Irony in the Library

I was changing out the magazine's yesterday, putting new ones up and noticed something interesting. I was putting up a Business Weekly, dated March 19, 2007, with the cover story "The Trouble with India" with a subtitle indicating India's falacies. In the same hand (directly beneath on my shelf) I was taking off a Chronicle of Higher Education, dated March 2, 2007, with the cover story of "Courting a Subcontinent: A whirlwind tour of India by Cornell's President highlights U.S. institutions' haste to find global partners".

To me this is horribly ironic as one toughts India positively while the other rips it a new one (I didn't read the article but the tone and the elephant breaking apart as the cover art make me think its not a positive perspective). Two Mags, One Shelf Apart, One Similar Idea, Two very different Ideas

Sandal Update

testing update is more appropriate but the most interesting thing is the sandals/flip-flop count. Yesterday had 4 test (2 male/2 female) and 2 pair flip=flops; today had 6 tests (5 male/1 female) 2 pair flip-flops. I watch this b/c this is a timed test involving walking around to find stuff. However, as K asked I don't really see a correlation b/t flip-flops and grades to this point. More generally today's students were brutal, the last guy made a perfect score but the first 5 not so much, had a couple of 14 of 20's, its just frustrating to watch people struggle at something they sat through classes to learn.

Had to post this library related You-tube

I had seen it before but I saw it again today and had to post it. Kinda a long but its worth it IMO.

Link

Update on the test giving

Most of my testee's are doing well enough. (pause to let the chuckling subside, you know what I'm talking about)

Sometimes I so wish I had Jedi Mind Control though. It's much like this line from Star Wars, where Obi-Wan says it and the stormtroopers believe him and repeat it. Sometimes I try and focus on the correct answer which is on the page they're on but they ain't seeing it.

Perhaps I will have more success at this mind control suggestion if I just keep trying. Gave a 12 out of 20 today, my low of the week but its not my fault, in fact it coulda been an 8 if I wanted to grade it hard, but anyway just wanted to give an update and share a little Star Wars wav with you.

Daily Update

These tests are still taking over my life and therefore my blogging time.I had an interesting observation on todays youth though. I gave 6 test yesterday (yes 6 30-minute test in 7.5 hours of work, I'm not getting much else done)and of the 6 (4 girls, 2 guys) 5 of them had on either sandals or flip-flops. That's like 83% of people taking a test where you have to move around and answer 5 questions on a floor spanning about 125 feet with a 30 minute time-limit chose this as optimal footwear, and some when up against the clock even jog around.

Maybe I'm just out of touch, or maybe I just don't like feet but I think this is a trend with the younger generation. My little sister (11 or 12) wheres flip-flops in the dead of winter. I even remember a student asking last year if it was appropriate to wear shoes that show toes to graduation?, I don't know and really don't care. So far my lowest score is 12 out of 20 with average being probably 18 or 19 (I don't think its hard at all but I do help teach the class).

On non-testing news K and I both went to the gym yesterday, first time in probably 3 weeks for me and despite the soreness the gym makes me feel better, I got more pep and more hunger this morning (hunger = metabolism, right). While I have cut back on the walking to 1 mile a day to try and save my feet while testing I did do a mile Sunday night, a mile Monday morning and a mile this morning so exercising I'm doing well and diet I'm doing better than I used to but seem to have plateaued on the scale in that 249-252 range (depending on time of day). I even turned down strawberry shortcake last night to just eat unsweetened strawberries.

Scalia Cartoon

The Imaginary Pro Se

This person hasn't actually come in to my library but I could see it happening if the same thing happened in our town. And with just a few clicks I would have to say that, with all respect to Chief Gregg, I don't think the DUI statute applies to horses. There was in the past a statute about riding horses on roads but his has been repealed and while the DUI law (32-5-171)does mearly say "vehicle" not specifying "motor vehicle" like most statutes do the title of the Title the statute is in is "Motor Vehicles and Traffic". Additionally, it seems that all of the following statutes refer to "motor vehicle" or the required license (of which no license is required to ride a horse).

I haven't dug into the case law but I think Melissa York maybe o.k. in this instance and is just guilty of public intoxication.

** This is not legal advice given to any specific instance, only reflections from a totally independent researcher **

Book Related Links

Stealing these from the March 26, 2007 Newsweek. Some look quiet interesting, thought I would share.

Good Reads
Library Thing
Shelfari
Bookswellread
Whats On My Bookshelf