It’s the first day of class today (for me, anyway– classes technically started yesterday, but I don’t teach on Tuesdays this term). This, of course, means that something will go horribly wrong. The question is, what? What will go wrong on the first day of class today? This is a class for first-year students, so… Continue reading Academic Poll: Day One
Category: Polls
Academic Poll: Pronoun Trouble
I’ve moved on to the second of three academic writing projects I wanted to work on this summer (yes, I know I’m rapidly running out of summer…), which is a sort of review article on which I will be the only author. This creates an awkward situation in the introductory material, because it just feels… Continue reading Academic Poll: Pronoun Trouble
Poll: Incredibly Important Cultural Question
Prompted by this and this, among other things, one of the critical questions of the modern age: Harry Potter is a: Magic is a classical phenomenon, no matter what you may have heard, so you can choose one and only one option.
Poll: Blogging
Last week Doug Natelson noted a drop-off in active physics blogs. This had not gone unnoticed hereabouts, though I couldn’t immediately think of what to say about that. Yesterday, though, former ScienceBlogs wrangler Christopher Mims provided a possible answer: Google+ has destroyed blogging completely. I would’ve liked to find a way to tie all this… Continue reading Poll: Blogging
Musical Poll: Casual Sax
A lot of people who rail against popular music (hipsters, classical music snobs, etc.) will cite the mere presence of one or more saxophones in a song as evidence that it sucks, as if saxophones are inherently evil. I’ve never really understood this attitude, and wonder how widespread it is. Thus, a poll: Saxophone solos… Continue reading Musical Poll: Casual Sax
Academic Poll: Humans vs. Zombies
Union’s edition of the chase-each-other-with-Nerf-guns game Humans vs. Zombies kicks off next week, and has prompted some discussion of whether this is just a harmless way of blowing off steam, or an existential threat to the core mission of academia. While some of this has been vaguely entertaining, it ignores the really important question: Who… Continue reading Academic Poll: Humans vs. Zombies
Musical Poll: Blinded by the WTF???
A very silly musical poll question, brought to you by the local classic rock station’s music selection this morning: Which of these makes more sense:online surveys On an unrelated note, it’s deeply unfair that sleeping really late puts SteelyKid into a worse mood than not getting enough sleep does.
Weather Poll: White Stuff
Another day, another snowfall. Sigh. Thus, a poll: Snow on April 1 is:online survey Snow, even in springtime, is depressingly, boringly, classical, so you may choose one and only one option, not a quantum superposition of multiple answers.
Musical Poll: Sisters
I got home very late last night after my talk in New Paltz, the cold that I’ve been developing for the last week has hit full strength, and I’m giving an exam this morning. So here’s something completely silly: Which sister do you prefer?Market Research For bonus points, guess which of these songs I have… Continue reading Musical Poll: Sisters
Musical Poll: 99 ___?
It’s the last week of the winter term here, so here is a totally serious and important music-related poll question: Which do you prefer?survey software (OK, maybe the end-of-term craziness is making me just a tiny bit punchy…)