Midterm Exam (Days 64-66)

WORKING BACKWARDS
Sung by the Fat Boys

1st Verse:
Tonight our show begins at ten,
There's a lot we got to do 'til then.
We gotta rehearse, we gotta eat,
Put our makeup on and find time to sleep.
What time do we need to start?
Let's take the backwards day apart.
Working backwards, we'll figure it out,
And show the world what we're all about!

Refrain:
Working backwards is the way,
To solve this problem, working backwards.
Working backwards is the way,
To solve this problem, working backwards!

2nd Verse:
*We got part of the day to fix our hair,
We need a half hour in the makeup chair.
They start their job at nine-thirty,
What time do we eat, my friend Markie Dee?
Thirty minutes is all it takes,
To eat a salad, to share a steak.
So tell the chef dinner starts at nine,
Working backwards is working fine!

(repeat refrain)

3rd Verse:
We need to nap before we eat,
About forty-five minutes of catching Z's.
We gotta rest, I hear my drum machine,
The lights go out at eight-fifteen.
We can't forget rehearsal time,
An hour and a quarter for beats and rhymes.
So rehearsal starts at seven o'clock,
Beat box, tell me, what time have you got?
Let's see -- my watch says seven o'clock already,
Wow, we better get moving right now!

(repeat refrain)

Today's fourth period was all about the midterms -- no, not the big midterm election yesterday, but the big midterm test given about a month or so before the final. Today's test is given on DeltaMath. Since there's no new Math I content today, I decide to perform a song that fits Math III instead -- and with this week's lessons on inverse functions, the Square One TV rap "Working Backwards" fits the bill.

Unfortunately, only the other Fat Boys songs, "One Million Is Big" and "Burger Pattern," are posted on YouTube as separate songs. Thus I must post a full Square One TV episode. Even though the song is the first skit of the episode, several commercials are posted (for nostalgic reasons) before the opening theme song. So you might wish to skip to 3:14 for "Working Backwards":

Notice that the beginning of the video has a scene from "One Billion Is Big" (the headline "Fat Boys Sell One Million Records.") Oh. and by the way, I like the part where the three backup girls start singing the refrain. They come in dancing -- backwards, of course!

Oh, and speaking of "One Billion Is Big," a Southern Californian won the largest lottery jackpot in history -- two billion dollars. No, I'm not the lucky winner. (I considered rapping "One Billion Is Big" again to celebrate the second billion, but the drawing was on Monday, a non-performing day.)

Since there's no Mocha code to discuss in this post, I'll use today to discuss other topics. It's my tradition to discuss Daylight Saving Time in one of my first two posts after the time change, and so let's continue that tradition now.

Recall that at the time of the spring transition, a Year-Round DST bill passed the Senate. Unfortunately, the bill stalled in the House. And with the tumultuous political climate these days, there was no way that the bill would be discussed before the midterms -- no, not the big midterm test given about a month or so before the final, but the big midterm election yesterday. So unless the bill is discussed during the lame duck session, we'll have to start all over next year.

This is the first time we've fallen back from DST since the start of the new California law requiring high schools to start at 8:30 (or later). Many teachers have expressed concern with the consequent 3:30 end of the school day  -- including the fact that there's now less time between the dismissal and sunset under Standard Time. There was a union discussion to find a way to end school earlier, either by shortening lunch or adding time to minimum/finals days.

Of course, one solution to all of these scheduling problems is Year-Round DST. Then we can keep the 3:30 dismissal and still have plenty of time between dismissal and sunset (say, for sports contests or other after school activities).

Meanwhile, our neighbors to the south are on the verge of eliminating biannual clock changes. It appears though that Mexico is leaning toward Year-Round Standard Time. Since the Tropic of Cancer passes through Mexico, there is less need for DST in that country in the first place. If the USA finally adopts Year-Round DST while Mexico keeps Year-Round Standard Time, we'd expect border cities on either side to deviate from the rest of their time zones in order to sync up with towns on the other side of the border.

Tomorrow is Third Pi Day, the 314th day of the year. As usual, I won't mention the special day in class (saving all the hoopla for First Pi Day, March 14th), but I will try to eat some pumpkin pie after school.

And the day after tomorrow is Veteran's Day. It's the first day off for teachers since Labor Day, and so it marks the end of DEVOLSON -- the Dark Vortex of Late September, October, and November. We'll finally get some time to rest, although I'm still working hard with grading midterms and notebooks, and doing the second hexter progress reports. (Days 64-66 in the title of the post refers to today, tomorrow, and Monday, with the next post scheduled for Tuesday as usual.)