Monday, October 31, 2005

The internet kills people?

Well, it seems as if our school has decided to further overstep their place in society by attempting to control what we do on the internet. They sent home a letter with all students today, which I've courteously posted for you all to see (click for full-size).




Front




Back


I mean really, what gives our school the idea that they can tell us what we can and can't do off of school property? I am disappointed in our administration if they have nothing better to do than police students' personal pages on the internet. While they undertake this exercise in futility, much larger problems beckon from within the school itself. Students still frequently get in fights, drug deals occur almost daily just a stone's throw from the school, and (worst of all) our lunch food leaves much to be desired.


I hope that soon, our school will learn its place and concentrate on problems within school, rather than prying into the private lives of students. Until then, you can rest assured that you'll be updated on this issue here, while I eat cold fries at lunch every day.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Last Post Here

Since Wordpress kicks so much more butt than Blogger, I have imported AFYP there, and I will no longer make posts through Blogger.

You can view my new, improved blog at:

http://chrismartin.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

School policing the internet?

Okay, so here's what I so far have from reliable sources. Today, the administration of our Cortland Jr/Sr High has suspended several students from after-school activities, because of stuff the school found on the internet. Apparently, the administration has been searching around on myspace.com for students' personal pages, and they have a list of all students found to have "drug or alcohol-related content" on the internet.

~News flash~
The school has no right to
punish students for anything
done off school property.


It is simply out of their jurisdiction. It is none of the school's business, what students post on the internet on their own time. I wouldn't hesitate to wonder if our administration is trying to turn our school into some fascist commune. I'm not saying that I condone drug/alcohol use, but this is a free speech issue. Material that students post on the internet is not the school's business. I can write whatever I want here, because the United States Constitution guarantees me a right to free speech. This is what makes America so great.

The school has no right to do this. The administration is inviting media coverage, lawsuits, and angry phone calls. I think it'll do our administrators some good, as they desperately need a reality check.

If I hear of any further developments, you can be assured that I'll post them. Good night everyone.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Send this to 15 people or else you will get pregnant!

No, I haven't seen any as asinine as that yet, but I hate it when I get sent stupid crap like this on IM every day though...

"[5:34:55] tomorrow morning your crush will fall madly in love
with you. You guys will hook up, and your crush will
ask you out. Tomorrow will be the best day of your
life. However, if you don't send this to at least 10
people bye @ least 10:00 tonight you will have bad
luck in you love life for the rest of your life. This
is not a stupid one or a fake. Just copy and paste"

That is copied verbatim (though I so wanted to correct the grammar) from a message I received today. The scary thing is, I get all these from friends, most of them level-headed and smart. What do they hope to accomplish, besides the endless propagation of a few lines of poorly-written text? We may never know.

What our school really needs

Another thing that makes no sense to me regarding school is their stupid budget. Right now, the school spends $9000 on each student per year. That's a hefty 50 bucks per day. Some of that goes to heating the building, paying the teachers, and fueling the busses. But you have to wonder what they do with the rest? I'll tell you what they should do with the rest...


Why not a food court?


Although this would cost the school some money to build, it would save them money in the end, since they'd no longer be paying for food. Instead of eating the same old crap every day, we would have some free enterprise competition ensuring that our food is high-quality and affordable. And we'd have awesome selection; I'd imagine that the 1,350 regular attendees of our school would be more than enough to support 2 or 3 fast food joints. This could look something like the Carousel mall or TC3, just on a smaller scale. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of having cold fries, grade-F meat, and limp, chunky bagels. Feel free to present this idea to your favorite administrator.