Janet D. Stemwedel
Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.
jstemwedel
Posts by this author
December 5, 2007
If you're "writing" a philosophy paper and you're going to plagiarize, why would you plagiarize a sub-optimal source like Wikipedia? Why wouldn't you at least rip off a top-notch source like the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy?
It seems to me there was a time when cheaters took more pride in…
December 4, 2007
Following up on the earlier discussion here and at Chad's about the "fundamental difference" between chemistry and physics, I wanted to have a look at a historical moment that might provide some insight into the mood along the border between the two fields. It strikes me that the boundaries…
December 4, 2007
As I mentioned last year, the Free-Ride household celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas. And reliable sources indicate that Hanukkah starts tonight.
That means I'm on the prowl for eight nights' worth of gifts that will engage the Free-Ride offspring's brains without breaking the bank. And, I…
December 3, 2007
A friend of mine in a philosophy department at an Ivy League school asked for my advice in helping students on the market for academic jobs prepare for their interviews:
One of the things our students asked us about was preparing for interviews at schools quite different than this one (e.g., state…
December 3, 2007
Over at Uncertain Principles, Chad Orzel tries to explain the fundamental difference between physics and chemistry:
My take on this particular question is that there's a whole hierarchy of (sub)fields, based on what level of abstraction you work at. The question really has to do with what you…
December 1, 2007
In an earlier post, I shared the responses freshman engineering students had made (via electronic clickers) to a few questions I asked them during an ethics lecture I was giving them.
My commenters are pretty sure I left out options in the multiple choice that should have been included.
In this…
December 1, 2007
Near the beginning of November, I announced my intention to jump on board with International acaDemic Writing Month. I put up a list of writing projects on which I was going to try to make some serious headway.
And my commenters asked, essentially, whether I was nuts.
My commenters are very, very…
November 30, 2007
A bonus sprog blog! Somehow, this has become cheating week, and this conversation feels like it fits in with our discussions of how do-gooders do bad and of how freshman engineering students think about cheating.
* * * * *
Dr. Free-Ride: (arriving to pick up the sprogs from the afterschool program…
November 30, 2007
Dr. Free-Ride: C'mon and get out of bed. We have to leave soon.
Younger offspring: My eyes are watery.
Dr. Free-Ride: Eyes will do that sometimes.
Younger offspring: Are my eyeballs always wet?
Dr. Free-Ride: Pretty much, yeah.
Younger offspring: Are my eyeballs always squishy?
Dr. Free-Ride: Uh…
November 28, 2007
Do you know that feeling one gets that is characteristic of "about to come down with something", where you have an off taste in your mouth and your head feels fuzzy, and it seems like the very best thing you could possibly do is just lay your head on your desk for a few moments and close your eyes…
November 28, 2007
In the freshman introduction to engineering class, where I am teaching the ethics module, the students have electronic clickers with which to respond in real time to (multiple choice) questions posed to them in lecture. I took advantage of this handy technology to get their responses to a few…
November 28, 2007
As promised, I want to take a look at this article (discussed also at Corpus Callosum). I'm not a psychologist, so I won't have much to say about what causes might underlie the phenomenon of do-gooders doing bad. However, I will have some words (from the point of view of someone concerned with…
November 27, 2007
This is not breaking news (unless your news cycle is more geological), but it strikes me as relevant on the day that I deliver my penultimate lecture in the newly-created ethics module in the Introduction to Engineering class at my university:
Can you trust an ethicist to behave ethically?
Eric…
November 24, 2007
This New York Times op-ed, to be precise. My questions for Paul Davies can be boiled down to these two:
What kinds of explanations, precisely, are you asking science to deliver to you?
Just why do you think it is the job of science to provide such explanations?
Let's back up a little and look at…
November 23, 2007
Freud would probably say that there are times when a hand-turkey is just a hand-turkey.
Freud, however, isn't writing this post.
Would this kind of plumage only work on a domesticated bird? (What kind of ecosystem would make such wild feathers an advantage for any bird but one widely recognized…
November 20, 2007
A comment on ScienceWoman's post (concerning, among other things, how her students tend to call her Mrs. ScienceWoman and her male colleagues Dr. MaleColleague), got me thinking about the norms around addressing faculty that prevailed at my undergraduate institution and whether, if they still…
November 20, 2007
Likely, the throbbing mass of humanity at my university knows at least a little more than it did before last week, owing to an article in the student newspaper about the institutional animal care and use committee. (It was a front-page article, so the chances that it attracted eyeballs was…
November 17, 2007
... as a result of the incessant drive to make learning too darn safe.
Not that this is a terribly new development (I wrote about this sort of thing here and here), but it appears that anxieties about terrorists and meth-labs are sucking all the chemically goodness out of chemistry sets:
Current…
November 16, 2007
This post is dedicated to a donor to my Blogger Challenge who prefers to remain anonymous. The donor actually asked for artwork on the subject to which this discussion eventually turns; I hope the dialogue is an acceptable substitute.
* * * * *Even though certain elements of the U.S. early grade…
November 15, 2007
I just found out about something cool for which the window of opportunity closes in eleven days:
Through November 26, the One Laptop Per Child project has a Give One Get One deal (in the U.S. and Canada) wherein you can donate a spiffy new and super-cool XO laptop to a child in a developing country…
November 15, 2007
The November 5, 2007 issue of Chemical & Engineering News has an editorial by Rudy M. Baum [UPDATE: notbehind a paywall; apparently all the editorials are freely accessible online] looking at the "Google model" for disseminating information.
Baum writes:
I did a Yahoo search on "information…
November 14, 2007
Over at The World's Fair, David Ng dangles another meme before us:
... this meme asks that you come up with your own scientific eponym. What's that exactly? Well, first read this excellent primer by Samuel Arbesman, which basically provides a step by step description of how to do this effectively…
November 12, 2007
The results of our drive to raise funds for teachers and students with DonorsChoose are, in a word, astounding. Ginny reported the morning-after stats:
ScienceBlogs readers donated $54,335 for 155 classroom projects. With $15,000 in matching funds from Seed Media Group, that means our readers put…
November 9, 2007
The younger Free-Ride offspring seems to have developed a contrarian streak that's about a kilometer wide. I haven't given up hope that logic might be an effective antidote to it, but some days those heels dig in rather deep ...
Younger offspring: There are lots of interesting animals that are…
November 8, 2007
... despite the fact that I'm deeply suspicious of claims that getting the most votes is truly indicative of being the best.
Anyhow, the category in which your vote might make a real difference (here at the last minute) is Best Science Blog:
I'm a big fan of In the Pipeline, Bootstrap Analysis and…
November 7, 2007
... is to get all the way through the 16 weeks without a single incident of plagiarism turned in as "student work".
Alas, it appears this will not be the semester in which my fantasy becomes a reality. Dammit.
What bums me out is how very obvious the plagiarism is. Three search phrases with…
November 6, 2007
If you're a TV watcher in the U.S., you're probably already aware that the Writers' Guild of America is on strike, owing largely to inability to reach agreement with the studios about residuals from DVDs and from internet distribution of TV shows and movies.
While I am a member of a faculty union…
November 3, 2007
Via ScienceWoman, I learn that there's a month for those of us who aren't ready to write a novel, namely, International acaDemic Writing Month.
I am so there.
Back when I was disserting (the second time) a bunch of us who were at the stage of our studies where it felt like we ought to be getting…
November 2, 2007
People with concerns about the use of animals in biomedical research should also be concerned about the actions of the Animal Liberation Front and other "animal rights" groups -- at least if they want other people to take their concerns seriously.
It seems that ALF views actions like the attack of…
November 2, 2007
Sometimes it feels to us like the parent's role in a child's education is one of eternal vigilance.
It is possible, however, that the Free-Ride offspring are more actively engaged in messing with their parents' heads than are most kids their age.
Dr. Free-Ride: Did you learn anything interesting…