Friday, June 10, 2005

Discovering buried rocks. Every school has a universally acknowledged "gut" course - minimal work for an easy A. At SUNY Albany the intro Earth Science course was called "Rocks for Jocks." At Cornell there was a survey Physics course that the engineers called "Physics for Poets." Can you guess what would happen if everyone knew what the easy courses were? The Atlantic recently reported on a study about the impact of Cornell's decision to publish the median grades in all courses (after I graduated, of course). Not surprisingly the "easy A" courses saw a dramatic increase in enrollment and students with the lowest SAT scores were the most likely to take them. Cornell intended to preempt this problem by including the median grade of each course on student transcripts, but never got around to changing the transcript policy. Some may say that the tendency of students with high SAT scores to stick with the tough classes is evidence of academic rigor. I suspect that it just means that high SAT scores at Cornell are ultimately correlated with underemployment. (Via eLynah Forum) [Stay Free! Daily] I can look up average grades by department or by instructor for a given term, but the data isn't publically available. Do you think students want it? Update: Chart and copy from The Atlantic, in case it goes away (or for when it moves from the generic url): In 1997 Cornell University began posting median grades for every course online, so that students could put their own grades in a larger perspective. (After all, an A in "Physics for Poets" is presumably less impressive than an A in "Physics for Physicists.") The university's theory—which reveals an astonishing naiveté about human nature—was that this would encourage students to choose more-challenging courses. Instead, according to a paper published early this year by two Cornell economists, the policy provided a case study in how to pump up GPAs. Armed with accurate, official grading information, students used it to pick easy classes and avoid difficult ones: once-hidden guts were now readily identified, enrollment in them ballooned, and since the new policy was instituted the overall rate of grade inflation—already a subject of concern at Cornell, as in the academic world in general—has more than doubled. 10:39:46 PM    comment []

Mark Cuban has a well thought out and informative post on NBA Refs and the playoffs. It isn't in the vein I expected from reading other of his posts on NBA officiating, so don't give up on it 'cause you think you know what it says. And he has a really good idea for the broadcasters that they should use. 10:38:04 PM    comment []

Human Events (The National Conservative Weekly) has published its list of the Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Some come as no surprise -- of course they don't admire The Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, or Mao's Little Red Book. But Democracy and Education? And On Liberty? Wow. 2:41:52 PM    comment []

Is it about the classics or the cappuccino?: Evaluating a new super-bookstore -- a place of clashing cultural interests and dueling human needs. By Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune. That has always been the magic of a Barnes & Noble. It manages to seem friendly and folksy even while you know -- you know -- that every nook and niche has been vetted by multiple focus groups, that every detail has been polished for maximum consumer appeal. Yet even with all the hyper-charged corporate scrutiny, a Barnes & Noble never feels cold or sterile. You can chalk up this phenomenon to two factors: The softly comforting presence of books; and the inarguable truth that if you can fake sincerity, then you've really got it made. 1:41:43 PM    comment []

Are they competing with Open Office on price, now? From BNA News, word that MICROSOFT FORGIVES UNLICENSED INDONESIAN SOFTWARE USE Microsoft plans to grant the Indonesia government an amnesty on unlicensed versions of its Windows software used through out its agencies in exchange for a token payment. Under the deal, up to 50,000 computers running illegal software would be legalized for a dollar each. 11:41:23 AM    comment []

Behind Every Grad.... The best way to ensure we have teachers who inspire their students is if we recognize and reward those who clearly have done so. By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN. [NYT > Opinion] 10:01:17 AM    comment []

HOWTO make a head-mounted water-cannon Here's instructions for building your own "Ultimate Water Gun," which ingeniously combines a gold Evel Knievel helmet, a vintage fire extinguisher, and a whole lotta water to make a head-mounted water-weapon of doom. These pages are all about the Ultimate Water Gun -- the water weapon of the millennium. It consists of a fire extinguisher that discharges its contents under high pressure through a spray nozzle mounted on a motorcycle helmet. Using a hand-held cable release and wearing the tank on your back, it is possible to feel a rush of power unparalleled in history since the mighty dinosaurs roamed the earth. Link (via Monochrom) [bOing bOing] 9:55:23 AM    comment []

When Nanopants Attack. Environmentalists worry that new commercial products utilizing microscopically engineered materials pose a serious threat to humanity. But research -- either for or against nanotechnology -- is hard to find. By Howard Lovy. Group Creates Pro-Evolution Site. The National Academies' new website for educators is intended to help hinder religious activists who want U.S. schools to downplay Darwin. By Amit Asaravala. [Wired News] 9:50:03 AM    comment []

Ohio State Pulls Plug on "Defense" of Dissertation Shilling for Intelligent Design.... ...when it turns out no one who actually knows anything about the relevant science was to be involved in the defense!  Details here. [Leiter Reports] 9:49:11 AM    comment []

I like to watch. I like to watch / CopVision is a program that watches television. Specifically, it watches COPS on Fox. It is not a video, it is a software process that tries to make sense of a live video feed. COPS is all it has ever known, and it probably thinks it is COPS. [unmediated] 9:45:01 AM    comment []

Rep. Barton Defends Fair Use (Jason Schultz). Via Roll Call, an interview with Rep. Joe Barton, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committe [Copyfight] 9:44:40 AM    comment []

Spending Time to Save Time. A great truth has begun to dawn on me: You gotta spend time to save time. And not all of us have that kind of time. By DAVID POGUE. [NYT > Technology] 9:44:26 AM    comment []

MicroRNAs linked to cancer: Trio of Nature papers describes elevated miRNAs in various human tumors and models, by Graciela Flores, The Scientist. MicroRNAs—the minute noncoding negative regulators of gene expression—could be intimately involved in the development of cancer, according to a trio of papers published in the June 9 Nature. . . . There are still many questions for the future, Meltzer said. "Can miRNA be useful for diagnostics and therapeutics? From a more mechanistic point of view, you'd like to map miRNAs and understand what they do in various cancer types, what genes they regulate, and what regulates them," he said. "But the most critical question is, What are their targets and which are the pathways they are involved in?" NYT story reported here last night, and here are the references and links from the piece in The Scientist: D. Steinberg, "MicroRNA shows macro potential," The Scientist, June 16, 2003. http://www.the-scientist.com/2003/6/16/22/1   Todd R. Golub http://www.broad.mit.edu/broad/toddgolub.html   J. Lu, et al., "MicroRNA expression profiles classify human cancers," Nature, 435:834-8, June 9, 2005. http://www.nature.com   L. He, et al., "A microRNA polycistron as a potential human oncogene," Nature, 435:828-33, June 9, 2005. http://www.nature.com   Scott M. Hammond http://www-cellbio.med.unc.edu/grad/depttest/hammond.htm   N. Johnston, "Seeds of a micro revolution," The Scientist, September 13, 2004. http://www.the-scientist.com/2004/9/13/16/1   Paul S. Meltzer http://www.genome.gov/10000301   P. Meltzer, "Small RNAs with big impacts," Nature 435: 745-746. http://www.nature.com   K. O'Donnell et al., "c-Myc-regulated microRNAs modulate E2F1 expression," Nature, June 9, 2005. http://www.nature.com   Leonard H. Augenlicht http://www.yu.edu/aecomdb/facultydir/facultypage4.asp?id301 8:40:57 AM    comment []