Re: Still grading

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Other front-page posters ought to totally disregard the 40-comments-or-8-hours rule of thumb and post anything that's not about grading. Also, commenters can always send me guest posts and I'll wades throught the stacks of zero guest posts that I have queued up.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 8:31 AM
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Still dreaming.


Posted by: Mo MacArbie | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:23 AM
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still raining


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 12:34 PM
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Dreary. No sun. The dog is waiting to go out, sleeping in front of the glass door.

Also, commenters can always send me guest posts and I'll wades throught the stacks of zero guest posts that I have queued up.

Dear Mineshaft,
How do I... hrmm. No. Nononono.

max
['Lint is your friend.']


Posted by: max | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 12:52 PM
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Unsurprisingly, it has been raining here too.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 2:08 PM
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First substantial rain in about three months here. Have fun on your Labor Day weekend camping trip!


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 2:12 PM
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The weather here is gorgeous.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 2:13 PM
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I'll bump up the comment count here by reporting that my daughters did indeed go to Oxford yesterday. They missed the train they were planning on getting due to arguing about a bag (idiot children), but got there in the end, met their imaginary friends at the station, had food, went to Borders, came straight home as instructed and C met them at the station here at 7, which was earlier than expected. So, 'tis done, and they had a great time.


Posted by: asilon | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 2:23 PM
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We don't have weather here.


Posted by: Otto von Bisquick | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 2:24 PM
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Don't lie, otto.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 2:26 PM
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Nope. Still dreary. (Dry - but looks like it wants to rai, and that won't happen.) Now the dog has surrendered to his existential crisis, given up on the out of doors and has burrowed into his taco bed.

max
['I suppose I should him away from sharp objects.']


Posted by: max | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 3:33 PM
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I find this intriguing.

|>


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 4:05 PM
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All right, let's get the embarrasing part out of the way: I used to listen to Lovelines all the time, until Adam Corolla left

What's embarrasing? Lovelines was great fun during the Corolla era.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 6:50 PM
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She was embarrassed for misspelling "Loveline" and "Adam Carolla".


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 6:53 PM
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It was great! But if someone didn't listen and recognize the greatness, they might be all judgemental because it sounds very teenage. Also they might have just caught the TV show and not realized how much more awesome the radio show was.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 8:04 PM
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But on the tv version you got all the fun of waiting through MTV's 8-10 minute runs of ads. I'm not sure that's an exaggeration, but I remember watching a few episodes and thinking I'd stick to the radio show.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 8:13 PM
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Radio ads are slightly more bearable than TV ads.


Posted by: paranoid android | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 8:18 PM
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JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. I just finished grading the other batch of pretests. (The motivation for yesterday's post was Cal 1, I just finished Cal II.)

Six people passed, and twelve students failed. I'm going to ask them straight up what would have gotten them to study.

I have a theory, though, about how this population thinks of themselves as being great at math, compared to the students in Cal I. This is somehow both beneath them and yet too daunting to undertake, and so they fail it.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 8:51 PM
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This is somehow both beneath them and yet too daunting to undertake

Huh. I think there are quite a few things I think of in similar terms, though it never would have occurred to me to use those words.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 8:57 PM
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18: That's a pretty small class.


Posted by: paranoid android | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:40 PM
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WHO SAYS "CAL I" OR "CAL II"?! THEY ARE CALLED "CALC I" AND "CALC II", SHEESH!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:41 PM
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I'm surprised neb didn't point out the switch between Arabic and Roman numerals as well.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:42 PM
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Neb is probably using linux with some weird font that doesn't distinguish 1 and I.


Posted by: paranoid android | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:43 PM
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My eyes reddened with blood as soon as I saw "cal".


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:51 PM
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Surely you mean "cal ".


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:53 PM
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What's even more bizarre is the people who say "Orgo" when they mean "O-Chem". I mean, really!


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:53 PM
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What do those people call p-chem?


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:54 PM
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There's a p-chem?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:57 PM
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Phyo, I assume.

35 gets it exactly right.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:57 PM
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There's so much I don't know about chemistry.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 9:58 PM
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Thank you, neb.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:01 PM
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35 gets it exactly right.

I can't wait for 35!

All the silly names for classes on differential equations grate on my ears. Not that I ever took a class on differential equations.

Even more grating: people who unnecessarily capitalize names of classes. "I was in my Algebra class, thinking about the things I need to read for my Western Civ paper, when...."


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:01 PM
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That's ok, teo.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:01 PM
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We don't expect you to know everything.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:01 PM
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I'm so handsome.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:01 PM
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32: What silly names are there other than Diffy Cue?


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:02 PM
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I didn't know there was a cutesy name for differential equations other than the one pronounced "diffy queue".


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:03 PM
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What's even more bizarre is the people who say "Orgo" when they mean "O-Chem".

Ooh, I am not a fan of that elocution.

On the other hand, in the paper I'm reading, the student consistently uses there for their and just quoted without quotation marks. (And I shouldn't double up my facebook posts with my comments here, but another student's paper just informed me that unlike the New English, the Native Americans practiced organic farming. In the seventeenth century.)


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:06 PM
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Thanks, neb.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:06 PM
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Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:07 PM
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I was just wondering when () would show up.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:08 PM
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The Native Americans were so swipple.

36, 37: I think I've heard "diff eek"? Not that grating, I suppose.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:08 PM
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I'm easily grated.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:09 PM
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43: I think the last paragraph of 32 demonstrated that.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:09 PM
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40: You know, I wrote that and figured it was wrong and kept it in there anyway. Bad paren.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:10 PM
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I was just wondering when () would show up.

Because it's about that time of the night, or some other reason?


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:10 PM
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"Orgo" doesn't seem that weird compared to "mofo", but I've never heard "orgo" or at least never understood it if I overheard it.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:11 PM
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White people do like Native Americans.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:11 PM
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I hear the Plains Indians used to have grass-fed buffalo to go with their organic vegetables. Stand mixers were probably involved as well.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:11 PM
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Because it's about that time of the night, or some other reason?

For that reason and no other.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:11 PM
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50: I was just wondering if there was some sort of parenthetical bat signal in this thread that I hadn't picked up on.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:13 PM
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free range grass-fed buffalo


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:13 PM
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White people like playing Native Americans.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:14 PM
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I was just wondering if there was some sort of parenthetical bat signal in this thread that I hadn't picked up on.

Nah. Other than grading, maybe.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:15 PM
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53: I adore that book. I went to see the author give a talk, but was rather disappointed because it turned out to be on the fate of American studies, which I just don't really care so much about.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:16 PM
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I saw him give an enjoyable talk a few years ago. I don't remember what, but it wasn't on American Studies. I'm embarrassed that I know his book "examination-well" - at least I did - but I haven't read all of it (yet).

Also, I think we killed the thread.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:30 PM
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Seriously. Sorry, guys. Carry on. I'll go hide.

(Also, eb, read the whole book. It's fun.)


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:39 PM
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||
Here is a SWPL, but useful, thing anyone can do while sitting at their computer. Become a participant in the Bird Phenology* Program.

The North American Bird Phenology Program houses a unique and largely forgotten collection of six million Migration Observer Cards that illuminate migration patterns and population status of birds in North America. These handwritten cards contain almost all of what was known of bird distribution and natural history from the Second World War back to the later part of the 19th century.
Participation involves coding scanned cards into a format for input into a database. It isn't too hard; the cards followed fairly well-defined and you can do as few or as many as you wish .
Decoding handwriting is the hardest part.

*When I first got an e-mail on it from my daughter I read it as Bird Phrenology Program-- which would study the shapes of their precious little skulls.
|>


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:42 PM
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57: No apologies!


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:47 PM
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58: Oh, fun! If that didn't feel a little too much like my day job, I'd be there. In fact, even if it does feel like my day job I might look into it.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:50 PM
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(I clearly lied about the hiding.)


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:50 PM
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You can lie but you can't hide.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:51 PM
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58: That program comes up as an example when people talk about this whole 2.0 thing as applied to librariash stuff.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:53 PM
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I should go to bed.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 10:59 PM
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It's so tempting to treat tomorrow like a holiday. Since it's a holiday.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:05 PM
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It's a holiday up here too, only with a "u".


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:07 PM
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I shunned Loveline out of loyalty to The Poorman. I'm sure he took great solace from that.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:25 PM
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Somebody else who remembers The Poorman! Ah, high school.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:30 PM
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Happy Houlidays, eb!


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:33 PM
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Yep. I remember his morning show.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:37 PM
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re: 8

That's cool. An adventure was had, etc.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 09- 6-09 11:54 PM
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My god, The Poorman. I wasn't much of a fan.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 12:00 AM
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I didn't realize that The Blob remake came out for health insurance reform 20 years ago.

|>


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 12:29 AM
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So, speaking of swplness, I just saw 500 Days of Summer, and don't think my eagle eyes didn't pick up what appeared to be, in both of our protagonists' two kitchens, what definitely appeared to be enameled cast iron.

Ikea doesn't purvey enameled cast iron on the cheap, does it?


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 12:30 AM
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Ikea doesn't purvey enameled cast iron on the cheap, does it?

Lodge does, not sure about Ikea though I wouldn't be entirely surprised.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 12:35 AM
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Something for Heebie to post about when she's bored with grading.

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Posted by: OFE | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 5:22 AM
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These?


Posted by: Abelard | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 5:25 AM
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Those!

I'm suspicious of their cheapness, to be honest.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 9:51 AM
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I have looked at them in store; they don't inspire confidence. And they're not really all that cheap qv le creuset on sale (which in the uk they are fairly often).


Posted by: Abelard | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 10:05 AM
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The 5-quart one, the largest they seem to make, is $50 in the US. Whereas a five and a half quart LC goes for somewhat more…

The Ikea one does seem to have a metal knob, too.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 10:10 AM
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The 5 litre one (which I guess is the same as the 5-quart) costs just over $70 from IKEA UK. It doesn't seem straightforward to find equivalent LC equipment between US and EU but this seems to be the 5+ quart model and costs under $150. I would think the IKEA ones look less than half as solid, warm-swipple-thought-inspiring, etc.

(And I bought mine in a sale from a real shop, for about $75, in an unpopular colour.)

(Diarrhoea yellow, should you care. They did not make them in that colour for very long.)


Posted by: Abelard | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 11:12 AM
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The unpopular colors seem the way to go with LC.

Also, if you were looking for enameled cast iron on the cheap, Lodge's line does seem pretty decent. I have a smallish brazier from them that was not expensive and while not quite as nice as Le Creuset does not feel flimsy in the least.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 11:23 AM
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Something for Heebie to post about when she's bored with grading.

God I love that story. The paradise that is small town America.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 1:03 PM
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Sheriff's deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received grant money to start its own police force, Martin said.

Grant money? I bet they had a terrible time getting their plans for corruption and brutality past the IRB.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 1:07 PM
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83, 84: Note 170 residents, desperately poor 90%+ black, delta town. The courthouse in question looks like a shotgun house. Maybe neither here nor there, but I thought it might do well to add some verisimilitude to our various fevered imaginings.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 1:41 PM
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Going back to the original post to respond to this:

It's when you leave out so many details that you're daring the teacher to call you out, and you sort of scribble your answer so that maybe you write over the text of the question, rather than use the space provided. All ways of saying Fuck you and your stupid hoops.

I think the phenomenon you describe is the teenage/20-something way of saying "I really, really want focused adult attention but I have absolutely no vocabulary for or comfort with asking for it directly. So I'm going to ask tangential and confused questions, hoping to elicit this response while retaining maximum deniability and the illusion that I am invulnerable."


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 09- 7-09 1:44 PM
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