I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more.

Fuffy ,'Storyteller'


Natter 70: Hookers and Blow  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Polter-Cow - Apr 20, 2012 2:36:43 pm PDT #1849 of 30001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Talking pineapple question on state exam stumps ... everyone!

Students across the state are still scratching their heads over an absurd state test question about a talking pineapple.

The puzzler on the eighth-grade reading exam stumped even educators and has critics saying the tests, which are becoming more high stakes, are flawed.

It really must be read to be believed. The story is crap, and the questions make no sense, and I don't understand how this is a test.

One of the questions even stumped 74 time Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings, who said of he "who is wisest" question, "Honestly, I'm still not particularly sure what the intended answer is."


JZ - Apr 20, 2012 2:48:48 pm PDT #1850 of 30001
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.

I love Daniel Pinkwater and that is one awesome talking pineapple story, but that thing was seriously never meant for multiple-choice testing. I so deeply hope Pinkwater himself weighs in on the controversy.

eta: Oh, just bless his big old heart to bits.


flea - Apr 20, 2012 2:57:43 pm PDT #1851 of 30001
information libertarian

I kind of love that hilarious story. And now I hope Scott Simon and Pinkwater discuss it on Weekend Edition on NPR very soon.

Connie, my Hawkins ancestor married an Elizabeth Hill as his first wife, and she died at 21 and is buried in "a lonely grave" at the intersection of the Oak Forest and Rogersville Road on the way to Waynesburg, PA. Hawkins was the state senator for the county from 1826-1832, and lived in Waynesburg, but when he retired he moved to Allegheny County. I can't find out a damn thing about his father, unfortunately.


Polter-Cow - Apr 20, 2012 3:00:06 pm PDT #1852 of 30001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Oh my, bless him, indeed.

I don’t know how the test publishing company changed the story. I gather they decided to call the rabbit a hare, and made the eggplant into a pineapple. Also there appears to be something about sleeves. And they made up questions for the students to answer. I would not have done any of these things. But it has nothing to do with me. I cashed the check they sent me after about 8 months, and took my wife out to lunch at a cheap restaurant. I believe, she ordered eggplant.


Connie Neil - Apr 20, 2012 3:03:01 pm PDT #1853 of 30001
brillig

Unfortunately, in the early 1800s, the distance between Waynesburg and my area is a long way, genealogically. Lots of tall hills and woods that keep people from marrying too far outside the immediate region.

What's your Hawkins ancestor's first name?


Consuela - Apr 20, 2012 3:08:16 pm PDT #1854 of 30001
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

I don't even know where I should post this: movies? fanfiction? literary?

Anyway: The Lizzie Bennet diaries, a webseries. The first episode is pretty charming.


flea - Apr 20, 2012 3:08:25 pm PDT #1855 of 30001
information libertarian

William George (1799-1876). I think he probably grew up In Greensboro; at least, his mother was buried there. His mother was from Springhill, a daughter of George Wilson. His father was William George Hawkins, too.


JZ - Apr 20, 2012 5:01:23 pm PDT #1856 of 30001
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.

::staggers home with Matilda through a surging sea of smelly hippiekids::

DIE DIE DIE 420 FUCKNUGGETS YOU SMELL AND YOUR HAIR IS STUPID GET OUT OF MY NEIGHBORHOOD AND DIE

That is all.


Kat - Apr 20, 2012 5:03:24 pm PDT #1857 of 30001
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo

But I've always lived where there basically isn't any other Asian population (if only I had known Kat when we were kids!) so it's not that startling.

Such a missed opportunity, Liese! I knew some Asians, but they were Filipino and, mostly, moneyed Filipino at that. One friend's grandpa was the governor of one province, the rest were all kids of doctors. So they didn't think of me as one of them since I'm a halfsie.

But yes, we should have known each other 30 years ago!


quester - Apr 20, 2012 5:07:00 pm PDT #1858 of 30001
Danger is my middle name, only I spell it R. u. t. h. - Tina Belcher.

eta: Oh, just bless his big old heart to bits.

Huh. I worked for the company that wrote that test. I have no insight to offer.