Word: pencil
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...just wannabe residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who are in this tussle. As the stakes of standardized tests have risen dramatically over the past few years, tying student promotion and teacher bonuses to the results of one stressful afternoon darkening ovals with a no. 2 pencil, some parents have begun a backlash. Many are keeping their kids home on test days and staging noisy, headline-grabbing rallies in protest. In response, some states have backpedaled from the most stringent testing policies, often decreasing the weight placed on exams or rolling back the year in which they take full effect...
Everybody who attends a 9 a.m. class, or teaches one, is familiar with the tell-tale clatter as one of the participants loses the battle to stay awake and keep notepad and pencil from falling off the desk. Much the same situation pertains in 10 a.m. classes too. For the exhausted victim, catching up afterwards by reviewing material on the course website or borrowing someone else's notes means a double investment of time. Starting the lecture schedule later in the morning would not solve anything; it would just prolong the day at the other end, unless Harvard drastically reduced...
...least, the whole new school year experience was exceedingly pleasant. My parents would take me to get new school supplies, and my clever and often ear-splitting negotiating tactics meant that I had a good shot at returning home with a new, utterly useless prize, like a special bendable pencil or a cherry-scented pen. On the eve of the new school year, I would organize my new loot carefully, caressing the shiny loose-leaf folders, sharpening the pencils, testing out the pink erasers. I'd set out my clothing for the next morning; as I got older, this ritual...
...open-air, double-decker bus where a dorky tour guide gave a running commentary on the sights of the city. As if that wasn't proof enough, I later discovered I was the ultimate tourist when I schlepped through endless souvenir shops searching for the perfect Union Jack pencil case for my sister, boxers for my boyfriend and tie for my dad. Somehow I didn't mind examining every London beer stein and every London magnet in every single store while my friend looked ready to strangle me along with every other foreigner in sight...
...WEIRD: For a heady dose of silliness, check out useless knowledge.com a site where you'll get a daily quote, definitions for obscure words and answers to such penetrating questions as "What is quicksand?" and "Who invented the pencil?" A Yahoo-like index of arcana, absolutetrivia. com neatly organizes the world's minutiae, from crazy laws and criminals to an index of phobias. Both sites have weekly e-mail newsletters--handy for those who want their Net dalliances disguised as serious work memos...