personal
jstemwedel | May 21, 2008I am in grading Hell. I expect to be here until at least Memorial Day (Monday), and possibly through Tuesday. (Does that mean I'm actually in grading Purgatory? Please advise.)
Anyway, in a private communication, PhysioProf asked,
As you get grumpier from grading, do you grade harsher?
If I did, that would be an unfortunate situation for those whose papers I get to last, wouldn't it?
Thankfully for my students, I make serious efforts to apply a uniform level of harshness (or leniency) across the whole pool I'm grading. Here are some of my strategies:
Invest some time in formulating…
terrasig | May 19, 2008One last political post for a little while at least.
We posted almost two weeks ago a note of thanks to the NC Democratic senate candidate, Jim Neal. The progressive candidate and friend of the blogging community (and blogger himself) lost to Kay Hagan, who will now face Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) in the November election.
I missed Jim's response to us in a long thread at BlueNC:
it's never too late for you and science/medicine bloggers to make an impact. Get to know Senator Hagan and other candidates. Inform them about what you are doing and your POV.
You have a voice. Use it. Expect,…
drorzel | May 18, 2008We're very happy with Chateau Steelypips, and we especially enjoy our back yard:
Of course, it's not without its problems, as you can see in that picture (and another that I'll put below the fold). The yard is pleasantly private and shady, thanks to a row of maples along the right side, and an enormous oak tree in the back left corner (you can see the trunk at the left edge of that picture-- the tree is probably 50-60 feet high, and almost perfectly round). The problem is, it's damnably difficult to get grass to grow, as you can tell from the large bare patches of dirt.
So, here's a question…
jstemwedel | May 17, 2008Which would you totally do if you didn't know better (and suspect someone might catch you)?
Option 1: Yank on the cord, not the plug, to unplug that appliance.
Option 2: Step on the very top step of the step-ladder (that the warning label admonishes you not to use as a step) to get the lemons off the high branches.
Me? I'm having lemonade this afternoon.
drorzel | May 17, 2008
"What the hell is this?"
"We're remodeling the garage into a family room."
"Oooh! That's a good idea!"
"Thanks. We're so glad you approve."
"So, where are you going to put the bunny hutch?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"For me to keep my bunnies in!"
"You don't have any bunnies."
"Not yet, I don't, but now that we'll have room, you can buy me some. I can play with them in here, or out in my yard..."
"Ah, no. I don't think so. We won't be buying you any bunnies."
"Then why did you buy the bunny hutch?"
"The what?"
"The hutch. The thing with the hard mattress surrounded by bars, upstairs. It's for…
drorzel | May 17, 2008Behold, an ordinary garage:
Now, watch as it is transformed:
Obviously, there's a good deal of work yet to do, but it's really remarkable how much difference sheet rock makes-- between Day 8 and Day 9, it goes from looking like a construction site to looking like a room that just needs a little finishing. I have pictures from other corners, but this is the only complete set (it's taken from the door from the kitchen into the garage), as there were a few days when there was so much stuff piled in one of the corners that I couldn't get there to take a picture.
The background here…
jstemwedel | May 15, 2008Because it strikes me as somehow related to my last post, and because Memorial Day is the Monday after next, I'm recycling a post I wrote last year for WAAGNFNP:
On Memorial Day, because I really needed to do something beside grade papers for awhile, I decided to go to the nursery to buy some plants. First, though, because the kids (who had the day off from school) were actually entertaining themselves pretty well, I poured myself another coffee and decided to actually read some of the articles in The Nation issue on climate change.
Confronted with the news that jets are evil and carbon…
pharyngula | May 15, 2008If you should ever find yourself in my neighborhood, and were to walk up to my door, I have to warn you: the welcome mat is splattered with blood stains. I didn't do it! No Jehovah's Witnesses are missing from the region! (They never come to my door anymore, anyway.)
We got an unpleasant surprise this morning in that the nest of baby bunnies outside our door was raided, probably by one of the local cats, and the whole family was butchered and laid out on our doorstep. And these bunnies were at that cute stage with fur and big eyes…or at least, they would have been cute if they'd all had heads…
pharyngula | May 15, 2008I just got a copy of the promotional flyer for my Seattle visit, so here it is.
PZ Myers: On Science, Blogs, and Intelligent Debates
Paul "PZ" Myers is persona non grata at the Discovery Institute. He was recently booted out of a screening of the film "Expelled"--an irony certainly not lost on him. And now the evolutionary biologist and rabble-rouser blogger is coming to Seattle for one night only. He'll be talking about the evolution of creationism and other oxymoronic topics with the same zeal and wit that have made him one of the fittest survivors on the science blog circuit.
Join the…
pharyngula | May 14, 2008I was interviewed for mindcore — I seem to recall that I might have said some harsh things about Francis Collins in this one, but the are all kind of blurring together in my mind now.
drorzel | May 14, 2008Some colleagues organized a bus trip to New York yesterday, which I went on, on the grounds that a) it was cheap, and b) in a few months, we won't be doing much traveling at all for a while. This required me to get up at an ungodly hour to catch the bus on campus, and the trip itself reminded me of why I don't take public transit, but on the whole, it was a good day. And, of course, blog fodder.
The purpose of the trip was to take students from the intro Astronomy classes to the American Museum of Natural History to see the planetarium show (cue Fountains of Wayne). As this show takes less…
esiegel | May 13, 2008Sometimes, I publish things on this website that are not entirely correct (and when I do, I'll own up to it). Sometimes other people do on theirs. There are bad ways and good ways to argue these points, ranging from name-calling to explicitly explaining where the flaws are in one's arguments, and what the corrections are.
And I had no idea how I was going to articulate this. But then Lucas pointed this chart out to me, and it does a better job of explaining it than I ever could.
You know who could explain this? Captain Picard. Imagine you got to be a Starfleet officer. Here's what he has to…
terrasig | May 11, 2008I had a lovely chat with PharmMom today and I am truly grateful for her example and all of the opportunities she gave me. Mom, I love you - but I urge you and all of my readers to saunter over to Thesis - With Children written by acmegirl, one of the stars-to-be of the science blogging community.
I cannot add anything more to better express her sentiments about her two mothers than the words written on her blog.
Here's to you AG and to both of your Moms.
Let me go find the Kleenex before I press "publish."
clock | May 11, 2008I have finally found the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Much better than on this day last year. If I remember correctly, so will Melissa and Jennifer on this exact day as well.
pharyngula | May 10, 2008I've had about enough. The last of my kids is doing these obnoxious things like graduating from high school, and now, attending the final prom.
They have to stop trying to make me feel old.
sheril | May 10, 2008I'm back from the AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy, which brought together an incredible group of speakers and moderators. I remain humbled and honored to have been involved and will have details on this spectacular event next week.
In the mean time, I must figure out what to do without my Air, which sadly didn't make it back from the District.
sa smith | May 8, 2008Teh Google Machine.
It tried to kill meh.
Now?
I PWNS TEH INTRAWEBZ!!! TOP TWO HITS FOR ERV MO FOS!
:P