It's Conversations With My Logs!
1) Formula for calculating graduation rate Georgia - Georgia currently uses a formula termed the "leaver rate." It looks like this:
Number of Graduates
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Number of Graduates + Other Completers (GED, etc) - Documented Dropouts
The formula is unreliable for two primary reasons - it does not measure graduation within four years, and the category "Documented Dropouts" is, in fact, not well-documented, leading to inflated graduation rates tied to no specific time scale.
Georgia intends to adopt the National Governor's Association Graduation Rate Compact (NGA) in 2009 and will begin reporting statistics according to that rate at that time. I do not believe they will report retroactively with the adjusted rate. The far more reliable NGA rate is as follows:
Number of 4-Year Graduates in year X
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(Number of 1st Time entering ninth graders in year X-4) + (Transfers in - Transfers out)
2) Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day - This is one of the more famous quotes from William Shakespeare's "Scottish play," Macbeth. It occurs at the top of Act 5, Scene V, when Seaton (or Seyton, depending on your version) informs Macbeth that his wife Lady Macbeth, the queen, is dead. The speech is brief, but powerful:
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.--
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Most actors play this as a single thread of thought - all Macbeth's despair and failure and the inevitability of time and fate weighing upon him. I have run across one, David Blixt, who published a more unusual take on the text, however, suggesting that the first half of the monologue (ending with ...the way to dusty death) could be Lady Macbeth's suicide note, hearkening back to her midnight scribblings whilst sleepwalking. It is an interesting theory, and certainly adds another layer to the material while ameliorating the somewhat pronounced psychological and phrasing differences between the two sections.
3) Whereabouts of Donald Rumsfeld - He is writing his memoirs, tentatively set for publication in 2010. According to reports, the proceeds for any sales will go to a new, as yet unnamed, foundation he plans to establish to encourage public service in young people. I don't know where he lives at the moment, if that's what you're looking for. You can rule out jail, though. For now.
4) How long does it take to do 75 questions - It varies, depending on the questions, the types of answers expected (short, as with multiple choice or true/false, or long, as with an essay or extemporaneous answer) and how well you know the subject matter. Or if you mean the 75 questions to ask a daycare provider I have here, it takes about an hour or so.
5) Word that means every ten years - Decade is the most common. You might also use decennium, though it is not as well known.
