Posts from — December 2006

On Two Conservative Student Writers | TPMCafe:
ut this simply shows his lack of understanding of the role of college professors. We aren’t there as guides but as teachers. We don’t want to tell our students what to believe, but how to learn about the world. If we guide at all, it’s to an understanding of methodology and an ability to negotiate the complexities of thought and the world. This is the difference between a college of liberal arts and one devoted to religious training. There, the intent clearly is to guide. There, panic would reign if it were discovered that graduating students were less religious (for example) than incoming.

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A professor responds to two essayists promoting ideological equality ala Horowitz.

Faith in Free Markets:
I agree, then, that economists have faith in free markets. We can’t prove that free markets will generate a better result. But we’ve observed them long enough to have faith in them. We believe, with faith and evidence, that free markets provide the most prosperity for the most people.
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I’d love to know where they found a free market to have faith in. I’ve never seen one that wasn’t structured, biased or otherwise guaranteed by governmental or corporate structures.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 70% Iron Man 65% Spider-Man 55% Supergirl 50% Catwoman 50% Batman 45% Robin 45% Hulk 40% The Flash 30% Green Lantern 30% Wonder Woman 25%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the “Which Superhero am I?” quiz…

I started this blog on dec. 29 2002. it is dec 29, 2006. that means, this blog is 9 million and 4 years old (must be the new math).

I spent the last week at my sister’s playing with my nephew and helping during the holidays as i found time. I did not get as much dissertation writing done as i needed there, so I’m hoping to crank up some production these next few weeks.

since no one reads blogiversary posts… I’ll insert my new years resolutions too:

1. finish dissertation in the spring, graduate.
2. get to europe, give talks, meet people
3. go to a new place in nyc every week, blog it.
4 lose 20lb
5. once diss is done, start dating again.
6. write at least 250 words toward publications per day.
7. take better notes.

(all i absolutely need to do is finish the first, but the rest would be good too).

Spitting Image: “Bondage in Everyday Life” Photos:
“Bondage in Everyday Life” Photos

for example from “The Amazing Church Camp”

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this makes me wonder about why people are tying each other up at religious events like this. I can’t help but question the way they are constructing the relationship between the people tying and the person tied, as there are always more people tying in these pictures. It seems to be related to an enactment of submission of sorts, but to whom? to each other, or two something else and what does that mean to the people’s lives.

Tragedy of the Bunnies:

This is a cool little quick game that demonstrates through comparison of two sub-games… the tragedy of the commons.

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox):
The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.

Since my first attempt in 1996, I have compiled many top-10 lists of the biggest mistakes in Web design. See links to all these lists at the bottom of this article. This article presents the highlights: the very worst mistakes of Web design. (Updated 2006.)

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he just won’t admit that the primary mistake in web design is lack of cat pictures on the website. it is by far and away the largest mistake noted by all cats. that and lack of paw oriented interface.

Who knew you could cheat at chess? – Yahoo! News:
NEW DELHI, Dec 27 (Reuters Life!) – An Indian chess player
has been banned for 10 years for cheating after he was caught
using his mobile phone’s wireless device to win games, chess
officials said on Wednesday

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If they cheat at chess…… the can cheat at anything… and people frequently do. If you set up a system to reward the people who take advantages… then people take advantages that break rules.

The five-things-you-didn’t-know-about-me meme:
Michael tagged me with this.

1. I was a Military Policeman in the Washington D.C. National Guard, primarily because when I transferred there from Pennsylvania, I was too junior to be in the Intelligence battalion of the reserves. I joined the reserves to help pay for college when i was 17. I passed the Rights of Passage training in the 29th infantry division, in the 3/116th infantry brigade, light infantry. It is a remnant of the Stonewall Brigade. This unit is currently known as the “Bedford Boys” for their service on Omaha beach and recently returned from Afghanistan. I know my way around everything from a 9mm pistol to an m2 machine gun, was at one time or another a dragon gunner, a machine gunner, a radio man, a grenadier, and a team leader.

2. I attended 3 different High Schools in northern pennsylvania, with 3 different sets of requirements and still graduated on time… though barely. I drove a chevette that my grandfather gave me.

3. I attended American University for one semester before I attended Virginia Tech.

4. I worked as a canvasser one summer for U.S. PIRG, door to door… I was never fired, not because I outperformed other people though. In fact, I have never been fired from any job

5. I’ve been in 2 car accidents, never as the driver, but in each… I’ve broken the knuckle of my ring finger of my right hand. Everything else was bumps and bruises. I am occasionally a nervous rider in cars.

since michael tagged me, I’ll tag Shane, Clevergirl, Jason, Jean, Sarah, and Suw

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Barney Cam 2006 (QT):

The barney cam, the only thing that this president actually gets right