Miscellany

[Ymir's blood]

Snakes Alive, Mr. Drusus!

03_30_07_snakes_alive1.jpg

[But]

Interesting how the women are "scared" but the men are "startled".

[Ymir's blood]

If my neck was doing that, I'd be pretty nervous too!

[Kyuss Apollo]

Bow ties are Cool.

[Ymir's blood]

[Vivisectus]

Woman wins the right to have a drivers license picture in which she wears religious headwear. Another win for religious freedoms!

Mass. woman wins fight to wear colander in driver's license by citing 'pastafarian' religion - Washington Times

Unlike her headwear, the case was water-tight.

[The Lone Ranger]

Almost every educator I've spoken with on the subject absolutely hates "No Child Left Behind" and such programs. The general consensus is that we've succeeded in raising a generation of kids who're really good at memorizing definitions, but cannot think to save their lives.

Sadly, I'm all-too-often inclined to agree.

Case in point: Today, I was lecturing on the structure of DNA. I pointed out that each strand of DNA has an exposed phosphate group at one end, and that this is the 5' end of the molecule. The other end of the molecule has an exposed deoxyribose, and is the 3' end.

They all busily wrote this down, though if they'd read the assigned readings, they wouldn't have had to do so.

Anyway, I went on to explain why each strand has a 5' end and a 3' end.

Then I showed them a drawing of a DNA molecule. "This [pointing] is a phosphate group; notice how it is exposed at this end of the molecule. And this [pointing to the other end of the molecule] is an exposed deoxyribose. Now, knowing as you do that the 5' end has an exposed phosphate group and the 3' end has an exposed sugar (deoxyribose), which end is this?" [pointing to the exposed phosphate group at the 5' end]



"Okay, remind me; which end has the exposed phosphate group?"

["Ah, a definition; I know this," I can practically hear them thinking.] "The 5' end."

"Good." "Now, tell me [pointing at the 5' end, with the clearly labeled phosphate group], which end is this?"




I'd call it a fluke, but I see this sort of thing all the time. I fear it's true; we've raised a whole generation of people who are good at memorization, but terrible at thinking.

[Ymir's blood]

It's 5:34!

[specious_reasons]

Something that made me pleased: Someone remixed my silly 3D turkey model into a dimmer switch knob.

Turkey Dimmer Switch by lcmiller461 - Thingiverse

[Janet]

The library is getting a free 3-D printer as a bonus for our office service contract on our printers, copiers and microfilm machines. It will be a simple one, with only two colors, but our director is tickled.

And, to add to TLR's story, this weekend I learned that my nephew writes really poorly but my sister can't get through to him because he still gets As.

[specious_reasons]

Originally Posted by Janet

The library is getting a free 3-D printer as a bonus for our office service contract on our printers, copiers and microfilm machines. It will be a simple one, with only two colors, but our director is tickled.
[...]

It's probably better than mine. I bought a sub-$400 one, and the prints show it.

Actually, I'm pretty pleased with the prints, considering the price, but if I wanted to do anything serious, I'd need something better.

[curses]

We watched some people try to stack pint glasses in a pub. They were apparently quite proficient.
image.jpeg

[Stormlight]

I'm back from my two day business trip to Paris. I went by train and expected a lot of hassle and controls but there was nothing. At all. No passport checks, no baggage checks. Nothing. On Tuesday, police presence in the city center was minimal.

We went for dinner and the restaurants and bars were packed. There were lots of people in the streets and the whole city felt defiant.

This changed on Wednesday morning with the police raid in Saint Denis. Heavily armed police everywhere and you could actually feel the nervousness. It was rather unsettling.

Still, when I left in the afternoon there were still no checks before taking the train.

Also, I got the feeling that the mood of the population is clearly turning against Muslims in general. Not good.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by curses

We watched some people try to stack pint glasses in a pub. They were apparently quite proficient.
Attachment 10013

The dude at the bottom (or on the left if you believe in rotation and traditional modes of gravity) came and chatted to us later - very cheery and very British - basically with one question:
If you had to listen to only one band/artist for the rest of your life - but you have access to all their recordings - which one would you choose?
"There's only one right answer" he assured us several times. "And two cop-out answers"
Curses made him even more cheery by getting the right answer within a few seconds.

[slimshady2357]

Frank Zappa, obviously.

[Pan Narrans]

J.S. Bach

[slimshady2357]

Bach is one of the 'cop-out' answers

[Vivisectus]

The Beatles is the other on no doubt?

[curses]

Indeed they were

[BrotherMan]

And curiously enough, No Doubt was the other cop out answer.

[JoeP]

[Ymir's blood]

Obv. Cheeky Girls

[curses]

[Miisa]

Originally Posted by JoeP

- very cheery and very British -

Can only the The Spice Girls.

[ShottleBop]

Paul Simon