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How to make a birthday cake
Making a birthday cake for a kid's birthday party-- not the suggested method:
1) The morning of the party, bake the cake he wants (chocolate raspberry) in the fancy castle bundt pan:
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Mysterious students
I'm grading take-home finals (sigh; correct answers are so easy to grade...), and hit the following, written on one exam:
Total: 200 ft +62.8 ft=188.4 ft
I can't figure out what calculator typo could possibly have given that answer, to say nothing of the boggling that anyone could write that down without noticing anything wrong. -
On reasonable and unreasonable topics to disagree about
On most topics, I like reading articles and posts that I don't agree with. I'm interested in health care, and want to read articles in support of a variety of health care systems. Even if I disagree with the author, I may learn something interesting, and reasonable people can certainly disagree about the merits of the French health care system ( Read more... ) -
Reasons for optimism
I strongly recommend the first two stories from the recent Radio Lab show, The New Normal, particularly if you want to feel optimistic about human (primate?) nature, and our potential for change. The first one is a fascinating story about a group of baboons changing their (typically very violent) behavior; the second is a charming story about a ( Read more... ) -
You get the statistics you pay for
From an article about foot care in the NY Times:
Only one in three women moisturize their feet eight or more times a month, according to the 2008 podiatric association study.
Only one in three?!? -
Pop quiz
You're pulling out of the library parking lot, looking to your right as you roll into the crosswalk which continues the line of the sidewalk. Suddenly, a woman yells "Excuse me! Look out!," and you turn you head around to see two people crossing from left to right, right in front of your car in the crosswalk. You stop the car and ( Read more... ) -
In Dr. TIller's name
Dr. Tiller, a gynecologist in Kansas who ran one of the only clinics in the US where women could get late-term abortions, was murdered today. I have been pregnant twice, and had two healthy kids. I never had to consider making the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy, but I know plenty of women who have, and some who have had to worry ( Read more... ) -
Musicals and realism
There's a new production of West Side Story on Broadway, and the New Yorker review includes the following passage:
Laurents’s most innovative touch is to have the Puerto Ricans sometimes speak and sing in Spanish. Fifty years on, in a multicultural America, this decision makes the production feel fresh; it also allows the show to dispense with some ( Read more... ) -
Kid stories
The little one (who will be three in a month and a half) was playing with letter magnets on the fridge this morning. "I'm writing Mommy in red letters," he announces. "See?"
He has all the red magnets arranged neatly in a line, and runs his finger under them one letter at a time, naming each letter as he does. "Z-E-U-I-8-O spells Mommy!"