The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: teaching

  • Week 34 in the Program

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    Weight this week | Change since last week | Total change 259.8 | ? | -113.2 OK, I should have posted this nearly a week ago.  But it’s been a whirlwind and I just couldn’t get to it.  Surprisingly still on track, despite my trip to California.  I had thought I’d gain some, since my…

  • Week 28 in the Program

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    Weight this week | Change since last week | Total change 268.4 | -2.6 | -104.6 Not that much to note.  I’m back on track and feeling good about it.  Soon I’ll be switching to Thursdays instead of Tuesdays for the weigh-in, so that will glitch the weekly numbers a little.

  • The Start of Summer

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    Everyone has their own unique signs that summer is upon us, the signature sound that signals the academic year is winding down. For me, it’s “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. More below the fold.

  • Lunacon 2009 (2): Friday late night

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    One of the fun things about cons is that they go on and on into the late night (at least by my standards). I went to a couple of late-evening sessions last night: “Strangers Have the Best Candy” and “Adult Filking”.

  • The (non) Importance of Caring

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    A former student of mine at some point had a facebook status that read, Why should I study something I don’t care about?  Why should teachers teach something they don’t care about? Actually, to be 100% accurate, the student’s status said that this was in someone else‘s status.  But still… “Why should I study something…

  • America the Beautiful

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    A stirring rendition, courtesy of Beyoncé at HBO’s “We Are One” Inauguration Concert.

  • McCain’s VP

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    mongreldogs
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    So, Senator John McCain has chosen Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate. Wow. It’s taken me a while to get my head around this. Sarah Palin is a political neophyte — if your main charge is that Barack Obama is inexperienced, then you have to see Sarah Palin as INEXPERIENCED. All of…

  • Throwing Out the Textbook (Part II)

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    (Part I gives the background.) Since the date to order a textbook has long since passed, I’m pretty committed to not going with one for “Space Science & Astrophysics”. I’ve taken the plunge. The problem is, I don’t know exactly what the course should look like now. Most especially, I don’t know of a good…

  • Throwing out the Textbook (Part I)

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    (You can skip to Part II.) Some of you might remember that this is nominally a blog about education. It’s time again to shunt aside all the personal and political things I like to blog about, and to instead post about my classes. I do this in part because school starts soon and I am…

  • What I’m Reading: 2008 July

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    This is the first in a regular series of posts meant more for myself than anyone else. I just want to keep a record of what I’m reading. So far in July: Public Enemies: The True Story of America’s Greatest Crime Wave by Bryan Burrough (552 p) Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning…