Miscellany

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

It was kind of sweet, though I'm reasonably certain that's the first time anyone has ever referred to me as "lovely."

One check on your generosity with random bio questions on this here internet hangout, seems legit to me.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

As I approached, she said, "... and this is the lovely Dr. _________; he teaches Biology."



It was kind of sweet, though I'm reasonably certain that's the first time anyone has ever referred to me as "lovely."

Or as "__________".

I'm not even sure how to pronounce that.

[Crumb]

I believe that would be "Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da"

[JoeP]

Trio - Da Da Da - YouTube

[lisarea]

So I'm pretty sure the danged hawks just killed and are currently eating one of the cottontails in our yard.

The two main ones have been kind of extra noisy and jerky lately, as I may have complained about already, but yesterday, there were three, and they were getting super aggressive, swooping everyone, and people were having to cross the street and even double back and turn around rather than walk past them, so I assume the third is a fledgling. (They had two last year.)

Anyway, just now the screaming got extra horrific and extra close, and, well, look at these fuckers.

Stupid circle of life.

hawk10.JPG

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Apparently, a balanced diet is a corn dog in each hand.

[slimshady2357]

I looked at the pictures before reading the text, so I was thinking "wow awesome pics of some awesome birds". But they are bad birds! Bad!

Seriously though, nice pics of some beautiful birds.

[lisarea]

Thanks!

I should update that in this thread. I looked at the crime scene and it was all bird feathers, so I asked about it in the TLR thread, and I think the best guess so far is that is was a Northern Flicker.

I try not to get emotionally attached to prey animals around here, but sometimes I can't help it. So I'll bring the bunnies a banana today because yesterday must have been pretty rough on them.

[JoeP]

The f*ck you want?- dog

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Unrelated to the above.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

A Kind Woman Asks For the Most Un-Adoptable Shelter Dog to Give Him a Loving Home

[The Lone Ranger]

So, I received my second-ever tarot reading today.

Some students were sitting at a picnic table outside today, and one of them had some tarot cards and a book for interpreting them. She was doing "readings" for the others.

I noted that whenever she turned over a card, she'd then consult her book, which always had several "possible meanings" for each card. Each of the "possible meanings" for each card was very broad and could apply to just-about anyone [seriously, who hasn't been depressed by the death of a loved-one at some point in his or her life?] -- and amusingly, it was often the case that two of the "possible meanings" of a given card were precisely opposed.

Anyway, she'd read off a list of possible meanings for each card as it was turned over, and the person whom she was "reading" would inevitably pick one of those "possible readings" and say "that's me!" or something of the sort. So, by the end of each reading, of course she had a pretty accurate description of the person's personality and goals.


Once, when I was in college, I had much the same experience. A friend did a tarot "reading" for me, and since he knew me well, he didn't have any trouble picking out the "possible meanings" that applied for each card and thus had a pretty accurate "reading" at the end.


Back to today: after the student had done "readings" for several of her peers, each of them declared that they were amazed by the "accuracy" of her readings. Then they asked me what I thought of it.

Well, I didn't want to be rude. So, as diplomatically as possible, I pointed out that all of the "possible meanings" for each card were vague and could apply to just-about anyone. Furthermore, I pointed out, it's not hard to pick the "correct" interpretation when you know the person for whom you're doing the reading. I suggested that if they're interested in such things, they might like to read up on the subjects of Cold Reading and Confirmation Bias, in particular.


Then they suggested that she do a reading for me. Most of the students sitting at the table had suffered through at least one class with me, and so knew at least a little about me, but she has never taken a course with me, and so knows next to nothing about me.

Except, of course, she knows that I'm clearly not a believer in the ability of the cards to predict my fate. And wouldn't you know it? The very first card she turned over had as one of its possible meanings that the person being "read" is a skeptic, and that (s)he should learn to accept things without "overthinking" them. Boy, wasn't that a coincidence?

During the reading, I pointedly did not choose her answers for her. I didn't say a word, and I deliberately schooled myself not to provide any body-language cues as to the "correct" choice among each card's "possible meanings." After all, she claimed that she could interpret the cards to learn about my personality, history, and goals -- therefore it was up to her to demonstrate this; it was not up to me to tell her which interpretations were the "correct" ones.


So, the final result? She failed spectacularly.

I wish to stress that I don't think she was trying to deliberately fool anyone. I think that she was just as much a victim of confirmation bias as were all the other students. But as I pointed out, if the cards work only when the person doing the interpretation knows the subject and/or the subject helpfully picks the "correct" interpretation for her -- well, that's not too impressive.

In the end, they agreed that it was a fun exercise -- but perhaps not something to be taken too seriously. I hope they remember that for the future.

[JoeP]

They've learned that it doesn't work on sceptics ... and the very first card shows the cards know this!

[ceptimus]

A visitor to Niels Bohr's home noticed a 'lucky horseshoe' hanging up over the door. He said to Niels, "Surely you, as a famous scientist and Nobel Prize winner don't believe in the nonsense of good luck charms?"

"Of course not!" replied Niels, "I'm disappointed that you even felt the need to ask whether I believe such rubbish! ...but I've been assured that it still works and brings good luck whether you believe in it or not."

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

[Ari]

I decided to cut a pinecone in half,

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

How to get banned from all your favorite apps

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

[JoeP]

Are they saying "michael jackson" was an Entertain Dog?

[erimir]

Possibly Michael Jackson has been reincarnated as a poodle.

[Limoncello]

That should be on the Charts are awful thread

[lisarea]

I feel like someone just popped a single slide out of a much more comprehensive PowerPoint presentation. I'm sure it would all make 100% sense if we had some context.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Evidently no one understands what constitutes a YA novel.

Should I recatalog 50 Shades and see what happens? ��@stampepk @JeremyWest pic.twitter.com/zJ7NKQvhY6

— just pamela (@Pamelibrariland) August 28, 2017

[The Lone Ranger]

Welp, I just got done with the second meeting of my Field Biology course for the semester. I can't quite decide whether I'm pleased with what happened or disappointed -- a little of both, I suppose.

Evidently, it didn't occur to all of the students that a Field Biology course would involve actually going out -- into the field -- on occasion. Imagine that.

I took them out on a quick walk 'round campus last time, to get them some experience using taxonomic keys to identify plants, and to teach them some of the vocabulary they'd need to know. We stayed on the main campus and didn't do anything even remotely strenuous. So, all was well.


I should stress that back in the Spring, during registration, I repeatedly told every student who expressed interest in the course that a Field Biology course would necessarily entail spending a lot of time outdoors -- that we'd be hiking around local natural areas looking for and identifying various plants and animals, that we'd be going into streams to find out what lives in them, that we'd be hiking up and down mountains to look at the ways that factors like aspect and elevation affect communities, and so forth. Every one of them expressed how that sounded like it'd be a wonderful thing to do, and how much they were looking forward to the course.

Again, despite the fact that I told them what to expect, I can only assume that some of them hadn't actually given any thought to the notion that a Field Biology course would involve going out into the field.



So, flash forward to today. I took them on a very mild hike up the hillside behind the Science Building. Heck, I didn't even take them all the way up to the top of the mountain.

This "hike" barely qualified as a decent walk, if you ask me -- barely even a leg-stretcher, really. Yet to hear some of these kids, I was forcing them to reenact the Bataan Death March.


Well, it's gratifying, I suppose, to know that I can still hike circles around kids who are less than half my age. But it's also kind of depressing -- don't these kids ever go outside? Is walking to and from the nearest elevator the only exercise some of them ever get?


(At least we found some neat plants and a nifty snake. And the students thought the seed pods of the Impatiens capensis that we found were really cool.)

[Ari]

You should start leaving dirt mounds and head stones.

Poor Samantha died of dehydration 2 days before her assignment was due.
This is Dave, he wore flip flops and shorts. The hyper malaria got him.