On sharing homework on Facebook

It occurs to me that if students could actually cheat by discussing their homework on Facebook, i.e. they could just copy answers instead of doing and understanding the work themselves and still leave the course with a good grade, then the problem is really a poorly-designed course.

In every course I've ever taken even as far back as high school, the point has been to learn how to do something, or to acquire in-depth understanding of something, rather than to regurgitate the correct answers. We've always had opportunities to discuss our work with others - in fact, my resource teachers actively encouraged me to help other students as part of my "enrichment" (an offer I didn't take them up on until uni because I didn't want to help my bullies) - but if you just blindly copied rather than understanding then you wouldn't be able to understand the next lesson and the lesson after that and you wouldn't be able to do well on the exam and on your ISU. So when we discussed homework we'd quiz each other, share mnemonics, explain procedures to people who didn't grok them the first time around, sort of help everyone arrive at understanding the material. Blindly copying the material might possibly maybe get you through one minor assignment (but most likely not), but wouldn't help your overall mark.

So if blindly copying other people's work from Facebook actually works and makes it possible for students who don't understand the material to pass the course, the problem is really how the course is designed, how material is graded, how different assignments/projects/exams are weighted.

One of my favourite profs - a veteran and professor emeritus who addressed male students by surname and female students as Miss Surname and taught us to write an essay so tight you can bounce a quarter off it* without us even noticing that he was teaching us essay skills - allowed students to go to the bathroom unescorted during exams, his logic being that if you've managed to hide something in the bathroom that will give you the in-depth intellectual and analytical understanding of the material needed to write his exams, more power to you. In his classes, you had to actually understand to pass, and we all came out better for it.

Any good course should be designed this way. If you can get by by blindly copying other people's answers without understanding them yourself, then there's clearly a flaw in the course design or evaluation method.

*You're thinking "You can write an essay so tight you can bounce a quarter off it? Could have fooled me!" Apart from entries that are clearly tightly choreographed, everything I write here is first draft, typed up as soon as it comes to me in words, so it isn't really an example of what I can do.

New Rule: when making declarative statements about hair, specify hair type

From an article about how to pack when travelling for business, on what to do about your hair if you don't want to pack a hairdryer:

She also encourages people to forgo the blow dryer and use travel as a chance to wear hair naturally and "live simply."

Here's where we differ: My experience with female friends, family members and colleagues leads me to believe that women fear the thought of bad hair days.

So I say reward yourself for all the work by visiting a nearby salon. A blow dry typically costs less than $50 and - marathon notwithstanding - will last the duration of a three-day trip.

From my perspective sitting here with long straight oily hair, that is one of the most bizarre statements I've ever heard. It's so surreal I can't even come up with a good analogy. It makes just as much sense in my reality as if she had said "But these problems can be easily avoided by sleeping with a pair of fuzzy pink earmuffs under your pillow." Even if for some strange reason the blowout could last through sleep, my hair would still absolutely positively HAVE to be washed every single day so I don't look like I dunked my head in a vat of grease. Of course, I can easily wrangle my hair into a respectable conservative updo without any product whatsoever and let it air dry. It's completely unsexy, but it's quick and easy and does the job. So wear it naturally and live simply is extremely feasible for me (and is actually what I do most days anyway) while getting it blowdried at a salon and then leaving it for three days is something from the bizarro universe.

But all this aside, every hotel I've stayed in in my adult life has provided a hairdryer. Is that really that strange?

And if you're willing to spend $50, why not just buy a hairdryer at a local drugstore and leave it in the hotel room when you leave? Not being able to do your own hair and having to pay someone else to do it instead is a bit...Marie Antoinette, I think. You're not an Egyptian pharoah, this isn't Oscar night, a suitable hairdo should be in your repertoire.

So yeah, my point is, hardly any statements can apply to everyone's hair, so specify the kind of hair you're talking about.

Things They Should Invent: illegal drug weight to dosage converter

Suppose I'm reading a newspaper article, and it mentions two ounces of cocaine. I have no idea how much that is. Like I know what two ounces is, but I have no idea how many doses of cocaine that is. Is it one dose or one hundred doses? Sometimes you need to know this to properly understand the article.

I want an easily googleable website that will do this for me. Actually, I want Google Calculator to do this, but I don't think they'd go for it.

Awareness Test

This is brilliant


Awareness Test - Watch more free videos

More information please

Mentioned in passing in a larger article:

[Mavis Gallant] moved to Paris in 1950, after discovering that women could not be served alone [in restaurants] in North America, even at New York's Algonquin Hotel.

Um, why? On what basis? What would happen if a woman went to a restaurant alone? They mention this like it's either common knowledge or irrelevant to the story, but it's bizarre and I've never heard of it before and there's a whole story behind it that I can't seem to google up.

I wear heels for the greater good of society

Today I wore running shoes, which I don't normally wear. I'm a fast walker to start with, and in running shoes I walk even faster. The problem is I get really frustrated at the slower pedestrians (which, when I'm wearing runners, is literally everyone except for people who are actually running) - I get like sidewalk rage! Not at old people or people with disabilities or small children or impractical shoes or carrying lots of stuff, but people who look like they're in perfectly good condition. I feel like "How is it physically possible for you to be walking that slowly? Don't you get bored in between your interminably slow steps?"

So next time someone gives me shit for wearing girly shoes, I'll tell them it's for the good of my blood pressure and the good of society. They're to handicap me, like in Harrison Bergeron, so I can act civil in today's slow-walking society.

Culinary tip of the day

If you're out of milk for your coffee, whipped cream will do in a pinch. Cover the surface of the coffee with a layer, let it melt in (stirring helps) then add more as needed. Not the classiest thing ever in the world, but it gets the job done and you can enjoy your coffee without having to run out and buy more milk. My previous back-up plan was adding powdered milk to the coffee, and whipped cream works better than that.

Open Letter to all US video streaming sites

So you want me to watch a commercial before you'll show me the TV show? That's fine, that's how these things work, I won't even try to hack my way around it.

So you won't show me the show because I'm outside of the US? Well, I'm not as cool with that, but I'll take that it's a given for the moment.

But please, please, for the love of all human decency, don't make me watch the commercial and THEN tell me I can't watch the show because I'm outside the US!!!!!!!!!! If your sponsor is US-specific then it doesn't do any good to show me the commercial anyway, and if your sponsor sells its products internationally then you may as well let me watch the show so I'll come back to your site and see more of your commercials!

Analogy for profanity

Swear words are like hammers. They vary in size and quality - "hell" is one of those little hammers (mallets?) your doctor hits your knee with, while "cunt" is a sledgehammer. Obviously it's unhelpful to go around hitting things with hammers when they need to be tightened with a screwdriver or cut with a saw, but this doesn't mean no one should ever use a hammer ever.

Sexy tune

Eliminating intolerance through corporate sponsorship

So apparently some people boycotted Ford because they advertised in gay publications. I wonder how they knew what kind of ads are in gay publications, but I digress.

But they've just tipped their hand here: if you advertise in gay publications, they'll boycott you.

So all we need to do is get really important things, really major things that would be extremely difficult to do without, to advertise in gay publications. A single brand of car is easy to boycott; let's make it hard for them.

For example, Google. Boycott Google, then their ability to navigate the internet is seriously impaired, plus no gmail, no youtube, no blogger, all kinds of important tools.

Or Microsoft. Suddenly they can't use any computers with Windows, they can't use MS-Office, no hotmail, no MSN messenger. I know many people would say that this is a good thing, but losing the option of using (like it or not) the standard platform would be a blow.

Or, if you prefer, Apple. No iPod, no iTunes, no QuickTime, no iPhones.

Or, to take another tack, Proctor & Gamble. How much stuff do they make? Just avoiding their brands would be an inconvenience!

Or, in certain markets, telecom companies. Imagine losing access to the only cable internet provider! Or, in certain markets, utility companies. Having to boycott the water company would be quite a blow, wouldn't it?

So if you're a monopoly, or if you're the best, or if you're the industry standard, or if you're unique in your field, or if you're impossible to avoid, advertise in gay publications and smoke out intolerance!

Free ideas: make your own automatic podcast transcription program

I'm too busy and too lazy to try this out myself and I don't have the cables (which normally wouldn't be a problem except I've had some bad luck buying cables lately so I don't feel like doing more experimenting) so I'm putting it out there.

The basic idea is to run podcasts etc. through voice recognition software so you can read them (which is faster and easier) instead of listening to them. Hook up your audio output to your audio input, open up your voice recognition software, open up itunes or whatever, and press play. As I understand it (I haven't played with voice recognition very much) you'll have to train the software a bit at first, but once it's learned a particular podcaster's voice, it should be able to scan through quickly.

How to get me to stop using bottled water

I don't use bottled water for the water, I use it for the bottles. Once I've finished the water that comes in the bottle, I refill it from the tap and keep reusing it until it dies or until I get sick and have to replace the bottle. It's just that I want to have water with me in my purse, and a water bottle is the easiest way to do that.

So to stop me from using bottled water, I will require a reuseable water bottle that is no less convenient than a standard 500 mL bottled water. That means that it must:

- Hold at least 500 mL
- Be no heavier than a 500 mL plastic bottle
- Fit easily in my purse. In addition to the regular goods and chattels, I always carry a small umbrella, a 500 mL water bottle, and a (usually hardcover) library book; my purses are sized accordingly. I would love to use smaller purses and would embrace a bottle that allows me to do this, but if the bottle is too big for the purse I want to use, I'm going back to "disposable".
- Close tightly (I can't guarantee it will stay vertical in my purse) and be able to put up with being treated with no care whatsoever.
- Stand up to being washed in the dishwasher, and fit comfortably into my 3/4 size dishwasher. I don't want to have to wash by hand or plan dish loads around the bottle.
- Be obtainable without going out of my way. Go to a website and click on a button good. Go somewhere on the Yonge subway line good. Get on a bus bad.

Let's stop thinking of the pay gap as a gender issue

In the news again recently was how the average woman gets paid less than the average man

The problem with positioning this as a gender issue is that it erects a giant Somebody Else's Problem Field around the issue. It makes it sound like employers are deliberately paying women less because they are women, then you realize that you don't know of anywhere where that's happening. Somebody else's problem! You read the story, then sneak a look at the paystub of your opposite-sex colleague with the most comparable job description and experience and see that you're earning more or less the same. Somebody else's problem! If you're male, it automatically labels to the story as Other. Somebody else's problem! If you're unionized or otherwise have everyone's pay governed by the same unbendable rules. Somebody else's problem! If you're an employer, you think "But I pay my male and female employees the same!" Somebody else's problem!

The headlines make it sound like women are getting paid less because they're women, but that's not what it is.

“As the report shows, the jobs women hold in Canada today mean they get paid less,” the labour congress said in a release. “These jobs also mean fewer women are able to access benefits through the federal government's Employment Insurance program.

The jobs women hold. It's not the fact that the employees are women, it's the nature of the jobs. So let's look at the recommendations:

The report makes several recommendations:

• Change employment standards so that full-time hours and part-time hours get paid the same when the same work is done.

• Raise the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour.

• Improve public pension plans so women, who live longer, aren't penalized for taking time away from the workforce to care for children.

• Improve access to quality and affordable child care; the report says two-thirds of women with children under the age of six are working outside the home.

If we take gender out of these, we have some pretty good issues.

Part-time workers get paid a less for the same work than full-time workers! So if you come to realize you could get by on 60% of your salary, you couldn't get paid 60% for working three days a week! Injustice!

The minimum wage is far too low! Imagine making only $8 an hour! In today's rental market? With today's gas prices? Injustice!

Pensions penalize you for taking time away from work, even if you make it up later! So if you decide to take leave without pay to make your movie or care for your elderly parents or do your graduate degree or take care of your children or travel the world, it will fuck up your pension and your entire retirement forever! Injustice!

There isn't enough affordable child care, and that makes life difficult for parents! Injustice!

These are all issues that could conceivably affect a lot of people. A wide range of people can identify with these scenarios. They feel like it's their own problem, not somebody else's problem, and you tend to care more about things that affect you than things that are somebody else's problem.

For example, you might have noticed that when I was making issues out of the four recommendations, I was a bit vague on the child care one. That's because I'm childfree and child care doesn't affect me. It's Somebody Else's Problem, so I haven't been able to sum up the focus to learn about the issue well enough that I can articulate it in my own words; and if I can't articulate an issue in my own words, I'm certainly not going to be in a position to lobby for change. And that's exactly what's happening to all these important labour issues because they keep getting slapped together under the headline "Women are paid less than men!" and thereby promptly hidden behind a Somebody Else's Problem field.

Genres that are more benign than I expect

I really have trouble groking ths scope of three genres: satire (writing/humour), punk (music) and alternative (anything). Whenever I encounter something that legitimately fits into one of these categories, I'm always surprised that it fits into that category. I keep expecting them to need to be far more out there than they actually are.

There's another story in here somewhere

In a Toronto Star article about teen pregnancy (the article is not particularly relevant to this post) there's a map showing the correlation between low income and teen pregnancy. (PDF)

The map makes its point and I'm not going to get into that because it's not particularly interesting. What's interesting is that there are two neighbourhoods on the map where high income correlates with high pregnancy rates. One is the northeast corner of the Danforth/DVP intersection, and the other extends vertically from the DVP to Eglinton - it's where the DVP would go if it didn't veer eastward halfway between Danforth and Eglinton.

I've done some googling and identified these neighbourhoods. The City of Toronto calls the Playter Estates-Danforth and Leaside-Bennington, respectively. But I can't tell what it is about these neighbourhoods that gives them higher teen pregnancy rates when they have socioeconomic conditions that are normally associated with lower teen pregnancy rates.

Of course, neighbourhoods as defined by the City of Toronto don't necessarily coincide with neighbourhoods as defined by the people who live there. For example, they define the people living on the other side of Yonge from where I live as being in a different neighbourhood, even though we all think we live in the same neighbourhod. But nevertheless, I still think there's another story in here somewhere.

Bravo needs to get their movie rating shit together

The warning provided by Bravo before the movie: "The following program contains scenes of violence and mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised."

The TV content rating flashed up in the top left corner of the screen: G

The movie: West Side Story

Things They Should Invent: option to sync an ipod with only one computer

There should be a checkbox in itunes to allow your ipod to be synced (syncked?) only with that particular computer. The only way you can add anything to or delete anything from that ipod is through that one computer. Why? Because then if someone steals your ipod, they're stuck with your music. They can't get it off and can't add their own music.

Snowday vibe

My building has a bit of a different vibe today. I've been trying to articulate what it is, and I just realized: it's like res on a snowday.

It's kind of subtle. There's a little more music playing, and it's a little louder than usual because it's less likely that your neighbours have to go somewhere. There's a higher than usual proportion of sweatpants and pyjama pants on the people walking around in the building. The TV that you can hear from behind your neighbours' doors is of slightly lower quality. It's like everything that's good about a sick day, but without being sick.