Saturday, May 10, 2008

Final Exams

I got this from a classmate who now lives in the Northwest. He has my thanks.

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.

2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.

3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph

4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.'

5. Define case; illustrate each case.

6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.

7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.



Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare?

4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. Long at $20 per metre?

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt



U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?

8. Name event s connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.





Orthography (Time, one hour)

[Do we even know what this is??]

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.

8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.





Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of North America

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco .

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.


Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.

Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?!

Also shows you how poor our education system has become! and, NO! I don't have the answers!




Poker - Poor starting hands

I think I read this from Doyle Brunson... A King-Queen off suit is the most over rated starting hand in Holdem.... I'm not sure if he gave a detailed explanation, but I recently saw this. (I wasn't in the hand.)

The cards were dealt and the player in position 5, a mid position, made it two bets. Position 8 and the button called as did the Big Blind. I later found that the raiser had Kh-Qd.. The flop came Kc-4s-7h... The Big Blind checked, position 5 bet and was called by position 8 and the button. The Big Blind folded. The next card was a Jd. Position 5 bet and position 8 raised.. The Button folded and Position 5 called. The river was a 3c. Position 5 checked, Position 8 bet and was called by 5. Position 8 turned over A-K and took the pot.

Simply put, Position 8 had the best kicker. The guy on the button noted that position 5 would have been better off with a Q on the flop, which was true but not appreciated by the player in position 5...

I didn't see much wrong with position 5's play. It was a limit game so the maximum cost of the mistake was one bet. But in No Limit it would have been dreadful. Position 8 bet the river for value, which I probably would not have done. Position 5 could have raised on a small pair and flopped a set, or made a set or two pair when the Jd came on the turn, in which case I would have been trapped for three bets. Risking two for a return of one doesn't appeal to me.

Also the "one bet mistake" is more important than players sometimes think. If you can save 5 "mistakes" in a 20-40 game that is $200, which is a nice piece of change.

But the real problem with K-Q is that it sets you up to win a small pot or lose a large one. Many people play A-J, A-T, T-9, J-T, A-Q, especially if suited. So a two pair flop of K-Q means that someone is likely to be drawing a strong hand against you.

Am I saying I won't play it? Nope. Just that I won't raise before the flop unless I'm in very late position against only the blinds.

BTW - If you have never read Brunson and are interested in poker, you should Google him up and buy his books. Even if you don't play they are well written and interesting.



Apple is last and Gore leads them.

Several blogs are starting to pick up on this, I first read it on BizyBlog and followed it over to Digital Trends.

Another year, another report card…and another year Apple comes in dead last.

ClimateCounts has released its annual scorecard tallying up how major companies stack up on a set of 22 environmental criteria, including the extent to which they've publicly disclosed their climate-related actions, whether they support (or block!) progressive climate laws, reduce their impact on global warming, and attempt to measure their climate footprint. Last year, Apple came in dead last among electronics companies; this year, nothing has changed, with Apple scoring only 11 out of a possible 100 points. Even Finland's Nokia, which placed next-to-last, managed 37 out of 100.


This is interesting on at least two levels.

First, Apple is generally the beloved company of the environmentalists and those who see it as a small garage shop taking on the evil Microsoft.

Secondly, Al Gore is on Apple's board.

Now you would think that Pope Algore would be thundering from the Valley about how this must be changed, and giving notice that he will leave the board should it not. But no, he does not. Just as he chooses to fly on private jets and live in a house that has a carbon footprint 20 times the average citizen's home, he demonstrates again that he feels he is above the rest of us.

Do as I say, not as I do is his obvious position.

Couple this with the just released information that April was the 29th coolest month in 114 years, the fact that the earth has not been warming for the past 10 years along with the newly released information that the satellite collected ocean temperature readings show no increase and you can see that this is just about money and power.

Power for Al and your money for him to spend.



Articles I stop reading.... and why

This is by Jonathan Salant in Bloomberg on McCain.

Employees from the securities, construction, pharmaceutical and energy industries, who accounted for about a tenth of Bush's money in 2004, are turned off by his record and giving more to his Democratic rivals, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

``A significant percentage of your base Republican support, whether financial or otherwise, are not fans of McCain because of various things he's done or said or sponsored,'' said Republican consultant Eddie Mahe, who is supporting the Arizona senator. ``Many of them don't see Mr. McCain as being a lot better'' than the Democrats.


Uh, Jon..... If they don't see McCain as being a lot better, that means they do see him as better..... Now, if they see him as better, why are they giving money to people who will trash their industries like the Clintons trashed the White House?

Now. Are you sure that's what Mahe said? And are you sure he is supporting McCain??
And why, seeing as how you are a sure 'nuff journalist, didn't these points occur to you??

BTW - Did you forget to mention that McCain is sharp tempered and 71 years old?? I mean I wouldn't want you to miss anything.



My Father-in-law



was a man of few words, but those that he used were very descriptive.

One phrase was: "He was grinning like a jackass eating blackberry briars."

I trust you can see the connection.

My thanks to Drudge for the photo.



Global Warming Redux

I knew April was cold:

The average temperature in April 2008 was 51.0 F. This was -1.0 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 29th coolest April in 114 years.


My garden will be at least three weeks late with tomatoes and other warm weather veggies. Meaningless to me, but not to many who depend on their gardens for food on the table and storage for later use. This is a double whammy with gasoline prices jacking produce prices out of sight and utility bills expected to double over the next year.

Link

In the meantime speculators continue to rip the US based on a presumption that the US might attack Venezuela. Not a bad idea, but that comes out as "when pigs fly." The Demos who assumed control when gas was $2.00 a gallon seem to think they are blameless. It is apparent that no one is watching the store.

Bush has become a bad joke and Hussein still thinks tax increases will fix the economy. We desperately need a "worm hole" to slip the country forward for five months. Perhaps McCain will use GITMO as a holding compound for those folks ripping us up on oil.

Oh Hugo where art thou???