Can Arnold and Bruce Save the World?

[franznietzsche]

I just turned in my last paper. Now I have nothing to do. This feels very unnatural. I feel panicky. I need to sign up for something. I need a class. And some homeowrk. I need my inhaler.

That's a normal reaction. Take two red bulls and call me in the morning.

 

[Lisa!]

I hope so, because that's why I"m here right now.

It seems like only busy people get bored!

 

[tiny-tim]

Briticisms are running amok!

Don'ta mok wot you don'ta understand!

 

[wolram]

So far no one has come up with (there is all ways some thing to do), as one of my ex bosses used to say, this is when i made a waste rag container that resembled a coal scuttle, not very practicle says my boss--------------.

 

[franznietzsche]

It seems like only busy people get bored!

No, only bored people feel busy.

 

[Lisa!]

So far no one has come up with (there is all ways some thing to do), as one of my ex bosses used to say, this is when i made a waste rag container that resembled a coal scuttle, not very practicle says my boss--------------.

hmmm...sure, there is! For example you can start a thread like this or maybe posting in GD

 

[Lisa!]

No, only bored people feel busy.

I choose you as the philosophy guru!

 

[gabbagabbahey]

I choose you as the philosophy guru!

I guess that settles it: Nietzsche really was a great philosopher

 

[franznietzsche]

So far no one has come up with (there is all ways some thing to do), as one of my ex bosses used to say, this is when i made a waste rag container that resembled a coal scuttle, not very practicle says my boss--------------.

I have no idea what that sentence means. It defies all of my linguistic comprehension (which is admittedly fairly poor to begin with).

 

[Moonbear]

No, only bored people feel busy.

I choose you as the philosophy guru!

When I read Franz's comment there, I thought the same thing...we might have to toss him into the philosophy forum if he keeps saying stuff like that.

I know how MIH feels. It's really weird to go from working really hard to suddenly having free time again, and trying to remember how one uses it. I couldn't quite kick the habit, myself. I graded the half of the exams I was supposed to do last night (the other instructor in the course and I usually share the grading, so I grade half the questions then hand them over and she grades the other half just so neither of us has to suffer through all of them). But, apparently that glass of wine I had really did help the students grades (or maybe I finally scared them into studying harder by telling them this was going to be the hardest exam of the year ), and then realized it wasn't as painful as usual. Even the students who are failing made life easy by just going through the motions and not really trying so left lots of blank answers that are easy to grade instead of trying to decipher their bizarre guesses. So, I went ahead and graded the rest of them last night. An early Christmas present for my coworker.

 

[wolram]

Amok used to be a landlord of a country pub, i suppose one could run him for ten bob
on occasion if he was feeling flush.

 

[noumed]

It's really weird to go from working really hard to suddenly having free time again

Now that you mention it. I've only started this job in July, fresh out of college, so I'm still used to the fast-paced academic environment where you always have something to do every night. Now that I'm working, I have all this free time after work, and it's just weird! Oh, how I wish I could do homework again.

 

[lisab]

Now that you mention it. I've only started this job in July, fresh out of college, so I'm still used to the fast-paced academic environment where you always have something to do every night. Now that I'm working, I have all this free time after work, and it's just weird! Oh, how I wish I could do homework again.

I adjusted instantly .

 

[Moonbear]

Now that you mention it. I've only started this job in July, fresh out of college, so I'm still used to the fast-paced academic environment where you always have something to do every night. Now that I'm working, I have all this free time after work, and it's just weird! Oh, how I wish I could do homework again.

You could always go to graduate school. That would cure the problem for a few more years.

I think my students are going to lynch me soon! If I don't pop my head in here tomorrow, someone make sure they haven't strung me up somewhere. They did really well on their practical exam, but very poorly on the final written exam. We decided to scale up all the final grades a little bit to make up for it. So, now I'm getting emails..."Will there be a curve on the final exam?" I had to explain that the couple of PERCENTAGE points we scaled up the final grades were worth a lot more than the couple of points I could have added to the final exam. And...I KNOW I'm going to regret my attempt to explain that they don't want me to curve their other course, because it would lower many of their grades (there are roughly equal numbers of As, Bs and Cs and then just a couple Ds and Fs). I probably should have quit while I was ahead and not attempted to explain normal distributions to them and the concept of curving grades.

At least the students in my other class are very happy. They all mostly got As and Bs on my final exam in that course. The biggest problem in that one was that they were over-thinking questions, expecting them to be harder. I kept telling them that exam was the one to help boost their grades after the previous two exams that were very grueling, but they really didn't believe me.

 

[turbo]

I probably should have quit while I was ahead and not attempted to explain normal distributions to them and the concept of curving grades.

Ooh! Can-of-worms time.

I was pretty happy about scaling on normal distribution curves at times, though. I missed almost an entire month of engineering school due to back-to-back bronchitis and mononucleosis. I had missed homework, recitations, etc, and when I emerged from my final exam in Inorganic Chemistry, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. It was that bad. It turns out that I scored an A and ended up with a B for the semester. I thought I'd flunked out of school and instead I was offered a 5-year scholarship in Pulp and Paper (only 5 per year out of engineering cadres of over 300 students). Yay for scaling!

 

[Moonbear]

Ooh! Can-of-worms time.

I was pretty happy about scaling on normal distribution curves at times, though. I missed almost an entire month of engineering school due to back-to-back bronchitis and mononucleosis. I had missed homework, recitations, etc, and when I emerged from my final exam in Inorganic Chemistry, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. It was that bad. It turns out that I scored an A and ended up with a B for the semester. I thought I'd flunked out of school and instead I was offered a 5-year scholarship in Pulp and Paper (only 5 per year out of engineering cadres of over 300 students). Yay for scaling!

Yeah, it's always the ones you think will do poorly who do well. We had a student with mono take the final exam and get an A. When he contacted us to let us know he had mono, I immediately suggested allowing him to take an untimed test since the fatigue from that illness really can make it hard to do well on an exam (since he just wanted us to know he was sick in case it affected his grade, but didn't ask for a make-up exam or special consideration, I knew he was telling the truth without seeing a doctor's note...the ones who are faking illness are always asking for extra time to study). He chose to show up for the regular exam anyway, and did very well.

 

[wolram]

Spray, spray, that should get rid of the doer's.

 

[Math Is Hard]

It's a shame you can't just use the Stairs Grading Method, MB:

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/a_guide_to_grad.html

 

[physics girl phd]

... apparently that glass of wine I had really did help the students grades...

I should imbibe that next time I feel overwhelmed by grading.

We unfortunately have no stairs (unless you count the eight floors up to our apartment... that would sure separate the wheat from the chaff!)

 

[Moonbear]

It's a shame you can't just use the Stairs Grading Method, MB:

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/a_guide_to_grad.html

Of course those of us with many years of teaching experience are familiar with the technique, though the comments were hilarious! I can't believe a student asked somewhere in the middle why it takes so long to get grades back though. Don't they know that between the glass of wine and aging, it takes a while to gather the papers back up off the stairs?

Actually, I think the real reason to delay posting grades is to wait until the students are off-campus for the holiday break, so can't swarm the office to beg for those last few points. Unfortunately, the course coordinator promised the exam grades would be available by today! That means they still have two days before they leave town to gather up their pitchforks and torches.

If they spent as much time studying as they spent quibbling over points, they wouldn't need to quibble!

My favorite email so far..."I spent days studying for the exam. I don't understand why I did so badly." I was very tempted to reply with an explanation that we've been covering the material for the final for the past month, so perhaps that student should have been studying for a MONTH, not just DAYS.

 

[Moonbear]

I should imbibe that next time I feel overwhelmed by grading.

We unfortunately have no stairs (unless you count the eight floors up to our apartment... that would sure separate the wheat from the chaff!)

Oh, clearly your university is not putting education as a priority. As newly hired teaching faculty in my department, they made sure my office is right next to a stairwell. And, in case I have any difficulty with getting a good toss, there's a door out to the roof at the top of the stairs to help get a good draft. It has left me needing to modify my grading strategy a bit though, as the top papers seem to have more lift, so As go to those that remain airborne longest. I'm requesting a TA for the course next year. It's far too much effort to grade the ones that make it all the way to the bottom floor; I need someone younger who can run down and slap the F on those.

 

[physics girl phd]

Oh, clearly your university is not putting education as a priority.

But aren't we all just here to give passing credits to the football and basketball players?

Note: hiring freeze in effect right AFTER the newly fired football couch is rehired under special contract to be a special assistant to the system president (for the price of 37 grand for two months... including the holiday break!).

Yes: With grades finalized I have nothing to do except ponder the decisions of our institution's leadership (what is left of it).

 

[Redbelly98]

You could always go to graduate school. That would cure the problem for a few more years.

"Grad school is the snooze button on the clock radio of life."
-- anonymous

 

[physics girl phd]

"Grad school is the snooze button on the clock radio of life."
-- anonymous

Now I understand why I got three graduate degrees in three different fields!... it's the same as the number of times I hit snooze every morning (before I just switched the time of my alarm).

 

[Alfi]

I just read 5 pages of this thread.

Apparently, I'm bored.

 

[tiny-tim]

why have you stopped?

I just read 5 pages of this thread.

Apparently, I'm bored.

Then read it again! ​

 

[wolram]

I decided to only come here when i have some thing to do, that way i can save the job until i am really bored, but then if i do the job i will bored again, so i will probably leave it anyway.

 

[lisab]

I decided to only come here when i have some thing to do, that way i can save the job until i am really bored, but then if i do the job i will bored again, so i will probably leave it anyway.

I think I'm going to need a flow diagram to understand that, Woolie.

 

[Moonbear]

But aren't we all just here to give passing credits to the football and basketball players?

Note: hiring freeze in effect right AFTER the newly fired football couch is rehired under special contract to be a special assistant to the system president (for the price of 37 grand for two months... including the holiday break!).

Yes: With grades finalized I have nothing to do except ponder the decisions of our institution's leadership (what is left of it).

I'm wondering if I should apply to the newly opened search for a new university president here. I'm more qualified than the last one...older than he was too. Sure, he only lasted a year before they chased him out with pitchforks and torches (and maybe a shotgun at his back), but at that salary, even a year would be good to set aside a nice little nest egg.

I'm amusing myself today by reading the evaluations from my students. I knew there would be some bad ones from disgruntled students who weren't given an easy pass (I only learned a couple days ago that the person who previously taught the course never failed anyone, which explains why they are so stunned by having the bar raised, and also explains why I was hearing rumors from the dean's office that they wanted to raise the passing grade to a B...I think they need to see my grade distribution before they decide to kick out over half their class).

So, just for fun, here's some of what they are telling me...it's not enough detail, but I cover the material too quickly. I'm really wondering what they mean by detail...I could make it more detailed, but then I'd cover the material EVEN MORE quickly AND even more of them would fail. Then there was one complaining it was too much physiology and not enough anatomy. Hee...that one made me chuckle, because I never taught physiology (coming from the physiology department previously, I know what physiology is...I did sometimes cut an explanation short and tell them they'd get the rest of the story next semester in physiology, but I never went into the physiology). Whoever wrote that comment is in for a horrible surprise when they find out what is covered in the physiology course next semester. They'd be in for an even bigger surprise if they complained to their dean and found out that she has been pushing for quite a while to have anatomy and physiology taught in a combined course, so would only be thrilled to think we covered some physiology in our course. They commented that the other instructor was completely "out of it."

Though, some of the questions I put on their evaluation forms are ones I fully expect lots of complaints as responses. I did that on purpose. Those are the things I want to change in the course, so I'm going to use their complaints to support my argument to change the course dramatically. I'm going to have to make sure the students next year are told on day one that the course is changed dramatically so they don't expect to get away with the same crap this year's class tried.

 

[Evo]

This is so funny that the "nothing to do" thread has turned into a thread about doing too much.

 

[Borek]

Exactly my thought - many posts are completely OT and should be deleted.

 

[moe darklight]

This is so funny that the "nothing to do" thread has turned into a thread about doing too much.

it's 4 AM. I'm currently laying in bed, watching a TV show I don't particularly like because there is nothing else on. There is an empty box of crackers by my side. I really have to pee but am too lazy to get up so I keep refreshing webpages to kill the boredom. I'd go to sleep, but getting up and making the bed seems like too much work too.

better?

 

[wolram]

This is so funny that the "nothing to do" thread has turned into a thread about doing too much.

That is normal for GD, heck as a science forum i guess several members could covert petrol to water or gold to lead, i am not sure about nothing to something though, but there again the proof is in the pudding, well done guys another PFs first

 

[franznietzsche]

That is normal for GD, heck as a science forum i guess several members could covert petrol to water or gold to lead, i am not sure about nothing to something though, but there again the proof is in the pudding, well done guys another PFs first

Well, petrol to water is easy, I would just have to start my car.
<br /> C_n H_{2n+2} + \frac{3n+1}{2}O_2 \rightarrow nCO_2 + (n+1)H_2 O<br />

That gold to lead bit though...I'm going to have to get back to you on that.

 

[wolram]

Well, petrol to water is easy, I would just have to start my car.
<br /> C_n H_{2n+2} + \frac{3n+1}{2}O_2 \rightarrow nCO_2 + (n+1)H_2 O<br />

That gold to lead bit though...I'm going to have to get back to you on that.

What have i done

 

[Borek]

That gold to lead bit though...I'm going to have to get back to you on that.

Send me some gold and I will send you back some lead, it is not harder then that.

 

[turbo]

Send me some gold and I will send you back some lead, it is not harder then that.

That reminds me of something I did about 30 years ago. I got a notice in my (rural) mailbox that I had incoming mail at the post office with insufficient postage. I had to make a trip to town to pick it up, and the postmaster would not even let me look at the mail until I paid the missing postage. I was really steamed when I found out that it was a piece of junk mail. Some outfit had sent me "samples" of really low-grade fasteners (one bolt, one nut, a flat washer and a lock washer) and an order form. I was pleased to see that they sent a fair-sized postage-paid return envelope. I went to the garage and pulled out a roll of lead flashing, cut it to size with my tin snips, and stuffed that envelope with it. I hope they were happy with my "gift".

 

[wolram]

That reminds me of something I did about 30 years ago. I got a notice in my (rural) mailbox that I had incoming mail at the post office with insufficient postage. I had to make a trip to town to pick it up, and the postmaster would not even let me look at the mail until I paid the missing postage. I was really steamed when I found out that it was a piece of junk mail. Some outfit had sent me "samples" of really low-grade fasteners (one bolt, one nut, a flat washer and a lock washer) and an order form. I was pleased to see that they sent a fair-sized postage-paid return envelope. I went to the garage and pulled out a roll of lead flashing, cut it to size with my tin snips, and stuffed that envelope with it. I hope they were happy with my "gift".

Nice one

 

[Math Is Hard]

Aren't you in LA? Quit yer whinin. I can sit on my balcony in the Valley in my shorts right now.

Why are you in the Valley? Are you making adult films?

 

[franznietzsche]

Why are you in the Valley? Are you making adult films?

I live here now? At least until august. I might be out of here after that.

 

[wolram]

it's 4 AM. I'm currently laying in bed, watching a TV show I don't particularly like because there is nothing else on. There is an empty box of crackers by my side. I really have to pee but am too lazy to get up so I keep refreshing webpages to kill the boredom. I'd go to sleep, but getting up and making the bed seems like too much work too.

better?

Wow, there should be an award for you may be an EMI.

 

[Gnosis]

I'm still wearing pants, so I suppose that means I can't come here?

Why do people complicate the simplest of things? Sure you can stay, just take your pants off!

 

[wolram]

Why do people complicate the simplest of things? Sure you can stay, just take your pants off!

Heck no, we have plenty of coat hangers.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I live here now? At least until august. I might be out of here after that.

I was thinking about getting out of California in the next year, but part of me is tempted to stick around and see what "armageddon" is like.

 

[turbo]

I was thinking about getting out of California in the next year, but part of me is tempted to stick around and see what "armageddon" is like.

Oh sure! Now you're going to rent a house-trailer in chapparal country right on top of the San Andreas fault. Get out of there MIH!

 

[franznietzsche]

Oh sure! Now you're going to rent a house-trailer in chapparal country right on top of the San Andreas fault. Get out of there MIH!

Not sure if that was the armageddon she was referring to. it's not the one I'm expecting in the next 2-3 years.

I was thinking about getting out of California in the next year, but part of me is tempted to stick around and see what "armageddon" is like.

As soon as I get around to finishing a degree, I'm out of here.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I was thinking about what Arnold said:

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4BA73C20081212

"California faces a growing financial crisis," the Republican governor said, urging the state's Democrat-led legislature to close the current fiscal year's budget shortfall.

"If we don't put aside our ideological differences and negotiate and solve this problem we are heading toward a financial Armageddon," Schwarzenegger said.

 

[franznietzsche]

I was thinking about what Arnold said:

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4BA73C20081212

Yeah, that's the one I'm expecting. This state is heading for governmental incompetence of a sort that would make Chairman Mao proud.

 

[Redbelly98]

Just when I had finally switched allegiances from the consistently inconsistent always underacheiving (when they're not too busy overachieving) Toronto Raptors to a winning team (go Blazers!), Brian finally fires Smitch and gives me new false hope. B&st$rd!

Your Raptors just killed my Nets by 22 points.

Well, at least that division has one good team.

 

[wolram]

I was thinking about what Arnold said:

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4BA73C20081212

I would have thought Arnie could terminate the debt, and Bruce Willis could prevent the armageddon.