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I Thought Today Might Be Less Stupid Than Yesterday. Sadly, No.
Some high school students and Louisiana saw another student draw a square root symbol as part of a math problem. Thinking it resembled a gun, they flew into a panic and called police. Police went to the math student’s home and searched it. I am not making this up.
My actual favorite part of this story is how the reporter felt it necessary to explain, “the symbol, which represents a number that when multiplied by itself equals another number.”
You’ll be relieved to know the police found nothing more threatening than algebra homework. The student may will still face disciplinary action at the school though.
Oh, and some idiots in the Seattle area freaked out and called the media to report that a neighbor was flying a Confederate flag. It was the flag of Norway. I only wish I were making that up.
But there is also good news.
Published in General
#metoo
Perhaps Congress should restrict the age at which square roots are calculated. And put a complete ban on the civilian use of cube roots.
They never say just what the kid’s comment was that “could sound like a threat when taken out of context”
I have 20 bucks that says when someone said the symbol looked like a gun the kid quipped something about “a dangerous radical”
I was just about to quote @IowaHawkBlog: “Radical, man”
I give up.
Just when I thought nobody could top Portland in the BSC category, Seattle has to go and up the ante.
I mean, honestly, does anyone really need a cube root? If we can save even one life, the sensible thing is just to make sure that they’re only ever used by trained professionals. It’s all about the children.
I liked the story where they wanted to keep the medical records of animals in SF(?) zoo secret to guard the animals’ privacy.
I’m cheering for the cow! Who is probably the smartest sentient being in all three of these reports. Truly, I despair, and fear I have lived too long.
VTK,
So our high school students have been infantilized down to this. Ignorant of the simple obvious explanations they should have been well aware of and quick to go for the most hysterical response, they screamed wolf and there was no wolf.
Just another day in the neighborhood.
Regards,
Jim
If you read the article in the OP, the picture changes a bit.
http://www.miamiherald.com/article201604224.html
It doesn’t sound like someone called the police because they saw a scary
pop tartsquare root symbol. It sounds like someone made a joke about shooting up the place. Probably still an over-reaction, but we don’t know what really happened.Our society is too stupid to survive. We should just shut it down now.
Let’s start from first principles:
A square root symbol looks nothing like a gun…
Your title and story are so hilarious! That is the laugh of the day! Main Feed needs it!
Whence did they get a warrant?
Now THAT is a good question…
I have relatives on the Isle of Man, and I have a Manx flag that I’d love to display publicly, but of course I know I cannot do that.
Q.E.D.
I wonder what he said. Maybe “I could use that to eliminate all the squares.”
The Eye of Sauron has moved on, to the German figure skater who had the insensitivity and indecency to skate her program to music from Schindler’s List.
Never mind that the music has been a staple for programs at national and international competitions for years. This time, something called Nancy Armour, who seems to be a USA Today columnist, must have seen the caption at the start of the program, and Tweeted, “NO ONE SHOULD BE SKATING TO SCHINDLER’S LIST!!!!!!!” (All caps, and seven exclamation points, in the original.)
(I’m assuming that she must have read the caption (doing her the courtesy of believing she can read), because I find it highly unlikely she’d recognize the music).
And she’s apparently missed the point of the movie.
And the political statement that a skater (if anything other than the thought that “this is a nice piece of skating music that many, including a world and Olympic champion have skated to over the years,” had even crossed her mind), might be making in skating to music from the much admired and awarded film that honored Oskar Schindler.
This set off the Daily Outrage Machine, and I guess social media is in an uproar.
See, this is why I have the heart of a technocrat. I know most people are far dumber than I am, and if they would just do as I say, the world would work better.
However, since I know that I am not going to be on top, I don’t want some jerk like me telling *me* what to do. Thus we are stuck with letting these morons have a say.
Meanwhile the MSM has been going gaga over the representatives of the brutal regime of N. Korea.
I read in an update at the Washington Times that the school is considering expulsion for the kid who drew the square root symbol. No, I’m not kidding.
Maybe the FISA judges were working overtime.
Like^2.
Zero tolerance for reckless deriving.
Methinks the students are getting ahead of the curriculum — they are already getting into realm of the “imaginary.”
Then can the dreaded ‘±’ be far behind?
Oh, that is terrible!
In fairness, calculus teachers are all terrorists and should be treated as such.