TechTest2015 Survivors’ Breakfast

George Rebane

Thought I’d inject a little braggadocio for some of our county’s STEM elite young people.  This morning we celebrated the winners of the TechTest2015 at the annual TechTest Survivors’ Breakfast held at Tofanelli’s in Grass Valley.  TT2015 was the ninth presentation of this grueling four-hour merit scholarship exam (which you can inspect or try your hand at here) given on 11 April 2015.   The test sponsored by the Sierra Economics and Science Foundation with its scholarship fund counting among its contributors Nevada City Rotary Club, Telestream, Riskalyze, Nevada County Republican Women Federated, and various private individuals.

SESF ED Russ Steele opened our little feast attended by test takers and their parents.  Director Mike McDaniel was the master of ceremonies, and NUHS physics teacher John McDaniel, who heads the TechTest Academic Committee that administers and grades the test, gave some pithy insights as to how this year's test takers attacked various problems.  As SESF Director of Research, it is my privilege to write the test and conduct the winter preparatory seminars for test takers.  The top three scores were earned by Casper Hendrickson, Aaron Van Doren, and Ryan Crenshaw pictured on the right.  On the left wearing their Survivors’ t-shirts are the other scholarship winners attending the breakfast (save the chubby old guy on the end).  Again it was a lively and festive affair with everyone sharing their plans for further study and careers.  Hats go off to the parents for raising this outstanding crop of arrows that we now launch into our country’s future.

And for completeness, TechTestJr2015 will be given tomorrow at NUHS to eighth graders from various county middle schools.  This exam intends to motivate the younger students to take STEM subjects in high school.  Also sponsored by SESF, it is now in its fourth year.  It awards prizes for high scorers consisting of electronics and other technology related kits for assembly and study. 

Comments

[Jeff Pelline]

Yes, keep it up Barry and the SES co-founder might give its "director of legal research" a raise and your own office! LOL.

[Todd Juvinall]

Honestly this Pelline character has to be a cartoon.

[Jeff Pelline]

"fish," You are a bigger scumbag that I thought. Congratulations!

[Todd Juvinall]

If Pelline only knew who started the original SESF! What a hoot!

[Jeff Pelline]

No, Todd, you are the cartoon. LOL.
http://sierrafoothillsreport.com/2012/01/07/can-todd-juvinall-grow-cabpro-with-mudslinging-or-intelligent-dialogue/

[Todd Juvinall]

Hey this back and forth with the Pelline character could go on forever. What a hoot!

[Jeff Pelline]

Todd,
I'm in! Detroit is beating St. Louis in the top of the first inning.

[Todd Juvinall]

Wow, I went to the Pelline link and it was that devil cartoon Crabb did of me. I really like that cartoon. Thanks!

[fish]

Posted by: Jeff Pelline | 17 May 2015 at 05:22 PM

Really? I know your loathing of typos....just thought you would want to fix that one!

Interesting..... jeffy you are exactly the sized scumbag I thought you were.

[Jeff Pelline]

"fish" (AKA David Larsen of Carmichael),
I think this sums you up well:
http://sierrafoothillsreport.com/2014/02/16/new-study-internet-trolls-are-often-machiavellian-sadists/

[fish]

Posted by: Jeff Pelline | 17 May 2015 at 05:29 PM

....yawn

[fish]

Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 17 May 2015 at 05:27 PM

It is a nice likeness Todd.

[Barry Pruett]

That surely is one helluva typo for a "journalist."

[fish]

Posted by: Barry Pruett | 17 May 2015 at 05:55 PM

It's not a big deal Barry....unless you've made a fetish of busting peoples chops and crowing like a fat rooster over typos like jeffy does!

[Todd Juvinall]

Fish, here is a story link I did on Pelline. Check out the picture. I heard he is even larger when he was seen at the NID meeting.

http://sierradragonsbreathe.blogspot.com/2014/09/jeff-pelline-has-lost-his-noggin-too.html

[Jeff Pelline]

No, it's not a big deal. And no Todd, I have never been to an NID meeting.
But the ugly tone of this blog is a sight for all the parents and teachers who send their children to the SEFS Tech Test to see!
You can be sure I'll pass it on.

[fish]

Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 17 May 2015 at 06:01 PM

Yes I recall that thread... legal threats flowing like water.....even he wasn't such an unpleasant putz you have to feel sorry for the guy.

[fish]

Posted by: Jeff Pelline | 17 May 2015 at 06:05 PM

Well jeffy....you could run off Gladys Kravitz like and gossip to your neighbors or you could just acknowledge that most of the invective has been between you and I and the competition has nothing to do with it.

Seems to me that would be the "grown up" course of action.

[Russ Steele]

Lets see if I get this right. Pelline comes here and creates a mess and then is going to broadcast the mess on his blog with few readers. On the other hand, the thinking people will see through Jeff like he was a transparent curtain blowing in a Sierra breeze. While the progressive left may pat Jeff on the back, they will only revealing their lack of ability to think clearly. Thinking people will see the good that SESF does in the community. It is obvious that Jeff does not. It is telling that none of the other lefty folks, who often comment on RR, are missing from the conversation to support Jeff's view of SESF.

[fish]

Feature....not a bug.

[fish]

Posted by: Jeff Pelline | 17 May 2015 at 06:05 PM

You left off the main point of the sentence jeffy...crowing like a fat rooster over typos. You have reveled in the minor mistakes on other peoples blogs and at the Union while making plenty yourself. It's not possible that you are this lacking in self awareness??

[Jeff Pelline]

Russ,
You need to figure out the mission of SEFS. As for the mess, you stepped in it when you quizzed kids about Common Core, just as you did before on global warming, promoting your own one-sided research.
Most parents are "middle of the road," and they recoil at the comments that appear in this thread.

[fish]

Most parents are "middle of the road," and they recoil at the comments that appear in this thread.

I'm guessing that there is a very small subset of local parents who need the "fainting couch" over a mere discussion on a blog.

In fact it might be a set of one.

[George Rebane]

Gentlemen - I do believe Mr Pelline has had his day in the sun here on RR. He apparently needed to communicate his considerable pent up vitriol on SESF's scholarship work to his minions, and correctly concluded that his own outlet would not serve. So he came to where his audience would receive the full measure of his wisdom. Now as RussS 627pm points out, I believe he has again created and delivered on his customary mess. At this point I say we let it suffice, and let him go to howl into his own echo chamber. Thus endeth this thread and the epistle for the day. Onward.

[Michael R. Kesti]

As Grammarian Laureate of RR I have one thing to add.

The name of the local newspaper that was founded in 1864 is not "Union" or "the Union." Its name is "The Union." Its name includes two words and, being a proper noun, both of those words should be capitalized.

Opinions vary concerning the value that The Union brings to our community and this is as it should be. None the less, referring to The Union by its proper name demonstrates respect and enhances decorum, both of which I find to be too often lacking in current times.

Even Mr. Pelline, despite continually demonstrating the 10 ton chip on his shoulder concerning The Union, gets this correctly!

[Jeff Pelline]

Michael,
The phrase having a chip on one's shoulder refers to holding a grudge or grievance that readily provokes disputation.

There is no "disputation" except here, where it is used as political fodder. Otherwise, I'm doing just fine. More than fine, in fact. ROFLOL.

[Bill Tozer]

There goes the joists holding up the floor. Hope he put straw or sawdust in the basement to avoid serious injury.

[Gregory]

Mr. Pelline died a few years ago. Jeff, the troublemaker, is the one who is here.

Golly, Jeff. David Koch was a Libertarian candidate for Pres behind Ed Clark. I met Ed Clark (who labeled their politics as "low tax liberalism") and Ron Paul at Timothy Leary's house back in '88... were they all hard right wingers in the Jeff Pelline book?

You complain about issues not being a part of the discussion and you just let drop the line of inquiry that was keeping us on track away from ad hominems. I repeat for your convenience:

Common Core Math is essentially the same as the whole math of the '90's. Mathland, the darling of the Grass Valley School District in 1995, resulted in my son's cohort at Hennessey School dismally failing the first STAR testing, with half the kids in the bottom quartile. Alta Sierra School, which dropped Mathland like a hot potato in favor of Saxon Math a month or two into that cohort's first grade year, essentially tested all their kids of that class into the top two quartiles.

Does Jeff deny that?

Now, if Jeff agrees Common Core math is equivalent to the whole math of the early '90's, and measures of math competence tanked in Nevada County tanked as a result (in fact, much of California went with it)... does Jeff really think it will be different the second time around. If so, why?

Note to everyone else... Jeff came to this thread strictly to vandalize it, to leave it bloodied for any parent who might check it out. I suspect his own reputation will take the bigger hit.

[Bill Tozer]

More on ROFLOL:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-border-patrol-shooting-20150425-story.html

[Bill Tozer]

Oppps again. Wrong thread, my apologizes. Try this one concerning Missy ROFLOL:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=936pU9i0HYc

On a lighter note........

[Jeff Pelline]

No, Gregory, I came here to respond to Russ quizzing the students about Common Core, just as he did a few years earlier on global warming. SESF needs to clarify its mission statement for the community — and the IRS. And any parent who checks this thread out will be flabbergasted. Most parents are "middle of the road."

[George Rebane]

JeffP 937pm - You have again done your best to denigrate SESF and its TechTest and TechTestJr scholarship projects. We will now enjoy a respite as you take a time out to go and gather your middle of the road parents.

[Gregory]

"The illiberal left seeks to short-circuit this process. They don’t want to defend their views, nor do they want to allow forums for other people to present views that are at odds with the conclusions they have drawn on an array of issues. Sometimes, the mere suggestion of holding a debate is cast as an offense."

Kirsten Powers, "The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech"

The Former The Union Editor's antics here on this thread are as good an illustration of Power's words as one will find in Nevada County, and Jeff Pelline justifies it because Steele reported he asked a kid what they thought of Common Core. A vandal's eye view of political speech.

Jeff Pelline, you should be ashamed of yourself, and I suspect you are.

A correction: Pelline wrote "Look at the list of commentators here: Pruett, Bessee, Juvinall, Rebane, Goodnight, Steele and David Larsen of Carmichael. All like-minded political ideologues...". Jeff *needs* that to be the case, but at least one of the above has never been in the GOP, never identified or attended a "Tea Party" gathering, believes of freedom of choice in just about everything and has never met a Conservative that couldn't be convinced that they weren't fellow travelers while still being perfectly good company over a beer or a single malt. They even voted for George McGovern and still wishes the likes of a modern Moynihan or, better yet, a Gene McCarthy to bring some sense back to the Democratic Party.

But Jeff just couldn't stand me besting him in conversations on his blog, so I became one of the many who were thrown off his island which is now barely large enough for him to turn around.