links for 2008-01-08

Random bullets and programming notes.

Happy 2008! Let the bullets commence:
*I am now to the point of totally refusing to acknowledge this interstitial period between semesters as a proper break. Far too much of it has already been taken up with matters from last term, and there’s no end of that in sight. Meanwhile, certain details of the upcoming semester are still sufficiently unresolved that I cannot yet do things like updating my course calendars.
*A piece of free advice to students: If you are emailing your instructor during an official break and would like a prompt and helpful response, avoid being abusive in that email message. (Look it over before hitting send.)

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Friday Sprog Blogging: who’s being trained?

Younger offspring: In the summer, we went to Yosemite and stayed in a cabin. We had to be really careful about bears. We couldn’t leave any food outside at all — not even a food wrapper in the car, because sometimes bears get into cars if they think they smell food.
Elder offspring: We also had to be careful about bears when we stayed at the cabin near Shasta for [San Diego friends’] wedding. Remember all the bear art with the reminders not to leave food lying around?
Younger offspring: But we didn’t see any bears either place.
Dr. Free-Ride: I think in the cabin near Shasta, the constant lights and sounds of the wedding festivities probably scared most of the bears off.

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New Year’s Eve: fun with cover versions.

There are less than seven hours left in 2007 as I write this post, and as yet, my better half and I have no idea what we’re doing tonight.
If we manage to get out, chances are good that a cover band may be involved.
In general, cover bands aren’t really my thing, but every now and then a cover version puts a thrillingly unexpected twist on a beloved song. Here are three that I really like:

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‘Give one, get one’ XO offer extended through December 31.

The One Laptop Per Child program’s Give One Get One promotion (which I blogged about back in November) has been extended through the end of December 31 (today!!).
If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, for $399 ($200 of which is tax deductible) you can donate a spiffy new and super-cool XO laptop to a child in a developing country and get one for yourself.
Santa (who apparently reads this blog) availed himself of the offer and brought an XO laptop to the sprogs. It’s set up with Linux (a plus for many people), although some bits are a little buggy (but free upgrades are expected to be available soon). The favorite feature right now is the video recording capability via the built in camera and microphone.
It’s a neat little feat of engineering, and the OLPC program has a vision of bringing education (not just technology) to families (not just kids) in the developing world. If you’re trying to do a last bit of philanthropy before the calendar turns over, this is an option worth considering.

On the slings and arrows of the philosophical job market.

Over at Bioethics Forum, Carl Elliott has an essay questioning the wisdom of the “convention interview” in the academic hiring process. As he notes, it is a fairly standard practice for philosophy departments to schedule a round of preliminary interviews for job candidates — those who make the “long list” of applicants still in the running for the position — at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division meeting. Among other things, scheduling interviews at the APA means that the job candidates are getting themselves to the conference on their own dime, and that there’s some likelihood that the candidates will be interviewing for other positions there as well. I suppose the thought is that with everyone coming to the same place at the same time, there’s an increase in the efficiency of the interviews both for the job candidates and the hiring departments.
Of course, there’s a catch: the Eastern APA always falls around December 26 through December 30.
This holiday scheduling is part of what strikes Elliott as inhumane about APA interviewing. He writes:

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From the annals of academic dishonesty: a bad way to fish for extra points.

As the new calendar year approaches, I can’t help but anticipate the coming spring semester — and to hold out the hope that this one will be the semester in which none of my students commits plagiarism. Otherwise, I’m facing a perfect 12-semester streak.
Near the end of last semester, one of my colleagues related a tale of dishonesty so brazen that it struck us as one for the books. (Or the blogs, anyway.) The crowning offense was that it was committed in the course of an extra credit assignment.

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Eleven (sand)pipers (sand)piping.

My better half and I were able to join friends on a beach walk yesterday. We hiked a little more than five miles from Goleta to Santa Barbara, and along the way we saw at least eleven sandpipers.

Trio1.jpg

At least, I think the birds we saw were sandpipers. Perhaps those of you who are birders can help with the identifications.

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