This ethics training is a bad idea. At Florida we just had an orientation prior to the first day at work. "Don't fuck your students, don't take bribes, don't talk to parents unless they are in the room with you and so is the student." Done. But Illinois is the state with the governor arrested for selling senate seats. And UI is the university ( Read more... )

Santa Barbara is a proud land ( Read more... )

When you live in the North, air conditioning can be considered a luxury. This can be taken as a surprise to a southerner, as one has not left the USA: the land where a radio in a car is not considered a luxury. Almost none of the apartments in my price range have central air here, the fancy one I'm staying in now has a window unit mounted into ( Read more... )

A couple of weeks ago I was tagged to do the "25 things" meme in facebook. I usually disregard memes as casually as junk mail, but the person who tagged me caused me to pause. Out of all the people in the world to genuinely be curious in my answers, it was Sprotticus ( Read more... )

Pads, helmets, and masks
Shield from mutual ballets
Of determined and impassioned
Surgical procedures

Unique acts of power and bravery
Mesh with coordination
Mesh with unnatural learned skill

Of the eight intelligences*
The least respected

The most prized

*Who remembers AP psych with Mrs Combs? I do!

They notice your face is forlorn ( Read more... )

It has been decided
So that we may be divided

That the fellow named Mat
Shall be known as Mat

And the fellow Matt Yancey
Shall be said with both 'T'

A lot has happened since I came
But I'm home when there's new nickname

Many new encounters will engage
Speak of weather, toil, and wage

But only given a title when
They plan to seek me again

Something old
Somthing new
Something borrowed
Something grew

An old talent
Never claimed
Nothing brilliant
Nothing shamed

Through a hazy door
Push out the time
Commandeer this
By a search for rhyme

I will write slowly
Of what I think and feel
To push it out as well
And leave only steel

For those of you who don't know, I hate it when people leave the country. Partially it comes from the burning hypocrisy when a republican who demands the official language be English travels to a country where she can't speak shit. But that only happened once, so it can't count for too much. Most of my dislike for such extraordinary travel comes ( Read more... )

I'm teaching Algebra 2 at TIP (Duke University geek camp). TIP has about half-a-dozen sites they run camps at, and I'm stationed at ASU. I know, one university running it - another hosting - but whatever. It works. Duke does host the camp as well - I guess this program got too large for one campus ( Read more... )