intellistupidity

Pretty much the perfect word for them. But then again they were taught by tapes as they sleep.

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I do not get my nails done. But I want some of those nail designs. NOW.

There was a lot of rumblings in the tech industry/fields about Unionizing until the dotcom bust. I am guessing that as things improve - they'll be less 80 hour weeks. Too many still skilled tech people have left the industry and will no way no how come back. They aren't makeing the money they used to, but life is better and two years out and most of them ( esp those in the DINK catagory) are doing just fine.

and by the way - jury duty , esp the begining part where they are picking the jury is the most fascinating and boreing thing to be invovled with .

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Oh. Dear. I have a professor that puts smiley faces on papers when grading. Not only does she use smiley faces, though. She also uses sad faces with tears running down the cheeks.

I'm scared. Very, very scared. I don't suppose I should expect much helpful feedback on my writing from her, should I?

This made me laugh. I teach college writing, and yes, I use smiley faces on occasion. I began using them when I realized, based on student comments, that your average student is very bad at reading tone into teacher comments. Hence, when I made what I thought was an obvious joke, it would be read as criticism, so rather than swallow all my jokes, I make sure they are accompanied by either a smiley face or the phrase "ha ha."

All of which is to say, I'd judge her feedback based on her feedback, in the same way you'd like her to judge your writing based on your writing, not on something slightly tangential, like your titles, for example.

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New tags for JohnSweden, erikaj, Robin (it's been new for a while, but I don't think I've been able to announce it till now), Plei (recently new, don't think I announced it), Gloomcookie (tagless! sadness), and DXMachina.

I'm making an effort to be grayer so I can kick this thesis into gear.

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All of which is to say, I'd judge her feedback based on her feedback, in the same way you'd like her to judge your writing based on your writing, not on something slightly tangential, like your titles, for example.

Good point. I guess it was the crying face that really caught me off guard, which was then followed up by a smiley face, which was probably to show the joke she was making. I just thought the whole thing was kind of funny. In some ways, it's good to know she's not the only one who does that...

When I showed it to Emily, she was surprised I was surprised. So, yeah, I guess my expectations were/are a little off.

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Timelies, bitches. 'Sup? I'm running around today dealing with all the bureaucracy inherent in having a kid in a country other than one's own. For some reason I have to take a notarized copy of my marriage license to the MFA, for one thing, which will be a pain in the snow. And, man, it's going to be a life of bureaucracy for the sprog also, as he continually has to explain to people "Yes I was born in Athens Greece. But I'm American."

And I took my first good pregnancy fall this weekend - spine-surfed down the last 5 stairs. Now I have a big purple crescent on my tailbone, kind of a not-so-cool tattoo.

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Nail tips for billytea!

Oooh. They even have Aussie animal crossing signs.

billytea! Big article on avian intelligence. Conclusion? Crows may be smarter than chimps.

S'true, crows are the mad geniuses of the bird world. I'd say evil geniuses, but they like rolling down snow-covered slopes before hopping back to the top, and my vision of evil genius is more focused than that. I wouldn't say smarter than chimps, though. Tool use is only one form of intelligence; chimps, for instance, can handle more complex social interactions.

But personally, I kind of prefer the crows. Especially the nutcracker story.

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Hey billytea, it's nice to see you again. How are your feet doing? Are you getting some relief?

And I took my first good pregnancy fall this weekend - spine-surfed down the last 5 stairs. Now I have a big purple crescent on my tailbone, kind of a not-so-cool tattoo.

Oh, poor Raquel. That's so scary. I hope you're not too sore. Your balance changes because of the baby weight. Be careful.

When I was pregnant with Julia (I wasn't nearly as far along as you are), I fell down just about the whole flight of our cellar stairs. I was so scared. I called my doc, and he was so casual about it, it caught me off guard. Apparently he didn't watch as many soaps as I did in my teens and twenties (which may explain a lot, but is also a whole 'nother post).

Good luck with the whole citizenry bureaucracy.

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Good luck with the whole citizenry bureaucracy

Thanks...I went and checked with American Citizen Services at the embassy, and managed to confuse the heck out of them. But I think I'm back on the bureaucracy track.

Given that I'm a spaz anyway, and threw myself down the stairs in my last house with some regularity, one big fall isn't too bad. I'm hoping it's limited to one, anyway.

Crows may be smarter than chimps.

This is in terms of overall smarts per brain size, right? Crows are hella smart - I've watched them do fairly complex problem-solving. I mean, I had 9th graders who couldn't compete with crows.

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Raquel, that's scary (about the fall). Glad you're both ok.

Good luck with the whole citizenry bureaucracy

What Cindy said.

chimps, for instance, can handle more complex social interactions.

We watched a video in class the other day on baby chimps that were adopted by another mother. It was fascinating and really, quite cute.

I also read that bird story about a week ago. Fascinating stuff...especially about the crows.

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