Stuff I'm Selling - Updated 6/27

Ask for price and pictures if needed. Email davis.randolph.thomas@gmail.com if interested:

• Spanish 4 Workbook: If you're lazy, here is my workbook. All of the assignments from Kirkpatrick have been filled in, which translates into most of the workbook.
• Real SAT II: Good information and practice on the SAT IIs.
• SAT II American History and Social Studies: Good information and practice on SAT II USH.
• SparkNotes APUSH: Note: I had Plette this year and these questions look awfully familiar. This was in fact Plette's own book....
• Barron's APUSH 2007: Good information and practice on APUSH.
• Kaplan APUSH 2006: Good information and practice on APUSH.
• Kaplan APUSH 2007: Good information and practice on APUSH.
• Cliffnotes APUSH 3rd Edition: Good information and practice on APUSH.
• Barron's AP Calculus 2008: Good practice for the class and the AP test
• Past Homework and Notes from AP Euro, Honors Euro Lit, Honors Spanish 4, APUSH, AP Physics
• Water Bottles (base price $10 but any customization is $11+): These are the water bottles as advertised by Howler, NTV, the many people who have already received theirs, and by Amnesty International as an environmentally-friendly and fair-trade product.
  
  As one of the board members on the Environmental Club, the club felt that it was necessary to take a more active role promoting green products and so chose to tackle all the plastic bottles thrown away every year by offering custom engraved, stainless steel water bottles.
  
  There are also 2 generic ones (wolf on earth, NHS). These are selling for $10 apiece. They will also be sold at club unity week. If you wanted a design that was only a solid color, those would be $11.
  
  As with before, these can be FULLY customized, including design, color, quote, and anything else written.
  
  The designs can be one of the stock designs I created (see the bottom link) or ones that you send in to me (Dimensions-1.5"w x 6.5"h). The designs do not have to be at all environmentally related. For those that I have created, see the top link to see if you like the design.
  
  These 24-oz. personalized stainless sport bottles come in a variety of vibrant colors! Stainless, blue, red, green, white, magenta, and black. Engraving shows up silver on most colors. Engrav-ing comes out smoky gray on black and shows up black on the stainless bottle.
  
  Stainless Steel personalized sport bottle; 2-tone threaded loop top; no liner, odor, and stain re-sistant; non-leaching; BPA-free; hot and cold drinks; and the weight is 10oz.
  
  The extra money will be given to Doctors without Borders most likely.
  
  As with before, there will be my high customer satisfaction with designs and efficiency.
  
  Also, feel free to buy an Enviro Club t-shirt (also environmentally friendly) and attend our meet-ings every Tuesday at lunch. In addition, check out Otter Club and the other pro-environment clubs, as well as do green activities.
  
  ---------------------
  
  Why plastic water bottles are bad:
  Environment----
  The Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and World Wildlife Fund have all urged their supporters to consume less bottled water. Anti-bottled water campaigns and organiza-tions, such as Corporate Accountability International, typically argue that bottled water is no better than tap water, and emphasize the environmental side effects of disposable plastic bot-tles. Producing and transporting bottled water requires vast amounts of raw materials and energy in comparison with tap water. In the United States, plastic used to create bottles uses an estimated 15 million barrels of oil annually. Over 90 percent of these bottles are not recycled, and most eventually end up in the ocean (Great Pacific Garbage Patch). Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly; the molecular bonds that make plastic so durable make it equally re-sistant to natural processes of degradation. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic have been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years. In some cases, burn-ing plastic can release toxic fumes. Burning the plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) may create dio-xin. Also, the manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical pollutants. Unfortunately, recycling plastics has proven difficult. The biggest problem with plastic recycling is that it is difficult to automate the sorting of plastic waste, and so it is labor intensive. Typical-ly, workers sort the plastic by looking at the resin identification code, though common contain-ers like soda bottles can be sorted from memory. The biggest threat to the conventional plastics industry is most likely to be environmental concerns, including the release of toxic pollutants, greenhouse gas, litter, biodegradable and non-biodegradable landfill impact because of the production and disposal of petroleum and petroleum-based plastics. Of particular concern has been the recent accumulation of enormous quantities of plastic trash in ocean gyres. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_debris and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch for vivid descriptions of what plastic in the ocean does.
  
  Health----
  The recycling rate for water bottles is 23.4%. PET bottled water containers make up one-third of 1 percent of the waste stream in the United States. Bottled water processed with distillation or reverse osmosis lacks fluoride ions, which are sometimes naturally present in ground water. The drinking of distilled water may conceivably increase the risk of tooth decay due to a lack of this element. According to a 1999 NRDC study, in which roughly 22% of brands were tested, at least one sample contained chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits. The rate of total dissolved solids is sometimes 4 times higher in bottled mineral waters than in bot-tled tap ones. Another study, conducted by the Goethe University at Frankfurt found that a high percentage of the bottled water, contained in plastic containers, were polluted with estrogenic chemicals. Although some of the bottled water contained in glass were found polluted with chemicals as well, the researchers believe some of the contamination in the plastic containers may have come from the plastic containers themselves. In a study with 57 bottled water sam-ples and tap water samples, all of the tap water samples had a bacterial content under 3 CFUs/mL and the bottled water samples' bacterial content ranged from 0.01-4900 CFUs/mL (colony-forming unit). Most of the water bottle samples were under 1 CFU/mL, though there were 15 water bottle samples containing 6-4900 CFUs/mL. In another study comparing 25 different bottled waters, most of the samples resulted exceeding the contaminant level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for mercury, thallium, and thorium. Being exposed to these contaminants in high concentration for long periods of time can cause liver and kidney damage, and increase risk for lung and pancreas disease. The primary building block of polycarbonates, bisphenol A (BPA), is an estrogen-like endocrine disruptor that may leach into food. Research in Environmental Health Perspectives finds that BPA leached from the lining of tin cans, dental sealants and polycarbonate bottles can increase body weight of lab animals' offspring. A more recent animal study suggests that even low-level exposure to BPA results in insulin resistance, which can lead to inflammation and heart disease.
  
  Cost----
  In the United States, bottled water costs between $0.25 and $2 per bottle while tap water costs less than $0.01. In 1999, according to a NRDC study, U.S. consumers paid between 240 and 10,000 times more per unit volume for bottled water than for tap water. Typically 90% or more of the cost paid by bottled water consumers goes to things other than the water itself—bottling, packaging, shipping, marketing, retailing, other expenses, and profit. In recent years, the cost of plastics has been rising dramatically. A major cause is the sharply rising cost of petroleum, the raw material that is chemically altered to form commercial plastics.
  
  Ethical----
  The Showtime series Penn & Teller: BS demonstrated, in a 2007 episode, that in a controlled setting, diners could not discern between bottled water and water from a garden hose behind the restaurant. The United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada, National Council of Churches, National Coalition of American Nuns, and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation are among some of the religious organizations that have raised questions about whether or not the "privatization" of water is ethical. They regard the industrial purchase and repackaging at a much higher resale price of a basic resource as an unethical trend. see http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=324041082257&ref=nf
• Green, collapsible vuvuzelas
• The Sims PC
• The Sims Livin' Large PC
• The Sims House Party
• Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Water PC
• Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips
• Logitech Mouse
• Compaq Keyboard with 8 customizable buttons
• Inland Keyboard
• Sports Set ( golf club, baseball bat, tennis racquet) for Wii
• The World Record Paper Air Plane Book by Ken Blackburn and Jeff Lammers
• TV analog 3-pronged red, yellow, white cords to the same output
• Rollercoaster Tycoon Corkscrew Follies PC
• Microsoft Mouse with USB
• A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
• A Series of Unfortunate Events - The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
• Fold N' Fly - Advanced Tactical Fighter Series
• The Sims PC Manual
• The Scholastic Dictionary of Spelling by Marvin Terban 
• Tricks of the eBay Masters by Michael Miller
• On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• The New Successful Coin Hunting by Charles Garrett
• New Testament Pocket Edition
• Super Stacking Tops x2
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• Shrek 2 - The Movie Novel
• The Incredibles - The Junior Novelization
• Yahtzee Free For All
• Magnets - Detective Files
• Handcrafted Pewter Little Cross
• Mini Car
• Actuator - Expandagon Set
• The Lucky Pocket Rhyming Dictionary
• Calendar Creator
  

"Footprints" Poem

One night in deepest sleep, I dreamed,
Upon the beach I walked.
The Lord was by my side each step
As quietly we talked.

Then on the sky my life appeared;
Each chapter was serene.
Two sets of footprints in the sand
I saw in every scene.

And then I noticed in some parts
Of discontent and strife,
Just a single pair of footprints
In the worst times of my life.

"Lord, you said you'd walk by me
In good times and in bad.
Why then weren't you with me
When you knew my life was sad?"

"My dearest child," God whispered.
"When you suffered then, I knew;
The single pair of footprints

Were those times I carried you."

10 Reasons Gay Marriage is Un-American

The following is meant to be satirical and remember to laugh!

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

How to Sign up for Driver's Ed

Driver's Ed is Easy!
1. Go to http://www.driveredtogo.com
2. Click "Enroll" and find California and then select the appropriate course.
3. Enter your information, and at the part called "Special Offer Code or Gift Certificate," enter in this code: XM8-42B-FK9 to save $2 on your driver's ed, lowering the price to about $17.99.
Read through the lessons, do the final exam and practice on whatever parts you fail at. Then...

The DMV Written Test
Upon completing driver's ed, driveredtogo.com will send you a certificate. However, to actually take the Written test, you will need much more:
1. The form DL 44 filled out correctly and with parent signatures.
2. Your Social Security #
3. Birth Certificate or something similar (just needs to prove your age and that you are a legal resident)
4. The driver's ed certificate (the one you get from driveredtogo.com)
5. Another certificate that says that you are enrolled in driver training (mine was from AA... more info below)
6. Of course you need to pay for it (the test) - it's $28. ($6 for a retest though. Hopefully you won't have to come back if you studied)
7. Last but not least, study!

After the Written Test...
If you fail, that means that you should study and come back next week. If you pass, you get your permit and then you get to drive but you must have a 21 year old with you when you drive. Typically, it's a good idea to find out when you will be doing behind-the-wheel training (which you probably paid a lot for) and do it while you still remember the rules of the road. I did my six hours with AA Teen Driving Academy. Their phone number is (949) 551-4860. They have great teachers, each have a different teaching style and you get a new teacher for each 2 hour stretch that you do. The car is provided so all you will need is your permit when you go out to drive with them.

6 months and 50 hours of driving with an adult (including 10 hours at night) later, you will be eligible to take the Driving Test. Good luck!

How to Register for the SAT for Dummies

Believe it or not, some people don't know how to register for the SAT. If that's you, then keep reading. Also, you can send this info to people who need it.

How to Register for the SAT:
1. Go to this site:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/reg.html

Tips
1. Location, location, location. Be sure to register at a place where the desks are a little bigger. I found that Capistrano High was a good place. IVC is good too, but UCI is not (their desks are too small).
2. Study! Buy the Collegeboard's Official SAT Study Guide. Either the 2008 (1st edition) or the 2009 (2nd edition) will work. Others also recommend buying a book from Barron's, but I find the Official study guide is good enough.
3. Practice! The best way to raise your points is to keep doing practice tests (all of 10 of them). Remember to conduct the tests in a quiet place, and to go through it all at once (4 hours).

If you follow these steps, you should expect a decent score.

Good luck!

A Poem

It’s those crisp winter mornings that she lives for.
Those mornings she can feel the chill air nipping at her cheeks while coiled under the blankets, with no real intent to get up.
It’s in these moments that she thinks the clearest, ignoring everything besides her steady breathing and watches the pictures her mind paints as she thinks through her problems.
Her mind tells the stories of her possible decisions and their possible outcomes, each as intriguing as the one before.
She speeds through her problems, quickly finding her own answer. She’s never been keen on taking more than a few hours to at least vaguely decide what she will do.
Rushing things seems to be her strong point. It has never been that she hasn’t thought the problems through, more so that her mind cannot stand to go any slower than the fastest it can.
As she skips from problem to problem she smiles and laughs, frowns and sheds anger tears. She handles her life.
It’s these mornings and these moments where her life takes flight, despite her apparent lack of action now. Looking back at events and trying to find their true meaning defines her.
Many, including herself, consider this extreme over-thinking. It’s her Achilles heel, her acute attention to details and over analysis of them. But it is also what defines her, and creates who she has been and determines who she will become.
With each detail, her own analysis which creates a path towards an idea, some that lead to action and some the lack there of.
__________________________

_________________________________________________________

I wonder if anyone else sees the real motive behind her lying eyes that truly makes her cry. That’s all I have been pondering for the last half an hour.
The tears running down the defendant’s cheeks seemed to be real and genuine to all that sat behind her in support on the hard wooden benches.
Except to me. One can only look into a set of eyes so many times longing for truth, before she finally comes to realize she will never find it there.
As her daughter I looked to her for guidance and love, only to realize all too soon that I was the provider of advice and compassion in this relationship.
Now, almost twelve years later, few things have changed. The only main difference now being that my mother will finally have to wreak the consequences of her actions for the past eighteen years. A day that I have been waiting for for too many years, which is despicable.
Too many wonder how anyone can be truly happy that their mother is being sent away, with no real way of coming back. And too many have shunned me for choosing realistic answers and sides over how what others expect a daughter to do.
At forty five, learning how to find your own answers and creating yourself should be old hat. No one should be creating you besides yourself at any point in your life, but by now it should be ingrained within you to fight.
So my question is, what will finally push her to take control of her own life? For too long I have been a dictating force and voice of reason that pushed her in the most right direction I knew. And at the same time the driving force that made her do the exact opposite of logical, because I had been the one to suggest it.
I believe this is the final push she needs. Complete isolation from anyone that is willing to help her. This is her defining moment, whether or not anyone is willing to admit it.
I have faith in her that she will find herself and be able to take control finally instead of always needing someone to control it for her, but she needs to be pushed to her extremes. Forced to reckon with her past, and mold herself a better future.

__________________________________________________________________________________

When someone tells you to go, run.
To drive, go fast.
To love, fall hard.
To kiss, use passion.
To learn, teach.
To write, make Stephen King jealous
Too give up, fight harder.
Its ok to cry, laugh.
When someone tells you to do something, do it better.

___________________________________________________________________________________

She really didn’t know what was waiting for her on the other side of the door.
She knew who she wanted it to be, but the likelihood of that was in the tenths or a percent.
The one who made her feel swept off her feet, yet so hopeless and insignificant at the same time.
The one who, for a reason she couldn’t think of, had her heart.
Maybe that statement is too bold, but it seems that as of late, things are quite out of the norm.
She hadn’t yet reached the bottom of the stairs when she checked her phone for the time.
11:11. Make a wish.
We all know what she wished for.
As she grasped for the handle, she vaguely contemplated looking out the peep hole, but really saw no reason too.
She got what she wished for.
He was on the other end of the barrel, pointed at her face. Already cocked and ready to blow, all he did was pull the trigger.
At least this love ended painlessly.

Translation of Credit Message from The Chaser's War on Everything June 24, 2009

WEBPOLL

If you actually bothered to
translate this, you are:
a. clearly unemployed
b. clearly a nerd
c. clearly disappointed by now
that it's nothing
controversial