I can post! I can post!

[thistlechaser]

I feel like posting endlessly, now that I can again. Silly LJ, don't go down again!

Random tidbits:

- I had a parakeet named Tidbit. I have no idea why I named it that, but I sure did like that bird. I'd love to have another one sometime, though I love having a cat more.

- I saw a post about this on my friendfriends list: School District Won't Allow Black Valedictorian. I have no idea if the story is true or not (though that it happened in Arkansas makes me lean towards 'Duh...') because I stopped reading at this point:

"Although the high school is predominantly white, 46 percent of students are African-American."

...wait, what? If 46% of the students are black, then no it's not predominantly white. o.O White students have a slight majority. Words have meaning, people! (Edit: Now I'm questioning myself, and google/online dictionaries aren't clear and don't agree. Some say that a simple majority = predominant. I always thought it meant a vast majority, a large majority, not a 'by the skin of your teeth majority'. Am I wrong?)

- I have no idea what, if anything, has suddenly changed about Sealed Vial of Poison (I can find no mention of anything changing), but suddenly they're selling like hotcakes. All those that I went into Cata with?

They're finally selling! Woot! I started selling them at 100 gold and have been going up from there. Only a dozen or so left, sadly.

- I'm waiting to hear from a GM about getting a name freed. Dogcatcher was slightly amusing at first, but now it makes me mumble. There's a level 1 with a much nicer name, so I entered a ticket asking for it to be freed. The ticket has been escalated, which was a good sign in all my previous name freeings. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have my new Alliance AH mule! I kinda feel the same about the guild name. Team Jacob. It was kind of amusing in the beginning (what with worgens/werewolves all new), but now I'm kind of really meh about it. I'd consider selling it, but I have so much stuff in the bank. Maybe I'll like it more with a worgen wearing it, instead of human Dogcatcher.

Posting posting posting!

Comments

[tharpy.livejournal.com]

I've always used predominately most interchangeably with super-majority.

The only other thing i'd point out... the only statistic is that the school is 46% african-american, we also track latin origins in our statistics. I don't that figure is 0%.

So..in my opinion describing the school as predominately white...is wrong.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep, agreed. (And hello! :D )

Let's see if LJ will actually post this...

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

So I'm reading the article, is the daughter (the student) seeking damages on her own or is the mother seeking damages on her behalf? Basically I'm curious as to if it's a "Student is denied status due to race and seeks justice" or a "Mother living through daughter seeking justice". Obviously either way the situation shouldn't have come up in the first place but it does change how I look at the people involved.

As for predominately, so far as I knew it simply meant to be mostly made up of, or to have the most of. To have a majority, or simply more then half of. So even if it was 50.1% white and 49.9% black it would still be predominately white. Simply because it is mostly made up of white. Barely, but still mathematically more whites then blacks. Although in that situation one would probably just go 50/50 as opposed to splitting hairs. I don't know of a word that would be used to indicated a large majority other then... large majority (huzza adjectives!).

Either way though, fairly stupid to say someone can't be valedictorian because they didn't happen to be in the majority of students... In fact, isn't the valedictorian supposed to be someone who climbs above the rank and file of people and excels above all else in their academic achievement? Shouldn't that alone mean that it also transcends race/sex/whatever? These people have no idea what words are do they?

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Reading more I think I can see where the idea with predominately comes from. Looking at the etymology (why do I know what that is?!) it has roots to "dominate" (duh) which in modern working means more of a crushing majority or at least large enough to render the minority of no concern. Although it seems that is more of a combining of definitions then anything else. On it's own to dominate can still simply mean "have more then" but when used in terms of comparison to surroundings (like with mountains or trees for example) it has more of a large looming or overshadowing feel to it.

So, in conclusion, yes and no. Yes because technically you could use it that way and still be right. No because it has a different connotation then what is meant to be transferred to the reader in this situation.

Simply using "majority" would have been better since I would hope most people know that the alligator eats the larger meal! 54 > 46. I didn't learn it that way, but that always amused me.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Like Quistie said below: "Yay for lazy (and dishonest) journalism!"

That about sums it up.

And alligators are smart. I'd eat the larger meal, too Mmm 54.

[quistie.livejournal.com]

(No idea if I'll be able to post this comment *successfully*)

If 46% of the students are African-American, then chances are the majority of the students are not white. What are the chances that the number of Hispanic/Asian/Native American/Misc = 4% or less? That seems extremely unlikely.

Also, the headline is totally misleading. The school district *did* allow a black valedictorian. The issue seems to be that the school named another student as co-valedictorian later on. Whether that decision is justified or not is open to question, but that is not the same issue suggested by the headline.

Yay for lazy (and dishonest) journalism!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yay for lazy (and dishonest) journalism!

That's what annoyed me, yep.

And for the moment, LJ seems to be permitting comments!