The better half and I were trying to decide this morning whether there was a way to follow the progress of “health care reform” in the U.S. Senate without getting really mad or really sad. (Conclusion: It seems logically possible that such a way exists, but we haven’t found it yet.)
The one player that seems likely to get much of what it wants in all this seems to be the insurance industry. Given that the folks working out who gets what are politicians, this does not surprise me.
So it occurred to me that maybe we shouldn’t be trusting politicians to achieve health care reform.
Instead maybe we need to mobilize a generation of new college graduates to get jobs with the health insurance industry and take ’em down from the inside.
Surely our young people are up to the challenge!
Friday Sprog Blogging: questions about Santa.
Given the extent and urgency of my current grading responsibilities, the sprogs and I have not had occasion this week for any extended conversations about matters strictly scientific, but there has been some chatter about Santa Claus:
Younger offspring: What happens if I stay awake on Christmas eve and see Santa?
Dr. Free-Ride: I don’t know. I’ve always heard that he’s really shy, and he doesn’t like to be observed while he works.
Younger offspring: But is he really?
Speaking of fairness.
An open letter to the handful of students during today’s exam asking whether I could “explain” the fourth short-answer test item to them:
Dear students,
The question you are pointing to is unambiguously phrased.
The wording of the item is quite clear in asking you to explain what that particular author is arguing about that particular scientific explanation. Indeed, the question you are asking me in anxious whispers indicates that you understand what this test item is asking for, and that what you are asking from me is a hint about the right answer.
That’s not how it works on the final exam.
Fair exam administration to multiple sections.
If my congested head is upright today, I must be administering final exams.
This puts me in mind of a question that has not come up this semester (and, with luck, will not), but that has come up on occasion in the past.
I frequently teach multiple sections of the same course in a given semester. On the one hand, this simplifies things, because it means that I have fewer exams to write. (A single final exam works for both section of Philosophy of Science.) But, since our final exams are scheduled based on the regular meeting days and times for the courses, there are then necessarily multiple sittings of an exam for courses I teach in multiple sections.
In practice, what this means is that the first group of students taking the exam can end up being your beta testers.
Getting neti with it.
One of the sprogs gave me a cold. There is nothing like being knocked on your butt by a cold to take all of the fun out of a weekend spent not-grading research projects.
Also, it seems to have filled my head with phlegm that then got … phlegmatic. Not quite congealed, but on its way in that direction. Desperate for relief, this led me to try something new.
Friday frivolity: let’s write a three-toed sloth sex joke.
Whereas the commenters on this blog have on numerous occasions proven themselves to be whip-smart and very funny, and whereas this humble blog comes up near the top of Google searches for “three toed sloth sex jokes”, I propose that we write some worthy three-toed sloth sex jokes.
Friday Sprog Blogging: Santa and science.
Other kids may be convinced that Santa Claus uses some kind of Christmas magic to get the job done. Not the Free-Ride offspring.
They have told me that obviously, Santa is putting his trust in science. (And also technology. But the holidays are no time for ugly spats about disciplinary boundaries.)
From the younger Free-Ride offspring:
Overheard during the budgetpocalypse.
Uttered by an administrator:
“It’s not a curricular decision. It’s a resources decision.”
Dialogue about animal research: save the date!
For those of you who have heard me issue calls for dialogue (not debate) on the subject of research with non-human animals — especially if you’re in the Los Angeles area — I’m pleased to announce that there’s an event coming up in February that’s aimed at fostering just such a dialogue, in the three-dimensional world. Here’s the announcement:
