- They said we shouldn’t grow broccoli and brussels sprouts from seed. Average last frost in this area is April 29th, they said, so keep plants indoors until then. Don’t just throw cut up supermarket strawberries under some dirt and expect them to grow, they said. Well. They were wrong, damn it! Check out part of the container garden that broke all the rules and re-invented how you play the game!
- Apparently, the last meal tradition for those condemned by the state to die is ending in Texas, where I suppose there was the most call for last meals. I have given a lot of thought to what my last meal would be (confidential to RS: we’re still staying mum on the you-know-what that’s in the you-know-where, right?). It changes all the time. Sometimes it’s a meal at Noma. Sometimes it’s a big bowl of truffle risotto. Sometimes it’s mac and cheese. I would love to hear other people’s last meals.
- Apparently, some instructors at my university give credit for students completing their course evaluations. Some give boosts to the whole class if a certain percentage responds. Others request screen shots of the completed evaluation from students and give each student credit. I would like to know what other people make of this practice.
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Not sure about the main course, but it starts with chicken satay and ends with blueberry cheesecake.
Mike, my half-Indonesian wife makes great sate (or satay). If you’re ever on death row, we’ll cover that part of the meal for you. Then again, if you’re in the Bay Area, you could just order it from Thep Phenom on Paige.
If you’re ever on death row, we’ll cover that part of the meal for you.
Much appreciated. Any volunteers to cater the rest of my (hypothetical) post-killing-spree-and-series-of-last-ditch-appeals menu?
I just made a triple-layer blueberry cheesecakes for a friend’s birthday a week-and-a-half ago.
Biggest cheesecake I ever made.
Must have weighed about 20 lbs.
I’ll whip you up a cheesecake that will clog your arteries and send you to Davy Jones’ locker before they can make you walk the plank.
How’s that?
Arrrrrrrh!
I suppose the 24-hour all-you-can-eat buffet joke is the obvious one…
But I hadn’t heard it!
haha, sort of like a filibuster!
“I’d like 1000-year old eggs. A fresh batch.”
As far as I know, the you-know-what is still you-know-where. Everything’s going to be straight down the line.
And I would probably gorge myself with sushi, then brownies. (Yes, I know that combination is repulsive. Sue me.)
And so long as the credit is awarded independent of content, then I see no problem with it.
(We’re strategizing about keeping the chipmunks out of our strawberries this year.)
I like the idea of sushi partially for going in for the final moment without the after-Thanksgiving feeling.
If you’ve never trued fugu, it’s a good opportunity.
Good point, Mike.
Hell, on that subject, I’ve worked with several that are supposed to taste and/or smell quite nice, based on reports from early chemists, but are now used exclusively in fume hoods because of toxicity. If I’m going to die anyway, I am curious what benzene smells like and lead azide tastes like.
Benzene smells like peanuts.
Dr. Saunders, I feel your pain. I just left my garden and threw away a half-eaten cantaloupe that the field mice had ruined. All I can offer as advice is either a shotgun or a cat.
Little balls of cat hair placed around the plants will work as well, and the cats enjoy the brushing.
Well, depending on how dedicated your varmints are….
Is there netting you can use? Or a chicken-wire set-up? Part of moving most of our food stuff to containers was cutting down on varmint-food interactions.
Mac & Cheese, definitely. And a gallon of Bushmills.
Asian noodle soup, either pho or ramen–very comforting.
I can’t imagine giving my students credit for doing course evaluations. And I don’t want a large proportion of them doing so–I usually hope for low attendance on that day, because then it’s more likely to just be good students filling them out, and I get good evals from good students, and poor evals from poor students. Definitely I think requiring screen shots is unethical, because then the prof can connect at least part of an evaluation with a particular student.
Last meal: My mom’s Swiss Steak (oh, so tender meat, made by a real Swiss woman), mashed potatoes and gravy, dinner rolls, asparagus, and ice cold water from the spring at the timberline hut on Pikes Peak.
OMG, that dinner sounds good.
Do you still do evals in class? We’ve moved to online. It happened in the middle of teaching, and there was a small but noticeable drop in my averages.
And I agree with you about the screen shots. But I’m less certain about the idea of a response rate.
It had never even occurred to me to do so until the students brought it up. I was tempted this year just because the students really seem to love the class this semester, and I’m going out on the market in the Fall. ANd it’s the smallest class I’ve ever taught.
If your experience is representative, then giving credit for evals will just make yours come out worse, since the poor students will likely be far more motivated by extra credit than the good students, don’t you think?
Would that students were as rationally motivated as that. But they will flip out over missing a quiz, which will make up less than 1% of their grade, and dash off a paper worth 25% of their grade at the last minute. Grade grinds will jump at that kind of opportunity, bad students just tend to take a pass on everything, even easy stuff.
Actually, I’m not sure why it dropped since going online. The response rate for evals is actually much lower online. People tended to show up for the last day of class because they had questions about finals. I also get much sillier comments in online evals, e.g., “Not enough pictures in PowerPoint presentations.” Maybe there’s something about being alone in a room on the computer that makes people less friendly and more frivolous. Which might tell us something about comment threads.
“Definitely I think requiring screen shots is unethical, because then the prof can connect at least part of an evaluation with a particular student.”
There isn’t a “thank you for completing the course evaluation” page displayed after the evaluation is submitted?
Yes, but then you know who completed one and who didn’t. Which tells you something, especially before final grades are due.
Congrats on the garden! I have such a black thumb my mom comes over just to keep my 1 houseplant alive.
Fresh baked bread, a variety of rich cheeses, and lots and lots of wine.
Credit for course evals? That’s too easy. Make them work for it. I never understood giving credit for attendence either.
Mmmmm, wine. I don’t want to give credit for attendance, partially because it should be so obviously an expectation as to be not worth giving credit for. But also because what do I care if someone who in completely uninterested shows up? I’d rather have a great discussion with the interested folks, anyhow.
I have to admit, reading that article on the death row meal thing in Texas just made me ill. This state has so many problems with capital punishment and this is what they consider to be an item on the “to-do” list?….ugh.
As for my last meal.
Plain soba noodles in broth. But from a specific place.
And re: student evals…
That strikes me as rather profoundly unethical. Granted my experience here is with TA evaluations, but those also determined if we were reupped the next semester or not. I remember my students being very enthusiastic about doing them.
My guess is if you have to dangle a carrot to get students to fill them out, you’re not gonna like their results.
My university commissioned a study. Response rate has no correlation with scores.
You could make them do it on a touch screen that gives an electrical shock if they touch the wrong button.
Up the amps every time they touch the wrong one.
That’s my advice.
Last meal: Four pieces of uni sushi (West Coast, please, the East Coast uni is smaller and less-buttery) and as much hamachi as I could hold.
Student evals: teacher incentives seem a bit iffy. Stinky, even. I’m not sure I approve of anyone but the department head reviewing teacher performance. A competent supervisor ought to know how his subordinates are performing.
I agree with students not necessarily being the best assessors of what makes for effective teaching. Evaluations are relied on way too much. They should be a factor, but not the primary factor.
A double order of deep-fried lake perch butterflies, waffle fries (side of sour cream) and strawberry-rhubarb pie.
My employer just did a similar thing with an employee satisfaction survey. Every department with 90%+ participation got an extra day of vacation for every member of the team.
Porterhouse steak, rare, in truffle butter. Baked potato with everything. Screw the vegetable. 1969 Chateau Lafite. Grand Marinier creme brulee.
If I’m going out I’m gonna do it in style.
Mrs. Likko, on the other hand, would opt for Lucky Charms and whole milk. Maybe some 2% incase the whole milk gets too thick.
Fish, at this point a pack of Pall Malls, and yes, I would eat them if it was the only way…