ChiKat was me. I 'interviewed' a gay male hooker and a high priced call girl for an undergrad psych paper. Which is to say, a couple of my friends answered questions the night before the paper was due. I got the highest grade in the class.

As fate would have it though...apparently the male friend wasn't altogether lying (although I did not know that at the time) and the female aspired to the calling...pun intended.

I didn't feel bad about the cheating because I did good analysis...which I felt was the point of the paper. Plus, I didn't make up the interview responses and getting rolled in some alley for trying to chat up street walkers without paying might have seriously limited my chances for turning the paper in on time.

Years later, I 'shared' an answer with a classmate on our take-home stats exam. I told him what I got. He told me what he got. We each decided what we would ultimately put on paper.

It helped, in a weird way, that he was a priest (actually a 'Brother" as in, Little Brothers of Mary, which always cracked me up...my friend said it was like having all the fun, without all the responsibility of priesthood.)

When I said I felt bad about having the test conversation, my friend said he was pretty sure that God had other things to be concerned about, right then. I'm thinking he has a point.

I didn't feel bad about the cheating because I did good analysis...which I felt was the point of the paper.

This exactly.

Years later, I 'shared' an answer with a classmate on our take-home stats exam.

My professors encourage this. They feel you learn better by discussing your thoughts and clarifying your answers.

We had that in high school (Wisconsin) and, actually, it's been one of the more directly useful classes

My beef is that we had the tests without being taught the subject. Because the tests were mandated but the teaching, apparently, was not. So, yeah, bad implementation.

My birthday was yesterday. But I was only on the board in the morning.

A very merry unbirthday to you today, then.

And to us all. Unless it is anyone's birthday. Then happy birthday to him or her.

Pretty Siamese kitties.

Although I am a terrible person, because I think the "show" or "wedge-headed" Siamese cats are much more beautiful than the traditional "apple-head" Siamese. (Some people think the "show" Siamese have been bred to a bad extreme.)

I've heard tell that people who cheat rarely, if ever, win, and that those who win have not been known to cheat.

does a belated-birthday dance for sumi

Yeah, but if you don't buy into the other reasons (which is why, perhaps generously, I assume people don't follow that particular one), what's left other than fear of reprisal?

Well, that's a different problem. If you're trying to encourage a particular behavior, saying, "It's the law" is probably effective. When I say it's not a good reason, I mean logically. But I don't think people fail to wear seatbelts or helmet because they're getting philosophical about it.

I've heard tell that people who cheat rarely, if ever, win, and that those who win have not been known to cheat.

Heh. Those people have never played games with my family.

I'm scared.

I have an e-mail from one of my professors. I need to read it, because I need to make sure I'm going to pass the class if I stay in it.

But, I'm scared.

Also, I have a cold. My head is foggy. My throat hurts. And I'm coughing. Again. At least this isn't asthma coughing. Yet. I paged my doctor, 'cause it's just too close for comfort to the whole asthma thing. She's upping my steroids (again!) and increasing my albuterol use until the cold is over.

That's what I get for starting a conversation in Bitches about cheaters :)

bug, will it help if you virtually hold my hand while you click on the email?