This One Ought To Be Popular

So . . . it's almost Christmas, that most joyous time of year, the one I can't stand.  Before you go rushing to judgment about my motivations, let me offer my modest proposal for how we all handle the holidays going forward and my reasons for it.  Keep in mind I am not out to ruin anyone's fun, that this is just a blog written by someone who occasionally goes on crazed rants (about pizza, amongst other things) and that I did this on December 23rd so that this could be well ignored and forgotten before the actual holiday hits.  My vitriol towards xmas after the jump.

Satisfyingly Maximized

So . . . there's two types of people in the world.  I like this intro because it can really go anywhere - just fill in the following blanks: those who (blank) and those who don't (blank).  It can be fun and is really flexible.  Use things like "watch The View" and "don't watch the View."  Or "like Dan Brown's novels" and "read crap."  Today I'm writing about a different kind of distinction, though.  On what may be the fundamental difference between types of people after the jump.

This Blog is Three Times as Awesome as Others!

So . . . I had a couple of other topics I was thinking of writing about today (basketball, people's biases and how it affects behaviour) but I'll save those for another day.  Instead, I'm going to write about the commercial I just saw on TV (no, television hasn't given me a short attention span at - hey!  look at that!).  One of the topics that I teach that students tend to have a hard time accepting is that while we all know that we shouldn't trust ads, ads are the source of much of our product information.  Exploring this paradox, and a link to a unique ad, after the jump.

Warning! Steep grade ahead!

So . . . it's grading time!  That bittersweet time of the year where I'm happy that the semester is just about over, but faced with a mountain of student papers to assess.  This is a bigger task than most people realize, because I actually have to read the darn things.  And reading them can be tough.  Not to sound trite, but the quality of student writing is usually horrible.  But with one final push, I'm done the semester, on holidays, and ready to face a new batch of students in January.  Even so, there is one change I would like to see with regard to grading, discussed after the jump.

Pasta Sauce!

So . . . last week I made pasta sauce (tomato & meat) for the first time in six months.  No, I didn't give it up for an extended lent (or Omer, or Ramadan, depending on your faith) - I tend to make large batches (and freeze it) and only recently finished the last batch.  I love making pasta sauce, even though it takes several hours.  This twice-a-year (or so) activity is probably one of my favorites to do in the kitchen (cooking-wise; get your mind out of the gutter, sicko).  Why I love making it, and the recipe (kind of) after the jump.

We Are All (Lousy) Witnesses

So . . . it's coming up on exam time for my students, and I just did our course review and exam prep in class earlier this week.  The exam is for my business case course, which has the students read a business case (a story about a business and the problem they are facing).  They then must use the available information to come to a defensible decision about what the company in the case should do.  One of the skills involved is to be able to sort out useful information from useless (or in some cases, incorrect) information.  Which brings me to what I'm talking about today - how we can use information provided to us.  Examples and clarification after the jump.