Turnabout's Fair Play

The prosecution in a criminal case wants the judge to forbid the defense from referring to the prosecution as "the government".  The defense attorney filed the perfect response.

While a small portion of this rebuttal relies on the 1st Amendment, the rest relies on common sense and mockery.

Technological Nirvana

I finally have the technology setup that I've been seeking for my classroom for years.

70" widescreen TV, big enough for everyone to see everything I project onto it.  Sharp's anti-glare screen is very good.

Capability to project what's on my computer screen up onto the TV.

Elmo document camera wired into the TV--full screen projection when using the Elmo, no black bars on the sides or top/bottom.

It works much better than the iPad Elmo-like setup I had and it's everything I've been trying to get for years.

Nice!

The President Is A Liar, And Everyone Knows It

There's a difference between being wrong and knowingly stating something false, and this president is a proven liar.  Not only is he incompetent, he's a liar--and coming from West Point I don't use that terminology loosely.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/10/29/videos-here-are-four-times-during-the-2012-election-year-when-obama-promised-that-if-you-like-your-healthcare-you-can-keep-it/

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/90531-watch-white-houses-truth-video-turns-complete-sham/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57609737/obamacare-more-than-2-million-people-getting-booted-from-existing-health-insurance-plans/

http://nypost.com/2013/10/29/obamas-false-insurance-promise/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

If you voted for this man you voted for an incompetent and a liar.  The rest of us knew--you should have, too.  You were taken in.  You were duped.  You were suckered.

You brought this on us.

Update, 10/30/13:
http://m.nationalreview.com/corner/362484/top-dem-admits-we-knew-jonathan-strong

Update #2, 11/3/13:  You lost your health insurance? Even CNN reports that it was Senate Democrats that supported the rule that caused you to lose it.  Now you see why they had to pass the law before we'd know what's in it (Nancy Pelosi said that); it never would have passed if they'd told the truth.  I'm still glad that not a single Republican voted for this.

Update #3, 11/17/13:  New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says they all knew (video at the link).  When asked "so were you misled" by President Obama:

Gillibrand offered a startling revelation:

He should’ve just been specific. No, we all knew. The whole point of the plan is to cover things people need, like preventive care, birth control, pregnancy. How many women, the minute they get pregnant, might risk their coverage. How many women paid more because of their gender, because they might get pregnant. Those are the reforms.

If “we all knew,” as Gillibrand claimed, that means that in addition to further confirmation that the president knew he was lying during the at least 36 times that he told the public that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan,” the following Democrat senators were also all lying, when they promised Americans, as the president did, that they can keep their health insurance plans...

She wasn't trying to throw anyone under the bus, she was just trying to make her point.  But in making her point she jumped under that bus and dragged her fellow Dems along with her.

The Full Red, White, and Blue American Experience

My German foreign exchange student was chosen as Elks Club Student of the Month for our school this month and I got to escort him to the Elks Lodge today for the luncheon.

The Student of the Month from a nearby school was also a foreign exchange student, from Spain, and--I don't remember how it came up actually, or who brought it up, but somehow the subject was broached and the two Europeans were asked if they'd ever fired a rifle.  I got the impression that neither of them had ever touched or perhaps even seen a firearm, so I asked if they'd like to go to the rifle range some time.  Eyes got wide with excitement.

I'll check with my student's host family, and the other teacher will check with his student's host family.  If the adults agree to it we'll take the two students to a nearby rifle range and let them put some rounds downrange.

And afterwards we'll go have some apple pie and sing God Bless America :-)

The Law of Sines

The other trig teacher at my school came to me with a problem today.  I, too, am stumped as to how to explain *why* the Law of Sines doesn't work to solve this problem correctly.  After getting two answers I can see why, I just wouldn't have anticipated this issue a priori.  I'm quite embarrassed to ask, but if anyone can offer help beyond "start with the Law of Cosines, stick with the Law of Cosines", I'm listening.

Here's the problem:

Start with the triangle shown, given only the 3 sides, and solve for angle A.

Now use the Law of Sines to solve for angle B, then calculate angle C.


Here's where the issue comes.  Go back to the original triangle having solved for angle A, and instead of solving for angle B next, solve for C instead, and then calculate B.

Here's what I get.  Solving for B first is in blue, solving for C first is in red:

There's only 1 right answer, and it's the blue one.   The Law of Sines ratio doesn't work for all three pairs of angles/sides in the red triangle.

So the question is this: doing an arcsin won't give you the correct answer if your angle is in the 2nd quadrant (because the range of the arcsin function is (-90 degrees, 90 degrees).  How would you know, then, to check for an obtuse angle in this case?  Perhaps the better question is, without checking the Law of Sines ratio for all three pairs, would one know that the red answer is incorrect?

Have I done something procedurally incorrect?  Again, any help is appreciated.

When We Shoot Ourselves In The Foot

Only educators could say something so stupid with a straight face because they want to believe it:

Scary: Only 57% of college freshman could solve the simple division problem above (231 / 7 = 33) without a calculator (using old-fashioned long division) based on a math assessment test given by Professor Cliff Mass in his Atmospheric Sciences 101 class at the University of Washington. Here’s a hint why – according to a math teacher quoted in the NY Times, “We don’t teach long division…. it stifles students’ creativity.” 

And today I'm told that students have to be able to write about math or else they don't understand it, or they need to explain how and why something is true or else they don't have a deep understanding of it (a la Common Core).  My reply is always the same:  "Can you do long division?  (I assume that every adult can.)  Explain to me why the algorithm works."  Yet we can all do long division till the cows come home....

It's Hard To Feel Sorry For Them When So Many Voted For The Guy

More and more people are already getting screwed by Obamacare:

Universities are cutting back on adjunct professors’ work hours to comply with Obamacare–an unfortunate wake up call for some liberal academics who supported the law.

“I understand that colleges don’t have money to throw around and there’s a larger issue here, but it is frustrating to feel like, that in the face of this legislation designed to help people, that instead it’s hurting people,” said Amy Poff, an adjunct professor who teaches art classes at various Maryland colleges, in a statement to The Baltimore Sun.

Under the president’s health care law, employees who work 30 hours each week are eligible for health benefits. Since many adjunct professors teach enough classes to meet that bar, college administrators must choose between paying extra healthcare costs or cutting back adjunct work hours.

For many universities–both public and private–the decision is an easy one: punish the adjuncts.

Who could possibly have foreseen this consequence of Obamacare?  Answer: anyone not blinded by socialism in the first place.

Extreme Environmental Laws

I'm sure it's not just me, so I won't ask the "is it just me, or..." rhetorical question, but this seems pretty darned extreme:

It’s hard to wave your spirit fingers when the city shuts down the cheerleading squad’s fundraising car wash to protect the environment.

This is what happened to Lincoln High School cheerleaders  trying to raise money to attend a national competition in April. The San Jose Mercury reports that local environmental officials warned the high school cheerleaders that their car wash violated the city’s water discharge laws.

“We had a visit from the city of San Jose Environmental Services Department who said that the car washes at Hoover [Middle School] are in violation of water discharge laws, therefore we had to cancel this and all future car washes,” said an email that was sent out to neighborhood email lists on Oct. 18.

This is how far government can take things.

Hat tip to reader MikeAT.

This Hasn't Happened In A Long Time

Today I took the 2nd test in my Probability Theory class.  I was allotted 50 minutes, and when 50 minutes hit I wasn't done.  Sure, I could have taken another 5 minutes, tops, and finished it, but I had to sign that I played by the rules and that 5 minutes isn't worth as much as my integrity.  I stopped mid-problem and wrote "out of time" and turned my test in to my proctor.

I'm hoping for some "max partial credit".

Update, 11/3/13:  I got 97%.  I lost 3 points on the problem I didn't finish.

Sunset

For the first few decades of my life I thought that Sunset Magazine was for old people; it's only been in the last few years that I've learned it's for those of us who live in the West!

It's a fun read, and the pictures are usually spectacular, but some of the stories sure get the wanderlust going.  For instance, the cover story on cabins in the most recent edition included a link to these cabins, within a stone's throw of Yosemite.  How awesome is that A-frame???

Looks like a nice, non-electronic place to visit.

Success?

Today, the 89th day after I started, I broke out the limoncello and started filtering it.  It certainly smells and looks good!  When I'm done filtering I'll see how it tastes.

Update:  Holy crap!  It's so good!  Darn strong, too, considering that it's made with 151 proof grain alcohol.

Leaving The Plantation

I wish we in California had the same rights that workers do in Michigan.  The Michigan teachers union doesn't want teachers exercising their rights, though:

Michigan teachers are discovering that their union is determined to make it as hard as possible for them to take advantage of the state's new right-to-work law, which prohibits workers from being forced to pay dues to a union.

Nine teachers sued the Michigan Education Association in the last week alleging unfair labor practices.

Eight teachers sued the MEA on Monday. They are being represented by the conservative Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. Their complaint alleges the union is violating the intent of the right-to-work law by only giving them a very brief period — the month of August — to drop their membership...

Big Labor hates right-to-work laws because they typically mean fewer members and therefore less dues revenue. Union leaders complain that they cause what economists call a "free rider" problem, since workers still get the benefits of union contract negotiations. Nothing prevents unions from negotiating "members-only" contracts though. They'd just rather have the additional dues coming in.

In states like California, in which unions are entitled by law to workers' money whether the workers want union membership or not, labor unions can do whatever they want.  In a right-to-work state like Michigan, the labor union has to earn those dollars by providing a service that members and potential members see as useful.  Which sounds more reasonable to you?

"A Solution In Search of a Problem"

For a few years now I've had an Elmo document camera (like a video camera) connected to both my computer and an LCD projector; with this setup I can project what's on my computer screen or whatever I put under the document camera.  Think of it as an improved overhead projector!

I've been less than happy with the LCD projector; color, which is fairly important in a math class, especially when graphing, appears washed out, and the bulbs for those projectors run into three digits.  I've said for a while now that I'd rather have a large screen TV up on the wall--the image would be crystal clear, and the cost would be equal to one Elmo and one bulb.

I now have a 70" Sharp television, and it's beautiful.  It's *so* much easier to view, everything just "pops".  My principal also gave me an iPad and a mount that essentially allows me to use the iPad camera as an Elmo.  Additionally, I can project anything from the iPad up onto the TV.  Think of the possibilities!  Anyway, my principal asked me to try all this out and see what I think, and let him know if perhaps this is a direction the school should move regarding technology.

OK, I've only been using this setup for less than 2 weeks now, so it's possible I haven't had enough time to be sold on it yet, but to be honest, I'm just not seeing how an iPad makes my teaching or my students' learning any better.  The iPad seems like overkill when I use it as a glorified Elmo, and since being a document camera isn't its primary purpose, it's not even as convenient to use as an Elmo is.  I've been told, "there are all these apps you can use, and..." but it's so much easier (and seemingly more effective) for me to write on paper than it is to use apps.  If I'm teaching graphing, I'd rather do it on paper under a document camera than to use a stylus or, even worse, my fingertip, on an iPad.  When I work a problem out it's easier to do it naturally, with paper and pencil, than it is to try to use the iPad as a glorified whiteboard. 

It's like I'm trying to force the iPad to fit into my teaching, and it's not working, and I'm not really inclined to change my teaching so that the iPad fits in.  It's supposed to be my tool, not vice versa.  And I haven't even mentioned the once- or twice-daily glitches that I encounter; they're not horrible, but they exist, and they take 30-60 seconds to fix, which is more than enough time for a class to start getting off-task.

I mentioned to some students today that what would be ideal for me would just be to get the Elmo image up on the TV.  One student remarked, "The iPad is a solution in search of a problem."  He's quite right.

Audible.com

I've had my Kindle Fire for what, two years now?  And I've never used it to listen to an audio book.  Of all the things I can do on it, I've probably spent the most time playing games.  Age of Conquest is awesome (!!) but it's also a time-suck.

Each morning when I get up I get on the elliptical trainer for 20 minutes.  I turn on the radio but don't always want to listen to music or, what's far worse, the myriad commercials.  I want to burn 20 minutes!  I was discussing this with a guy at work one day and he suggested audio books.  Hmmm, I thought, not a bad idea.

And then I did nothing with that suggestion.  Until a few minutes ago.

I signed up on Audible.com to get 2 free audio books, and I have don't have to pay anything for 30 days.  This gives me 30 days to see if I like listening to audio books at 6am any more than I like listening to the radio!  If I do I pay $14.95 a month, which includes one book download.

Now I'm going to go fire up the Kindle and see what books I should download.  I'm thinking one will be this book on John Adams.  Can't decide if, for the second book, I should get some "contemporary politics" or perhaps some good ole relaxing fiction. 

Identity Theft

A dozen years ago, when I hired on in my current school district, it had a good reputation throughout the county.  Today that reputation is a distant memory, and here's one data point why:

Two teachers that I know of at my school, and one teacher at another school in our district, have had their identities stolen.  All three of them have had credit cards opened up in their name at local stores (TJ Maxx (believe it or not), Office Depot, and others) and those new cards charged up to the maximum limit.  Of course the teachers involved aren't financially liable for the fraudulent charges but that doesn't mean they don't have to go through an extreme amount of work to start clearing their good names as well as their credit records.

One of them notified HR and payroll today about a potential data breach, given that he personally knew the other two and hence knew of three instances in such a short amount of time--there might be others in our district.  Did the district people say they'd look into it?  Did they say they'd have our IT people see if there was a data trail pointing to a breach?  Did they say they'd send out a message seeing if it happened to anyone else?

No.  They said to report it to the police, as if that hadn't already been done.  Real helpful, that.

One of our union reps said she'd take it to the union president to see if she could put some pressure on the district to look into a possible data breach.  That's an appropriate role for the local union to play and I applaud this rep for trying to move this situation forward.  I don't understand why people at the district office would be so nonchalant about something obviously so important.

Your Prius Won't Save You

I never understood the idea of paying a lot of extra money up front just to save a little money on gas over a long term.  When I ran the numbers it was cheaper to buy a non-hybrid Camry than it was to buy a hybrid car.  It's the same with solar; I use so little (compared to others), and my electricity cost is moderate enough, that after 20 years I'd just about break even with a solar system.  Essentially, if I were to buy one I'd just be pre-paying for my electricity--and that's after getting government subsidies!

That was one introduction to this story, here's another.   Back when I was a sophomore in college I took a philosophy class which we cadets nicknamed "drugs".  In that class I learned about Kant's Moral Imperative:  what would be the result if everyone took the action you were considering taking?  If you wanted to lie, for example, what would the result if everyone were lying?  Obviously not good, don't do it.

Those two lead-ins bring me to this story.  What would happen if everyone drove a hybrid, or at least if they got good mileage and didn't use as much gas?  Why, gas tax revenue would decline!  Yet (in theory) we want all the things from government that that revenue pays for, so what to do?

Oregon is moving ahead with a controversial plan to tax motorists based on the number of miles they drive as opposed to the amount of fuel they consume, raising myriad concerns about cost and privacy.  The program, springing out of a recently signed bill, is expected to launch in 2015 on a volunteer basis.

But it’s charting relatively new territory, and other states aching for additional tax revenue are sure to be watching closely to see whether to imitate the model.

Blinded By Science

When I'm not annoyed by it, I'm marginally entertained by the quaint view that holds that "scientists" are entirely neutral people who seek out only the truth; that they have no biases, or egos, or any of the other foibles that we mere mortals have; that when they speak about "science" they speak some form of absolute truth.

The Global Warmers sure have the market cornered on that!

Here, though, are two stories that I came upon just today, both from the field of psychology:

“I SEE a train wreck looming,” warned Daniel Kahneman, an eminent psychologist, in an open letter last year. The premonition concerned research on a phenomenon known as “priming”. Priming studies suggest that decisions can be influenced by apparently irrelevant actions or events that took place just before the cusp of choice. They have been a boom area in psychology over the past decade, and some of their insights have already made it out of the lab and into the toolkits of policy wonks keen on “nudging” the populace.

Dr Kahneman and a growing number of his colleagues fear that a lot of this priming research is poorly founded. Over the past few years various researchers have made systematic attempts to replicate some of the more widely cited priming experiments. Many of these replications have failed. In April, for instance, a paper in PLoS ONE, a journal, reported that nine separate experiments had not managed to reproduce the results of a famous study from 1998 purporting to show that thinking about a professor before taking an intelligence test leads to a higher score than imagining a football hooligan.
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21588057-scientists-think-science-self-correcting-alarming-degree-it-not-trouble

A plucky amateur dared to question a celebrated psychological finding. He wound up blowing the whole theory wide open.
http://narrative.ly/pieces-of-mind/nick-brown-smelled-bull/

I've written before about fake psychology, but the articles linked above are noteworthy for their detail.

Some Perspective on Global Temperatures

The graphs are very interesting, especially given that they represent data from the Greenland and Vostok Ice Caps:
http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3553

A Fulfilling Day

I was up at 5:40 this morning, and at school by 7:15 to help proctor the PSAT.  When that was complete I went to Sam's Club, where I bought some small Christmas presents and had a root beer float.

Then I came home and got to work.

There used to be 2x4's imbedded in my back patio, but over the decades they've done a good job of rotting.  A few hours and about 80 lbs of Quikrete later I got most of the wood removed and the gaps filled.

Needing some relaxation, I broke out a movie I hadn't yet seen--The Life of Pi.  It was nice story-telling.

It's now not even 7:00 and I don't know yet what I'm going to do for the rest of the evening!

Happy Anniversary...

...of the British surrender at Yorktown!