Ellis Godard's Weblog

Uncluttering your Pencil Holder

2009-09-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

My "pencil holder" was a mess. It didn't have any pencils, but it had plenty else:First, I dumped it into a straight line so I could see everything:

Next, I sorted items by type - medium points, very fine points, yellow highlighters, other highlighters, permanent markers, etc. (It works well to do this in two rows, so you can see everything and because you'll want two in the next step.)

Okay, that was easy - dump and sort. Now come the choices. Some are easy: I need one, maybe two yellow highlighters, not five. And any one of the three Sharpies is really plenty. So now I've got two rows - the top are extras, the bottom are what I really want accessible:

Finally, the must-haves go back in the "pencil holder" (can we call it a Utensil Cup instead?), the rest into the supply closet:

2009-08-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

Song I've recently heard, automatically updated well beyond the time of this post. (Check elsewhere for last updated day & time.)

Based solely on iTunes use*, most recent on top. Drawn from a library of 29,091 tracks by 3,836 artists, from 2,991 albums in 42 listed genres**, as of 8/7/09.

I cannot see for the life of me that quiet is as necessary to a person who has shut himself away to do some studying as it is usually thought to be. - Seneca the Younger (AD 3-65)

Unclutter the Start Menu

2009-07-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

GUI tweaking is good stuff. But icons, shortcuts, gadgets, widgets, toolbars, sidebars, and the like are variations on the same idea: application launching management for 10-20 key apps. Your system (esp. if it's Windows) probably has *scores* of apps you don't use often enough to justify desktop access - and (esp. if it's Windows) they're probably buried in clutter.

Clutter Central

The StartMenu (START > ALL PROGRAMS) is a natural place to organize shortcuts to every app, since most of them are probably already there. And there's plenty of clutter - apps you don’t use, won't use, and can't use, and entire folders of garbage even for apps you do use. Finding the actual apps - buried in brand-driven structures rather than grouped by function - is a pain.

But maintaining these folders is a challenge, as each new installation lead to new folders within new folders. Cluttering the StartMenu folders is a routine part of any installation or upgrade. Even licensing or activation can mean renewed, replaced, or regenerated cruft. This folder of seven links appeared for a minor update:

The structure is inherently messy. Command-line tweaks are hidden in sub-folders. Alternate shortcuts (such as IE w/o add-ons) may be hidden in the Applications folder. You only need the Readme links when you first install, if at all; you probably won't use the help files outside the app; and you only need the uninstall links to ditch the app, at which point you could use Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel instead.

New apps aren't the only culprits. Windows' default "Accessories" category include Notepad (an editor), Address Book (a data management tool), Command Prompt and Program Compatability Wizard (system management tools), Windows Explorer (a file management tool), and Tour Windows (a newbie tool you may never use). Not enough? Accessibility, Entertainment, and System Tools subfolders each mix items you may not use at all with others that seem miscategorized.

Simple Solution

To get control, you need a system resistant to future nonsense. I use leading syntax marks:

hyphens for periodic system tasks ("- Backup" and "- Clean")
underline marks for management tools I use infrequently ("_ System")
equal signs for core application groups ("= Editors", "= Sounds", "= Images", and others).

Since I periodically "Sort by Name", I end up with this list:

- Backup (backup, sync, & restore utilities)
- Cleanup (virus & spam apps, registry cleaners, defragmenters, updaters, etc.)
_ Files (Windows Explorer, xplorer2, DiskData, FolderPrinter, Sequentialize, et al.)
_ System (two dozen Windows thingies I've never used, & all the Uninstall shortcuts)
= Data (SPSS, SAS, Amos, Calculator, Access, Excel, Krackplot, & financial and tax apps)
= Design (Dreamweaver, PowerPoint, FloorPlan, TurningPoint, et al.)
= Editors (Word, OpenOffice, Notepad++, nlite, et al.)
= Images (viewers, editors, morphers, etc. for still images)
= Read (RSS aggregators, browsers, Zinio, etc.)
= Sounds (from Audacity to WMP)
= Vids (InterVideo, FLV Player, MS Movie Maker, et al.)

And that covers everything. Backup, for example, includes not only Acronis True Image Home and Microsoft's SyncToy, both of which I installed - but File and Settings Transfer Wizard, Create Recovery Media, and Rescue and Recovery, all links I moved from elsewhere.

Steps to Salvation

Click START, right-click “All programs”, choose "Open" or “Explore”, and look in the right pane
Right-click, select "New folder", and name it - one of the categories above, or whatever works for you.
Gradually move JUST THE APPS from mess. (Note, you may need to rename the uninstalls from just “Uninstall”, if you want to group them in one folder.)
Delete empty folders, and the many remnants of crap you don’t want – or simply dodge the clutter.
Anytime you install a new app, move just the app shortcut to the appropriate, clutter-proof folder.

LOST: Republican Sanity

2009-03-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

LOST: Republican sanity. Well manicured, and housing-market trained. Obedient to logic, and respectful of reality. Last seen prior to McCain campaign; some reported sightings since, but certain to have disappeared by March 5, 2009. May answer to Money, Patriotism, Compassion, or Hope, but hasn’t yet.

A TRULY Compact Calendar

2008-10-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

My main objection to Dave Seah's compact calendar is that it wasn't compact. I don't need something 10" tall. My academic year isn't even a full calendar year. Most of the time, I'm looking for dates and times in the current semester. For the last month of each semester, there's no time left - so I really only need the following semester.

Perhaps you might have use for a compact calendar which is only the length of an academic or fiscal quarter. Sure, you could use scissors. I like the clarity of printing what I actually want - and I use a JPEG of it in several places. So, I modified Professor Mitchell's modification...

Here's a version that allows you to enter an END DATE as well, and so produces a TRULY compact calendar, of any length - or lack thereof:

Dr. Godard's Revision of Dr. Mitchell's Revision (2007 version)

Dr. Godard's Revision of Dr. Mitchell's Revision (2003 version)

Jeff Weintraub: Who's not willing to vote for whom? (Rasmussen poll)

2008-03-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

Jeff Weintraub: Who's not willing to vote for whom? (Rasmussen poll)

Things seem odd when a political science professor (and brilliant man) feels the need to introduce any mention of poll data with a caveat. Anyone who still thinks that polling data is somehow more scientific than any other endeavor, or who thinks that any science is devoid of speculation or interpretation, hasn’t been paying attention.

However, Rasmussen’s recent reporting of data justifies Professor Weintraub's otherwise unnecessary caveat. For example, it isn’t that “Seventy-one percent (71%) of the nation’s voters say” anything, but that 71% of surveyed voters say, or at least than an estimated 71% of the nation’s voters would say.

Grrr.

Sociology of Survivor

2006-08-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

The newest season of CBS's seminal reality show (which premieres Sept. 14th) will entail quite a twist: segregation of 20 participants into four teams... by ethnicity!

This should be interesting. Earlier seasons split teams (and, before that, swapped players among teams) based on gender and age. But, as producers and host Probst have noted, ethnicity may have (or attract) a stronger resonance.

The math is also interesting, as they appear to be starting with 20 participants. In early seasons, there were 16, which provided a solid season with one booted per week (after one during the premiere) up to the final 3. Then, a few seasons had 18, with a first-day elimination of 2, getting quickly to 16. Putting 20 into 4 teams of 5 may mean that 4 leave early, to get to 16. From the game's perspective, that removes 20% of the weakest or slowest from the get-go, but...

...from a sociological perspective, that provides more commonality in acknowledged strength and/or acumen (i.e. reduces social variation) and (through that process) reifies the boundaries of the teams (collective bodies). If the groups are more distinct from each other, but composed of more similar members (culturally and physically), intrateam conflict should be less frequent and varied but interteam conflict should be more of each.

That may not make as "good" television as higher intrateam conflict combined with interteam ties, though I anticipate that other twists are in store, as well.

(Obligatory plug: See my article, "Reel Life: The Social Geometry of Reality Shows", chapter five in Survivor Lessons.)

Law & the Human Race

2006-08-09T02:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that "limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers procreation, essential to the survival of the human race, and furthes the well-being of children". The latter point is contentious at best, and unsupported by the weight of evidence available. But the former point is nonsensically problematic.

Among other fallacies, the human race is not wonting for procreation; indeed, it's survival may be threatened (rather than saved) by population growth.

But even if we were teetering on the brink of destruction, and thus needed to make babies like mad, legal barriers to the rights and enfranchisement of same-sex couples won't increase procreation. Do the justices really believe that it will?

Mars and Venus Online

2006-07-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

I'd rather engage in empirical questions than critical/ideological ones, but practical plans often reveal noncritical assumptions. To wit, an example:

Someone on a mailing list to which I subscribe has lamented the lower frequency of posting by female members of the list and said he wants to "entice women to post more", but begs a host of questions. Here are the ones that I asked:

If women post/participate less often than men, why would you want to entice them to participate more extensively? Do you want women to behave like men? Do they need to? Want to? Multiple voices might benefit the group, but would extensive participation necessarily benefit the participators?

If someone is socialized to participate less, and/or is within a social or technological environment that discourages their participation, are there concommittant strengths and strategies that person has that equips them for effective communication (or communication effective to their needs, wants, expectations, contributions, etc.) through less communication, and/or resistance or weaknesses that make more extensive communication problematic in ways unforeseen by those seeking a simple quantitative equivalence? In short, is artificial enticement for women (or any peripheral group) to participate more necessarily to their individual advantage?

Or.. should men (including me) act more like women, and post less frequently? :)

V2V: The Time has Come

2006-07-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

One thing that made CB Radio mysterious was an uncertainty about who was who. In desolate areas, you could hear transmissions weaken as you saw a vehicle drop below a hill on the horizon, ahead or behind. Otherwise, you relied on some combination of visual clues (seeing them) and trust. But that bit of anonymity probably subdued what could have been more frequently heated turf: Anyone could talk to anyone, even if they'd never seen each other, still might not have yet, and still further, might never.

Cell phones and their ilk require having the number of the person you're calling. Totally different turf, sociologically. If you want to dress down (or inform) a stranger on the highway, while you both continue driving, whip out some paper and a marker. Or maybe you can beam messages between your palm devices. But none of that's really satisfactory.

The time's come to add CB radio's lack on constraint on prior knowledge and intimacy as a prerequisite to communcation, with more advanced but now familar technologies like cell calls, SMS, Palms, Wifi, etc.

The LA cops have a new tag-it-with-a-wad-of-mud approach. But that's only one direction. I want to point my phone at a license plate's UPC code and be calling that person. I don't need a record of their number, car, or any other ID, but I ought to be able to initiate a call - to say that their headlight is broken, or gas cap is missing, or gas pedal is on the right.

Maybe it's a familiar tool, like a cell or palm with a smartcard stuck in the bottom; maybe it's a new tool, like a laser tag gun that fires up a temporary voice connection. Maybe some people would use it for harrassment, or road rage, or other offensive behavior. Maybe fewer would use it for Good Semaritanism than I'd like to hope. Those and other consequences will need attention, but the idea is doable and probably on the way: intentionally-directed communications with strangers. Vehicle-to-Vehicle. V2V. Who'll do it first?

BumpTop GUI Moves me

2006-07-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

I'm intrigued, even fascinated, by the BumpTop desktop GUI. (The 7 min version is very worthwhile!) It gets some negative reviews*, and comments both there and on a mailing list of old friends give it harsh rebuke.

If your desk acted like BumpTop, it'd look more organized. Stacking, filing, sorting, searching, spanning, filtering and even simply moving icons on a screen would be faster, easier, more effective, and more automatable than your real desktop ever will be - which makes BumpTop the Next Great Reason to go paperless (and "real desktop"-less). It takes the "desktop" idea and gets rid of all the clunky, linear, 2D, inflexible, nonphysical, flat, boring, rote crap that constitutes Windows and Mac; employs math and physics to govern movement and interction among icons and other desktop elements; and fantastically emulates your ACTUAL desktop, in virtual magical powerful manipulable ways that make me want to migrate my entire life to BumpTop. It's a real application of the somewhat farcical hand motion magic Tom Cruise used in Vanilla Sky, or whatever movie that was.

(*The negative comments on the review URL above are right in that you wouldn't want to organize your entire file system this way. But my windoze desktop has scores of pieces that havent gotten to a home yet, or that are in "in process"/"in progress", or that need to be printed or emailed or something else. And several projects involved scores of files in different places. Should would be nice to shuffle 'em around w/ aspects of physicality.)

Don't think about it as your computer desktop becoming as encumbered and messy as your "real" desktop. You're thinking about it backwards. Your desktop is limited by your speed, not that of dual core procesors, and is an atom-processing station. Bits are more moveable, maleable, measurable, and sortable, in more ways, almost
instantaneously, and many ways simultaneously, without your intervention or supervision. BumpTop isn't about making your computer desktop physical - it's about applying some elements of physicality, selectively and manipulably and powerfully, to the desktop. The DOWNsides of the real desktop are what the computer avoids; the upsides (or at least the methaphors and math) are what the computer specifically empowers.

Instead of thinking about your computer desktop being organized like your actual desktop, think of your actual desktop having the processing power, automation, routinization, and synchronization of your computer. Anyone can throw something on it - email, voice mail, postal mail, fax, document, document update, web update, SMS, usenet, any data from any protocol (via HTTP or RSS or FTP or whatever), even a new OS. Bumping that addition into the right pile does magic.

The documents on your desk aren't very manipulable. They can only go one place, and can't move across the planet quickly. And turning them upside down (or clicking them or whatever) doesn't change their font, translate them into a new language, or encrypt them.

And while the piles on your desk are mostly (?) documents, piles on a desktop could contain shortcuts, applications, executions, schedules, someone else's desktop (or lots of them), or some combination of those.

Tag an auto insurance document and it appears in two folders? Whoopee. Go, go, Mac boy. :)

Bump that auto insurance document into a stack that triggers (by reading the sender and contents) auto and insurance tags on the file, files it in the place it's most likely to be seen (with a shortcut in the others), faxes it to your wife, prints a copy for your safe deposit box (along with directions to the bank, and a list of other things you havent updated to there recently, and a list of other errands you need to run near the bank, and a reminder to ask your wife if she has anything to deposit while you're going there), emails the insurance company to acknowledge receipt of the document, emails the loan company for updated policy information on the loan's collateral, and sets up a reminder to ask the insurance company for a new one in a year or so, if it hasn't been received by then. And that would take milliseconds, during a brief pause from blasting an alien in Doom or looking for Waldo in reputedly great contemporary literature, or without your direct involvement or even your awareness that it was happening: Next time you get in the car for beer, the document, directions, file backups, and other errands list are on the dash. :)

Erik Hatcher mentioned Parc's Alice in Wonderland look. I like the idea of "no separate applications as we know them". But spreadsheet, document, and image data are handled differently, whether as separate applications or as elements of the same application or otherwise intergrated with and/or hidden in the OS. And folks (inc. me) will want to pick and choose those apps and elements (as add-ons), then it arguably takes away value (rather than adding it) to hide the apps/parts. And folks wanting that choice establishes a boundary, or perimeter, around how hidden the apps and addons can be - the more savvy the userbase, the less covert the apps and addons can be. It's the Apps'n'Addons Perimeter Underwhelming GUI Design, Ohyeah. Anapu Guido.

I like the idea of "peer-to-peer replication" in which "The state of the virtual world is computed by each client, rather than at a single, congested point on the network" nonetheless engaging in a simultaneously inhabited world. Sounds like file sharing. Woot.

BumpTop seems bounds beyond that. It's about an entirely different mechanism for moving and sorting - physical rather than spacial, but physical in a way a "real desktop" could never be.

BumpGUI:"align grid" :: Doom3:hopscotch

Be. The. Box.

2006-06-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

Anyone that talks about thinking "outside the box" (or pitches services on how to be) is so inside the box, in the larger cultural sense of what "outside the box" should speak against, that they probably doesn't even know what the #!@^$ box is. The point should never be to think outside the box, but to think about the box; to understand (and then later potentially reshape, remold, recast, reconsider, or recycle) the box; to come to grips with what the box is and was, and isn't and wasn't, and could be and will never be; to become one with the box; to BE the box.

Revisionist Phishing

2006-06-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

In a new twist on journalistic moronicism, phishing by phone (which started in 1993 and is the original use of the word "phishing" for fraudulently getting financial access info from victims) is being called "new" and "a way to beat the system". Apparently journalists no longer have to research a topic before they write about it - they just regurgitate whatever they're told, even if it comes from businesses and researchers who themselves are unfamiliar with the history of what they're discussing.

FDA ditches science for politics

2006-05-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

The Bush administration's railroading over science with political BS continues rolling.
In this week's episode, the FDA has issued absolutely LIES regarding medical marijuana.

I want REALLY smart playlists!

2006-04-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

iTunes will create "smart" (coded, really - smart would be a baysian compilation, a few steps further) playlists, such as 50 songs rated 4 or 5 stars, or heard within the past 3 weeks, or both.

There ought to be a program (iTunes, add-in, or third-party) that looks at ratings by more than one user. The easiest would be all of the songs that anyone in a group (such as me, Kristen, *or* Noah) rated a 4 or 5. A bit better would be all the songs rated 4 or 5 by *everyone* in a group (me, Kristen, and Noah had to each rate it a 5) to avoid songs that someone hates. The best would be a playlist that looks at songs rated 4 or 5 by any one person, and not rated 1 by anyone. THAT would be smart, and potentially profitable:

Talk about house party - have everyone's iPod scanned at the door, and the PA plays a decentralized mix that anoys no one. Dorms, coops, fraternities, offices, even exam rooms (who wants to answer multiple choice questions in silence?) could benefit.

Or if the iPod (or whatever) was wireless, bands could have their setlists built interactively, and iteratively, by reading song rankings from the audience.

At the very least, I could expose Noah to some Zepplin, but Kristen could nix the David Allen Coe, Culture Club, and "Come on Eileen"; we'd all hear plenty of Dan Zanes and Milkshake and the Wiggles (all of whom we’ve seen live in the past 3 months), but I could nix Raffi and anything with a piccolo.

Daily Sundial interview

2006-04-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

The Daily Sundial at CSUN interviewed me for a story on the effects of time online. A good student piece, although it suggests that I raised or at least advocated the argument "that the effects of spending hours online can be dangerous".

Actually, I was asked whether that was possible, and said that others have said as much - but also argued that anything (I suggested bananas) can be dangerously addictive under the right conditions, and that the proportion of Internet users for whom time online has become a dangerous addiction may be relatively small. That of course depends in larger part on what you define as "dangerous".

ID isn't science

2005-12-21T22:02:00.000-08:00

U.S. District Judge John E Jones III has issued a decisive opinion in the Dover, PA, case that "intelligent design" is not science.

Vatican backs evolution!

2005-11-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason.

Ideological Gatekeeping

2005-10-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

Washington State University now evaluates its School of Education students on ideological grounds.

From Glick to Donahue

2005-09-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

Phil Donahue sparred successfully with the strong spoken but intellectually faulty Bill O'Reilly, and mentioned Billy's tantrum against Jeremy Glick. The transcript for either is a great illustration of why this man's continued employment and following should be cause for either grave concern or bemused bafflement.

Social Forces SAVED!

2005-09-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

As Deflem reported 8/30/05, Social Forces will this coming March escape the reign (and reigns) of a public sociology-minded editor who had reduced both the scope and selectiveness of this important journal. All issues beyond her tenure will once again be refereed, and will not systematically (and somewhat arbitrarily) exclude important topic areas such as criminology.

ASA Embarrasses self again

2005-06-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

The ASA is apparently proud of this coverage of its book of cartoons, having provided the link in its recent email newsletter. Egads. A little self-deprecation is all well and good, lest we take ourselves too seriously. But this is hardly a way to mark the association's centennial, getting coverage in the nation's major papers only for farce and levity.

Bush vs. Science, cont'd

2005-06-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

What this presidential administration is doing to science, for political gain, is criminal. So criminal it might be treasonous. They're hiding, concealing, reversing, numbing, dumbing, ignoring, fabricating, and outright lying, using the pretense of science without the slightest shred of scientific basis. Here's yet another example.

Sweetest kiss...

2005-06-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Congrats to my sister and her partner for being named as having had the "sweetest kiss". :)

Court rules against medical marijuana

2005-06-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

A "six-member majority said Congress had the authority to police the nation's illegal marijuana market", buying Ashcroft's argument that "federal authorities could not eliminate the illegal national market in marijuana if it was legal to grow and possess the substance in 10 states".

AUT is Out of Line

2005-05-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

The British Association of University Teachers has launched a "boycott" of Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities, including blacklisting their faculty and barring interaction with any faculty associated with either of them. Exemptions are offered for individuals who actively express satisfactory political views (that is, those critical of the Isreal government's policies), which effectively establishes a political "litmus test" for academic interaction - which is absurd, and unacceptable!

The blacklist has been opposed by the National Academy of Sciences, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Association of University Professors, the Middle East Studies Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Mathematical Society, and even a local chapter of the AUT.

Additionally, the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historicans, the American Geophysical Society, the American Sociological Association, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and other organizations have been asked by members to oppose the blacklist, and at least some of those are likely to join the defense of academic freedom.

You may join the opposition, and defend academic freedom, by signing either of two petitions (AAUP or MacEoin), and/or by sending a letter to the AUT, and/or by joining the Internatinoal Advisory Board for Academic Freedom, a group of "adjunct" faculty of Bar-Ilan University. I have done all three, and welcome you to join me.

Other signors of the petitions include Richard Rorty, Robert Bellah, Steven Lukes, Todd Gitlin, Margaret Levi (President of the APSA), Ira Katznelson (President-Elect of the APSA), Cynthia Fuchs Epstein (President-Elect of the American Sociological Association), Juan Cole (President-Elect of MESA), Harold Bloom, Robert Putnam, Rogers Brubaker, Alan Wolfe, and Donald Black.

Intelligent Design isn't a Credible Challenge

2005-05-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Intelligent Design is the idea that the world is so complex, it must have had a supernatural creator. But that's no challenge to evolution. If God (any god) is so powerful and intelligent that he/she/it designed the universe, then he/she/it may also have designed evolution - as a means, indeed, of emerging complexity. That complexity might be understood as evidence of a "higher power" - but a "higher power" is not a rejection of evolution. Intelligent design and evolution are not mutually exclusive.

Remembering Tim

2005-04-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

One of my two designated "big brothers" at Sigma Nu (Beta chapter, Univeristy of Virginia) died two years ago. Here's what the Motley Fool had to say on 4/23/03:

Today, The Motley Fool sadly says goodbye to one of our own, Tim Aycock (TMF Roboto). Tim was one of the most Foolish employees to grace the halls of Fool HQ. He passed away last week after a long struggle with cancer -- a struggle that he by all rights won.
Tim did not let his illness daunt his spirits. Instead, he increased his zest for life, and he inspired all those around him. In true Foolish fashion, Tim never accepted what the conventional wisdom had to say about his prognosis. His relentless search for better -- often radical -- solutions gave all of us extra years with him that we will cherish.
To continue his relentless search, his family has set up a foundation to help continue Tim's mission. (Timothy Aycock Melanoma Research Foundation, P.O. Box 1741, Leesburg, VA 20177.)
Tim's sense of humor, his weekly performances at our company meeting as Court Jester in many forms -- often with costumes and wacky facial hair (after all, he did declare one month "March Mustache Madness" at Fool HQ) -- and his courage will never be forgotten.
In Tim's words to us, "I expect joyful optimism from each and every one of you." Though it is terrifically sad that we no longer have him here, it is even more wonderful that we ever did.

Baby Names?

2005-03-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, we're expecting #2. We don't know the sex yet, but have some girl names in mind and need help in case it's a boy. We're interested in names that end in a vowel or vowel sound. Know of any besides Alfonzo, Alexi, Andy, Anthony, Antonio, Apollo, Ashley, Barry, Billy, Bo, Bobby, Brady, Brody, Carlo, Casey, Clay, Coco, Cody, Colby, Cory, Danny, Dewey, Eddie, Eli, Elijah, Elroy, Enzio, Enzo, Emery, Ernie, Etzo, Freddy/Freddie, Frankie, Gary, Geoffrey, Gregory, Guy, Harry, Harvey, Henry, Hugh, Iggy, Issaiah, Jaki, Jeffrey, Jeremiah, Jeremy, Jerry, Jesse, Jimmy, Johnny, Jonah, Joshua, Kelly, Kerry, Kory, Larry, Lefty, Leslie, Lindsey, Luidi, Marty, Micah, Mikey, Montgomery, Monty, Murray, Noah, Odie, Opie, Ozzy, Pablo, Percy, Timothy, Radley, Ralphie, Ray, Riley, Rodney, Rudy, Sammy, Scottie/Scotty, Sidney, Sonny, Stanley, Teddy, Terry, Timothy, Tommy, Troy, Ty, Waldo, Wesley, Wilby, Woodsey, Woody, Yuri, Zachary/Zackery, and Ziggy?

Bush: Propoganda Madness

2005-03-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

In the 1920s and 1930s, businessman William Randolph Hearst and bureaucrat Harry Anslinger worked to produce scores of propoganda films, at taxpayer expense, to advance bad policies through lies and distortion under cover of news and public service, through films such as "Reefer Madness". The Bush administration is doing it in various ways, most nefariously with "fake" newsmen in the press corps. Sign this petition to complain, maybe even help stop it.

In Defense of Churchill

2005-02-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado has been ignorantly lambasted by many who've apparently never read his work, which offers an insightful and biting critique both of American foreign policy and of a double-standard applied to American reactions to civilian deaths following the "September 11th" attacks. I implore anyone with a few moments to carefully consider Churchill's own defense, as well as the AAUP statement on the investigation into his work.

Consistent George

2005-02-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Friend "biscuit" points out a curious contradiction between these two statements from George's recent State of the Union:

Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of, it should not be redefined by activist judges. For the good of families, children and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage.

and

Because one of the deepest values of our country is compassion, we must never turn away from any citizen who feels isolated from the opportunities of America.

Uh-huh...

MLA Makes Sense

2005-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

My hat's off to the Modern Language Association's Executive Council for rejecting an anti-war resolution that would have violated the MLA constitution without advancing the causes of the assocation or its memberships, and to Michael Berube for his witty and pointed (if not poignant) reparte.

The American Sociological Association (a pathetically, and increasibly, political organization) could learn much from this experience - although it is frustrating to think that a social science group needs to learn how to be scientific from a humanities group.

Protect Marriage from Allard

2005-01-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

As a scientist, I try to stay empirical in my work, and try to avoid normative matters. But there are two issues about which I'm comfortable taking a stand: an end to the prohibition of cannabis, and the preservation of the rights of homosexuals.

Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) will lead a charge, as one of the first items of business on the first day of GWB's second term as president, to make discrimination against homosexual couples a top priority. His Marriage Protection Amendment doesn't protect anything, least of all marriage or families. Take 10 seconds and take a stand against this nonsense, please!

Mmmmmmonsanto!

2005-01-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

Monsanto's throwing farmers in jail for replanting seeds from a previous crop. That's also illegal now in Iraq, thanks to Paul Bremer's new IP law there. As Fred has joked (and I'm stealing his idea, though not the precise words), breath while you can - no one has a patent on oxygen yet!

AAUP Confused about Grade Inflation

2005-01-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

About three years ago, it occurred to me that no one writing about grade inflation seems to understand the issue. The purported (and sometimes evidenced) problem is the center and range of grades assigned, which appear to be higher each year - that is, more studens earning As or As and Bs than in the past, and a higher average grade.

But nearly all of the discussion about grading, and most of the proposed "solutions", focus on what is graded, rather than on the problem itself - that is, what the center and range of grades should be. So, for example, instead of proposing what percent of grades should be As and Bs, or what the average grade should be, the typical adminstration response is to recommend alternative materials for grading, such as student-run projects or even student-managed grading.

No surprise, then, that even the American Association for Univeristy Professors (AAUP), in censuring Benedict College regarding "a policy requiring [professors] to base 60 percent of the grades for freshmen on effort", invokes the tide of those who are "concerned about grade inflation", as if what is graded is in any way related to what grades are given. It's entirely possible, for example, for 60% of a grade to be based on effort and still have an average grade of D. It's even possible for 100% of a grade to be based on effort but not assign a single A, for lack of any student having shown A-quality effort.

Grade inflation will continue at least until those griping about it realize that the solution has to address the problem.

Inaugural Seats

2005-01-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

ANSWER wont be getting much space on the Bush inauguration's parade route, which is mostly (perhaps justfiably) for paid-seat bleachers for Bush supporters (including my parents who, among other things, host Bob Barr events at their house).

The dude running the parade was on NPR yesterday declaring that ANSWER and similar groups "have aligned themselves with the terrorists and Saddam Hussein" so that giving them space on the parade route would be tantamount to giving Saddam Hussein a seat on the parade route. That's not only completely preposterous, but made me wonder what possible reason there could be to keep Saddam Hussein off the parade route. That made me decide that Saddam should be placed on the parade route and forced to watch the kind and level of pomp and circumstance that emerges in a (relatively) free democracy.

Almost a Juror

2005-01-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

6:15am - wake up, aiming to leave by 6:45am, in case of traffic and/or more flooding :)
7:05am - finally left home :(
7:55am - arrived at hall of justice :)
8:15am - started working on my laptop in the Jury Business Center connected to the jury waiting room :)
8:25am - called as the very first name, of literally hundreds present, as one of only 10 called all day, probably as payback for having moved my date three times :(
9:10am - after waiting in the hall outside the actual courtroom for some time, decide to call kristen to let her know I was picked and might be home early :)
9:10am - bailiff interupts the call to tell us to come into the actual courtroom :(
9:15am - jury selection starts (actually, continues from the previous day) for a heroin/parephrenalia possession case :)
9:50am - they're whittling through the potential jurors at a decent rate; I'm not picked yet, but there's still a good chance I'll get to serve :)
10:15am - they have a jury and alternate, and are basically done but decide to take a 20 minute break instead of making up their mind first, so we sit in the hall and wait some more :(
10:35am - they've picked the jury and alternate, and I'm not among them, so back downstairs to wait :(
10:45am - back to work on my laptop, and using my iPod (with 86 live phish tracks, plus some allmans, clapton, and the Cowbell Mix) for the first time and LOVING it, and interested to see that 3 others nearby are also listening to iPods :)
11:09am - realize that they're listening to DVDs (King Arthur, LOTR 3, and Bourne Supremacy) not iPods, and realize that I should have brought DVDs to watch on the laptop :( but still LOVING the iPod :)
11:30am - 90-minute lunch break announced, so I pack things up and head out to the car to find a McDonald's nearby :)
11:32am - while talking to Kristen, I lose signal mid-sentence and can't get one back :(
11:33am - realize I left my headlights on, and my car battery is dead, so can't drive to get food, must eat in the court cafeteria, and will have to call AAA when I finally get to leave, which is likely to be 5pm at this point :( :( :(
12:15pm - after mediocre lunch, get back to the waiting room to get a good spot with a power hookup for the laptop, put the iPod back on, and crank through nearly 3 hours of work, oblivious to a 20-minute break somewhere in the middle :) :)
3:35pm - PA announces that the remaining 15 cases have all ended with pleas, so that jurors aren't needed, and we can all go home instead of waiting until 5pm :)
3:38pm - find out that a court security truck will jump my battery within minutes instead of waiting for AAA to figure out how to get there despite all the road closings :)
3:47pm - car is jumped, I'm pumped, and headed home :) - though still have only served on one jury, and that was 8 years ago in Virginia :(

Another reason for a pull-out

2004-12-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

The tsunami devastation in southeast Asia is yet another significant reason to remove troops from Iraq. Wouldn't our National Guard troops serve the world better by rebuilding those areas?

(Please keep in mind: I suspect that I'm one of very few who both understood imperatives to invade Iraq and questions why any of our troops are still there. The objectives were met. The ultimate sanction was waged. Saddam was removed. His regime is gone. Time to move on.)

Reality marches on

2004-12-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

There have already been 492 reality shows and there are 176 more on the way just in Britain, where most are borne. But those lists include unscripted fare that ranges from game shows to situational dramas, and even a few documentaries. One of my projects I'll unveil in the coming few months is a comprehensive, categorized database, for which your suggestions are more than welcomed!

Whose documents?

2004-12-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

When Microsoft started using the MyDocuments identity in Windows, it accomplished something I (and plenty of others) had been doing on our own already: designating one place for personal data, rather than having to track it down, having been scattered through the myriad hierarchy of program and system directories. Microsoft gave this isolation solution a cute name, a bit of status, and several minor powers. It was fun, maybe even effective.

But that was then. The MyDocuments folder has been communalized. Other programs routinely decide that data related to my use of their programs also belongs in this sacrosanct set-aside, so my MyDocuments folder now has Adobe, Biblioscape, My Data Sources, My Ebooks, My Movies, My Music, My Outlook, My Pictures, My Backups, and SplashID subdirectories.

The repetitive "My" is a bit mindnumbing, but not sufficiently universal to keep the folders that really are My creation from getting lost among the increasing imposters. I had thus given to renaming My own creations with punctuation as prefixes, so that they would rise above the muck (in an alphabetic sort): "- Articles", "- Courses", and "- WebPages", for example.

But even that has become a headache, as My Documents is simply becoming too populated. Try as I might to segregate Mine from Theirs, ultimately I'm going on the retreat, moving everything Mine into a new subdirectory, on a separate drive. And it will have a simple name: "Seriously".

I'm a Doctor! (?)

2004-12-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

It's funny, a bit. The son of a medical doctor (ophthalmologist), I grew up being given the impression that PhD's aren't real doctors, and I still accept that idea. At this point, at least, no one's life depends on sociology, and no decision or design of mine is likely to alter the course of history of an individual, much less a generation.

So, when I went to UVA, I was comfortable with that part of local tradition by which no professor is called Dr. (Out of respect for founder Thomas Jefferson, who did not have a doctorate, all professorate are Mr. or Prof.)

But yesterday, when I was brought back into the North Oval Room of Mr. Jefferson's glorious Rotunda, after being momentarily banished so that my doctoral committee could jointly ascertain whether my document and oral defense were sufficient for the granting of the doctorate, I was greeted warmly with, "Congratulations, Dr. Godard." I was then introduced scores of times in the following days (particularly at the Music Today Christmas party) as Dr. Godard. Heck, even dad (a "real" Dr. Godard) called and asked for Dr. Godard.

So, what the heck. Bow and show deference. I wasn't quick about it, but I was complete and aggressive and, I'm told, innovative. I worked this long to get the title. But the rest of my career will be spent justifying it. I'm not a typical sociologist, employing (as I do) radically new conceptions of what the discipline is and can be. And maybe, some day, something I do will change lives. At least know that I'll be trying. Mr. Jefferson, as they say, would have wanted it that way.

My defense has been scheduled

2004-12-09T23:39:00.000-08:00

I will defend my doctoral dissertation - "The Moral Order of Cyberspace: Social Structure and Conflict Management on the Internet" - on Thursday, December 16th, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the North Oval Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. The committee members are Donald Black (chair), Sarah Corse (reader), Tom Guterbock (reader), and Bryan Pfaffenberger (outside reader / representative). Other members of the faculty and graduate students are welcome to attend.

Is laughing at ourselves a good thing?

2004-12-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

I could not resist purchasing a copy of the ASA-sponsored book of cartoons from the New Yorker, both because I enjoy New Yorker cartoons, and because I feared for how the association would present itself (or appear to be presenting itself, which might be worse). I needed to know, first hand and ASAP, whether the compilation would laugh with or at sociology. Would it highlight humorous patterns, or trivialize what we do?

Most of the examples within the pages make light of knowledge and biases about specific topic areas - factory labor, "high" culture, gender differences, homosexuality, et al. But the cover brings pause: A gentleman reading a newspaper with the headline: "Sociologists on Strike!!! Nation in Peril!!" Funny, but for discomforting reasons.

A pause in our work would not bring pause to society. But that's a function of what we've accomplished as a discipline, not a function of the kind of work we do. Sociological knowledge could, conceivably, but of such import and put to such use that a strike would at least attract news attention. Granted, though; it might currently garner only giggles.

Certainly nothing to be proud of. And the compilation, assuming it's a good idea at all, should certainly include perhaps this most challenging of the bunch. But the cover...

In his preface to the collection, ASA President Troy Duster notes that this is "the first academic professional group to collaborate on a cartoon collection..." He takes that the New Yorker asked the ASA first as something to be "taken with some measure of pride or, perhaps, humor".

We could also take it with frustration, that despite advances in the discipline, we're still the first butt of a new joke campaign, part of (as the inside back coer notes) a "highly popular custom publishing program [that] features corporate-branded humor books of 80 or more cartoons playfully lampooning a particular organization or industry."

We could also take it with little emotion at all. Some of what we do is unappreciated. At least some of it is simply unimportant. Perhaps this book is a fine acknowledgement of the past 100 years. But, in looking forward, do we want to celebrate the next 100 with more cartoons? If we do, let's hope they lighten something that has become serious, not simply laughable - or at least not first!

Trivializing the discipline

2004-11-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

The American Sociological Association is celebrating its 100th anniversary with the release of a book of cartoons from The New Yorker. Apparently, dog shirts wasn't silly enough, and what the ASA figured we really need is some professional humor.

Some of us would prefer the occasion be marked with more dignity than humor, that the anniversary might be a time to advance our credibilty and engender more respect. But if sociology is really about dog shirts and cartoons, who's the joke on?

Gruesome images from Iraq

2004-11-24T11:30:00.000-08:00

Leaving aside opinions about whether or not there was moral justification to invade Iraq, and whether or not there is good reason to continue to being there, these images are engaging, sometimes horrifying, and worth at least skimming.

What's the last talkie you saw?

2004-11-21T13:58:00.000-08:00

Reality shows as a genre are taking a beating, with much lower ratings on several lead contenders cited recently. That's partly because the show formulas are getting stale, but also because there are simply so many of them - over 150 by my count. With some costing $2M per episode, they'll soon have to appeal on their own merits. Simply squeezing into the genre is no longer enough.

On the other hand, while scripted fiction has hardly had its day and will likely continue in all forms of media in perpetuity, unscripted competitive docudrama is also almost certainly here to stay. We won't always call them reality shows - when's the last time you saw a talkie? - but they genre isn't going away. After all, even successful shows "only" have five million viewers when they get shifted to a nonmajor network (aka "nonnetwork cable channel") - and the difference between 5M and 15M is enough for a war of egos. Five million viewers seems like a lot, especially as costs of production and trasmission drop, while channel options and recording-and-editing control expand.

Cobb creationists confused by science?

2004-11-20T13:02:00.000-08:00

A Georgia school district has attempted to ameliorate religious folk by putting a sticker in science texts that reads, "Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things". That doesn't say much about creationism, but does raise the issue of what "theory" and "fact" mean. Gravity's a theory, too - and almost nothing is a fact anymore, since we understand (from Kuhn, Merton, and hundreds of others) that knowledge production is a process not merely of discovery but of social structures.

Florida Fraud?

2004-11-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

Anomolies in Florida voting patterns and records suggest the possibilty of state-wide fraud. Variations in results between electronic and paper polls are so wide they may indicate that as many as 260K votes were mistakenly awarded to Bush. Meanwhile at least one county has been trashing official poll tape records, but clumsily leaving evidence that Nov 2 tapes and Nov 15 tapes differed by hundreds of votes, in Bush's favor every time.

Getting real about reality shows

2004-11-19T01:06:00.000-08:00

A Scottish paper today whined that television executives make reality shows even though they hate such shows themselves (preferring dramas, particularly American series such as The Sopranos.) But hating something doesn't mean you don't watch it, and the Mediawatch UK survey data being reported in that paper say nothing about whether those executives actually watch the shows. Moreover, I've heard data at several conferences that suggested that hating and watching reality shows go hand in hand: We watch them because we hate them, and perhaps even prefer those that rile us the most. Scottish television executives aren't necessarily "out of touch ... with their audience"; they probably recognize the banal grit of unscripted shows for what it is, and give audiences what they want.

Running from the apes

2004-11-18T01:23:00.000-08:00

Research published in the 11/18/04 issue of the journal Nature reports that "primitive man's evolution from walking to running was fundamental to human evolution", with "a narrowed waist, shorter forearms, larger buttocks, and skull modifications allowing the body to cool itself" being critical in our evolution from great apes. I still prefer walking.

Welcome these bloggers...

2004-11-17T23:41:00.000-08:00

Graduate students in my seminar on sociologies of cyberspace are constructing blogs as part of a small set of excursions into the Internet:
     Aneta Badalian
     Jesse Fletcher
     Tyler Haugen
     Vanessa Cordero
     four more on the way...

Land of the free, unless you're gay?

2004-11-15T13:53:00.000-08:00

Webb City high school in Missouri has sanctioned a student for wearing t-shirts indicating his gay pride on the grounds that they might offend other students. Adminstrators are apparently not bothered at offending free speech rights, and have not punished anti-gay shirts or bumperstickers on campus.

Hillcrest High School in Utah has sanctioned students for wearing shirts that say "queers kick ash" and threatend to bring an alliance of gay students "to a screaching halt". Administrators are apparently afraid of a word widely used and appreciated, and/or are apparently in favor of kids smoking.

Hunt High School in North Carolina has restricted the rights to free expression of a student government candidate who proclaimed being gay as part of his message of diversity. Adminstrators apparently don't value diversity, openness, or free speech.

If any of this offends you, take action thru the ACLU and/or signup for email updates. Or, take two minutes to call one of the high schools and express your concern:
     Webb City High: 417-673-6010
     Hillcrest High School: (801) 256-5400
     Hunt High School: (252) 399-7930

Is college cake?

2004-11-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) reports on the release today of findings from the most recent National Survey of Student Engagement, which found that only 11% of college students study more than 25 hours per week, 81% said they earn mostly As or mostly As and Bs, and 90% rated their college experience as good or excellent. So, if we're shooting for easy, high-mark, enjoyable education, we're doing okay. No data was reported from the study (and presumably none was collected as part of it) regarding whether those students are learning anything.

Real diversity, or boredom

2004-11-15T01:57:00.000-08:00

In The Chronicle Review, Mark Bauerlein bemoans the unsurprising news that academics are disproportionately liberal, discusses the lack of (and need for) conservative voices within purportedly diverse discussions, and concludes that, "Without genuine dissent in the classroom and the committee room, academic life is simply boring."

Arguably, students come to college relatively conservative, so that a left-leaning professorate add necessary diversity, balancing discussion by countering student opinion.

More importantly, the need for dissent is broader than politics. Students would benefit by witnessing ontological, epistemological, and methodological discord. In these areas and more, alas, conformity is more often a rule rather than an exception.

Don't doubt the exit polls?

2004-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

Steven Freeman of the University of Pennsylvania has conducted an analysis of un-"corrected" exit poll data from the recent U.S. presidential election. He argues and concludes "that exit poll data is fundamentally sound, that the deviations between exit poll predictions and vote tallies in the three critical battleground states could not have occurred strictly by chance or random error, and that no solid explanations have yet been provided to explain the discrepancy."

Is physics out of trust?

2004-11-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

Caroline Whitbeck writes on the lack of confidence in the systems of trust with science.

The Decline of Professional Sociology

2004-11-12T01:20:00.000-08:00

Ireland professor William Sjostrom reacts, with appropriate derogation to Jonathan Steele's article on changes in the American Sociological Association.

Breaking the Code of Public Sociology

2004-11-10T01:22:00.000-08:00

Professor Mathieu Deflem deconstructs outgoing American Sociological Association president Michael Burawoy's campaign for public sociology.

Apologies to the world? ... or not

2004-11-10T01:21:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting reaction to the election: photos of Americans with signs apologizing for the election results. And, almost as quickly, here's the reaction to that reaction: Americans proud of the result. Up next? Probably a site with people holding signs that say, "I dont care. Really. Not one shred."

Wiki needs your help

2004-11-10T01:20:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia entry for Internet Research is slim and needs your input.

Election Cartograms - a new view of the election

2004-11-08T01:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some fantastic renderings of maps of the United States, adjusted from their natural geography so that each state's size on the map reflects the population of that state. Now, instead of seeing a nation full of red states, see a nation full of blue urban centers, with shades of purple between them.

You should start a blog!

2004-11-06T01:20:00.000-08:00

Everyone's doing it. Sometimes in pays. Sometimes it changes society. Mostly, it's easy and fun, and will take you about five minutes to get started.

Bush vs. Science

2003-08-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

nice summaries of this adminstration's misuse of science and abuse of scientific processes are provided by the Washington Post and this congressional report.