Links for 2009-09-04

""At first, Zoloft was only used to treat depression," Pugh said. "But what is depression, really? Who died and gave doctors the authority to dictate who is and isn't depressed? One man's hangnail could be another man's darkest depths of despair. Isn't medication a tool to help people lead better, happier lives? Access to drugs should not be restricted to those the medical community officially deems 'sick.'" "

"In an ideal world, we would have teachers like Griffiths and Coleman. But in reality, we don't. In fact, we'd be lucky if have half of the physics instructors we encounter in college are as interesting and enthusiastic about teaching as these two. As with the new technologies and new "tricks" that seem to be effective and could be due to the enthusiasm of the instructors themselves, so do the "old style" teaching methods of Griffiths that definitely needs someone with the same level of caliber and enthusiasm. Maybe the new technologies and new "tricks" of teaching physics to students are there to compensate for those instructors who don't have such skill and do not posses such enthusiasm."

"AVC: The central conflict in Little, Big is less a matter of discovery than one of trust and patience. Were you trying to create a more realistic fantasy novel?

JC: This is kind of odd to say, I suppose, but I never really thought of it as a fantasy novel. It's not like I thought it was realistic. But I never--it started to be written in the early '70s. I had never really read much science fiction, fantasy. I hadn't yet read Lord Of The Rings, or any of the standard things that were coming out. "

Students are starting to get the flu around here - and that means that it is time to debate. Clearly there are going to be some absences in the coming month. The question is: what to do about it?