Some touchy-feely nonsense

Our “first of the semester” department meeting is about to begin in about an hour; I am well ahead in course preparation so I can spare a moment or two to reflect.

On a professional note: I’ve become more interested in actually doing mathematics. Some time ago, what I’ve always known “on an intellectual level” became truly real “at a gut level”: my research, while competent, is, well, of no real significance.

So, my reaction was to just stop doing it (though I didn’t admit this to myself). I’ve resumed doing it, and am having fun with it!

But with this newfound personal acceptance is the reality that I just don’t have the research credentials to not care about not getting along with people.

So, I do my best to try to get along; when someone writes on an exam:

I don’t blow up and call the student an idiot.

I say “oh, I think you need to review anti-derivatives a bit more” and “well, remember that rule works for variables which are raised to constant powers, other than -1″ and encourage the student to keep trying. (I should encourage such a student to….never mind….)

When a faculty member from another department tells her students that “she doesn’t know where the “1″ in a statistics formula comes from; “it is just a constant that makes the formula work” when in fact the “1″ comes from the fact that the probabilities in a discrete probability space add to one, I don’t mock or ridicule her, even though she was teaching a statistics course at the time!

People say stupid stuff, and I either smile and say nothing, or say something to the effect “thanks for telling me what you think!” or “How ’bout those Bears?”

Ah, my snarking days are over, long gone. I have neither the time nor the energy for such stuff. I’ve given up; I’ve retired to the good old porch swing.

Fortunately, there are others who still have “the fire” in their bellies! I can still get my snark fix; some of the best places are:

• Science and Religion
• Politics
• Social

And from time to time, I love to relive a good smack-down or two on youtube:

(watch the last two lines of this; yes Dawkins is older than I am, but he has the laurels to be snarky)

Another one who has the laurels to be snarky.

There, I feel better already!