Random Quote
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
---- Gail Godwin
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
---- H. G. Wells
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
---- Galileo Galilei
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
---- Doug Larson
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
---- Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
---- John Ciardi
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
---- George Orwell
New Words & RSS Feeds
Kerim over at Keywords posted a RSS feeds about words entering the English language. This is very interesting to me. I can truely see some of the words really entering the English language, such as, wrap rage, latte factor, vasectomy zoning. and my personal favorite time porn.
Television shows and other media that portray characters as having excessive amounts of spare time.
Of course many of the words on the list will not make it into general usage, well at least I hope not.
New Office
My new office is much better than the one in my previous position which had eight teachers crammed into one office the same size as my new one which only holds two instructors. It’s much more spacious and condusive to studying with a beautiful view from the twelfth floor.. On top of having less teachers for chatter both Nick and myself only work four days a week: I’m off on Tuesday and he’s off on Thursday. We’ll barely see each other.
Below are some pictures of the office: each will pop-up in a new window.
Student Consultation area
Computer area too bad it’s a windows 98 machine.
From the door
Reverse
Mountain View
Language in “Science”
Mark Liberman at Language log posted a short piece about Science Magazines current Issue which is a special focusing on language.
If you’re reading this, I’ll infer that you’re interested in language, and will want to read these articles. I’m not clear whether they are among the “other selected materials” that free registration for “partial access” makes available,
I have checked and Mr. Liberman has it incorrect, it is not necessary to register for “partial access” I actually went and viewed every article and downloaded all the pdf’s for a deeper perusal later. Maybe they will be useful when writing papers.
sesquidecennium
Bill Poser wrote about sesquidecennium but didn’t actually give the definition only saying that the word could not be found on google. I looked it up in my very expensive 2100+ page Oxford dictionary and it wasn’t there either.
Being very curious I sent Mr. Poser an email and he kindly resonded with the definition
Oh, I’m sorry. “sesquidecennium” means “a period of 15 years”,
that is, one and a half decennia.
And there we have it - 15 years.
Missing course
I’m still waiting for the materials for my other class LING946: Leading and Managing Language Programs. I called early Monday morning and found out that the materials had shipped but I forgot to ask for the tracking number. I also inquired into access to the webCT site for that class as I can access my SLA class but not that one. Unfortuneately I got shunted to a voice mail system and haven’t had any response yet, nor can I access the class.
This evening (Tuesday 8:25pm) I sent an email asking about my webCT access and for the tracking number as well. Hopefully this gets resolved quickly as I don’t want to get behind on essay writing or reading.
Tomorrow I have my first classes at the new job, hope everything goes smoothly.
*edit* I just got a phone call from the courier company and I will have my books when I get home. I told them to leave it with the building security guard.
Classes so far have been quiet: 30 students of mixed levels in a required English class makes for a very tough crowd. The jokes I used as ice-breakers at my last university, which were very successful, barely made anyone smile. I will have to completely re-think my approach to classes this semester.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Mar 2, 2004 at 11:30 PM
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