Regents

The 11th grade has the English Regents on Thursday and Friday Mornings the 15th & 16th, History is the next Tuesday afternoon, and we take the last Regents at Yesodei Yisroel in 2006-Chemistry, on Wednesday afternoon-the 21st. Math B people have 2 take 2 Regents on the same day-Math B is in the afternoon of the 15th.
See
Regents Schedule

24 days of not-31-years?

What the 11th grade must learn over the next (approx.) 24 days of classes before May (when there will be AP's and maybe SAT's and then Finals and Regents in June.)

• English- Nothing really, kind of pointless anyways.
• History- 1807 to 2006 in American History. The AP is on Friday of May 5th.
• Calculus- (Math B is ahead i think) Basically the whole course (especially Integrals). The AP is on May 3rd.
  
• Chemistry- Officially chapters 11 to 25 but for most people probably 4 to 25. (The regents aren't that hard, so u may not need to learn that much)
• Jewish History - see English.
  

What exactly is e/o planning on doing? (i guess e/o has to to do what BG did and do it on their own.)
Good Chodesh e/o
Me she'nichnas Adar marbin b'simcha

Seventeen

Happy (belated) Birthday to Not Crack

Eleven Questions

The New Jersey Driving Test can have up to 11 question which aren't in the 2004 manual. Maybe you should use the 2003 manual

Careful what you Blog!

I put a reminder on the side to everyone not to say any Lashon Hara about anyone. Good Night.

New! Audio.

I'm going to try an audio post via telephone now. Any member (i think) can call from anywhere to put an audio posting on the blog. They just need to sign up from their profile page.

Size of Soday Track

I changed the Soday link and put rough reference points. Someone can print the photo out (or first rotate it around and make new pinpoints) and then measure it precisely. I did some quick estimated measures and got 8 x 1.5 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches = 18.5 inches = 317 yards (when 1.75 inches = 30 yards) = 951.4 feet. This is less than the tape measure measurement, but its just 4 straight lines, the bendy details might be the other 233 feet. Also I wasn't sure what the track's points where. Again, someone can print out the "bird's eye" photo and measure it better.

Body
So day
So-day
Soda
Soddy
Edit...
Ignore all
Add to dictionary

precisely
Presley
princely
pressingly
preciously
Edit...
Ignore all
Add to dictionary

Weather at Mountain Creek tommorow

The weather will be between 20-30 degrees but it will feel like 15-22 because of the windchill. It will be partly cloudy and later sunny with a 20% chance of precipitation. Everyone going should bring food, gloves, money, hot cocoa, and thermal wicking underwear.

Learn Hebrew

This post can be viewed here.

The Tissue

I think I'm going to make another literary magazine but instead of having 10 kids spend a year on it, I'll try to do it a few minutes. I think I 'll print out a copy on my computer but I'm not sure how to print some things upside-down, etc. (It will be the size of a quarter-page) does anone know? It will be useful in making many mini-books.

Glunk?

Nebach! may one day be a big blog with a large readership so I think I might need a better name than "Glunker". I could do any name I want. Any suggestions?

Skiing trip II

Update
The skiing trip is tommorow, were leaving around 8:45 and being picked up around 6:10.

Hunk?!

I thought I had invented the word "Hunk?" (said when someone or something makes no sense, works much better then 'huh?' since it has a 'nk' to emphasize) but it turns out the word already has two other definitions, so it may not even be the best word to use in some circumstances.

Computers and money.

Soday promised they would have computers 2 years ago and they still don't have a single computer that kids can use. In the 21st century I think computers are rather important, probably more important than teachers (that's only a slight exaggeration and computers don't cost $100 an hour.) Knowing how to use Microsoft Office, how to use the internet, how to make websites, how to type, how to program, etc.* are far more important and useful than knowing who all the signers of the Declaration of Independence were.
So why doesn't the school have computers? It can't be money, because the building cost a million dollars, they spend thousands making holes in the ground, and they leave the A/C and heating on over vacation. (They should really get timer thermostats, that way it will go on and off when necessary, and it won't always be set for 90 or 50 or both.) I'm not sure what the real reason is, maybe the school is just to lazy and doesn't realize how important computers are.

*Computers can also be used for reference, research, and review, besides being an excellent tool to learn new things too. (Some universities offer classes that are given entirely on computers.)

Is wearing a hat a halacha?

[Post removed because of -] An updated version can be found on Nebach!

Skiing II

Is there going to be another skiing trip this Monday? We need to get 15 people to get a group rate and even then it will still cost $45 to $55 + tax.

Vegetables

I found an interesting story about vegetables. It begins like this:

The Vegetable Garden

Once upon a time there was a vegetable garden. In the garden there was a pumpkin, who had found an old shoe box and was using it to hold stuff...

You can get the rest of the story here. Just scroll all the way down and you'll see the interesting the story about vegetables. You can comment here what you think of the story.

Bigger Blogging

I created the Nebach! blogsite. From now on I will post blogs on general Jewish topics on it and then copy them to this blog.

Ad-Free Blogging

I deleted all the Google Ads since there wasn't really any point in them and they were almost slightly annoying.

In-Shabbos

There was an unofficial in-shabbos in Passaic this past shabbos, and I'm tired so I'm getting off the computer. More details forthcoming.

Note Who

At the bottom of this post it says "posted by Glunker". That means I posted this post. I haven't posted under any other name so if it doesn't say Glunker under a post its not me posting.

Tales of a SGT

The Squishy Green Thingy was being thrown around the class, so R' Schm. took it. He was squeezing it and it popped. The end. Or what should have been the end. (to be cont?)

31 years of Batalah

Most yeshivas start teaching gemara in 5th or 6th grade and 'learn' for about 2 hours a day (in YSV i think it was from 9:00-11:00). There is also learning on Sundays, Fridays, and other half-days. If there are 180 days of gemara-learning in a year, in 3 years one learns about 1080 hours. A secular subject is only learned 40 minutes a day, 4 days a week, and about 120 days a year. So a year of one subject is 80 hours. That means 3 years of elementary-school gemara is really like 13.5 years of learning! After 13 years of learning you would think the kids should come out knowing how to read a gemara perfectly, but alas, this is not the case.
In 3 years of high-school there's at least another 1400 hours of learning-time (there's more hours per day and mishmar) which is the equivalent of 17.5 years of learning! So after 31 years you would think everyone should have completely mastered all gemara-related skills there are!
How come this isn't actually the case? I think it has to do with the emphasis placed on HLD (hours learned per day) instead of actual amount of learning skills gained. If there were only 40-minute periods but they actually emphasized learning the necessary skills instead of HLD, they could teach all the basic skills by the end of elementary school. They could give a Gemara final at the end of 8th grade which would test all the basic gemara skills a person needs. It could be a random gemara which everyone would have to learn during the test and then answer questions to show they understand it. This only sounds unrealistic because of the bad education system that's already in place.

Can Elephants Jump? (Tosafos might have assumed so)

Pickleheads can view the post by clicking here.

Another Blog

I think I'm going to create another blog which will be similar to this blog but won't have soday news and will therefore have a much larger potential audience. I'm not sure what its url will be.

Splash of the day

Elson was in the kitchen and said s/t dumb to me which he thought was very funny. So funny, he started laughing even though he was in the middle of drinking. He ran over to the sink as water and saliva drooled out of his mouth. I decided the water I was about to drink could serve a better purpose as a projectile. I was a few feet away but all of the water hit its mark- elson's face. Nothing else got wet. Elson laughed some more, this time wet.

Hilchos Shabbos - First Melachah

I will start with the melachos of garments first since they are not too complicated, not well known, and very important (since they can happen very often).
The first Melachah is Gozez, Shearing.
The mishkan was covered with woolen curtains and it was nessesary to shear a sheep to get the wool, so that is the Av Melachah of Gozez. The Melachah d'oraysa of Gozez is detatching s/t from self or another living thing (or formerly living thing) for any benefit.*

Common Gozez Cases:

• Cutting Nails
• Cutting Hair
• Removing skin

I probably will give more details this week.
Remember Members, if u keep hilchos shabbos u'll get a prize!

( machlokes if d'oraysa but i think this is the halacha. see tosafos on shabbos 94b)

Problem

For some reason I can't access soday.blogspot.com, I even tried using ol' Internet explorer. I'm able to edit it and view all posts from the edit page. If the problem continues I might try getting rid of the Google Ads. btw, e/o should click on the link to get firefox if they don't have it, it has a lot of features which internet explorer deosn't have. (e.g. tabbed browsing, installed searchbar for many different sites, better bookmarking, pop-up blockers, and protection against viruses and spyware.)

Controversial Topics

I don't see why not, so I think I'll also discuss certain Torah (and Jewish) topics on this blog. This may include: Science, Miracles, Metaphors, Lakewood, Black Hats, Israel, Metzitzah, Jumping Elephants, Headless Chickens and Pickle Heads.

Ads

I stuck in some Google Ads since it makes the sight seem more important that way. I don't expect it to generate much revenue since I would need some more regular readers for that to work. (The most I could hope for is 25-30 regular readers, I would need 25,000-30,000 to make real money.)
Q:How do Google Ads Work?
A:Good Question. Advertisers buy Keywords from Google (a link to their site shows up when someone seaches that keyword) and pay Google every time someone clicks on their link (This is how Google makes most of its money). They also can have Google put ads on websites that sign up. Every time someone clicks on an ad, the advertiser pays Google some cents which it then shares a portion of with the site-owner.

Shemiras Shabbos Book published

3 copies of the shemiras shabbos book were printed today. To get a copy, request one, they're not that expensive. The shemiras shabbos club is open to all 11th graders who agree to keep shabbos. They will recieve free snack and get a chance to win the Grand Prize (a green squishy thingy) 9th and 10th graders may be able to get in also if they have enough connections and money. A new halachah or two may be taught each week and members are responsible to know and keep all of them. The halachos may be posted here. In the meantime, members, and all other Jews, can read a hilchos shabbos book on their own.

kenasos?

The kenas system is barely being enforced at all so there's no points in posting the scores. Most people who were untucked were just told to get dressed, and i don't think a/o got a worse kenas even though RW for sure saw people eating and talking in the halls during class. I guess a $10 kenas is a bit unrealistic. I asked RW what the scores where and he responed "[???] u!", I'm not sure what he said but i think he meant "excuse me!"