it's instructive to recall the common complaint that archaeology is a
luxury, concerned with the remote past, and offering no lessons for the present.
Archaeologists studying the rise of farming have reconstructed a crucial stage at which
we made the worst mistake in human history. Forced to choose between limiting
population or trying to increase food production, we chose the latter and ended up with
starvation, warfare, and tyranny.

Hunter-gatherers practiced the most successful and longest lasting lifestyle in
human history. In contrast, we're still struggling with the mess into which agriculture has
tumbled us, and it's unclear whether we can solve it. Suppose that an archaeologist who
had visited us from outer space where trying to explain human history to his fellow
spacelings. He might illustrate the results of his digs by a twenty-four hour clock on
which one hour represents 100,000 years of real past time. It the history of the human
race began at midnight, then we would now be almost at the end of our first day. We
lived as hunter-gatherers for nearly the whole of that day,from midnight through dawn,
noon, and sunset. Finally, at 11:54 p.m., we adopted agriculture. As our second midnight
approaches, will the plight of famine-stricken peasants gradually spread to engulf us all? Or will
we somehow achieve those seductive blessings that we imagine behind agriculture's glittering
facade and that have so far eluded us?

Just some food for thought.

SRGS kiddos

I think its just Diana and Colin. But anyways, give me the address of where you're going to be before you leave so I can send you letters!!

k thnx!

<3
ToniC.

One More Year!

So guys, here it is, we're seniors. At long last. It doesn't seem so long ago that we were freshmen, wondering exactly what CGS was going to be like.

Seniors. Class of 2008. We're so close. One more year of last minute culminatings and non-existant homework assignments, and we're done. It's a bit sad, really, but we have at least one more year together.

Some things about the blog. I'm trying to improve it, to get it revved back up. I'll be reinviting the people that have not switched to the google account, in hopes to get the entire class on here again. I'm trying to improve it, but it takes all of us (breaking out cliches). I'm trying to get the CGS picture from Claire to use as our picture, but she's hard to track down. If and until I can do that, any suggestions for a different picture would be welcome. Also, I'm looking to add a video toolbar to the side, but I need suggestions on what the subject should be. I would gladly do bands/artists, but our tastes vary wildly, and I want to show no favoritism to my own preferred.

Be looking for improvements, and, of course, suggestions are welcome.

x.x

run in the river

for all that saw the calculus movie, i suggest when we finish culminating, we all go running into the rappahanock river. we are too far to go to the ocean, so we will have to make due. also, AP's are over, but i think culminating is a big enough a event to have a group run in the river. if you didnt see the calculus movie, just ask someone that did and you will understand. just a thought...

"Rachel Carson's Genocide"

If you can spare the time, I ask that you read the article below:

"Rachel Carson's Genocide
Carson's environmental ideology demands opposition to DDT despite the millions of malaria deaths its use could prevent.
By Keith Lockitch

On May 27, environmentalists will celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Rachel Carson, the founding mother of their movement.

But Carson's centenary is no cause for celebration. Her legacy includes more than a million deaths a year from the mosquito-borne disease malaria. Though nearly eradicated decades ago, malaria has resurged with a vengeance because DDT, the most effective agent of mosquito control, has been essentially discarded--discarded based noton scientific concerns about its safety, but on environmental dogma advanced by Carson.

The crusade against DDT began with Carson's antipesticide diatribe "Silent Spring," published in 1962 at the height of the worldwide antimalaria campaign. The widespread spraying of DDT had caused aspectacular drop in malaria incidence--Sri Lanka, for example, reported 2.8 million malaria victims in 1948, but by 1963 it had only17. Yet Carson's book made no mention of this. It said nothing of DDT's crucial role in eradicating malaria in industrialized countries, or of the tens of millions of lives saved by its use.

Instead, Carson filled her book with misinformation--alleging, among other claims, that DDT causes cancer. Her unsubstantiated assertion that continued DDT use would unleash a cancer epidemic generated apanicked fear of the pesticide that endures as public opinion to this day.

But the scientific case against DDT was, and still is, nonexistent. Almost 60 years have passed since the malaria-spraying campaigns began--with hundreds of millions of people exposed to large concentrations of DDT--yet, according to international health scholar Amir Attaran, the scientific literature "has not even one peer reviewed, independently replicated study linking exposure to DDT with any adverse health outcome." Indeed, in a 1956 study, human volunteers ate DDT every day for over two years with no ill effects then or since.

Abundant scientific evidence supporting the safety and importance of DDT was presented during seven months of testimony before the newly formed EPA in 1971. The presiding judge ruled unequivocally against a ban. But the public furor against DDT--fueled by "Silent Spring" and the growing environmental movement--was so great that a ban was imposed anyway. The EPA administrator, who hadn't even bothered to attend the hearings, overruled his own judge and imposed the ban in defiance of the facts and evidence. And the 1972 ban in the United States led to an effective worldwide ban, as countries dependent on U.S.-funded aid agencies curtailed their DDT use to comply with those agencies' demands.

So if scientific facts are not what has driven the furor against DDT, what has? Estimates put today's malaria incidence worldwide at around300 million cases, with a million deaths every year. If this enormous toll of human suffering and death is preventable, why do environmentalists--who profess to be the defenders of life--continue to oppose the use of DDT?

The answer is that environmental ideology values an untouched environment above human life. The root of the opposition to DDT is not science but the environmentalist moral premise that it is wrong forman to "tamper" with nature.

The large-scale eradication of disease-carrying insects epitomizes the control of nature by man. This is DDT's sin. To Carson and the environmentalists she inspired, "the 'control of nature' is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy." Nature, they hold, is intrinsically valuable and must be kept free from human interference.

On this environmentalist premise the proper attitude to nature is not to seek to improve it for human benefit, but to show "humility" before its "vast forces" and leave it alone. We should seek, Carson wrote, not to eliminate malarial mosquitoes with pesticides, but to find instead "a reasonable accommodation between the insect hordes and ourselves." If the untouched, "natural" state is one in which millions contract deadly diseases, so be it.

Carson's current heirs agree. Earth First! founder Dave Foreman writes: "Ours is an ecological perspective that views Earth as acommunity and recognizes such apparent enemies as 'disease' (e.g.,malaria) and 'pests' (e.g., mosquitoes) not as manifestations of evil to be overcome but rather as vital and necessary components of a complex and vibrant biosphere."

In the few minutes it has taken you to read this article, over a thousand people have contracted malaria and half a dozen have died. This is the life-or-death consequence of viewing pestilent insects as a "necessary" component of a "vibrant biosphere" and seeking a"reasonable accommodation" with them.

Rachel Carson's birthday should be commemorated, not with laudatory festivities, but with the rejection of the environmental ideology she inspired."

Now, I understand that he delves into philosophical arguments about the merits of environmentalism, but I ask you to focus on the case of DDT. Another, recent independent study (I'm still attempting to find it online) cited that since we stopped supporting the use of DDT at least 10 million people have died, with a lack of a clear case against DDT.

I find it a good topic for discussion.

x.x

Some random pictures I thought were funny, plus STARCRAFT 2.

Starcraft 2! (It's the image with the "IGN.COM" at the bottom right.)

If any of you know anything about internet gaming, then you know how big the announcement of Starcraft 2 is. Just thought I'd show my excitement. Call me a geek/nerd or whatever for being into this, I don't really care.

And there are some other pictures I wanted to post while I was at it...

CGS Computers

Just passing on a message--

As of next Monday, anything you have saved on CGS Computers will be inaccessible, as they are cleared for SOLs. That's the extent of my knowledge on the subject as of right now, though Mrs. O should be making an annoucement tomorrow of the same nature.

x.x

Outrageous?

So, last week, as some of you may know, Wednesday was the "Day of Silence" for the gay right activists and supporters (because they're "suffering in silence"). Anyway, at a school in Michigan, some people (unknown to me as of yet whether it was other students or officials) were giving out duct tape for students to place over their mouths to show support. Anyway, a student took a piece, wrote "I'm straight" on it, and wore it on his shirt. He was kicked out of class and suspended for a day. His dad, a pastor, is considering legal action.

Now, how is this fair? The supporters of the gay rights movement are allowed to show their support and their beliefs, but this kid is not? Yes, he was doing it to spite the other students, and in somewhat mockery, but how does that change the basis of the incident? He shouldn't've been suspended, especially if duct tape was being handed out.

I say it's outrageous. Another form of reverse discrimination.

x.x

Colin

Reminds me of Don Imus. Not his views. Just the fact that he is very opinionated and expresses them. Also, a physical resemblance? Think so?

Happy Belated Valentine's Day =]

http://www.ifilm.com/profile/ThoseGuysFilms/video/2826093

Colin is a bitch part 2

Yes he is. The bitch is back on the couch. Now he is denouncing the binders i so lovingly gave him. What a bitch. Indian giver. leaving my gifts on the table and then threatening to burn them.

he wouldnt even write me and laurens play for creative writing.

bitch.

Can't Work Friday

So I am going to a Caps game on friday and forgot to tell the place I work.
Should I call today and say i cant make it and possibly lose my job because i couldnt work the last friday either. Call that day and say im throwing up. Call today or tomorrow and say I have a school trip to D.C?
Any suggestions?

tourney

i created a cgs group for tournament brackets on espn.com.
anyone who wants an invite just let me know

Colin is a Bitch.

Hi. I'm bored in study hall and Colin is yelling at me. Bitch. But anyway, I'm bored and I thought that i would talk to you people. Colin is now yelling because I didnt capitalize that I. Wierdo. I'm bored. NO! NOT QUOTATIONS MAKRKS FOR THE I COLIN. We're listening to Bright Eyes and I like it. Conor Oberst is peaceful. The depressing songs are downers, but hes good. I'm just so bored! I think that Colin should probably stop yelling at my grammar. Lalalalalaaaaaa. Bored. bboed bored.bred. erbeord. yes. i think we should have a party. no. we should dance. alot. during english class or soemthing, just stand up and dance and really confuse doctor walker. that would be fun, dont you think?? =] k bye. <3

Hello...

Hello from Atlantic City! This place is awesome. Im walking around town tomorrow and sunday and going shooping, so if any of you want a souvenir, just let me know and i'll se what i can do.

Brian

Lauren Says...

"You're a genius and you're perfect, Colin."

[Said in all seriousness.]

x.x

Lent

Anybody give up anything?

4 legged duck

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/17/duck.legs.ap/index.html

i rest my case

Updates

I've updated the blog to the new Google version...

I've also changed the background, but only for Valentine's Day.

x.x

...

John- it makes you switch. It's going to make everyone switch eventually, even you. Why is that funny?

And next Wednesday sounds fair to me Colin.
Do any of the Riverbenders even check it anymore anyways?

vote

ok
now a vote for whether or not to switch the blog
majority wins
i vote we switch

laugh

laugh if you will but its you who has to read through comments as posts

the blog

Jake is actually right this time. I agreed with you Colin, until today when it made me switch. I dont really like this new one better but it appears we have no choice because blogger is going to make everyone switch eventually so you might as well switch it now. Unless of course we are going to give up on the blog all together.

yeah

that may be true
but its even more inconvenient for those of us that have switched, which is more than colin
and i know you guys dont want to read our posts everytime we have a comment

um

does anyone have any major objections to switching over to the new blogger so those of us who have switched can comment again?

BEWARE

I hate to keep posting new things.. but since it's all I can do here it goes..

"That's right, it's time to embrace the new version of Blogger! Starting
today, a small percentage of users who log in to an old Blogger account
will be required to move to the new version. ... If you're one of the lucky folks who is prompted to move your account over to the new version of Blogger, you'll be able to postpone this process once (and only once)... "

I wonder who the 'lucky' ones will be next.

:-/

Anna Nicole Smith is DEAD.
Just in case you care.

And I cannot switch back either.

no
i cannot switch back

new blogger

i think you guys misunderstood
those of us that have switched to the NEW BLOGGER
cannot make comments until the blog is switched over
the old blogger can comment but the new one cant

Time for new blogger

I can't comment anymore, apparently I am not a "team member" in this blog because they made me switch my account to the new blogger(yes made, I couldn't sign in unless I switched to the new blogger.) I vote we change the blog to the new blog. Peer pressure, Colin.

That One Commercial

Just in case you hadn't seen it.

-Eric

trying

so i'm trying to break the not posting streak
so i'm posting a video i thought was funny
you may find it retarded
but i laughed

new blog

hey colin the blog can be switched over to the new blogger now

So

So, what if you got past enough energy levels in chem, (spdf and it continues with ghijk..etc..) that you came back to s. What would you do?. Maybe you cant because the most electrons in an element wouldnt get you back to S. I just havent done the math. But i mean if you could. What would you do?

I'd probably piss myself.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yea yeah! woop woop!!!!

EVERYBODY DANCE AND CELEBRATE!

<3333