http://wrecking.org/cbd Because a yellow dog told me to. Tue, 13 May 2008 16:12:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I began the semester with 36 students in two courses. Grades go in today. Look at all the fours! Unfortunately, WIU doesn't have plus/minus grading, or I would have assigned five B+ and two C+ grades. A: 4 B: 11 C: 4 F: 5 U: 4 W: 4 early drops: 4 The "U" is a non-punitive grade assigned ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/05/13/grading-foursomes/ The NCAA recently reported its annual academic progress ratings (APR), claiming progress for many sports. At first look, the scale seemed padded to me: 1,000 is the highest possible score, 925 supposedly represents a 60% graduation rate, and the lowest score I've seen is 811. Looking for methodology, I poked ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/05/09/apr-defined-i-think/ Crossposted with a few email lists... A colleague and I are putting together a panel on readymades, and we're looking for a third presenter. Broadly speaking, we're looking at the re-emergence of the readymade in a variety of forms: web-based templates and assemblages, even textbooks like the recently discussed TS/IS. If you're ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/05/08/readymades-at-cccc/ Plans to cut spending by $47M at the ole alma mater. Here are the details. Bye-bye: many positions in IFAS, unspecified disability services, PhDs in philosophy and German. Language departments will be reorganized. Undergraduate enrollment will be reduced by 4,000 as well. One can only assume that will necessitate a ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/05/06/cuts-at-florida/ Email: I noticed you write about ———— and we have an opportunity for you to get paid for an advertiser sponsored blog post that looks like it would be a good fit for your blog. If you are interested please let me know and I can forward the campaign details. I checked ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/05/02/an-opportunity/ Yet another bit of bad news about my old department. In the midst of my last grading push this morning I learned about James Twitchell's sloppy cut-and-paste jobs (via Spinuzzi, who as usual is dead on). How disappointing. How stupid. Ironically, Virginia Postrel, one of the writers he ripped off, ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/04/27/twitchell-disappoints/ Went for a two-part bike ride today: first to campus to make photocopies (4.69 mi round trip, 20:45), then got home, dropped my bag, grabbed some water, and did a quick ten mile out and back. Halfway was pretty slow: 27:40 (5:30/mi). O, the wind. I rode directly into a ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/04/25/wind-speed/ Jeff Atwood has a good post about WordPress and database optimization. I've often wondered why Dreamhost doesn't tweak their "oneclick" install to enable select plugins. Certainly, in a shared hosting environment, addressing optimization would seem to qualify. If as a commenter suggests suggests there's a Google SoC project for this, good. http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/04/23/databases/ This summer I will replace my venerable PogoLinux workstation with a laptop. The Eee PCs appeal quite a bit to me: flash storage, light, cheap. (The tasteful initials don't hurt, either.) Tari wrote a helpful review. I talked to Charlie about his Eee quite a bit at CCCC, and got ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/04/20/lappy-386/ The weather is finally not dreary. I drove to and from St Louis this weekend, and it rained nearly the entire time. But today it is sunny and slowly warming up. Why St Louis? Attending a beer festival with Thomas and Jeff. Great brews, though it was cold and there weren't ... http://wrecking.org/cbd/2008/04/14/odds-and-ends-monday/