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.
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Posts by this author
December 5, 2009
(Not the post title I'd have chosen, but the sprog in question is sitting right next to me.)
The younger Free-Ride offspring likes to draw, and seems to have a fondness for marine mammals. Today, we offer two drawings of otters.
Here's an otter with a sea urchin.
I'm told the otter plans to eat…
December 4, 2009
To amuse you while I attend to work that needs doing, I offer a picture of an object on my desk at work.
A couple of questions for you, dear readers:
1. What is this?
2. Why do I have it?
(I did not, in fact, get it for myself. It was given to me in a specific context. If necessary, I'll…
December 4, 2009
The younger Free-Ride offspring's third grade class is involved in some independent research about animals.
Each student chose an animal (with no duplicates, as far as I can tell) and set off to find a nonfiction book about that animal to gather information for a written report and an oral report…
December 3, 2009
As DrugMonkey reminds us, it's time for the year-in-review meme.
The rule: post the first sentence of the first post for each month.
January
... as drawn by the younger Free-Ride offspring.
February
Some of you may be aware that, at least in certain corners of the blogosphere, November is…
December 2, 2009
One is that my hands are tired from writing all those comments, which means I don't feel like typing.
Another is described in this brief video.
December 1, 2009
At the end of one of my class meetings today, one of the students noted that her professor for another of her courses this term died about a week ago.
Not that anyone said out loud that this semester is what killed him.
Anyway, a few other students asked her what was happening with that course to…
November 30, 2009
It's the last day of November. I have three more meetings with each of my classes before finals. I have oodles of grading to do before finals. I have one big administrative task and at least a dozen smaller ones to do before the end of the semester.
And, at the moment, I feel as though the…
November 27, 2009
Today, the Free-Ride offspring have lots of questions. Maybe science can answer some of them.
Younger offspring: Why do the stars shine so bright?
Elder offspring: Why do snails come out on rainy days?
Younger offspring: Why does food taste so good?
Younger offspring: Why do humans think their…
November 25, 2009
I received an email from reader Doug Blank (who gave me permission to share it here and to identify him by name) about a perplexing situation:
Janet,
I thought I'd solicit your advice. Recently, I found an instance of parts of my thesis appearing in a journal article, and of the paper being…
November 22, 2009
The younger Free-Ride offspring's soccer team has been playing in a regional tournament this weekend, and we're girding our loins and guarding our shins to go out and play a second day of tournament games. I'm happy that they're playing so well, but I have to say, watching games in late November…
November 20, 2009
Let's say you're a college student.
You have a class meeting today at which a short essay (about 400 words) is due. The essay counts for about 5% of your grade for the course.
At that class meeting, your instructor will be lecturing on the reading assignment upon which that short essay is…
November 20, 2009
Dr. Free-Ride: Any ideas for tomorrow's sprog blog?
Younger offspring: I wanted to do how photosynthesis works.
Dr. Free-Ride: Did you do any research on that since last week?
Younger offspring: I don't do research.
Dr. Free-Ride: You don't do research?! How do you do science, then?
Younger…
November 17, 2009
As I was driving home from work today, I was listening to Marketplace on public radio. In the middle of a story, reported by Nancy Marshall Genzer, about opponents of health care reform, there was an interesting comment that bears on the nature of economics as a scientific discipline. From the…
November 13, 2009
Dr. Free-Ride: Do you know what a placebo is?
Elder offspring: A placebo is something that you think works but doesn't really work.
Dr. Free-Ride: Sometimes when people are not feeling well, like, if you're sick and bed and want some medicine -- you've asked me for medicine before when you were…
November 12, 2009
Steinn apparently knows how to get me riled about wrong-headed middle school fundraising initiatives, since he nearly derailed my efforts to push through my stack of grading with his recent post about one such initiative. He quotes from a Raleigh News & Observer story:
Rosewood Middle School…
November 12, 2009
Chalk dust thigh:
Indeed, this was the state of my pants after I walked partway across campus from my classroom to my office, so the level of chalk dust had decreased from its maximum level when I snapped this picture.
November 12, 2009
There is a story posted at ProPublica (and co-published with the Chicago Tribune) that examines a particular psychiatrist who was paid by a pharmaceutical company to travel around the U.S. to promote one of that company's antipsychotic drugs. Meanwhile, the psychiatrist was writing thousands of…
November 10, 2009
It's been a long day, between teaching and attending to committee work, giving a colloquium talk, dealing with an emergency drill, and coming home to make a later-than-planned dinner for the kids (since my better half had to help a sprog with an arithmetic emergency during the anticipated dinner…
November 9, 2009
Because, as it happens, I tend to notice patterns in student papers, then end up musing on them rather than, you know, buckling down and just working through the stack of papers that needs grading.
In my philosophy of science class, I have my students write short essays (approximately 400 words)…
November 8, 2009
Remember how I mentioned that we had some soccer tournaments this weekend?
Well, it looks like we're going to need a bigger shelf.
In contrast, we're doing just fine as far as Fuyu persimmons go.
November 7, 2009
Yo dawg! This is a soccer tournament weekend for the Free-Rides. (First game: 8:00 AM. Time of departure from Casa Free-Ride: 6:30 AM. Zombification complete!)
At the moment, the younger offspring and I are chilling before the younger offspring's team's second game; the younger offspring is…
November 6, 2009
At Terra Sigillata, Abel notes that the Director of Duke University's Catholic Center is butting in to researchers' attempts to recruit participants for their research. As it happens, that research involves human sexuality and attitudes toward sex toys.
Here's how Abel lays it out:
Father Joe…
November 6, 2009
A bit of follow-up on the two experiments we described last week:
First off, the water cycle model.
It turns out that the elder Free-Ride offspring used a 20 ounce plastic bottle rather than a 2 liter bottle.
And, there was a mixture of seeds (including radish, corn, and bean seeds), rather than…
November 6, 2009
Dr. Free-Ride: I wanted to ask you guys a question. I think maybe I asked you this question (or something like it) some time ago, but you were a lot younger and, you know, you keep growing and changing and stuff. So the question is, when someone tells you something about science, how can you tell…
November 5, 2009
Including this question which, apparently, led a popular search engine to direct someone to this very blog:
Is philosophy tested on animals?
No. No, it isn't.
(Actually, it's not clear to me that all of it is tested on humans, either.)
November 4, 2009
At Bioephemera, Jessica Palmer notes a disturbing double standard:
[T]here's a huge double standard in the media, and in society in general, when it comes to drug abuse treatment. I spent two years as a AAAS Fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and it was both depressing and inspiring:…
November 3, 2009
In which I repeat what I said two years ago, because it seems even more relevant now (when state budgets have throttled school budgets and the current U.S. President has identified education as a national priority):
We're feeling warm and fuzzy about the good work DonorsChoose does, and how it…
November 3, 2009
Hey ScienceBlogs readers: you rock!
In a year where lots of folks are waiting for the signs of economic recovery to be manifest in their daily lives, and where public school budgets have been even more hard hit than they were a year ago, your generosity helped us significantly surpass the impact of…
November 2, 2009
Abel and Orac and Isis have recently called attention to the flak Amy Wallace had been getting for her recent article in WIRED Magazine, "An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All". The flak Wallace has gotten, as detailed in her Twitter feed (from which Abel…
October 31, 2009
Is it too soon to dip into that bowl of "fun-size" candy bars while we wait for it to get dark?