Volume 17
A Fun Site created by
Professor William Hillman culled from a daily motivational series
compiled for his BU Education Classes 2000-2009
The daily tech news items have been omitted since many of the stories are now "old news."
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There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth.
The surface area of a human lung is equal to that of a tennis court.
The human body contains about six thousand miles of blood vessels.
Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles (274 km) per hour.
The average life of a taste bud is 10 days.
The thyroid cartilage is more commonly known as the Adams’ apple.
The average human blinks their eyes 6,205,000 times each year.
Human blood travels 60,000 miles (96,540 km) per day on its journey through the body.
The average cough comes out of your mouth at 60 miles (96.5 km) per hour.
It takes the interaction of 72 different muscles to produce human speech.
Relative to size, the strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
When you sneeze, all your bodily functions stop - even your heart!
If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib.
If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck.
Every 24 hours, the body grows another 40 yards of hair.
When you blush, your stomach lining also reddens.
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The chinese word for happiness is a combination of four smaller symbols, namely "Mouth and Cultivated Field" showing that alongside other things, a full stomach is an important art of happiness. The other figures mean "Unity and Heaven" As a whole, happiness comes from living in unity with nature and appreciating the gifts of heaven |
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What's mainly wrong with society today is that
too many Dirt Roads have been paved.
by Paul Harvey
There's not a problem in America today, crime, drugs, education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn't be remedied, if we just had more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character.
People that live at the end of Dirt Roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride. That it can jar you right down to your teeth sometimes, but it's worth it, if at the end is home...a loving spouse, happy kids and a dog. We wouldn't have near the trouble with our educational system if our kids got their exercise walking a Dirt Road with other kids, from whom they learn how to get along. There was less crime in our streets before they were paved.
Criminals didn't walk two dusty miles to rob or rape, if they knew they'd be welcomed by 5 barking dogs and a double barrel shotgun. And there were no drive by shootings. Our values were better when our roads were worse! People did not worship their cars more than their kids, and motorists were more courteous, they didn't tailgate by riding the bumper or the guy in front would choke you with dust &bust your windshield with rocks. Dirt Roads taught patience.
Dirt Roads were environmentally friendly, you didn't hop in your car for a quart of milk you walked to the barn for your milk. For your mail, you walked to the mail box. What if it rained and the Dirt Road got washed out? That was the best part, then you stayed home and had some family time, roasted marshmallows and popped popcorn and pony rode on Daddy's shoulders and learned how to make prettier quilts than anybody. At the end of Dirt Roads, you soon learned that bad words tasted like soap.
Most paved roads lead to trouble, Dirt Roads more likely lead to a fishing creek or a swimming hole. At the end of a Dirt Road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn't some neighbor would fill it with too much zucchini. At the end of a Dirt Road, there was always extra springtime income, from when city dudes would get stuck, you'd have to hitch up a team and pull them out. Usually you got a dollar...always you got a new friend...at the end of a Dirt Road!
PERSONALITY TEST
Dr. Phil gave this test on Oprah she got a 38. Some folks pay a lot of money to find out this stuff. Read on, this is very interesting! Don't be overly sensitive! The following is pretty accurate. And it only takes two minutes.Don't peek but begin the test as you scroll down and answer. Answers are for who you are now...... not who you were in the past. Have pen or pencil and paper ready. This is a real test given by the Human Relations Dept. at many of the major corporations today. It helps them get better insight concerning their employees and prospective employees.
It's only 10 simple questions, so...... grab a pencil and paper, keeping track of your letter answers.
Ready?? Begin...
1. When do you feel your best?
a) in the morning
b) during the afternoon &and early evening
c) late at night2. You usually walk...
a) fairly fast, with long steps
b) fairly fast, with little steps
c) less fast head up, looking the world in the face
d) less fast, head down
e) very slowly3. When talking to people you...
a) stand with your arms folded
b) have your hands clasped
c) have one or both your hands on your hips
d) touch or push the person to whom you are talking
e) play with your ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair4. When relaxing, you sit with...
a) your knees bent with your legs neatly side by side
b) your legs crossed
c) your legs stretched out or straight
d) one leg curled under you5. When something really amuses you, you react with...
a) a big, appreciative laugh
b) a laugh, but not a loud one
c) a quiet chuckle
d) a sheepish smile6. When you go to a party or social gathering you...
a) make a loud entrance so everyone notices you
b) make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know
c) make the quietest entrance, trying to stay unnoticed7. You're working very hard, concentrating hard, and you're interrupted, do you.....
a) welcome the break
b) feel extremely irritated
c) vary between these two extremes8. Which of the following colors do you like most?
a) Red or orange
b) black
c) yellow or light blue
d) green
e) dark blue or purple
f) white
g) brown or gray9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep, you lie....
a) stretched out on your back
b) stretched out face down on your stomach
c) on your side, slightly curled
d) with your head on one arm
e) with your head under the covers10. You often dream that you are...
a) falling
b) fighting or struggling
c) searching for something or somebody
d) flying or floating
e) you usually have dreamless sleep
f) your dreams are always pleasant
POINTS:
1. (a) 2 (b) 4 (c) 6
2. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 7 (d) 2 (e) 1
3. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 5 (d) 7 (e) 6
4. (a) 4 (b) 6 (c) 2 (d) 1
5. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 2
6. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 2
7. (a) 6 (b) 2 (c) 4
8. (a) 6 (b) 7 (c) 5 (d) 4 (e) 3 (f) 2 (g) 1
9. (a) 7 (b) 6 (c) 4 (d) 2 (e) 1
10. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 6 (f) 1
Now add up the total number of points.
OVER 60 POINTS: Others see you as someone they should "handle with care." You're seen as vain, self-centered, and who is extremely dominant. Others may admire you, wishing they could be more like you,
but don't always trust you, hesitating to become too deeply involved with you.51 TO 60 POINTS: Others see you as an exciting, highly volatile, rather impulsive personality; a natural leader, who's quick to make decisions, though not always the right ones. They see you as bold and adventuresome, someone who will try anything once; someone who takes chances and enjoys an adventure. They enjoy being in your company because of the excitement you radiate.
41 TO 50 POINTS: Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.
31 TO 40 POINTS: Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful & practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expects the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever broken.
21 TO 30 POINTS: Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy. They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It would really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment, expecting you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then, usually decide against it. They think this reaction is caused partly by your careful nature.
UNDER 21 POINTS: People think you are shy, nervous, and indecisive, someone who needs looking after, who always wants someone else to make the decisions &who doesn't want to get involved with anyone or anything. They see you as a worrier who always sees problems that don't exist. Some people think you're boring. Only those who know you well know that you aren't.
Sincerely,
The Dog
These are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken
down and now published by court reporters. How did they keep from laughing
while these were all taking place?
_____________________________________________
Judge: "Well, Sir, I have reviewed this case and I've decided to give
your wife $775 a week."
Husband: "That's fair, your honor. I'll try to send her a few bucks
myself."
______________________________________________
Q: What is your date of birth?
A: July fifteenth.
Q: What year?
A: Every year
______________________________________________
Q: What gear were you in at moment of the impact?
A: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
______________________________________________
Q: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
A: Yes.
Q: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
A: I forget.
Q: You forget. Can you give us an example of something you've forgotten?
______________________________________________
Q: How old is your son, the one living with you?
A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
Q: How long has he lived with you?
A: Forty-five years.
______________________________________________
Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke up
that morning?
A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
Q: And why did that upset you?
A: My name is Susan.
______________________________________________
Q: And where was the location of the accident?
A: Approximately milepost 499.
Q: And where is milepost 499?
A: Probably between milepost 498 and 500.
______________________________________________
Q: Sir, what is your IQ?
A: Well, I can see pretty well, I think.
______________________________________________
Q: Did you blow your horn or anything?
A: After the accident?
Q: Before the accident.
A: Sure, I played for 10 years. I even went to school for it.
______________________________________________
Q: Trooper, when you stopped the defendant, were your red and blue
lights flashing?
A: Yes.
Q: Did the defendant say anything when she got out of her car?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: What did she say?
A: What disco am I at?
_______________________________________________
Q: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep,
he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
A: Would you repeat that question, please?
______________________________________________
Q: The youngest son, the 20-year old, how old is he?
_______________________________________________
Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?
_______________________________________________
Q: So the date of conception of (the baby) was August 8th?
A: Yes.
Q: And what were you doing at that time?
A: I resent that question.
_______________________________________________
Q: She had three children, right?
A: Yes.
Q: How many were boys?
A: None.
Q: Were there any girls?
_______________________________________________
Q: You say the stairs went down to the basement?
A: Yes.
Q: And these stairs, did they go up also?
_______________________________________________
Q: How was your first marriage terminated?
A: By death.
Q: And by whose death was it terminated?
_______________________________________________
Q: Can you describe the individual?
A: He was about medium height and had a beard.
Q: Was this a male or a female?
_______________________________________________
Q: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition that
I sent to your attorney?
A: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
_______________________________________________
Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
_______________________________________________
Q: All your responses must be oral, OK?
A: OK.
Q: What school did you go to?
A: Oral.
_______________________________________________
Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
Q: And Mr.. Dennington was dead at the time?
A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy
on him.
_______________________________________________
Q: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
_______________________________________________
Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began
the autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?
Chatting on a cell phone while driving may have gotten a bad rap in recent years as a common cause of car crashes, but a new study shows cell phones can't hold a candle to good, old-fashioned rubbernecking when it comes to causing a highway pile up.In one of the largest studies to date on crashes involving distracted drivers, researchers found looking at other accidents, traffic, or roadside incidents caused the largest number of accidents, while cell phone use ranked only sixth.
The study was based on data collected by Virginia state troopers on more than 2,700 crashes involving distracted drivers between June and November 2002.
Researchers found that of all the crashes reported, 98% involved a single distracted driver.
"We've known for years that drivers contribute more to causing crashes than the vehicle or the roadway," says Robert Breitenbach, director of the Transportation Safety Training Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, in a news release. "In many instances the driver error involves not paying attention to the driving task. We can now identify those distractions with some confidence."
Rubbernecking was responsible for the largest number of accidents reported (16%) followed by driver fatigue (12%), looking at scenery or landmarks (10%), passenger or child distractions (9%), adjusting the radio, tape, or CD player (7%), and cell phone use (5%).
Overall, various distractions inside the vehicle accounted for 62% of the distractions reported. Distractions that came from outside the vehicle accounted for 35% of all distractions, and 3% of the distractions were undetermined.
Nearly two-thirds of the crashes in the study occurred in rural areas and were often caused by driver fatigue, insects entering or striking the vehicle, or animals and unrestrained pet distractions.
Automobile accidents caused by distracted drivers in urban areas tended to be the result of drivers looking at other crashes, traffic, or vehicles or cell phone use.
Researcher James M. Ellis of Virginia Commonwealth University says the findings should apply to other regions of the U.S. because the areas studied contained a representative mix of rural and urban counties, a diverse ethnic population, and varying road conditions and types.
SOURCES: "Pilot Study of Distracted Drivers," prepared for the Transportation and Safety Training Center, Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University, January 2003. News release, Virginia Commonwealth University.© 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.
FUN NEWS HEADLINES
Whatever Their motives, Moms Who Kill Kids still Shock Us: Holland Sentinal
Survey Finds Dirtier Subways After Cleaning Jobs Were Cut: NY Times
Larger Kangaroos Leap Farther, Researchers Find: LA Times'Light' meals are lower in fat, calories: Huntington Herald-Dispatch
Alcohol ads promote drinking: The Hartford Courant
Malls try to attract shoppers: The Baltimore SunOfficial: Only rain will cure drought: The Herald-News,
Teen-age girls often have babies fathered by men: Sunday Oregonian
Low Wages Said Key to Poverty: Newsday
Tomatoes come in big, little, medium sizes: The Daily Progress
Dirty-Air Cities Far Deadlier Than Clean Ones, Study Shows: NYMan Run Over by Freight Train Dies: LA Times
Scientists see quakes in L.A. future: The Oregonian,
Wachtler tells graduates that life in jail is demeaning: BuffaloFree Advice: Bundle up when out in the cold: Lexington
Prosecution paints O.J. as a wife-killer: Fort Lauderdale
Economist uses theory to explain economy: CollinsvilleMarch Planned For Next August
Blind Bishop Appointed To See
Lingerie Shipment Hijacked--Thief Gives Police The SlipL.A. Voters Approve Urban Renewal By Landslide
Patient At Death's Door--Doctors Pull Him Through
Latin Course To Be Canceled--No Interest Among Students, Et AlDiaper Market Bottoms Out
Croupiers On Strike--Management: "No Big Deal"
Stadium Air Conditioning Fails--Fans ProtestQueen Mary Having Bottom Scraped
Henshaw Offers Rare Opportunity to Goose Hunters
Women's Movement Called More Broad-BasedAntique Stripper to Display Wares at Store
Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
Teacher Strikes Idle KidsLawyers Give Poor Free Legal Advice
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
Fund Set Up for Beating Victim's Kin in 10 YearsCancer Society Honors Marlboro Man
Nicaragua Sets Goal to Wipe Out Literacy
Autos Killing 110 a Day--Let's Resolve to Do Better20-Year Friendship Ends at Altar
War Dims Hope For Peace
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last A WhileCold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Half of U.S. High Schools Require Some Study for Graduation
Blind Woman Gets New Kidney from Dad She Hasn't Seen in YearsInclude your Children when Baking Cookies
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
Police Begin Campaign to Run Down JaywalkersSafety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
Survivor of Siamese Twins Joins ParentsFarmer Bill Dies in House
Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
Is There a Ring of Debris Around Uranus?Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
Shot Off Woman's leg Helps Nicklaus to 66
Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with AxPlane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told
Miners Refuse to Work After Death
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting DefendantStolen Painting Found by Tree
Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout CounterStud Tires Out
Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes OverSoviet Virgin Lands Short of Goal Again
British Left Waffles on Falkland islands
Lung Cancer in Women MushroomsEye Drops off Shelf
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
Reagan Wins on Budget, But More Lies AheadKiller Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years
Never Withhold Herbes Infection from Loved One
Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in '84War Dims Hope for Peace
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
Cold Wave Linked to TemperaturesEnfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
Dear Kill 17,000Some Pieces of Rock Hudson Sold at Auction
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery ChargeNew Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Jerk Injures Neck, Wins Award: Buffalo News
Animal Rights Group To Hold Meeting At Steakhouse
Lack Of Brains Hinders ResearchHigh Speed Train Could Reach Valley In Five Years
Two Convicts Evade Noose; Jury Hung
Marijuana Issue Sent To Joint CommitteeCheck With The Doctor Before Getting Sick
Seek Help, Confide In Spouse Before Embarking On Affair
Chinese Diver Wins One-Metre Event; Mates On CarpetMan Found Dead In Cemetery
Missouri Gas Chamber Is Unsafe
Hitler Used To Sell Potato ChipsMicrosoft Accuses Federal Judge Of Being Impartial
Lucky Girl Sees Friend DieRest Of The Year May Not Follow January'
Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
Bloggers' conference emphasizes tools of reporting
CNN News Story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Bloggers -- those Internet-based writers without rules -- are fighting back against criticism that their work is unreliable, libelous or just poorly done. More than 300 bloggers came to town Friday for a two-day conference that was heavy on teaching techniques used by journalists in what bloggers term "the mainstream media." One class taught students how to access and analyze government statistics.Conference organizer Bill Hobbs called blogging "citizen journalism." "If freedom of the press belongs to those who have the press, then blogging expands ownership of the press," Hobbs said.Right now, more than 8 million people write blogs, said Bob Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association. Blogs, short for Web logs, are running commentaries on whatever their authors are interested in. Content often focuses on politics or media criticism and usually includes feedback from readers.Participants such as Shelley Henderson said they want to expand their research capabilities to strengthen their commentaries. Henderson, of Los Angeles, dedicates her blog to keeping the Internet unregulated. Blake Wylie of Nashville was among the participants who took exception to criticisms from politicians and mainstream media pundits that their work is often inaccurate. Wylie said bloggers often provide links to let readers go directly to their sources of information.
Hobbs noted that blogs entries are corrected more thoroughly and prominently than in other forms of media. "We write and then our readers edit us," Hobbs said. Linda Seebach, a columnist for The Rocky Mountain News, said traditional media outlets are experimenting with involving bloggers in their news reports. Her newspaper this week launched a series of 40 community-oriented blogs to serve the Denver area. Hobbs said bloggers and the news media are linked because bloggers use them for source material and that the relationship could grow closer.
The prevalence of blogs seems certain to expand even more as people explore ventures such as global blogger news services. Hobbs said the usefulness of such projects was shown when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck last year and some early accounts and pictures from the area came from bloggers.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
Now grading your student essay -- a computer
CNN News
COLUMBIA, Missouri (AP) -- Student essays always seem to be riddled with the same sorts of flaws. So sociology professor Ed Brent decided to hand the work over to a computer. Students in Brent's Introduction to Sociology course at the University of Missouri-Columbia now submit drafts through the SAGrader software he designed. It counts the number of points he wanted his students to include and analyzes how well concepts are explained. And within seconds, students have a score.It used to be the students who looked for shortcuts, shopping for papers online or pilfering parts of an assignment with a simple Google search. Now, teachers and professors are realizing that they, too, can tap technology for a facet of academia long reserved for a teacher alone with a red pen. Software now scores everything from routine assignments in high school English classes to an essay on the GMAT, the standardized test for business school admission. (The essay section just added to the Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT for the college-bound is graded by humans). Though Brent and his two teaching assistants still handle final papers -- and grades -- students are encouraged to use SAGrader for a better shot at an "A." "I don't think we want to replace humans," Brent said. "But we want to do the fun stuff, the challenging stuff. And the computer can do the tedious but necessary stuff."
Developed with National Science Foundation funding, SAGrader is so far used only in Brent's classroom. Like other essay-grading software, it analyzes sentences and paragraphs, looking for keywords as well as the relationship between terms. Other programs compare a student's paper with a database of already-scored papers, seeking to assign it a score based on what other similar-quality assignments have received. Educational Testing Service sells Criterion, which includes the "e-Rater" used to score GMAT essays. Vantage Learning has IntelliMetric, Maplesoft sells Maple T.A., and numerous other programs are used on a smaller scale.
Most companies are private and offer no sales figures, but educators say use of such technology is growing. Consider the reach of e-Rater: 400,000 GMAT test-takers annually, a half-million U.S. K-12 students and 46 international schools and districts. ETS says an additional 2,000 teachers begin using its technology each month. But it's tough to tout a product that tinkers with something many educators believe only a human can do.
"That's the biggest obstacle for this technology," said Frank Catalano, a senior vice president for Pearson Assessments and Testing, whose Intelligent Essay Assessor is used in middle schools and the military alike. "It's not its accuracy. It's not its suitability. It's the believability that it can do the things it already can do."
South Dakota is one of several states that has tested essay-grading software. Officials there decided against using it widely, saying feedback was negative. Not all districts had the same experience. Watertown, South Dakota, students are among those who now have their writing-assessment tests scored by computer. Lesli Hanson, an assistant superintendent in Watertown, said students like taking the test by computer and teachers are relieved to end an annual ritual that kept two dozen people holed up for three days to score 1,500 tests. "It almost got to be torture," she said.
Some 80 percent of Indiana's 60,000 11th-graders have their English assessment scored by computer, and another 10,000 ninth-graders are taking part in a trial in which computers assess some routine written assignments. Stan Jones, Indiana's commissioner of higher education, said the technology isn't as good as a teacher but cuts turnaround time, trims costs and allows overworked teachers to give written assignments without fearing the workload. "This (allows) them to require more essays, more writing, and have it graded very painlessly," Jones said.
Software can also remove a degree of subjectivity. "It's fairly consistent. Different teachers grade different papers differently." -- Keith Kelly, 21, of Cleveland, one of Brent's sociology students. The software is not flawless, even its most ardent supporters admit. When the University of California at Davis tried out such technology a couple years back, lecturer Andy Jones decided to try to trick e-Rater.
Prompted to write on workplace injuries, Jones instead input a letter of recommendation, substituting "risk of personal injury" for the student's name. "My thinking was, 'This is ridiculous, I'm sure it will get a zero,"' he said. He got a five out of six. A second time around, Jones scattered "chimpanzee" throughout the essay, guessing unusual words would yield him a higher score. He got a six.
In Brent's class, sophomore Brady Didion submitted drafts of his papers numerous times to ensure his final version included everything the computer wanted. "What you're learning, really, is how to cheat the program," he said. Work to automate analysis of the written word dates back to the 1950s, when such technology was used largely to adjust the grade level of textbooks, said Henry Lieberman, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before long, researchers aimed to use such applications to evaluate student writing.
SAGrader, like other programs, needs significant prep work by teachers. For each of the four papers Brent assigns during his semester-long course, he must essentially enter all the components he wants an assignment to include and take into account the hundreds of ways a student might say them. Part of one assignment for Brent's class was for students to pick a crime and explain how it fit into sociologists' categories. Brent had to key in dozens of words in order to ensure all types of transgressions would be identified. What a writer gets back is quite detailed.
A criminology paper resulted in a nuance evaluation offering feedback such as this: "This paper does not do a good job of relating white-collar crime to various concepts in labeling theory of deviance." Brent -- who earned a postdoctoral degree in artificial intelligence and is also an adjunct professor in the computer science department -- said the software may have limitations, but allows teachers to do things they weren't able to do before. Before Brent wrote SAGrader, a part of his broader data-analysis program Qualrus, he only gave students multiple-choice tests. "Now we can focus more," he said. "Are they making a good argument? Do they seem to understand? Are they being creative?"
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
Scientifically Wrong, But Politically Correct
FOX News
A chapter on climate in a fifth-grade science textbook in the Discovery Works series, published by Houghton Mifflin (2000), opens with a Native American explanation for the changing seasons: "Crow moon is the name given to spring because that is when the crows return... Students meander through three pages of Algonquin lore before they learn that climate is affected by the rotation and tilt of Earth......Affirmative action for women and minorities is similarly pervasive in science textbooks, to absurd effect. Al Roker, the affable black NBC weatherman, is hailed as a great scientist in one book in the Discovery Works series. It is common to find Marie Curie given a picture and half a page of text, but her husband, Pierre, who shared a Nobel Prize with her, relegated to the role of supportive spouse. In the same series, Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, is shown next to black scientist Lewis Latimer, who improved the light bulb by adding a carbon filament. Edison's picture is smaller.
Middle-school science textbooks are riddled with errors, a Packard Foundation Study found. British students will study "science lite" under the new national curriculum: The science that all pupils study from the age of 14 is to focus more on "lifestyles," general knowledge and opinion and less on chemistry, biology and physics, says the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. ...Instead of learning science, pupils will "learn about the way science and scientists work within society."
They will "develop their ability to relate their understanding of science to their own and others' decisions about lifestyles," the QCA said. In addition, they will be taught that "there are some questions that science cannot answer, and some that science cannot address." Especially, if nobody actually knows science.
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