Many moons ago I had a crazy roommate. By crazy, I mean someone that had to spend several weeks in a mental hospital and was heavily medicated after that. If he forgot to take his pills, he would become more loud and destructive than a gremlin that had food after midnight. There are uncountably many stories about him, Turbo, but I will not talk about them now. I will talk about his friend, whom I will refer to as Cuco (not his real name, in order to protect his identity).
Cuco was visiting us, and crashing in the chichacatre (a mattress we had in the living room). Turbo was out of town, while I was studying, and Cuco got bored, so he wanted to use my laptop and browse the internet. Fine, as long as he lets me study.
This was back in the day where the search engine was yahoo. So, he decided to go to yahoo, and instead of doing a search, starts browsing the categories. I have never seen anyone actually browsing them for so long, after all, they just sucked. Somehow he got into the "Jokes" subsection, and I thought that should entertain him for some time. I didn't hear him type or click for quite some time (15 minutes or so), and I turn around and see him staring at the screen. The screen contained something like this: the image of a half-way done progress bar that had a caption that read "How to keep an idiot waiting."
This is a true story.
I was going to explode laughing, when he turns to me and says "There is something wrong with your internet." My previously contained laughter conventional explosion drove his statement into critical mass creating in me a nuclear explosion of laughter. I spent quite some time trying to pull myself together, but whenever I would start explaining him that it was a joke I would start laughing again.
I even remember how much my stomach hurt of laughing so hard.
Then, he decided to check his email. He would click on the address bar, and the current address would get highlighted and selected as normal. That confused him quite a bit, and told me that he wanted to get rid of the "blue thing". I told him just to delete it and write the address. He looked very confused, so I said "just type www...". And he did, effectively overwriting the previous address and typing his own. "WOW, your computer can DELETE with the 'w' key!!!".
Oh my flying spaghetti monster.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Why students evaluations can be the most horrible thing ever
My department has been hit particularly hard with all the science funding cuts (money that has been used towards the war). This means that several research groups lost their grants, leaving their students without jobs. This had a huge impact on TAships, as an unprecedented amount of grad students were requesting positions. Many of them didn't get any sort of funding, and were notified late into the semester. I have friends that had to change advisors to prevent being deported (they would lose their student visas). Others just left the country, leaving housing contracts behind.
The department has announced that the situation next semester will be even worse. And, to decide who will get a TAship, they will take into consideration the student evaluations. The premise is that good TAs should stay, while bad TAs shouldn't.
Are student evaluations a good measure of how good a TA is? The evals have a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being "disagree" or "bad", to 5 being "good" or "agree". The questions are usually in the form of "Was the work load reasonable?"
The statistics in campus say that the average score is 4, and that most scores actually land either in the 5s or 1s. That is, the students evals are very polarized. If you are funny and entertaining, regardless of how good of an educator you are, you get good scores. If you go easy on them, regardless of how valuable the course is to them, you get good scores.
If you end up teaching a class like Physical Science, were all the students have problems with elementary school level math, no matter how hard you try to make them learn something, they had decided a long time ago that the class was too hard, useless and too much work. You get bad scores no matter what, with very little noise to distinguish among good and bad instructors.
It can be very challenging. So, an instructor can decide among several paths. The most extreme ones would be:
1) Teach them Physical Science. Try to remedy their lack of math background by giving them supplemental material. Ask them to work hard in this challenging class to see if they can get something out of it. After all, science is around us all the time.
2) Be "the nice guy". Make it easy. After all, they will never see science in their life.
Guess who will get good evaluations? Guess who would be a better educator? Guess who will get a TAship next semester?
Are students evaluations a bad thing? No. They are a form of feedback, not a very good one. I, personally, don't care too much about the numbers. I think I tend to get pretty high ones mostly due to the fact that I teach a class with excellent students with a solid background, and that I am a dork and they enjoy making fun of me. I don't think the raw scores give me any useful feedback on how good I was as an educator, but they do say how entertaining I was. To fix this, I do ask them to write comments on their evaluation forms. You know, the comments that nobody reads. They tend to be honest, critical and much more meaningful. They are the ones that help me to improve as an instructor. They are the ones that they don't consider when assigning TAships.
I have met so many TAs that were very committed to teaching that now are very scared that the TAships will become a competition based on the eval scores. They are smart enought to understand the game and have decided to take approach (2).
Hi ho.
The department has announced that the situation next semester will be even worse. And, to decide who will get a TAship, they will take into consideration the student evaluations. The premise is that good TAs should stay, while bad TAs shouldn't.
Are student evaluations a good measure of how good a TA is? The evals have a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being "disagree" or "bad", to 5 being "good" or "agree". The questions are usually in the form of "Was the work load reasonable?"
The statistics in campus say that the average score is 4, and that most scores actually land either in the 5s or 1s. That is, the students evals are very polarized. If you are funny and entertaining, regardless of how good of an educator you are, you get good scores. If you go easy on them, regardless of how valuable the course is to them, you get good scores.
If you end up teaching a class like Physical Science, were all the students have problems with elementary school level math, no matter how hard you try to make them learn something, they had decided a long time ago that the class was too hard, useless and too much work. You get bad scores no matter what, with very little noise to distinguish among good and bad instructors.
It can be very challenging. So, an instructor can decide among several paths. The most extreme ones would be:
1) Teach them Physical Science. Try to remedy their lack of math background by giving them supplemental material. Ask them to work hard in this challenging class to see if they can get something out of it. After all, science is around us all the time.
2) Be "the nice guy". Make it easy. After all, they will never see science in their life.
Guess who will get good evaluations? Guess who would be a better educator? Guess who will get a TAship next semester?
Are students evaluations a bad thing? No. They are a form of feedback, not a very good one. I, personally, don't care too much about the numbers. I think I tend to get pretty high ones mostly due to the fact that I teach a class with excellent students with a solid background, and that I am a dork and they enjoy making fun of me. I don't think the raw scores give me any useful feedback on how good I was as an educator, but they do say how entertaining I was. To fix this, I do ask them to write comments on their evaluation forms. You know, the comments that nobody reads. They tend to be honest, critical and much more meaningful. They are the ones that help me to improve as an instructor. They are the ones that they don't consider when assigning TAships.
I have met so many TAs that were very committed to teaching that now are very scared that the TAships will become a competition based on the eval scores. They are smart enought to understand the game and have decided to take approach (2).
Hi ho.
More about the ACL
My friends have posted their ACL reviews. They are much more detailed than mine, and even include pictures! One is in English, the other one is in Spanish.
On a related note, the third day of the ACL Festival also was the hottest day ever recorded in Austin during the fall: 108F. Recall that this numbers are measured in the shade, and that in the direct sun (like the festival was) it can easily be 10 or 20 degrees higher.
After talking to some other friends that went to the ACL, it seems that everyone agrees that The Arcade Fire put up the best concert. Many of them did like me and went ahead and bought their CD. They were that good.
On a related note, the third day of the ACL Festival also was the hottest day ever recorded in Austin during the fall: 108F. Recall that this numbers are measured in the shade, and that in the direct sun (like the festival was) it can easily be 10 or 20 degrees higher.
After talking to some other friends that went to the ACL, it seems that everyone agrees that The Arcade Fire put up the best concert. Many of them did like me and went ahead and bought their CD. They were that good.
Monday, September 26, 2005
filiberto no murio en pr
Filiberto murio en macondo. Murio desangrado despues de recibir un balazo que le perforo el pulmon. Nadie le ofrecio ayuda. Le dispararon a alguien que robo 7 millones de dolares para regalarle juguetes a los niños pobres. Despues lo dejaron desangrar.
No me sorprendio que rapido hicieran marchas y pintaran paredes para demostrar su sentir. Despues de todo, el derecho a la libre expresion mejor se manifiesta a traves del vandalizmo.
Estos son varios pensamientos relacionados.
El recinto de Rio Piedras amanecio todo vandalizado y hoy hicieron una marcha que paso a traves del centro de estudiantes. El departamento de Ciencias Naturales esta todo pintado. No he visto ninguna pintura en el colegio, pero si he visto muchas cosas escritas en tiza. Como consecuencia del asesinato de Filiberto, la compañia Glidden obtendra ganancias de miles de dolares.
Mientras tomaba clases, escuche a un tipo hablando con un altavoz:
Aqui la gente cree que derecho a expresarse es hacer lo que les da la gana. No comprendo todavia que tiene que ver la Universidad con el asesinato de Filiberto, pero por alguna razon a los estudiantes les hace logica. Como si parando el colegio fueran a revivirlo. Hace un tiempo un profesor hizo una huelga de hambre porque lo despidieron, los estudiantes detuvieron las clases como muestra de solidaridad.
Esta noticia del mural que hicieron en Rio Piedras es muy contradictoria. Una de las fotos dice:
Sin embargo, uno de los comentarios dice:
Vandalizar Burguer King es derecho a libre expresion. Pero vandalizar el afiche de Filiberto es opresion.
No me sorprendio que rapido hicieran marchas y pintaran paredes para demostrar su sentir. Despues de todo, el derecho a la libre expresion mejor se manifiesta a traves del vandalizmo.
Estos son varios pensamientos relacionados.
El recinto de Rio Piedras amanecio todo vandalizado y hoy hicieron una marcha que paso a traves del centro de estudiantes. El departamento de Ciencias Naturales esta todo pintado. No he visto ninguna pintura en el colegio, pero si he visto muchas cosas escritas en tiza. Como consecuencia del asesinato de Filiberto, la compañia Glidden obtendra ganancias de miles de dolares.
Mientras tomaba clases, escuche a un tipo hablando con un altavoz:
Hay que paralizar el recinto y movernos al frente de la oficina del registrador. Hay que denunciar el asesinato Filiberto
Aqui la gente cree que derecho a expresarse es hacer lo que les da la gana. No comprendo todavia que tiene que ver la Universidad con el asesinato de Filiberto, pero por alguna razon a los estudiantes les hace logica. Como si parando el colegio fueran a revivirlo. Hace un tiempo un profesor hizo una huelga de hambre porque lo despidieron, los estudiantes detuvieron las clases como muestra de solidaridad.
Esta noticia del mural que hicieron en Rio Piedras es muy contradictoria. Una de las fotos dice:
El Burguer King del alfrente de la UPR recinto de Rio Piedras fue vandalizado por un grupo de activistas. Pq no solo el FBI mato a Filiberto, tambn fueron los intereses capitalistas de las multinacionales y transnacionales.
Sin embargo, uno de los comentarios dice:
Han bandalizado el dibujo de Filiberto Ojeda Rios (Líder del Ejercito Popular Boricua "Macheteros" ) realizado en Rio Piedras. Aquí sencilamente nos podemos dar cuenta de la falta de tolerancia de algunas personas fanáticas en cuanto a los ideales y sentimientos de otros individuos que no tienen los mismos interes que ellos.
Vandalizar Burguer King es derecho a libre expresion. Pero vandalizar el afiche de Filiberto es opresion.
New Chick Tract
A new Chick Tract is available online. This one teaches us the real meaning of Turkey Day.
Also, there is a new essay that invites the reader to fight terrorism by converting muslims to christianism.
Chick is so serious that he comes out like a parody of christian extremists.
Also, there is a new essay that invites the reader to fight terrorism by converting muslims to christianism.
Chick is so serious that he comes out like a parody of christian extremists.
The Arcade Fire
I love The Arcade Fire. Their EP and LP both feature incredibly complex but refreshingly original music.
I can't stop listening to their music.
Mindblowing.
Check 'em out.
I can't stop listening to their music.
Mindblowing.
Check 'em out.
The Kiddie Pool
At the last few hours of the ACL, the wind created a dust storm. I was all covered with dirt, tired and craving a cold beer and a shower. I decided to leave the festival grounds before the last concert was over, and on my way to the car there were these guys that had parked their mobile home down the street, and had an awesome setup of a kiddie pool, beer and a water hose. These guys knew that most of the 60,000 people from the concerts would walk by there, and they were waiting to spray them with the water hose.
As I walked down, they sprayed me. It was exactly what I needed, so I asked them to spray me with some more refreshing water. Then, I thanked them for the public service they were performing, and they offered me some beer. So, I spent 6 beers hanging out with them, spraying people with water and listening to good punk music. It was so much fun! Finally, my friends walked by, and they were surprised to see me drinking beer there with these strangers.
It gave some awesome closure to an awesome weekend.
As I walked down, they sprayed me. It was exactly what I needed, so I asked them to spray me with some more refreshing water. Then, I thanked them for the public service they were performing, and they offered me some beer. So, I spent 6 beers hanging out with them, spraying people with water and listening to good punk music. It was so much fun! Finally, my friends walked by, and they were surprised to see me drinking beer there with these strangers.
It gave some awesome closure to an awesome weekend.
Austin City Limits Festival
I have seen a lot of live music in the past four days, and now I am catching up on the blogging.
The ACL Festival was even better than last years. At first it was thought that the hurricane might ruin it, but the weekend was dry and sunny, up to 104 degrees F on Sunday. The concerts are outdoors, in a park with very little shade, and can be very rough on you. Water is very precious, and so are the few spots with shade. At several times, under the abrasive sun I asked myself "why the hell am I here?". But, there were these jewels that made it all worth it. I got to see a lot of concerts, but will just comment on the highlights (and lowdarks(?)).
On Friday I started with the Morgan Heritage concert, that was just really fun reggae. Like my friend observed, you cannot beat a rasta on stage. Reggae concerts are all about interaction with the crowd. Then, we got to see Thievery Corporation (again), they were really good, but not as good as the night before. Many people thought that it was the best concert at the festival.
On Saturday, we started early with Aqualung: good fun rock music. Built to Spill is one of those classic indie bands that have been around forever, and they can show their experience on stage with some really cool jamming. I have heard before that Death Cab for Cutie had a good live show, and it was true. Their music is just too catchy. Bloc Party was a well engineered act, that had everyone jumping and singing along. Oasis sucked. Let me say that again. Oasis sucked. The arrogance of the band was too much too take, and we ended up leaving early. Oasis, if your music isn't good, it isn't your audience's fault. Assholes.
Sunday was the longest and hottest day of the whole weekend. It started with Ambulance LTD. I have never heard those guys before, and wow, I need to get their music ASAP! M83 was a good show, they sounded just like in their albums, which is very challenging considering the electronic nature of their music. Rilo Kiley was as good as last time I saw her: a fun, very melodic show. The Bravery had horrible technical problems, and they sounded just awful. It was one of those concerts that you end up liking their music less after it. But, it was promptly forgotten with the best concert of the Festival: The Arcade Fire. 11 people, with tons of instruments from xylophones to violas to french horns. They looked like they were all nerds, rejects and outcasts in highschool. And that due to their lack of social skill, they went crazy. Their music can be anything from soothing to harsh, from order to chaos, and from rock to I don't know what it was. Their energy lifted my mood (the sun can have a strong effect on it) and made me dance and jump with them. They went crazy throwing stuff around and beating the shit out of several instruments. They were just un-fucking-believable. The only bad thing was that I wanted to see more of them. I can't wait to see if they will come to Austin again. After the concert, I went and bought their CD. Franz Ferdinand had a good show, just like the previous year, and I hear that Coldplay had a Johnny Cash cover. I say I heard, because I am not a big fan of Coldplay, and since by then I had lost contact with my friends, I decided to beat the crowd and leave after a few songs.
Which turned out to be a really good decision.
The ACL Festival was even better than last years. At first it was thought that the hurricane might ruin it, but the weekend was dry and sunny, up to 104 degrees F on Sunday. The concerts are outdoors, in a park with very little shade, and can be very rough on you. Water is very precious, and so are the few spots with shade. At several times, under the abrasive sun I asked myself "why the hell am I here?". But, there were these jewels that made it all worth it. I got to see a lot of concerts, but will just comment on the highlights (and lowdarks(?)).
On Friday I started with the Morgan Heritage concert, that was just really fun reggae. Like my friend observed, you cannot beat a rasta on stage. Reggae concerts are all about interaction with the crowd. Then, we got to see Thievery Corporation (again), they were really good, but not as good as the night before. Many people thought that it was the best concert at the festival.
On Saturday, we started early with Aqualung: good fun rock music. Built to Spill is one of those classic indie bands that have been around forever, and they can show their experience on stage with some really cool jamming. I have heard before that Death Cab for Cutie had a good live show, and it was true. Their music is just too catchy. Bloc Party was a well engineered act, that had everyone jumping and singing along. Oasis sucked. Let me say that again. Oasis sucked. The arrogance of the band was too much too take, and we ended up leaving early. Oasis, if your music isn't good, it isn't your audience's fault. Assholes.
Sunday was the longest and hottest day of the whole weekend. It started with Ambulance LTD. I have never heard those guys before, and wow, I need to get their music ASAP! M83 was a good show, they sounded just like in their albums, which is very challenging considering the electronic nature of their music. Rilo Kiley was as good as last time I saw her: a fun, very melodic show. The Bravery had horrible technical problems, and they sounded just awful. It was one of those concerts that you end up liking their music less after it. But, it was promptly forgotten with the best concert of the Festival: The Arcade Fire. 11 people, with tons of instruments from xylophones to violas to french horns. They looked like they were all nerds, rejects and outcasts in highschool. And that due to their lack of social skill, they went crazy. Their music can be anything from soothing to harsh, from order to chaos, and from rock to I don't know what it was. Their energy lifted my mood (the sun can have a strong effect on it) and made me dance and jump with them. They went crazy throwing stuff around and beating the shit out of several instruments. They were just un-fucking-believable. The only bad thing was that I wanted to see more of them. I can't wait to see if they will come to Austin again. After the concert, I went and bought their CD. Franz Ferdinand had a good show, just like the previous year, and I hear that Coldplay had a Johnny Cash cover. I say I heard, because I am not a big fan of Coldplay, and since by then I had lost contact with my friends, I decided to beat the crowd and leave after a few songs.
Which turned out to be a really good decision.
Thievery Corporation
Last Thursday I went to see Thievery Corporation. I can't describe their genre, they incorporate sounds from everything from reggae to bosa nova, and their very original but accessible music had everyone dancing. I couldn't have imagined that what sounded like a studio band was a really good live one, with 7 singers, and like 8 musicians. Their sounds was impeccable. Don't miss them out if you have a chance to see them.
salsoul killed salsa
I love salsa music... True, fat, hardcore salsa music. Z93 has always been my favorite radio station because that's what they give. Good salsa all the time. However, about 2 years ago Salsoul copied Z93 and removed all of their non-salsa music. Sadly, Salsoul won and they stole a lot of public from Z93.
I still preferred Z93 because they had better salsa. However, they started to lose ratings and began to include crappy radio shows. That's when I stopped listening to Z93 and started listening Salsoul. But my father, who was the one to introduce me to the station, continued to listen to Z93 faithfully. Now, Salsoul is playing reggaeton and merengue. Reggaeton!!! A salsa station is playing reggaeton!!! There's no good salsa station anymore.
Last weekend, I saw some Hector Lavoe cd's in my home. My father bought them because z93 is not good anymore.
Salsa is dead. Salsoul killed it.
I still preferred Z93 because they had better salsa. However, they started to lose ratings and began to include crappy radio shows. That's when I stopped listening to Z93 and started listening Salsoul. But my father, who was the one to introduce me to the station, continued to listen to Z93 faithfully. Now, Salsoul is playing reggaeton and merengue. Reggaeton!!! A salsa station is playing reggaeton!!! There's no good salsa station anymore.
Last weekend, I saw some Hector Lavoe cd's in my home. My father bought them because z93 is not good anymore.
Salsa is dead. Salsoul killed it.
Friday, September 23, 2005
bioluminiscence and some stuff.
I went today to the bioluminiscent lagoon in Fajardo. Awesome!!! Nature can be soooo cool.
Anyway, when we were leaving, we heard some people saying that they killed Filiberto Ojeda Rios. I do not share Ojeda's ideologies or anything like it, but I still can't believe that they got him. Few people in Puerto Rico manage to escape from the police for so much time. Kind of like the day that they killed Toño Bicicleta. Something that you knew had to come some day, but then when it does it impresses you..
Anyway, when we were leaving, we heard some people saying that they killed Filiberto Ojeda Rios. I do not share Ojeda's ideologies or anything like it, but I still can't believe that they got him. Few people in Puerto Rico manage to escape from the police for so much time. Kind of like the day that they killed Toño Bicicleta. Something that you knew had to come some day, but then when it does it impresses you..
Rita in Austin
Hurricane Rita caused the massive evacuation of Houston; I am sure you have seen the visuals. Several people I know have family there, and all of them share stories along the lines of "What should have take 30mins driving took them 7.5 hours".
In Austin, that is several hundred miles away from the coast, people were freaking out. There was no bottled water in the city by Wednesday (the hurricane was predicted to strike on Saturday). Most gas stations were out of gas by Thursday.
I was forced to get some gas that day (I was running low), and had to wait behind this old lady's car that was blocking two pumps while she pumped gas. It took her quite some time to be done with her car, and then go inside the station and pay. Then, she opens the trunk, and takes out some portable gas container. And starts pumping gas in it. Then she goes inside again. From her trunk, she pulls out another, smaller, gas container, and starts putting gas in it. And then another, smaller one. And then another, even smaller one.
It was like she had a Matriochka of gasoline containers. I was expecting the last container to be the size of a shot glass.
It seems like Austin will not be under the direct effects of Rita. ACL, here I come.
In Austin, that is several hundred miles away from the coast, people were freaking out. There was no bottled water in the city by Wednesday (the hurricane was predicted to strike on Saturday). Most gas stations were out of gas by Thursday.
I was forced to get some gas that day (I was running low), and had to wait behind this old lady's car that was blocking two pumps while she pumped gas. It took her quite some time to be done with her car, and then go inside the station and pay. Then, she opens the trunk, and takes out some portable gas container. And starts pumping gas in it. Then she goes inside again. From her trunk, she pulls out another, smaller, gas container, and starts putting gas in it. And then another, smaller one. And then another, even smaller one.
It was like she had a Matriochka of gasoline containers. I was expecting the last container to be the size of a shot glass.
It seems like Austin will not be under the direct effects of Rita. ACL, here I come.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Leibniz kicked Newton's ass
The Hundred Greatest Theorems can be found here. I am not a mathematician, but I think I agree with many of the choices in the list. It is good to see Godel's in the top 10! Leibniz (#15,#26#42) beats Newton (#41,#44) too.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Peer Review
Journal publications that go through peer review are the bread and butter of modern science. As an aspiring physicists, I started the process a few months ago. It has been longer than I thought it would be. I finally (finally!!!) got the reviews from the referees. One, really liked it, but considers it more appropiate for a sister publication of the journal. That referee also didn't quite get some fundamental concepts. In a nutshell, he liked the paper a lot, but wants me to expand it, making it more suitable for the sister journal that has no lenght constraints. The second referee didn't like some things, and in fact, confused my example for my general procedure. I am not discouraged, the editor suggested the sister publication (that is a very good one too), and I can see how I can incorporate some of the criticisms into making it more clear. But, the most infuriating thing is that it is obvious that the referees didn't read the references, or they would have found answers to their questions. So it goes.
On the other hand, papers with very funny titles get published. I wish I was that clever.
On the other hand, papers with very funny titles get published. I wish I was that clever.
sleep is so unnecessary
I have so much work to do these days, there's no possible way that I can finish this and still sleep more than 3 hours a day. I've heard too many coffee jokes lately. I can't even keep a conversation for too long.
Since I don't drink coffee, I have been substituting meals with Pepsi and Mountain Dew. The guy that stocks the soda machines over here always throws some products in the wrong place, so you end up getting "Chocolate Moose" instead of Pepsi. I got really pissed off when I needed a Pepsi at 3:00 am and got a stupid Nestea....
I hate that guy. I wrote a petition and collected signatures to tell the soda machine guy to do his work correctly... I have some pictures, but I am too tired to upload them, so I will just translate the petition here...
Since I don't drink coffee, I have been substituting meals with Pepsi and Mountain Dew. The guy that stocks the soda machines over here always throws some products in the wrong place, so you end up getting "Chocolate Moose" instead of Pepsi. I got really pissed off when I needed a Pepsi at 3:00 am and got a stupid Nestea....
I hate that guy. I wrote a petition and collected signatures to tell the soda machine guy to do his work correctly... I have some pictures, but I am too tired to upload them, so I will just translate the petition here...
Mr. Soda putter:
Please stock the machines correctly. It's really sad to wish for a refreshing Pepsi and receive instead a Chocolate Moose.
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