National Hairball Day

Well, I missed it this year, but what do you get for someone for National Hairball Awareness Day -- a trichobezoar?

Crammed full of knowledge

What I learned this semester:

• Having students complete comprehensive self-tests for each chapter of the textbook vastly increases the likelihood of them reading the textbook before class and improves the quality of class discussions.
  
• Writing a comprehensive self-test for each chapter is a useful review of the material in the textbook.
  
• Writing a comprehensive self-test for every chapter of a textbook takes a LOT of time.
  
• Grading self-tests which involve 50-150 questions each week, even with much of the process automated, takes a LOT of time.
  
• I don't have a lot of extra time.
  
• At this point in my life, I am unable or unwilling to lose significant amounts of sleep on a regular basis.
  
• My superpowers do not include the ability to find or create pockets of extra time.

Conclusion: Taking on tasks which require enormous expenditures of time without commensurate reduction in other time commitments, even when the choice serves valuable goals, leaves one very stressed and tired.

But hey, ask me anything about STDs or paraphilias or sexual dysfunction -- really, anything -- and I can probably answer it, as long as it's in this textbook! ;)

Back to work.

Be the man!

Wouldn't you like to be the man in bed?

Boys will be boys = bad students...apparently

From News of the Weird:

Doug Anglin, 17, filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Milton (MA) High School, which he said discriminates against boys by giving better grades to students who "sit down, follow orders, and listen to what (teachers and administrators) say." Anglin told a Boston Globe reporter, "Men naturally rebel against this."

Ummm . . . ok . . . what are schools supposed to do to restore putative gender equity, then? Perhaps boys should get good grades for running around naked in the playground and giving the teachers the finger.

Global sex survey

A global sex survey among adults over 40 finds sexual satisfaction higher in Western countries than in Eastern countries (although the U.S. was not the highest), and that men have higher sexual satisfaction on average than women across all countries. The researchers claim that male-dominated societies have lower levels of subjective sexual satisfaction. See: patriarchy = bad sex!

Blah

Bad day . . . waiting for a fresh start.

Pills, politics, and puzzlement

I'm listening to an NPR story on the controversy in Connecticut about a bill requiring hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims. The debate centered, not surprisingly, on the four Catholic hospitals in the state, who did not want to be required to provide EC, as they are morally opposed to it. Their policy is to test female rape victims to see if they are near ovulation, and if they are, to tell them where they can obtain EC.

Wait a minute. If Catholics are morally opposed to the use of emergency contraception and they are trying to be consistent with this moral opposition, why would they tell the women where to go to get emergency contraception? If you're opposed to some action, you don't help people commit that action. It's like saying, "I think armed robbery is wrong, but the liquor store next door has a lot of cash, and here's where you can buy a gun." This is a cop-out. If you believe that EC is morally wrong for all women in all circumstances, then you wouldn't tell rape victims where to get it. If you believe it is an acceptable choice for some women in certain contexts (e.g., rape), then you offer it to women in your hospital and leave it up to their conscience to decide. The current policy is just moral hand-waving -- Oh, we didn't give them the EC, so our conscience is clean.

It reminds me of the inconsistencies in policies which ostensibly claim abortion is murder.

End of the story: The bill wasn't passed . . . lawmakers declined to vote on it.

Edible books

Dr. Bibliovore has found books you really *can* eat!

Choices, choices

Check out the cartoon at Minimum Security : Second from the bottom, about salad dressing. Very on-target!

Bunny!

I love that we have bunnies living in our back yard. Tonight I got to watch one of them hop around, nibble grass, and wash its face with its paws -- so cute! It's like having pets without any of the work or allergies (major allergies for me). I love to sit at my sewing desk and watch the wildlife.

I'm sad that spring break is coming to an end.