In an introductory TA meeting today we had to split up a large pile of survey consent forms for the students to fill out later these week — 24 to each section, for 4 sections per TA, that’s 96 sheets of paper. Well, who wants to count out 96 sheets of paper? So my friend had the good idea of optimizing the procedure by weighing 12 sheets and calculating the mass we’d need to fill out the required 96. OK, but of course we needed to properly arrange the papers on the scale so they weren’t partially being held up by the attached cables, and then, being physicists, we’re no good at mental math ;-) suffice it to say we were pretty nearly the last ones out.

And that was a lousy story. Oh well, guess you had to be there…

This is interesting: Utah has passed a law imposing stiff penalties for typing text messages while driving.

This is more interesting: apparently that is a big deal. Because according to the article, all other states (except Alaska, sort of), have practically no penalty at all. Typing while driving is generally treated as an accidental cause of a crash, in the same league falling asleep at the wheel or (I presume) losing control of the car, because supposedly people don’t know that it’s a risky activity.

Wait, WTF?

Okay, first of all, when did being stupid become an excuse? For potentially killing people? Real accidents, like falling asleep at the wheel, are out of people’s control (well, to some extent), but typing is absolutely not. You had to consciously make the choice to pull out your phone and take your attention away from the road to push those keys. I fail to comprehend how anyone could think this would be a good idea.

And besides: how is it that we need to take our regulatory cues from Utah? Seriously, get it together, states.

How’s this for a survey question:

Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements on a scale from (1) strongly disagree ro (9) strongly agree.

 

I have a pet.

1 - Strongly Disagree

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 - Strongly Agree

Do I strongly not have a pet, or only halfheartedly not have a pet? Does that mean I halfheartedly do have a pet?

I’m putting 5. Schrödinger’s cat.

“Does anyone have the phone number of the Internet so we can order a sendmail?”

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Internet-Sure!.aspx