It kind of makes me sad

As of yesterday, it's now a new semester with almost all new classes. So it's time to compare my predictions from the other day with how my new classes actually are.

First block, Programming II, is taught by Mr. Mumtaz, whom I had for Programming I. We got right into things yesterday by learning basic things about databases and linking them to programs. The classroom is about half-full, and there are actually students in Programming II, III, and IV (which just goes to show that Web Design, the other option, is much more popular). Today we didn't work much because we listened to some people talk for some school "technology fair." There were a manager from BellSouth, a programmer who had started a local computer business, a professor from DeVry University, staff artists from the newspaper, a guy who designed TV spots, and a guy who worked for a security camera company. Whether their presentations in class comprised the entire technology fair remains to be seen.

Second block is still AP Euro, a class I've already had during the last semester. So, we're continuing our study of the history of Europe. Right now we're on the Industrial Revolution and how it created the gritty, impoverished working class. It kind of makes me sad thinking about all those people who suffered at the hands of the greedy bourgeois factory owners, who essentially became the new nobles. The working class themselves became the new peasants. (The old nobles and peasants just kind of faded away, I guess.) And it kind of makes me bored having to hear about obscure and not-so-obscure theorists who all wrote their own books about how they could improve the situation for the workers (or for the bourgeoisie).

Third block is Pre-Calculus. We're going over basic material right now, and though I was rusty at first, I'm glad we're going over it. I'd been told that Mr. Gates was boring, and he might just be. I guess it's hard for me to tell. The way he speaks sounds like he tries to make things interesting, but it fails on many people. If he is in fact boring, it's in an entertaining way (à la many or all of Ben Stein's acting roles).

I have B lunch, which is in the middle of third block. Yesterday I remembered what I like about B lunch: nothing. I was practically the last person to get lunch, thanks to taking the wrong way down the stairs. I fared better today, though. I've also realized that I can't really bring a healthy snack to lunch without having to carry it all the way, so I just might do without it if I can.

Anyway, back to third block. (See how annoying that is?) I guess I'll get better at math. I really need to improve in time for the SAT. Luckily, we're doing a bit of SAT practice in class, and on today's bit, I got all of the questions right. They were easier than I thought they'd be, actually.

Moving along to fourth block, I have American History Honors. The teacher, as I expected, is Mr. Weigel. It turns out that he seems to be a pretty swell guy. He's young, cool, and rather understanding on most fronts (though very tough on the ones that really matter, such as cheating). In those ways, I guess he's like the Mr. Firestone for the new generation. Today he started by asking for gossip about the other teachers and asked for our opinions on which were good and bad. Later, he was going over what it means to be American and, conversely, what it means to be un-American. To him, un-Americanness includes trying to kill the President, committing treason, being a communist, desecrating the flag, and refusing the draft. I would beg to differ on the last two points, and maybe on being a communist. But this is not a political blog, so I won't dwell on that.

All in all, this semester is off to a good start.

One Ask Jordon today.

Peter: Do you use PHP includes on your site? If so, have you ever had problems with includes withen folder directories? If so, how did you resolve this?

Yes, I use them, and the trick to fixing them relies on the issue between absolute and relative paths. If you use absolute paths, you should be able to use the same paths in any document. However, relative paths are shorter. If the page is in the main directory (which is the location of header.html), I simply refer to the file as "header.html"; in other directories, I refer to it as "../header.html" (perhaps only one leading period is necessary; it may depend on how much of a difference there is between the two directories).

Here's a large animated GIF showing the evolution of the Latin alphabet.

Here's a video that showcases computer magic (Quicktime, sound) used in commercials. If you saw a few of the finished products, you might never guess that they were created digitally. Snappy soundtrack, too.