Yet another debate. Luck be a btocked lady who wants her birth control pills covered tonight.

In grad school it was something of a thing for math students to have high end pens and mechanical pencils, and I rolled my eyes at them because I don't even have a pretentious urge. Recently a student left one of these in my office, and I've been using it, and it's a great goddamn pen. I was all set to retract my anti-pretentiousness. Then I googled how much they cost, and they cost about $2+ for two, and so my reverse-snobbery is still intact. Phew.

Says Knecht, who wants to make you cry. (Nate Silver and Electoral-vote aren't quite as dire, Knecht. Stop being mean.)

I'll just go ahead and put the story under the jump.

The author has been using this method for forty years.

1. Use this method sparingly, once a week or less.
2. Never insert any body parts directly into the body of the vacuum or directly in the hose of the vacuum. Always use an insertion tube as a hose attachment to insure you do not come in contact with any moving parts (fan blades) or bacteria from the hose.
3. Always have the off switch in easy reach.
4. High suction is not needed to get off. Keep the power low and use a flow control to keep the suction well below the level that will cause injury.
...
10. Hearing protection is also advised.

Via Tweety, who claims he was merely googling "is it okay to hose off fans"

I gave a test in an upper level math class. There were five questions, in increasing difficulty, and I said "Pick 4 out of 5", because the class is only 50 minutes long and that seems to be the best way to help students not tank the entire test by spending too long on one question. Each question is worth 10 points, and so the test is worth 40 points.

Of the students who answered question 5, almost all bombed it. (One student got it right, and a second student got 7/10 on it.) Most students lost 8 points, and were automatically on the C/B border on that question alone.

Of the students who answered question 4, scores were much more evenly distributed between getting it right, getting partial credit, and getting up to 8 points off. Some of these students also bombed question 5, because for some reason it was popular to opt out of question 2.

Therefore, it appears that the difference between an A and a C, or a B and a D, between otherwise well-matched students, was "how well can you assess and avoid the most difficult question?"

Is that really what I want to be assessing in a test? It's not unrelated to how well you understand the material, but it's more tactical than I actually care about. OTOH, there's a real skill in research - can you recognize which problems will be easily unravelled, and which ones take more insight? Do I care that I am testing them on that?

Nick S writes:
For National Coming Out Day, a very good (and long) article about the calculations involved in a queer athlete deciding to be out publicly while playing in the NBA.

So why do it? Why come out in the NBA? In 2007, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban offered two compelling reasons. The first was practical and entrepreneurial. The player would reap huge benefits as a hero to a large slice of Americans. Marketing and endorsement opportunities would be waiting on the other side of the announcement.

Cuban also made a more emotional appeal, saying, "When you do something that the whole world thinks is difficult and you stand up and just be who you are," you're doing something uniquely American. This perception of the American spirit dovetails with what the mission of sports is about, as discussed earlier.

Do those benefits outweigh the personal costs?

So far, 100 percent of closeted gay NBA players have determined that they don't. That's not to say Cuban is incorrect -- and I tend to agree with him -- but the sale hasn't been made convincingly. That might be because agents or others close to the player in the know are offering advice to the contrary, or it might just be a visceral hunch, or fear of the unknown, or the simple belief that life, even with this burden of secrecy, has treated the player pretty well and will continue to if present conditions persist.

From Heebie: A close friend came out to her family yesterday and I was moved by it. OTOH, can we all agree that the whole "wear denim to show your support for GLBTQ" thing is really lame? It's always bugged me.