Not the 25th Amendment Again (More on 24)!!

Come on, writers of 24! You've already used this angle in season 2. A vice-president questions the president's ability to rule and invokes the 25th amendment to remove him from his duties? I can see this coming next week based on the previews, and am not happy about it. It's just old! It happened in season 2, also with a Palmer in the presidency! Can't you be more creative than this? It also had to do with Palmer's unwillingness to attack what turned out to be an innocent country. Are the script writers stealing ideas from their own show?

Not to say I won't be watching with as much interest as ever. But some of these story lines are getting a little old. Just too repetitive. But I will give them credit for some new twists, enough to keep me watching. I sure can't predict the outcome, even if they do use the 25th amendment.

P.S. I'm really happy that mentally challenged brother didn't die. I was so afraid he would be taken down in the crossfire with Gredenko, or pulled into the vehicle and kidnapped or something. Having him die would have been really depressing...

P.P.S. I claim success in my prediction that Nadia couldn't be guilty. Though I was surprised that it was no one. (Watch, after all this it will probably be revealed in eight episodes that she really is a mole, working deep undercover for the bad guys or something... That would be an interesting twist!)

24 Analysis

Don't read this if you're not watching the current season of 24 and don't want secrets spilled...

I'm curious to find out who the current mole in CTU is. But I'm pretty sure I know who it's not. It can't be the Muslim chick. Forit's a common motif in 24 to have someone put under the screws and interrogated because they think they are a bad guy, only to find out later that someone has set them up. So it would be too simple to have it be her. Then again, mayble they'll throw away previous patterns and make it her just to show us that on occasion finding the bad guy can be that simple. But I doubt it...

The second good reason has to do with political correctness that the producers seem to be obsessed with. I know, I know. How can a show with Arab terrorists really be PC? The show has taken some heat I think from the PC police, for reinforcing negative Muslim/Arab stereotypes. But have you noticed how they will never come out and say which Middle East country the president is planning on nuking? Which country are Assad and Fayid from? It's always "that country that sponsors terrorism" or some other vague reference, but NEVER have they specified. I find it ironic that they have no problem portraying bad guys from China and Russia. But heaven forbid that they come out and say a bad guy is from Syria, or Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or Egypt, or whatever other Middle East country you want to name. I think it must be vague for PC reasons. I mean, who wants to offend the Syrians? But it's fine to blast the Russians and Chinese!

Despite the "negative" stereotypes in the show, I think the writers are going to make the Muslim chick innocent because that would go too far in their minds. That would portray one too many bad Muslims for them. They have made some efforts to show peaceful and well-meaning Muslims who have simply been "misunderstood" or whatever. Call it counterbalancing the bad Muslims with some "good" Muslims if you will. So I'm predicting there is no way that she will actually be guilty. It will probably be some white American (and no doubt Republican), like Milo or that new field agent Milo hates. That's my guess.

Be Very Disturbed

My friends, I hope you are disturbed by this website: http://www.customessaymeister.com/ I know I am.

Even if you aren't a teacher, ever on the lookout for students who may have plagiarized their work, this is disturbing. I've looked at websites before that advertise writing papers for you for a fee and all that. It's not that I'm naive about these kinds of services. But I was somewhat shocked by the elaborate lengths this one goes to cover up cheating. I think it tops them all in terms of how professional and appealing it would be for someone who wants to have someone else do their work for them and then call it their own. I mean, an industry based on cheating? And couched as such a wonderful enterprise? Complete with client testimonials? And touted because they don't hire foreigners to write papers cheaply, because they don't know English very well and many of them "plagiarize," whereas these papers are true custom-written papers by native speakers of English? And with a section dealing with plagiarism, in which they say they take it very seriously and make sure their writers do not plagiarize, because "clients" have the right to expect the product they purchase is not plagiarized, so they will not ever have to clean up the mess such a fact could produce, which would hurt the "innocent client"? This is sick.

I'm worried because I had thought I could usually catch plagiarists. This is what I tell students. It's really not that difficult if you've been reading their writing all year, then you suddenly get a paper that puts things in a different tone and with a much higher vocabulary level than they are prone to use. And google does wonders to detect plagiarists, as they are usually too lazy to plagiarize only from books. But with this kind of subterfuge--an original paper written for the student that allegedly can't be traced--I'm not sure I can catch these kids anymore. Not that I need to be obsessed with always catching them or anything. After all, I really believe they will get their punishment someday, even if I never figure out they cheated. But it's really sad that our society has come to this. Again, this website is presented as if it's an up and up legitimate business. And don't you love the disclaimer? It must be on there to keep them from getting in trouble with the law. Here it is, if you didn't look at the website:

"We provide custom essay and term paper writing services, inclusive of research material, for informational purposes only. This site does not promote cheating. Our custom term papers must be used with proper citing. Our services are officially sold by 2CheckOut.com, Inc., Ohio, USA. 2Checkout.com (2CO), a Better Business Bureau Member company."

Talk about bold-faced lies. Can you imagine a student paying big bucks for a custom paper, turning it in, and using "proper citing" to alert readers that he/she did not write it? You have to be kidding!
In case you're wondering how much these services cost, I got some price quotes. A 12 page research paper for high school will run around 250 dollars. A 190 page dissertation for a PhD will run around 6500 dollars.
The site claims these papers are written by graduate students. I'm disgusted to think there are those in academia with such a lack of conscience that they could even consider taking such work! Plagiarism is such a deadly sin in the academic world, and these "students" are getting paid to help someone else plagiarize? Where is your conscience America?

Happy Spring and Free Iced Coffee Day! But It's Never Really Free

Today is a good day. At least it became a good day after I had my fourth free iced coffee from DD. Yup, one on the way to school, then I stopped by three different branches as I drove home (kind of a roundabout way home, but I did complete a couple of errands too, which provided a good excuse). :-)

Yet I felt chastened for my actions. In fact, things turned a bit sour once I realized a major goof I made. Maybe it was meant as a gentle lesson for me that getting four iced coffees in one day is not the best way to take care of my body. For amidst my caffeine/sugar euphoria, I suddenly realized my credit card bill was due today! I quickly went online to pay it, but alas, after 4 P.M. it posts to the next day! What to do?

Rather frenetically (after all, still high) and frantically I called customer service, and after making my way through multiple menus finally reached a live person (he sounded Indian to me; I bet he was talking from a service center in Bombay or something, though I didn't ask). While he wasn't mean about it, he informed me my only option to avoid the likelihood of a 39 dollar late fee was to cancel my payment, and go online and force a payment to post to my account today. The catch is that forcing the payment to post today, if after 4 P.M., costs a 14.95 service fee. Aaaargh!

So I paid (gulp) the extra fee to get my payment in on time. Better that than a late fee and the possibility of my credit score being damaged. I feel like such a loser about this. After all, I NEVER am late on my payments. I tend to look with disdain upon those who don't make their payments on time, or only pay the minimum balance and pay tremendous amounts of interest. I mean, how idiotic can I be? I once had an economics professor in college who flatly stated that anyone who is stupid enough not to pay the full balance on their credit card each month deserves to roast in hell forever! How's that for putting it bluntly? And now I'm almost in that category by missing the due date on a payment?

Not that I'm worried about the hellfire, but I do feel rather silly. Oh well. It's a lesson. Maybe some reader will learn from my mistake. Now I'm enrolled in auto payments so my forgetfulness will never get the better of me again. Thank goodness for machines that will cover for your stupidity... And I guess those iced coffees turned out not to be free after all. There truly is no such thing as a free lunch (or coffee). If I hadn't gotten them, I very well could have remembered to pay the bill in time.

Geography is Lacking Among Today's Students

And here's proof. One of my juniors, in all seriousness today asked me "The Middle East, isn't that near Vietnam?" I held my tongue (pat on the back for being so professional and not laughing at students, though sorely tempted; I think this girl might have really been hurt if I had, so it's a good thing I didn't!)

To her credit, the Middle East is in the direction of Vietnam from here, you just need to keep going a few thousand miles more...

Mouth or Nose Breather?

I went to the dentist yesterday. I managed to forget how much I dislike going to the dentist until the day of the appointment. But it wasn't as bad as it has been sometimes. The worst part was the whole measuring of the gums thing, to see how much they are recessed and all that. That was slightly uncomfortable, as she poked or dug her way to see how many millimeters her took would sink into the gums. But the dental hygienist turned out to be a graduate of my place of employment (do I call it "my high school," even though I didn't go there?), and within the last ten years, so we had some good conversation about that. Actually, it was a fairly one-sided conversation, with her doing most of the talking, given that my mouth was open most of the time!

During my visit the fact came out that my gums bleed sometimes when I floss, despite that I regularly floss. She was like "Do you sleep with your mouth open?" I had to think a little. (I mean, who thinks about this that much?) "I'm not sure, but I think I do." She was like "Sometimes people who breathe at night through their mouths instead of their noses have gums that bleed easier as a result. It's not a bad thing, but it helps to know this so we know your gums aren't bleeding because of a dental hygiene problem."

So last night I consciously noted how I breathe. Yup, sure enough, with my mouth open. But I never really thought about this being an unusual thing. In fact, when I tried breathing through my nose with my mouth closed it seemed so unnatural, so uncomfortable. How in the world do people do that? And no wonder people have snoring problems if they're silly enough to breathe through their noses! And isn't this a vocal no-no too? I seem to remember vocal teachers/experts saying you always should breathe through your mouth. But maybe that only applies to your waking moments, or at least your singing moments.

I think it's time for a poll. Are you a nightly nose breather or mouth breather? I won't ask you to tell me if your gums bleed when you floss. Am I in the minority on this? Please do tell!

Success

My break has vanished, and so has the to-do list. I accomplished all but number 7 and 12, both of which have been partially vanquished. No matter that it's now 10:46 P.M. Sunday, and that tomorrow is looking like a coffee morning. I know it could be a long week when I'm starting in on coffee first thing, instead of being able to hold off until Thursday or Friday...

And I ended up going to an extra b-ball game to see my students play. And I'm actually looking forward to returning to school. Break has been good. But teaching is even better...I think. Maybe it's just the euphoria of finishing before midnight...we'll see...

Grade Tax Analogy

Ok, so I've been grading a bunch of papers on Progressives, in which students are asked to give their opinion about their goals and accomplishments, whether they went too far, didn't go far enough, etc. Most all of my students have praised them. So I'm thinking that next week I'll announce the implementation of a grade tax on this last test, to be applied to everyone who approved of the progressive income tax. I'll suggest that anyone who approved of a progressive income tax should have no problem with also approving of redistributing grades and bumping down "overachievers" a little. Any student who scored over an 82 or so will have points deducted from their test, and those points will be added to student tests that didn't score as well. The higher the score above 82, the more points will be deducted. Maybe a 97 will become a 90, a 92 an 87, an 87 an 84, and an 84 an 83. Those who did very well will still do better than those who didn't, but the success of the "smart" will be limited, just as the wealthy were limited by the 16th amendment.

I'll be as straight-faced about this as possible, and maybe even assure students that I've checked this through with the principal and that he's fine with it. The point will be to get them to see the perspective of the wealthy regarding some Progressive ideas. None of my students seem to have taken the side of the wealthy in their papers (which I respect, as long as they are able to see both sides), so a little provocation that hits close to home might help. But I'm wondering about the flaws there might be in this analogy. In what ways would a progressive "grade tax" be different from the progressive income tax? So readers who care to (Isaac?), please point out where this comparison breaks down. I'm sure there are weaknesses to it, but I'm having a hard time seeing them. I suppose one would be if the highest possible grade is a 100 then there is already a grade limit in place, or the equivalent to a tax, whereas in theory one can accrue unlimited wealth. That's the best I can come up with right now.

Lest anyone fear I'm indoctrinating students against a progressive tax, have no worry. I try to challenge students to think about different perspectives on an issue, but am not expecting them to take one side over another.

Slogging Through Papers

Correcting papers is such a drag when you're on vacation. My break is evaporating before my eyes, and I have so much still to correct. Arrrrrrgh!!!

On a possibly humorous note, I just corrected a student's "research" essay in which he had no citations in the text, and claimed that bird flu causes the head to swell until the "mind is pressured into submission." The two websites he listed on his bibliography page had absolutely nothing to do with the topic, though to his credit they were not broken links. I was a little afraid I might find something obscene when I looked them up. Thankfully, they were nothing like that. One of them was an ad for a home in Great Britain somewhere. I suppose he found this little trick amusing.

Possible thought process of his as he did this assignment:
1. "Heh, heh, stupid Mr. ______. He will never know that I didn't use any sources in my research, but made up things off the top of my head in my writing, and used false sources."
2. "I don' think Mr. ______ really grades these papers, but just assigns numbers based on student's average grades. So I'll say that the bird flu causes the mind to be pressured, and see if he catches that. And if he looks at my sources, he'll get a good laugh."

Whatever his thoughts, I hope he finds the score of zero attached to this essay as entertaining as the fun he must have had writing it. Sadly, knowing him, he might...