Into the Strenuous Briefness

Top 10 Things No One Tells You About Becoming a Teacher

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:06:25 -0400

Top 10 Things No One Tells You About Becoming a Teacher:

A highly entertaining list, emailed to me compliments of my brother. This is my favorite part, on students pointing out a teacher’s quirks:

I’m sure that there are more, but they have not yet been brought to my attention by one of the following reliable sources:

A mean kid who has boundary issues.

A kid that is trying to use me in a revenge plot by tattling on their arch nemesis for making fun of me.

A well meaning child who also happens to have aspergers.

Time

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:17:00 -0400

I left school at 4:30.

Thanks to an accident during rush hour on an already crowded highway, I did not get back to my neighborhood until nearly 6. Then I went to the grocery store. I got home at 6:30, put some groceries away, did some very minor kitchen cleaning, sat on the couch with my cat for 10 minutes, then went running.

By the time I got back from my run and cooked dinner it was 8:45. 20 minutes of decompression time on the couch. Then I showered.

I still need to do a small amount of lesson planning for tomorrow.

This commute is just really terrible and I am so glad I only have to do it 17ish more times.

mb24jg: rhamphotheca: pleoros: Ófærufoss, Iceland (photo:...

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:11:45 -0400

mb24jg:

rhamphotheca:

pleoros: Ófærufoss, Iceland

(photo: Thierry Hennet)

I want to take a year off and see all of Iceland.

Take me with you.

mb24jg: interweber: I made this and it is good, I think. For...

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:19:47 -0400

mb24jg:

interweber:

I made this and it is good, I think.

For iamlittlei

lol @ sad Gob

kqedscience: Water Trapped For 1.5 Billion Years Could Hold...

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:12:32 -0400

kqedscience:

Water Trapped For 1.5 Billion Years Could Hold Ancient Life

“Scientists have discovered water that has been trapped in rock for more than a billion years. The water might contain microbes that evolved independently from the surface world, and it’s a finding that gives new hope to the search for life on other planets.”

Texas Judge Forbids Lesbian Woman From Living With Her Partner

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:39:24 -0400

Texas Judge Forbids Lesbian Woman From Living With Her Partner:

likeiknewiwould:

sinidentidades:

Carolyn Compton is in a three year-old relationship with a woman. According to Compton’s partner Page Price, Compton’s ex-husband rarely sees their two children and was also once charged with stalking Compton, a felony, although he eventually plead to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing.

And yet, thanks to a Texas judge, Compton could lose custody of her children because she has the audacity to live with the woman she loves.

According to Price, Judge John Roach, a Republican who presides over a state trial court in McKinney, Texas, placed a so-called “morality clause” in Compton’s divorce papers. This clause forbids Compton having a person that she is not related to “by blood or marriage” at her home past 9pm when her children are present. Since Texas will not allow Compton to marry her partner, this means that she effectively cannot live with her partner so long as she retains custody over her children. Invoking the “morality clause,” Judge Roach gave Price 30 days to move out of Compton’s home.

Compton can appeal Roach’s decision, but her appeal will be heard by the notoriously conservative Texas court system. Ultimately, the question of whether Compton’s relationship with Price is entitled to the same dignity accorded to any other loving couple could rest with the United States Supreme Court.

Have something to say to John Roach?

Here you go:

Honorable John Roach, Jr.
Judge Presiding

296th District Court
Collin County Courthouse map
2100 Bloomdale Road, Suite 20012
McKinney, TX 75071

Phone: 972-548-4409 (McKinney)
Fax:972-548-4697 (District Clerk)

This is outrageous.

There should be an educator discount on alcohol in May. And chocolate.

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:48:11 -0400

There should be an educator discount on alcohol in May.

And chocolate.

"On its own, it is a wonder, but viewed in isolation its complexity and very existence is..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:39:32 -0400

“

On its own, it is a wonder, but viewed in isolation its complexity and very existence is inexplicable. Darwin’s genius was to see that the existence of something as magnificent as a blade of grass can be understood, but only in the context of its interaction with other living things and, crucially, its evolutionary history. A physicist might say it is a four-dimensional structure, with both spatial and temporal extent, and it is simply impossible to comprehend the existence of such a structure in a universe governed by the simple laws of physics if its history is ignored.

And whilst you are contemplating the humble majesty of a blade of grass, with a spatial extent of a few centimeters but stretching back in the temporal direction for almost a third of the age of the Universe, pause for a moment to consider the viewer, because what is true of the blade of grass is also true fro you. You share the same basic biochemistry, all the way down to the detail of proton waterfalls, and ATP, and much of the same genetic history, carefully documented in your DNA. This is because you share the same common ancestor. You are all related. You were once the same.

”

- Brian Cox channels Richard Feynman in this reminder that viewing science through any single lens is an incomplete view of its magnificence. In other words, physics is beautiful, but it’s a periscope view of life’s majesty.

From his new book to accompany the BBC series, Wonders of Life.

via Brain Pickings
(via jtotheizzoe)

msleahhbic: Cancer should not be a death sentence. My mom is...

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:17:15 -0400

msleahhbic:

Cancer should not be a death sentence. My mom is lucky to have a good job with excellent insurance.

To date, her medical bills and prescriptions exceed $200,000. Without Obamacare, the lifetime cap for her insurance would be $750,000.

It may be out of most people’s minds, but there are still forces that are going after Obamacare. Eric Cantor wants us to tell him about #obamacareinthreewords. I can’t quite do it in three, but here they are.

:with love and squalor: Problems with Teach for America and Suggested Solutions

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:02:48 -0400

:with love and squalor: Problems with Teach for America and Suggested Solutions:

ironyisironic:

Consider This:

There is a job shortage in America, but a recent solution implemented by the Obama administration has been to create infrastructure jobs through the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It’s tag line is “Putting Americans to Work”. Consider if, as part of this act,…

gjmueller: Two-thirds of College Students Think They’re Going...

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:59:08 -0400

gjmueller:

Two-thirds of College Students Think They’re Going to Change the World

Writer Peg Streep is writing a book about the Millennial generation and she routinely sprinkles great data into her posts at Psychology Today.

Recently she linked to at study by Net Impact that surveyed currently-enrolled college students and college-graduates across three generations Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers. The questions focused on life goals and work priorities. They found significant differences between students and college grads, as well as interesting generational differences.

Ready for June

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:05:02 -0400

My kids wore through my patience today.

Confrontations, even with the kids, trigger my anxiety.

I’m so over this school year.

Cheshire Cat Logic: Why Do Men Keep Putting Me in the Girlfriend-Zone?

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:56:30 -0400

Cheshire Cat Logic: Why Do Men Keep Putting Me in the Girlfriend-Zone?:

shewalkslikethunder:

literaryreference:

You know how it is, right, ladies? You know a guy for a while. You hang out with him. You do fun things with him—play video games, watch movies, go hiking, go to concerts. You invite him to your parties. You listen to his problems. You do all…

Lol

"One of the greatest threats we face is, simply put, bullshit. We are drowning it. We are drowning in..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:48:08 -0400

“One of the greatest threats we face is, simply put, bullshit. We are drowning it. We are drowning in partisan rhetoric that is just true enough not to be a lie; in industry-sponsored research; in social media’s imitation of human connection; in legalese and corporate double-speak. It infects every facet of public life, corrupting our discourse, wrecking our trust in major institutions, lowering our standards for the truth, making it harder to achieve anything.”

- Jon Lovett’s commencement address to Pitzer College. (via theatlantic)

pacificstand: The Science of Psychics A 2005 Gallup poll found...

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:46:25 -0400

pacificstand:

The Science of Psychics

A 2005 Gallup poll found that 26 percent of Americans answered “yes” to believing in “the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future.”
A sizable chunk of America believes in ESP—despite the only evidence behind it being one truly bizarre study.

Read more in Pacific Standard

This is probably higher than the percentage of Americans who accept that evolution is true.

But seriously, we have lots of sped openings

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:52:19 -0400

monasequeda:

Also lots of bilingual sped openings.

And dual language openings.

Come work with me!

Boost!

floralprintprouvaire: involvingmeinvolvingyou: If you wanna be my lover You’ve gotta throw huge...

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:51:05 -0400

floralprintprouvaire:

involvingmeinvolvingyou:

If you wanna be my lover

You’ve gotta throw huge parties to get my attention and get your neighbor to invite me over for tea then let me run over my husband’s mistress in your car

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:45:29 -0400

trainbeck: Engagement Rings Based off of Hogwarts...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:59:19 -0400

Gryffindor

Ravenclaw

Hufflepuff

Slytherin

trainbeck:

Engagement Rings Based off of Hogwarts Houses

I’m never sure whether I’m a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff.

These make me think I’m a Hufflepuff.

What do you think?

gender-and-science: continueplease: nbcnews: Teen’s invention...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:54:21 -0400

gender-and-science:

continueplease:

nbcnews:

Teen’s invention could charge your phone in 20 seconds

(Photo: Intel)

Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student’s invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.

Read the complete story.

Everybody, remember this face.
Remember this name.
If this becomes a commonly used & highly lauded discovery, at some point a White guy is going to take credit, even if he has to word it like “Improved upon a previous…”
No no no
Fuck that guy.
Remember this brown girl.
Remeeeemmmmmberrrrr

^Absolutely important that we recognize her achievements, and give credit where credit is due. Also worth noting that not all young people interested in science have the same resources accessible for them. Nonetheless, awesome work by a young woman of color!