Nightfall in America, part 1005...

I saw a perfectly wonderful Nightline last night: America's losing its preeminence in medical science because of GW Bush's intransigence about stem cell research. Is anyone surprised? Where's the outrage? Oh yeah, it's all about the Paris Hilton Carl's Jr. ad. Never mind that Carl's Jr. had a far more egregious ad earlier this year, with a gangsta-talking fetus talking about "(B)ustin' out early, grab somethin' on the way out an' take it with me!" if his mom doesn't stop eating spicy food like the spicy $6 Burger. Never mind this all is pretty weird when you consider that Carl Karcher Enterprises has given tons of money to Right Wing/Christian Conservative/Anti-Choice groups throughout its history.

Changing the subject entirely...

It looks very good for my passing Math 114 now. Yeah, I know that's a big reversal from where I was at not more than a week ago, but now I have the information and have done the math about how I did throughout this just-ended Spring Semester 2005. The last math test I took I got an 80/100. This means that the scoreboard looks like:
Test 1 (Chapter 6) 75
Test 2 (Chapter 7) 70 *** eliminated ***
Test 3 (Chapter 4) 80
Test 4 (Chapter 9) 80

75+80+80=235. 235/3=78.33333333(infinite).

It's not a B but it is pretty close. It certainly is an "authoritative" C, just like Villaraigosa had an "authoritative" win at the polls a week ago. The weighting on grades goes basically like this: 65/30/5, where 65% is for the chapter tests, 30% is for the final, and 5% is for homework and class participation. However, for a quick thumbnail sketch, let's look at it as 75% chapter tests and 25% for the final.

75+80+80+45=280. 280/4=70.

When you play with the numbers even more to make it resemble the way Prof. Carthew is going to arrive at final grades, it becomes clear that even if I get a hideously low score on my final exam, I have a long way to drop before I go below the pass line of 70% total grade points.

HOWEVER...I am not going to use this as an excuse to slack off. I might even have the possibility of a B if I work really, really hard and do well on the test.

Anyway, what I'm saying here is that when I walk across the stage to get the super spiffy LA Valley College certificate holder (tm), I will have a very good chance of being able to fill it with an actual Associate of Arts Cum Laude in Liberal Arts (I) certificate a couple of months later. w00t.