Are graduate students masochistic, or crazy, or just plain stupid? Seriously - I'm really starting to wonder...and I know it's not just me. We are a special breed.
Screw designing a study for pre-service teachers. I think I'll design one focusing on graduate students and what in the hell they are thinking.
That's all for now. Back to work.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thank Heaven...I Guess
Thank you, Heidi!
Marryourdaughter.com isn't real.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/please-dont-marry-our-daughters/?hp
It's funny, b/c my first thought was, "No. Can't be real. No." and then I looked into it, and the thought crossed my mind, "ya' know - this could actually make a relatively interesting study - maybe that's all this is - please let it be...where's the hidden camera?" And I couldn't help but laugh reading the "testimonials" section - but in a "I'm laughing but feeling sick all at the same time" sort-of-way, as was the reaction of MANY, it seems. In short, it could be a fake, but it might not be...
I am glad to hear marryourdaughter.com is a farce, and my kudos to the creator, John Ordover (who played the role of afore mentioned publicity director). He claimed the site to be a parody aimed at drawing attention to inconsistencies in state marriage laws - well, it worked - I read through them, and I looked up the bible passages sited - it really IS "okay" as per the "Good Book" to "sell" your daughter to a man that wants her, a man that rapes her, and various situations. I even discussed such issues with a professor of mine with special interest in the legal system. So, as Heidi commented, it's really not that far-fetched, and I think that's the bigger issue. HE (the professor) has two friends who were paired through arranged marriage. There are still those individuals who feel this is the way to go - they live it, breath it, raise their children under it...
Thank you, again, Heidi. But I still encourage everyone to check this all out - definitely food for thought. Sometimes "tradition" is a funny, but powerful, thing.
Marryourdaughter.com isn't real.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/please-dont-marry-our-daughters/?hp
It's funny, b/c my first thought was, "No. Can't be real. No." and then I looked into it, and the thought crossed my mind, "ya' know - this could actually make a relatively interesting study - maybe that's all this is - please let it be...where's the hidden camera?" And I couldn't help but laugh reading the "testimonials" section - but in a "I'm laughing but feeling sick all at the same time" sort-of-way, as was the reaction of MANY, it seems. In short, it could be a fake, but it might not be...
I am glad to hear marryourdaughter.com is a farce, and my kudos to the creator, John Ordover (who played the role of afore mentioned publicity director). He claimed the site to be a parody aimed at drawing attention to inconsistencies in state marriage laws - well, it worked - I read through them, and I looked up the bible passages sited - it really IS "okay" as per the "Good Book" to "sell" your daughter to a man that wants her, a man that rapes her, and various situations. I even discussed such issues with a professor of mine with special interest in the legal system. So, as Heidi commented, it's really not that far-fetched, and I think that's the bigger issue. HE (the professor) has two friends who were paired through arranged marriage. There are still those individuals who feel this is the way to go - they live it, breath it, raise their children under it...
Thank you, again, Heidi. But I still encourage everyone to check this all out - definitely food for thought. Sometimes "tradition" is a funny, but powerful, thing.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Do with this what you will...
So, this morning I heard an interview with Roger Mandervan, publicity director of the following website:
If you want the actual interview, visit the following page (it's second from the last...)
If you want the actual interview, visit the following page (it's second from the last...)
Personally, I don't even know what to think about this. In most states, minors cannot get piercings or tattoos even WITH parental consent.
Marriage, though - well, that's just fine!
Marriage, though - well, that's just fine!
Yeah. FYI, here's a rundown on marriage laws by state http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Marriage.htm.
And yes, it is still legal to get married at 13 (for females) and 14 (for males) in NH (and yes, one of the girls on the site is just 13).
Friday, September 7, 2007
Rest in Peace, Madeleine L'Engle
Age: 88
Occupation: Author (and wife and mother)
L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" series was a staple in our house growing up. Lord of the Rings, The Dark is Rising, and A Wrinkle in Time - there may have been more "classics," but these are the ones I remember best - the ones all of us read - the ones we kept under our pillows along with a flashlight...
Hmm - makes one rather nostalgic.
In other news, Rest in Peace, Luciano Pavarotti.
Occupation: Author (and wife and mother)
L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" series was a staple in our house growing up. Lord of the Rings, The Dark is Rising, and A Wrinkle in Time - there may have been more "classics," but these are the ones I remember best - the ones all of us read - the ones we kept under our pillows along with a flashlight...
Hmm - makes one rather nostalgic.
In other news, Rest in Peace, Luciano Pavarotti.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Silly Humans...
I think the speed of my speech directly correlates to the speed of my thoughts. Racing brain = practically unintelligable speaking...except only to some people. Others follow along just fine...hm. I'll leave that alone for now... ;0)
What do Determinists think about the "aha" phenomenon? How does that cause-effect, antecedent-consequent relationship work? Does that fall under Freud and the notion of an unconscious?
OOOH - put all that on hold - THIS JUST IN!!!
Tots aren't smarter than apes, just more social:
Researchers hunt for which learning abilities are distinctly human
Researchers hunt for which learning abilities are distinctly human
Hehehe - Simple Math: Apes = 1, Tots = 0. Social Learning Skills: Apes = 0, Tots = 1. It's a tie!
The way in which such studies are interpreted/reported is funny - sometimes scary, actually, but funny in this case. Allow me to share one of my favorite snippets:
"Human children are not overall more intelligent than other primates, but instead have specialized skills of social cognition," concluded the lead researcher, Esther Herrmann of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "They learn in a way that chimpanzees don't learn."
But the findings, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, conflict with other research that suggests the great apes, humans' closest relatives, are quite good at social learning, too.
In fact, a second study in the same journal suggests chimps and monkeys have some capacity to infer someone's intentions by their actions. That is pretty complex, human-like thinking."
Where to start...
So, this is a rather shocking study (dripping with sarcasm, btw). Maybe we didn't originally believe apes are smarter than our small children - didn't want to believe it - STILL don't want to believe it (enter first study) - Planet of the Apes, anyone? But - *gasp* - amazingly, the apes and chimps and monkeys in the second study are exhibiting "pretty complex, human-like thinking." WOW. What does this all mean???
Seriously, should it really be so surprising that primates are capable of social learning? Did we bother reading any Goodall prior to reporting this?
And, yes, tots still performed "better" at the social-learning tasks in the first study, but human children immitated human adults, whereas the primates were asked to immitate a human, as well, not a member of the same species...
Also, I love that these apes MUST be taking after humans - not like "complex" thinking may have already exhisted in the animal world, or anything. Not like humans are animals...heavens, no! It's the animals that are living in the human world exhibiting human-like characteristics.
My-oh-my.
Don't get me wrong, though - the studies themselves sound relatively thorough, well-designed and very interesting, and the researchers totally took the above into consideration. Well, I may have a few reservations regarding the first-mentioned study, but that's more due to personal bias. But that aside, the researchers thought things through carefully. It's just the way in which the research is being reported that cracks me up.
Alright, back to the world of actual research papers. Give it a read, though - like I said, the researchers do sound like they've got all their ducks in a row - it's just the first half or so of the article that is a hoot. Enjoy!
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