YouTuber Ray William Johnson (of =3 fame) just launched a new channel made of 100% pure awesomesauce! Check out the first vid that just went live today. And geek on this for a minute: before the channel even launched, it already had north of 150,000 subscribers!
[My Balls]
Newly published test scores suggest most school students are falling short of proficiency in science study, with a high proportion failing to reach even a basic level.
The figures, which cover tests in 2009, come from the National Assessment of Educational Assessment Progress, which is also known by the catchier brand name “The Nation’s Report Card.” It’s not a test of all students, but rather 156,500 fourth-graders, 15,100 eighth-graders and a surprisingly low 11,100 twelfth-graders.
The selection process involved picking schools that best represented the national, state and local demographics, and then picking students at random from these schools. Students with disabilities or other special educational needs were given special conditions (such as additional time) along the lines of what they would receive on a state exam basis.
The results led to students being graded as achieving a basic, proficient or advanced level for their age group. Among fourth graders, 72% reached at least the basic grade, 34% reached at least proficient, and 1% reached the advanced level. That left 28% that failed to reach the basic grade.
Among eighth-graders, 27% failed to reach basic, 63% reached at least basic, 30% reached at least proficient, and 2% reached advanced.
In the twelfth-grade, 40% failed to reach basic, 60% reached at least basic, 21% reached at least proficient, and 1% reached advanced.
The report also provided a host of demographic breakdowns, and let’s just say anyone hoping to see stereotypes shattered is out of luck. White, Asian and Pacific Islander children did better than Hispanic and African American children; boys generally outperformed girls; and as for Mississippi, the less said the better.
And while there’s no single easy answer for improving children’s performance, being in a private rather than public school, having rich and well-educated parents, and not living in an inner city all help produce better results.
Although there have been similar assessments in the past, officials have stressed that the way the testing was organized means results are not directly comparable. For example, these tests put less emphasis on simply remembering facts and more on using science knowledge and skills to solve problems.
The Associated Press notes the results have prompted debate about educational priorities. One theory is that the added emphasis on literacy and numeracy of the No Child Left Behind program may have detracted from the attention paid to subjects such as science. The counter argument is that without basic reading and mathematical skills, children would struggle to cope with science study in the first place.
There are some searches on Etsy that always bring you to something awesome, and I’ve found that “Cthulhu” is one of them. So here are a few Lovecraft-inspired crafts to get you through to doomsday.
Giant snakes. Giant alligators. Eighties pop stars in hair-pulling cat fights. Oh, SyFy, never change.
Airing this Saturday at 9 EST is Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, a monster movie romp through the Florida everglades pitting an animal rights advocate (Debbie) against a park ranger (Tiffany) and a bunch of oversized reptiles.
For those of you who don’t remember, Debbie Gibson was the adorable, crimp-haired singer bopping around in malls in the mid-eighties. Tiffany was the other adorable, crimp-haired singer bopping around in malls in the mid-eighties. Listen to “Electric Youth” or “I Think We’re Alone Now” to remind yourself. You also might remember Gibson from Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. I guess her appearance was so successful that SyFy decided that eighties pop stars are the secret ingredient to VERSUS movies.
Here are some of my suggestions for future SyFy projects:
Do you guys have any more ideas? Leave them in the comments, if you dare to share… clearly there is money to be made here.
In this installment of we-find-the-coolest-stuff-on-Flickr, we examine the undead of the blood-sucking variety. From the sexy to the scary to the… weird, or furry, here’s a look at some vampires lurking on film.
Got blood? – drurydrama (CC)
Yep, you too can build any of these awesome LEGO guns at home, thanks to Badass LEGO Guns: Building Instructions for Five Working Guns.
The big news coming out of the comic book world yesterday has been the apparent shut-down of Wizard Magazine and ToyFare Magazine, both long-standing print publications that revolutionized the reporting of all things nerdy for the last 20 years. Wizard World, started in 1991 by Gareb Shamus, was at one time the voice of the mainstream comic book industry, but due to some bad business decisions and a reluctance to fully embrace the web, the company’s influence has steadily declined over the years.
The decision meant that virtually all of the employees – teams of writers, artists, designers, and editors, as well as all freelance contracts – are to be terminated. This is definitely bad news for these people, but it could be good news for some comic book or geek-related websites who will be able to add some real talent to their stable of employees in the coming weeks. Surely there’s enough work in this nerdy field to go around.
While it might be the end of the print publication, it doesn’t mean the end of Wizard the corporation. In fact, Wizard World, Inc., will become a publicly-owned entity so that they can expand their Wizard World comic book conventions. And in a somewhat confusing move, the company will launch a new website in February that will essentially be a digital version of the print magazine they shut down yesterday. One can only assume they fired their existing magazine staff to either start the new site with a clean slate of contributors, probably at a rate of pay lower than they’re currently shelling out.
While Wizard has plenty of detractors, there’s no question the publisher was an important part of the popularization of the comic book culture, especially in the 1990s. Will it be able to recapture that flame by focusing on conventions and online efforts? Only time can tell.
How do you feel about Wizard closing up shop? Will you miss it? Do you think they have a shot at being a major force in comics again? Tell us about it in the comments section.
Tags: comic books, comics, toyfare magazine, wizard magazine
