I'm with mecran01. This professor, who is a middling writer, sounds like a terrible writing teacher. "The textbook says. . . " Well, scrap the textbook. Don't cheerlead or cajole - actually teach them to write. The fact that the professor is reflective enough to realize something is seriously wrong when most kids are failing, but does not have the guts to do something about it - change the curriculum, teaching method, something - well, that's a lot of what is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:03 PM on May 21, 2008

inspiration cannot be scheduled.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:00 PM on April 29, 2008

Hate most of the commentary, but loved the pictures, perhaps because many of them are right on the edge of being inspired vs. being insane. Or maybe that's the whole point of hipsterdom.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:15 PM on April 16, 2008

Ugh. The cynicism in this thread is crushing my will to go get my 6th grade students from art class.

I have a degree in math from the University of Chicago, so I've done some math, real as it comes. I also happen to teach math to 6th graders here in North Lawndale.

Many, many math teachers are not adequately comfortable with the creative side of math, that's one problem. Another is the curriculum, which does emphasize the how over the why.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 10:17 AM on April 10, 2008

[this is good]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 4:10 PM on February 29, 2008

Upon listening for thirty more seconds, let me amend that. This is absolutely fucking fantastic.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 4:11 PM on February 29, 2008

46,000 square miles of land would be needed for photovoltaic and concentrated solar power installations. That area is large, and yet it covers just 19 percent of the suitable Southwest land. Most of that land is barren; there is no competing use value.

From wikipedia:
"The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 12:03 PM on February 17, 2008

I want to see it battle the Mike Gravel hot-air balloon.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:18 PM on November 25, 2007

This is an uplifting story but as usual with short pieces like this I am left wanting more detail.

"High expectations" is pretty vague. Every teacher I've met believes their kids are capable of great things. But how are these expectations communicated to the child so that the child buys into them as well?

The article says that bad behavior "is not tolerated," but again I am left wanting to know more about the details of this.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 4:49 PM on November 24, 2007

kozad:

Here is a visual representation of the key changes. Also an old mefi thread.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 11:02 AM on November 11, 2007

This game reminds me of the game hex, and you can use a similar strategy of building a "bridge." You set your dots one apart from each other diagonally (if that makes any sense) so that when the cat gets to the gap you still have a chance to block it off. Once you start to see the board in terms of diagonals the game gets easier, although sometimes I still mess up and the cat gets out.

I think it is possible to beat every initial configuration but I'm not sure.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:32 PM on October 21, 2007

Correlation/causation:

Yes, the fields with the highest levels of depressive episodes are female-dominated.

Is this because women are more prone to depression? Or are women more prone to depression because they are stuck in these very demanding jobs which are undercompensated and underappreciated, as delmoi suggests? Or are both effects coming from some other causes?
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 12:24 PM on October 14, 2007

And even more You must understand, that using a boat may be dangerous:
-The boat may fall over.
-You may fall out of the boat.
-The boat may hit a rock.
-Your shoes may get wet.
-The boat may get filled with water.
-The boat may sink.
-Another boat may hit Your boat.
-The boat may drift a long distance away.
-You may get lost with the boat.
-When rowing, You may get blisters in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 1:22 PM on October 13, 2007

Many schools are moving toward having smaller libraries in each classroom. This means they get used more. Logistically, there often isn't time in the schedule for children to get to the school library (although actually at the school where I taught last year the kids had library every week and still never took books out).

At my current school the kids have the option of going every day, as soon as they need new books. The school is willing to devote money to buying... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:06 PM on October 2, 2007

I love this movie and haven't thought of it in awhile.

The end is especially poingiant in hindsight.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:58 PM on October 2, 2007

Pineapple - you should make that list. I would read it.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:09 PM on August 15, 2007

Living in Chicago, I often read Rosenbaum's reviews when I am looking up movie time on the Reader's website. I think I almost never agree with him. This is an interesting article from him - makes me want to go watch some Bergman films.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:46 PM on August 13, 2007

magic curl -
if working for tech companies is what they love, great, keep doing it.

But the people in the article seem to be working far harder than they really want to, largely for the sake of greater financial stability, because they perceive themselves to financially insecure.

I don't see anything wrong with working hard, even eighty hours a week, if that's what you find satisfying (I personally would rather have a more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 10:26 PM on August 5, 2007

This is incredibly scary. I grew up in MN and was just in St. Paul a few days ago visiting my parents.

I drove over that bridge many times. Given the small-townishness of the Twin Cities, it seems likely that someone I know was there. Of course my parents are fine, but I am thinking about all the old neighbors, high school friends, and family friends who I don't even have any way of contacting anymore. I hope they are all okay.

I can't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 12:10 AM on August 2, 2007

The NYT is reporting that differing reports (from transportation officals and the red cross) put the number of missing between 20 and 65. (They are also saying only 4 are confirmed dead, although last night's report said 7). There are about 10 families still at the Holiday Inn waiting for news about missing loved ones.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 11:29 AM on August 2, 2007

I accidentally just logged out an deleted my last comment. Will try again:

The bridge, as far as I can tell, is literally feet downstream from a small damn. The turbulant flow from the dam (which is part of what is making recovery efforts so dangerous) might have an effect on pylons in the river if they had been placed there. I am just speculating.

On the other hand, because of the dam, any boats coming up that way (and there are few - an... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:16 PM on August 2, 2007

Happy birthday!
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:25 AM on July 14, 2007

eponysterical?

I think this thread may well get deleted. But in any case, limiting the list to five is sort of silly. I also think that his racist past does not necessarily earn Byrd his place on the list, given how racist many of our elected officials are in the present.

So, in short, I wasn't impressed by this.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 1:30 PM on June 22, 2007

He spoke at my friend's graduation at the University of Chicago. Which was weird, because usually only faculty speak, not anyone from outside. He got a hostile reception because he was going against this tradition. But in any case he speech sounded like he was warming up to run for president. And here we are.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:53 AM on June 20, 2007

I was commenting the other day that magic eye is one of those things that really only could have been a fad before the internet was popular. We've grown too accustomed to novelty to sustain interest in something like this for very long.

I may be proven wrong now if magic eye resurges as an internet meme.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:05 PM on June 18, 2007

woz
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:56 AM on June 10, 2007

I was there. It rocked. I played as an alum for the Snell-Hitchcock team. We won!

I was captain of this team for two years (we won then, too), so I would say I am a pretty die-hard scavvie. My boyfriend took two days off work for it.

This is one of those phenomena that is truly impossible to imagine from the outside. One can read the list and get a sense of some of the items, but the mindset of actually doing scav is a much more intense and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 4:02 PM on May 18, 2007

If I were in Olshanky's shoes, I could not be sure it was not a trap.

I would be terrified of the prison time/other consequences I could face for sharing the names.

But, weighing that against the rights I believe those 550 guantanamo detainees should have to habeus corpus, I have to say I would have released the names.

I am not a rah rah American, but there are certain freedoms in our constitution that I would be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 1:19 PM on May 15, 2007

My parents used to have only a dial-up connection, and going home from college to visit them always brought with a sense of being incredibly isolated and bored, just because I couldn't look at the news 12 times a day while simultaneously playing flash games and downloading music.

On the other hand I can go days without the internet if I'm off work and I have something fun to do.

For me all these online diversions are just like television in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 1:15 PM on April 30, 2007

I liked the first one better.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 10:49 AM on April 19, 2007

I am not a programmer, I am a middle-school teacher, but this sounds like a great idea to me.

I agree that meetings can be terrible, tedious things, but this process seems designed to eliminate tedium and actually get down to the important issues.

And I really like the idea of making daily committments to your team.

I can imagine several reasons why people would think this is a bad idea:

a)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:27 AM on April 13, 2007

I read this awile ago in "Rethinking Schools" magazine. At first I was highly skeptical (banning legos!?), but the teachers involved seemed very thoughtful and I thought the outcome was positive.

Some people here seem to think it's overmuch to interfere with the way kids want to play, but the whole point of preschool, as far as I'm concerned, is teaching kids to play nicely with each other. They need guidance. It may seem restrictive but it's ultimately... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 3:37 PM on April 3, 2007

These reminded me of what my kids would write. I cracked up at several of them. Especially, "Are you over with your moment?"
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 7:08 PM on March 26, 2007

This album is a disappointment to me. What's going on rhythmically? Nothing. And the vocals - Jeff Tweedy has always walked the line between ennui and soulfulness in a way that I appreciated, but here he just falls right off on the side of who-gives-a-shit. Everything about these songs is boring.

I love Wilco like what, so I am going to try to forget this music exists.

Fame ruins everyone eventually, I guess.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:41 PM on March 11, 2007

For those of us who aren't financial professionals, what's a put option?
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:52 PM on October 1, 2006

David Brooks is the reason I am glad the Times is making people pay to read the op-ed columns. I sometimes used to click impulsively on his column, read it, and then spend the next fifteen minutes shouting at my computer screen. It is, in fact, Brooks' genial demeanor which makes him inspire my loathing.

In between inaccurate generalizations about the state of American culture, Brooks has said some very racist, sexist, and otherwise offensive things. And he says it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 5:24 PM on June 28, 2006

Chasuk - next time I see a creepy older man peering out at me from the window of his retail establishment, I'll be sure to light up a cigarette. I had no idea it was so easy to drive you away.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 8:17 PM on May 17, 2006

The police estimate 400,000 here in Chicago. Many businesses are closed as a show of support.

A189Nut: The marchers are specifically against the current house of representatives bill that would criminalize illegal immigrants and anyone who helped them (including charitable organizations). I'm sure many of them have other demands as well, but the house bill is what set the recent protests in motion.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:37 PM on May 1, 2006

3097 without really trying. I got lucky I guess. It's mesmerizing to watch.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 6:02 PM on October 25, 2005

.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 7:54 PM on October 24, 2005

What does it say about my cynicism that Fitzmas carrols and the bingo card totally made my day? This is awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 4:09 PM on October 21, 2005

These are unbelievably wonderful. None of this Calvin Klein subtle tasteful crap. Let's just go hog wild with the most vile shade of green we can get our hands on, and then let's mix in some orange. Yeah.

One of the bathrooms of my house used to have the most astonishing brown and silver foil blossom-pattern wallpaper. I miss that wallpaper.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 4:04 PM on October 3, 2005

Well, okay. . . Appleton, Wisconsin is full of white kids. I'm not sure what your point is, thefreek. Kids everywhere act crazy sometimes.

Having had a rough day at school today teaching eleven year olds, I would be ecstatic if healthy food could be served in their cafeteria. Maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn't - the worst thing that could happen is the kids would be healthier.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:00 PM on September 30, 2005

[this is good]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:43 PM on September 22, 2005

I think that, whether intended or not, the word "crescent" could actually provoke another level of thoughtfulness from people attending the memorial. It is true that the people carrying out the attacks were Islamic fundamentalists, but that doesn't mean that Islam itself should be made the enemy. Perhaps the beauty and peace of the memorial can help people begin to think about what it would be like for the west to reconcile with the Islamic world - which, in the end, would bring the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 2:37 PM on September 22, 2005

I think I might be sick.
Thanks for posting this, and thanks metafilter for keeping these important stories coming.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 3:47 PM on September 8, 2005

"In a large sample of mathematically gifted youths, for example, seven times as many males as females scored in the top percentile of the SAT mathematics test.6 We do not have good test data on the male-female ratio at the top one-hundredth or top one-thousandth of a percentile, where first-rate mathematicians are most likely to be found, but collateral evidence suggests that the male advantage there continues to increase, perhaps exponentially.7"

Having just... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 12:13 PM on September 5, 2005

"Our cams are at maximum capacity." I can't connect to the cuteness.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:40 AM on August 21, 2005

Nevermind, it worked the second time. Geez, it's overhwhelming, the cuteness.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 9:44 AM on August 21, 2005

Doesn't have the two sushi places closest to me in its list when I search. Could be good if it were more complete.
posted to MetaFilter by mai at 6:10 PM on August 19, 2005