Poll For Great Science

I am filled with the serenity and self-loathing only achieved during midterms, finals, and major papers.

Poll #1504 But is there a Relationship Between Tenure and Teaching Skill?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

View Respondents

I would rather take a class that is

View Answers

easy
1 (12.5%)

interesting
7 (87.5%)

My focus is in

View Answers

liberal arts
3 (37.5%)

social sciences
0 (0.0%)

science
3 (37.5%)

something else
2 (25.0%)

Is a poll complete without a tickybox?

View Answers

Ticky!
4 (66.7%)

Ticky says yes
1 (16.7%)

Ticky says no
2 (33.3%)

Ticky for gossip about cheaters
1 (16.7%)

Ticky for that jerk who always pulled the alarm during midterms
2 (33.3%)

Ticky for loaning pens
3 (50.0%)

Ticky for lost calculators
1 (16.7%)

Ticky for anxiety dreams
1 (16.7%)

Ticky for all-nighter
1 (16.7%)

Ticky for out of ticky-boxes
5 (83.3%)

And now I am giving up on stupid linkage analysis - when did my classes start incorporating sudoku puzzles? - and moving on to brief nightmares of mitochondrial defects. Hopefully the alarm will kick me alive before I dream up an exam question involving risk calculation for a mito defect of unknown transmission with attached wacky pedigree. If I were writing the exam, I'd totally make a question like that, but if I were writing the exam, I would've used my lecture time more effectively than I think the teacher has.

Capclave

Because of work* and midterm studying, I missed most of the day programming, but I had a good time at the evening/night parties. Friday was dominated by the Brave New World party, Saturday I got sucked into the Erfworld crowd (Wiki article) - mostly college-age and 20somethings - and Sunday was dominated by a pass through the dealer's room, and heading home with norabombay for a hard drive dataswap and pancakes. We learned that a shot of amaretto is an excellent addition to pancake batter. I saw lots of WSFAns, and hung out with many new people whose online handles I neglected to get.

*So far I am two for two on the Friday after Columbus Day coinciding with work wackiness. But this year I didn't have bronchitis! A vast improvement. Next year I will pre-plan and 1.) take October 15th as my optional holiday, 2.) schedule Friday overtime, or 3.) be in grad school.

Ultimately, I made it to only two programmed events at Capclave: the "Fandom: Losing by Winning?" panel, and the Small Press Award presentation.

The Losing by Winning panel may be summed up for biased and comedic purposes as:

PANEL: Why are none of the young people reading the SF classics? Dune, Asimov?
NORABOMBAY: Because they suck.
ASE: Have you read Foundation recently? Interesting idea, bad plot, bad prose. No girls. The cool parts have been mined by other authors.
PANEL: Space isn't romantic anymore. No one reads hard SF. Why are all the younger fans into unskiffy anime and stuff?
NORABOMBAY: Seriously? You have answered your own question.
ASE: Can I invoke the neocolonialist attitudes of steampunk now? Please?

( Possibly I should not plan my panel attendance as The East Coast H8rs Reunion Tour. )

In conclusion, a weekend made awesome by people. Go people.

Oh Orionids

The internet tells me that the Orionid meteor shower peaks in the predawn hours tomorrow, so I am unplugging myself from the internet and setting my alarm for a hideous 5 AM wake-up call. I plan to stagger into the night with Bag Of Stargazing Awesome in one hand and a thermos of Earl Grey in the other. Notice I didn't say anything about changing out of my PJs.