“[S]tudents with low GPAs who were quizzed weekly outperformed their counterparts by 18 percent… ‘Students hated me. They raged in front of the whole class. They hated being quizzed, and yet, it worked,’ Tuckman said.” —Students Get Better Grades When Tested Frequently In ClassOhio State)
“The results show that procrastinators don’t work better under pressure, but it may be the only way they work… They don’t have any idea how well they might do if they didn’t procrastinate.”Bruce Tuckman —Procrastinators Get Poorer Grades in Class, Study FindsOhio State)
“If you ask people why they procrastinate, you possibly may hear the real reasons. More than likely, though, you will hear their excuses. When an excuse sounds believable, it has a name – rationalization.” —Reasons and Excuses for ProcrastinationOhio State)
A former freshman comp student: “I figure you’re about neck deep with groans and complaints from your ‘newbies’ right now, so I thought this might be a good time to say ‘Thank you. I was very fortunate to be in your class. No other class ever has, nor I suspect ever will, prepare me as…
“Described by those who’ve tried it as ‘souffle-like,’ the deep-fried Twinkie has become so popular that it has been mentioned by Jay Leno and will be featured on the Food Network.” —Deep Fried TwinkieCox) Can you tell that I’m hungry right now?
My sister sent me links to (what else?) chocolate hexagons.Chocolate is great. So are hexagons.
Whiteboards vs. Blackboard: “So, on the one hand, we’ve got a classroom board that can be written on only with special pens. You can never tell when the pens will run out before they actually do so, and there’s no good way to extend the life of a pen once it finally expires. On the…
“It is true, of course, that the ‘Far Side’s’ famous cows are not always so secretive; sometimes they even make fun of us, as if getting revenge for all those times that passing car passengers–usually children, like the calf in this cowmobile–‘mooed’ derisively at them when they were behind the fence. But for the most…
“I have, at times, been too quick to bark, and I have whimpered needlessly. I have gnawed upon things I never should have gnawed. Yes, I have even bitten others in anger. Not often, and only when I felt I had to, but now I see that turning to the tooth never solves anything. I…
David Brin knows how George Lucas can save the muddle that the Star Wars franchise has become. His suggestion is brilliant, and at the same time obvious. “Why else would Obi-Wan ‘hide’ Vader’s son in Vader’s home town? Their final ‘deathfight’ distracts the guards to let Luke/Han/Leia get away. How else do you explain that…
“In Heathers, Heather Chandler has the best lines, including a great insult: ‘What, did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?’ She’s killed by Christian Slater in the movie. Kim Walker, the actress who played her, died of a brain tumor in 2001. Creepy.” Lindsey CorcoranHeathers Triviareenhead)
“[T]he web has been unable to deliver on its socially progressive potential because it has been ‘born’ into capitalism, a socioeconomic system that creates and depends upon the same ‘hierarchical classification systems’ Berners-Lee [inventor of the WWW] would like the Web to eliminate.” mowabb —Illusions of Freedom-Kantian Divisions in an Electronic Agethere is no spoon)
“It was the image of a rebellious, youth-corrupting Bart Simpson that caused many conservatives-George Bush I, among them-to decry the show as evidence of America’s moral decline when it debuted in 1989. But recently The Simpsons has gotten a lot of positive ink for its thoughtful portrayal of faith and family values, including cover stories…
“A Scottish chemistry lecturer believes she has discovered the scientific reason why cold, left-over pizza, tastes so good the morning after.” —Cold Pizza Passes the Taste Test (BBC)
“A surprising number of college students say they regularly use the Internet for academic purposes, but they see cyberspace as a supplement to — not a replacement for — traditional classrooms, a team of researchers reported Sunday…. The researchers warned against ignoring the possible educational benefits of some recreational online activities, such as instant messaging…
“A mysterious new obstacle has emerged for Chinese internet surfers attempting to use the Google search engine – entering politically sensitive search phrases crashes their internet connection.” —Google keywords knock Chinese surfers offlineNew Scientist)
“Belief in freedom of speech does not require us to sit by passively as our systems, networks, work and lives are suffocated under an unending torrent of useless and often fraudulent e-mail. This is not to suggest we throw spammers in jail. As appealing as the thought might be…” —A Call to Jail the SpammersWired)
On the hyped-up TV news reports of terrorists in Florida: “Television reporters were certainly connecting dots — lots of dots, some of them seemingly from another planet — but if journalism is about facts and not hype, then they definitely weren’t doing what they were supposed to do.” —TV Dots Airwaves with InaccuraciesMiami Herald)
A blogger with too much time on his hands uses a search engine to compare the rank-and-file content of an organization’s website to its official rhetoric. “[W]hen one types the word “abortion” into NOW’s search engine, 853 articles that mention the subject appear. But surely childbirth is something an organization that claims to be ‘for…
Description of an Irish museum exhibit: “A giant mechanical bug, it looks like a demented cross between a bat, a praying mantis and the superstructure of a blimp… once it senses someone’s presence its arms begin to hover menacingly, as if they had eyes, over the viewer. ” Daithí Ó hAnluain —Man, Machine: Can’t We…