HARVEY PITT QUITS!!!   WAHOO!!!

CNN announcing this breaking news right now!!!

9:08:56 PM    comment []

You Googled Me?: "How do males and females see things?"

Hey, if you've got any feedback to give the poor Googler who asked this question, go to this entry and post a comment.  I offered my two cents, but I admit it's not much.

Feedback from both "teams" would be nice, thanks!

You Googled Me?: "bookreports"

Yeah, again...and again...and again, they're Googling for "bookreports".  You can catch the reply here.  Or visit my comments from Saturday below, about 3 replies back.

8:00:38 PM    comment []

You Googled Me?

Google search entry: “How do males and females see things?”

Excellent question.  You tell me and we’ll both know.  (Kidding.)  Had to respond to this one, looks like you really need one of those 8-Balls with the semi-cryptic answer on the bottom and the closest thing you had was Google.

Check out my blog entry dd. September 21 (use calendar to the right and poke around), think I discuss the fact that women and men may have live in different states of consciousness – that’s a generality, mind you, a really big one.

Simplistically, IMHO based on what I’ve read, guys are more focused on achievement and women more focused on relationships.  In general.  To me it looks like men can’t see things that aren’t achievements (good or bad), and women can’t see things that aren’t essential to relationships between people (good or bad).

And every person, male or female, has the power to move back and forth along a continuum between those two foci, given sufficient inclination and appropriate attitude.  We can reach out to the “other team” by putting on their head for a while, think like a male/female – what’s it like to see others in terms of what they done, what they’re going to do (men) or in terms of how they affect others, what their role is in relation to others (women).

The most popular book on this subject appears to be John Gray’s Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.  Some friends tell me this is a lucid and sensible book.  Some tell me it’s a crock.  I’m not reading it; if you do, feel free to let me know what you think.

Don’t know whether you’re male or female or none of the above, but for what it’s worth, people can overcome “the spread” between these two ends of the spectrum with commitment and communication and compromise.  It can happen.  On the other hand, it doesn’t happen a lot or all the time.

Not certain if this was much help, but hey, you’re definitely far from alone asking this question.  Almost every friend (male or female) I’ve ever had asked the same question.  (And yeah, some have tried the 8-Ball for answers in desperation.)

If anybody else has an opinion on the subject, drop something here in comments for the poor Googler who’s searching for answers to this question.

7:58:14 PM    comment []

Dual Category Post:  BookReports meets “You Googled Me?”…

They’re still at it, must be that time of the year.  Our little friends are Googling away, in search of book reports.  Let me guess, it’s mid-terms?  Seems a little late for that, actually.

(For those of you who missed my comments this weekend, a number of referrals have come to my blog site after doing Google, Yahoo and AOLSearches for “bookreports”.)

It’s rather sad; surely students who are computer and internet literate have been instructed on the proper method for producing book reports.  It’s sadder to think they’ve tripped into my blog looking for help, a shortcut, a cheat sheet.

Confession: I did ghost-write some reports for students who were friends but not in the same track in my school.  (A-B average students were ‘A track’, B-C in ‘B track’, and so on…)  This prevented any teacher from catching on, since we didn’t have the same instructors.  I’d also use a previously submitted book report on a historical novel and convert it from a Lit class report to a History class report.  Much lower chance of discovery.  And I’d also remove any challenging words that would trip up a B-C/C-D track student and re-state in mono/bi-syllabic words. 

[Revisiting brings back a poignant memory: a mathematically-gifted classmate/quasi-boyfriend was in the same track and same American Lit class with me.  Couldn’t help him for a number of reasons, including the fact that it would be incredibly obvious he’d gotten help from me.  I did end up coaching him, though, after he turned in a report on a book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle…I’m not certain he ever really understood why Doyle wouldn’t fly in an American Lit class.  Tsk-tsk…]

Why’d I do it?  Not for money, although I should have (would have been less work and more lucrative than babysitting).  Partly because it was for friends who’d otherwise not have a snowball-in-hell’s chance of passing their class (one guy was very bright, but I think he was an undiagnosed dyslexic), partly because I was a rebel and this was a way to undermine the system.

It was clearer to me once I’d started college why it was not a good practice to ghost-write reports.  The kids in college were all those A-B track students, and they pushed me competitively to excel.  I hadn’t done any real favors for friends who should have pushed harder themselves.  They would eventually have to learn to produce those same kinds of reports, but at a much higher cost.  And by college, I didn’t have the time to continue enabling them.  Ouch.

So, dear Google ‘bookreport’ searcher, I’m giving you a little present.  Nope, not a book report.  Here’s a few links where you can find the “how-to’s” on book reporting:

http://www.abcteach.com/bookreports/genbookreport.htm -- if you are in 5^th grade or younger, you might try this simple form as a guideline.  Do your own work, just use this as a helping hand to get you started.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/readassign.html -- If you are in 6^th grade or older, this site sets out a clear and easy approach to starting your work.  (The root site, Writing Center Handouts, is chockfull of stuff for all kinds of writing – I found something on APA format papers I can use.)

http://www.homeworkspot.com/features/bookreports.htm -- This is good for any age book report writer.  There are a few more links to resources at this site as well.

Nope, none of these sites have book reports for sale or download.  (What do you expect for nothing?)

Now get going, crack open that book, push that pencil lead, start pounding the keyboard.  Doing this right should be your reward – you’ll be prepared to tackle the next level when the time comes, without dependence on anyone else.  Wait until it gets really tough, like when your paycheck hangs on whether you can write a good report.  This is a safe time to learn how to do it, and while shortcuts might save you time, they really won’t help you learn how to do it when it really counts.

I know, nag-nag-nagging be-atch, you’re thinking.  <Tttthhhhhbbbbpppp!!!> to you, I’m not the one Googling for a ‘bookreport’ now, am I?

‘Bookreports’ should be ‘book reports’.  You need to learn how to type or check your work.  (‘BookReports’ is the title of my blog category for ease of coding.  Not the same thing.)  This is the second time I’ve said this in 3 days – is this a global phenomenon, not being able to type?

And it hasn’t changed since the last time I said it:  “Men In Black” is NOT a good topic for a book report.

3:01:54 PM    comment []