The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Tag: teaching

  • more testing of subscribe2

    Let’s see what this does.

  • Quickie: Accidentally-hilarious writing

    I was flipping through the channels and came across FX’s presentation of The Day After Tomorrow. I’d never seen it before — movies like this make my teeth hurt, because the science is just so bad. But I decided to give it a go. My full opinion on the movie would likely bore you but I was struck by the following line:

    Reporter: … in the wake of the approaching storm…

    Think about that. Where, by definition, does a wake appear? Behind the object causing it. (Glad to find I retained something from Romani’s Fluid Mechanics class…) You can’t be in the wake of something approaching.

    OK, so maybe the reporter was trying to be metaphorical: People realize the storm is approaching, panic, and cause the chaos being documented. It’s still a stupid way of saying it…

  • Review: Echelon

    Echelon
    a novel
    by Josh Conviser

    InstaRating: 2 out of 5

    This book\’s title caught my interest because I keep up with surveillance tech and its social implications, and ECHELON — the alleged US NSA electronic sifting program — is the monster of all surveillance programs. Although I knew this was a spy thriller, I thought there was a chance that it would delve deeply into some of the issues revolving around the invasive new technologies coming online. Alas, it didn’t pan out that way.

    More below the fold — warning: Spoilers to come.

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  • Snow Day!

    The sweetest two words to any teacher’s ears (well, other than “summer vacation” :)), and the only good reason to receive a phone call at 5 in the morning. 🙂

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  • Testing stats

    Today I found a plugin called Lightstats that compiles some WordPress statistics.
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  • from 2003: Synchronicity, in memoriam Robert Hauter Myslik

    [edited 2007 0130 to correct Rob’s middle name, which was Hauter and not Hunter.]

    This piece dates from around 2003 February 10. I wrote it about three weeks after the death of a legendary colleague and true friend, Rob Myslik. Rob taught at Hun for nine years, including two while I was there, and then went off to pursue his dream of being an even-more-world-class writer. He went to Missoula, MT in the summer of 2001 with Susan Bogue, the love of his life; in summer 2002, they wed. Rob came back to the East Coast in 2003 January to catch up with his relations and friends. Then, on 2003 January 21, while heading out to the Sundance Festival, Rob was involved in a tragic car accident and killed. It was devastating to many people, and I count myself among them. I wrote a quick piece that day but it took three weeks before I could truly find my voice.

    By the way, some people quibble with my opinion on the Pink Floyd connection. If you’re one, I hope you’ll keep reading anyway.

    God keep you, Rob Myslik, wherever you are now.
    -=-Bernard HP Gilroy
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  • Running the Race (My speech given as Distinguished Faculty recipient)

    I have had the honor of being named as the Hun School’s first recipient of a new Distinguished Faculty Endowed Chair. One of the prices is that, today, I had to give a speech at the first-ever Convocation. Since some people have asked, and since I have an ego the size of Montana, I decided to put it up on the Web — to wit, right here on Mongrel Dogs.
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