Comments on: Pause for a Glass of Beer http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:53:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Relatively Pleasant | Cosmic Variance http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11982 Relatively Pleasant | Cosmic Variance Thu, 27 Apr 2006 02:15:33 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11982 [...] I have to design them a final exam very soon. Time for a trip to the Cat and Fiddle then, some evening soon. I’m going to see if I can get in a “fun” question at the end again, like last year. During the exam last year, one student (Lauren Schenkman) raised her hand to ask a question. I thought there was a typo or something on the exam. No, there wasn’t. Her question - asked cautiously and respectfully, was, “Are you serious?”. I love that. Here was the question: [...] […] I have to design them a final exam very soon. Time for a trip to the Cat and Fiddle then, some evening soon. I’m going to see if I can get in a “fun” question at the end again, like last year. During the exam last year, one student (Lauren Schenkman) raised her hand to ask a question. I thought there was a typo or something on the exam. No, there wasn’t. Her question - asked cautiously and respectfully, was, “Are you serious?”. I love that. Here was the question: […]

]]> By: On the Plus Side… | Cosmic Variance http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11977 On the Plus Side… | Cosmic Variance Thu, 23 Feb 2006 02:52:32 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11977 [...] …. I gave the midterm for my Electromagnetism class today. Stayed up until 1:30am putting the finishing touches on it, and then up again four and a half hours later to go in and get it set up to give to them at 8:45am in class. They had one hour of furious computing -and a bit of thinking- to do. These ones are hard to get right since you’ve got to gauge their ability to do enough in the time required. Get it wrong (like I did with the equivalent mid term last year) and they just can require way longer to do it than they have time for. It is really important to recall that they are still young and don’t take all the same computational shortcuts that one does later in life. And recall that for upper-level courses I like to have a bit of fun new stuff in there too, so I had to think carefully about how to do that in one hour too. (The plan was to do this all with the aid of the atmostphere at the Cat and Fiddle, like last week’s midterm prep session, but in the end I got sucked in by tons of incredibly campy Queen videos -how come we never saw that aspect so clearly as kids?- on You Tube…., which made for a background which is more relevant than you think… more on that later.) [...] […] …. I gave the midterm for my Electromagnetism class today. Stayed up until 1:30am putting the finishing touches on it, and then up again four and a half hours later to go in and get it set up to give to them at 8:45am in class. They had one hour of furious computing -and a bit of thinking- to do. These ones are hard to get right since you’ve got to gauge their ability to do enough in the time required. Get it wrong (like I did with the equivalent mid term last year) and they just can require way longer to do it than they have time for. It is really important to recall that they are still young and don’t take all the same computational shortcuts that one does later in life. And recall that for upper-level courses I like to have a bit of fun new stuff in there too, so I had to think carefully about how to do that in one hour too. (The plan was to do this all with the aid of the atmostphere at the Cat and Fiddle, like last week’s midterm prep session, but in the end I got sucked in by tons of incredibly campy Queen videos -how come we never saw that aspect so clearly as kids?- on You Tube…., which made for a background which is more relevant than you think… more on that later.) […]

]]> By: More Evidence of Fun | Cosmic Variance http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11976 More Evidence of Fun | Cosmic Variance Fri, 17 Feb 2006 05:46:17 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11976 [...] I am supposed to be at a recital here on campus of songs by Purcell, Haydn, Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, and others, sung by the baritone Peter Lightfoot, a colleague from USC’s Thornton School of Music faculty, who I met when new here. He was a neighbour in the excellent faculty complex you can rent a house in when you’re new to the city. The TAs are working hard on grading the midterm we set earlier today (see here) and so as I have to stay on campus until they’re done (we try to get everything done immediately after the exam has been taken, and finish it all and announce the grades the same night) it was an opportunity to relax for a while and listen to some wonderful singing, before coming back to work on entering and analyzing the grades, etc. Well, I went to the recital hall and found that it was cancelled. Drat. So I’ve come back here and thought I would blog for a bit instead, since it is so much more attractive than having to write my Annual Activity Report, which is due tomorrow…. [...] […] I am supposed to be at a recital here on campus of songs by Purcell, Haydn, Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, and others, sung by the baritone Peter Lightfoot, a colleague from USC’s Thornton School of Music faculty, who I met when new here. He was a neighbour in the excellent faculty complex you can rent a house in when you’re new to the city. The TAs are working hard on grading the midterm we set earlier today (see here) and so as I have to stay on campus until they’re done (we try to get everything done immediately after the exam has been taken, and finish it all and announce the grades the same night) it was an opportunity to relax for a while and listen to some wonderful singing, before coming back to work on entering and analyzing the grades, etc. Well, I went to the recital hall and found that it was cancelled. Drat. So I’ve come back here and thought I would blog for a bit instead, since it is so much more attractive than having to write my Annual Activity Report, which is due tomorrow…. […]

]]> By: Clifford http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11975 Clifford Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:35:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11975 Yeah, been listening to that on the news.... those guys are really deadly serious aren't they? Wow! I'd no idea it had got that far in legislation..... -cvj Yeah, been listening to that on the news…. those guys are really deadly serious aren’t they? Wow! I’d no idea it had got that far in legislation…..

-cvj

]]> By: erc http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11981 erc Tue, 14 Feb 2006 13:44:59 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11981 Smoke hopefully won't be authentic for too much longer - anti-smoking legislation is to be voted on today! Smoke hopefully won’t be authentic for too much longer - anti-smoking legislation is to be voted on today!

]]> By: Dean W. Armstrong http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11980 Dean W. Armstrong Tue, 14 Feb 2006 05:56:08 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11980 Excellent! The food was good, so hearing this makes it that I will visit again. Excellent! The food was good, so hearing this makes it that I will visit again.

]]> By: Clifford http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11979 Clifford Tue, 14 Feb 2006 05:48:22 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11979 That has changed now. The rules are enforced. I must say, however, that it is not really a restaurant. It is a really pub that also serves food..... a bit of cigarette smoke is not so bad from that perspective..... especially since the courtyard is so spacious. Give it another try... Cheers, -cvj That has changed now. The rules are enforced. I must say, however, that it is not really a restaurant. It is a really pub that also serves food….. a bit of cigarette smoke is not so bad from that perspective….. especially since the courtyard is so spacious.

Give it another try…

Cheers,

-cvj

]]> By: Dean W. Armstrong http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11978 Dean W. Armstrong Tue, 14 Feb 2006 05:45:58 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/02/13/pause-for-a-glass-of-beer/#comment-11978 My problem with the Cat and the Fiddle when I visited a few years ago was the absolute ignorance of the no-smoking rules in California. Smoking inside, smoking outside--while it may have been authentic, it wasn't what I was looking for in a California restaurant. My problem with the Cat and the Fiddle when I visited a few years ago was the absolute ignorance of the no-smoking rules in California. Smoking inside, smoking outside–while it may have been authentic, it wasn’t what I was looking for in a California restaurant.

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