CH302 Random Musings February 2, 2006 1. So some folks have noticed I got a hair cut. And now, the rest of the story. Everyone who goes bald comes to know if in different ways. Sometimes you can just look in the mirror. But if you are tall, and you bald on top of your head, you only really ever know it from the occasional photo taken while you are sitting on the floor playing with your kids. Or in my case, the most common way comes when I am Flowbeeing my hair. For those of you who don’t know what a Flowbee is, it is a device you attach to a vacuum cleaner that chops at your hair like hedge trimmers while the vacuum sucks the hair up in the air (See below—a picture is worth a thousand words). Brilliant in its simplicity, I have been Flowbeeing my hair for 25 years. I haven’t had an uncomfortable conversation with a hair stylist for a quarter century. In the process, that $50 investment has saved me about $5000 in cheap haircuts. Of course that saved money has been spent on other infomercial products, none of which have ever worked. So I have only broken even financially. Back to balding. You may have noticed my hair sometimes gets pretty long. That’s is because I won’t cut it for an entire semester. The reason? When you Flowbee, you hear a kind of growling sound as the hair is cut. A very satisfying growl. But as I have grown more bald, the growl I should hear as I run the Flowbee over the top of my head has grown silent. An ever widening silence that I can no longer bear.2. Quiz 1 results are in. The highest average score ever—a 94%. Proof that you have learned to take things like practice quizzes seriously in figuring out what is on a real quiz. Either that or you guys are the smartest class I have ever had. 3. A comment on complaining about unfair questions. Be aware that I value fair exam and quiz questions and quite enjoy watching a class of 500, try to rip apart the HW Service questions because ambiguity or error makes a problem unfair. So it is fine to e-mail me if you believe that is the case for a question on a quiz or test. Do make sure you provide a rational explanation for your concern—the better the argument the more likely I will listen, and whining is a definite turn-off. In some cases I also will look at the general statistics for the class to determine if a high percentage was similarly misled. No hard feelings though--if I consider your concern and then decide a question was fair and say so, that will be the end of it. 4. Quiz 2 is on Tuesday. It will cover Chapter 8 material with the following question types represented: 1. Calculating ΔH for a substance across various phase changes 2. Interpreting phase diagrams 3. Theory of solvation of salts in water 4. Ranking miscibility in liquids 5. Clausius-Clapeyron calculation (he can’t be serious) 6. Van’t Hoff ranking of magnitude of colligative properties 7. Raoult’s Law in a binary system (he can’t be serious) 8. Colligative property calculation You might be wondering where the practice quiz is. There isn’t one. I did that for the first quiz because I felt sorry about dropping so much material on you all at once fresh back from the break. But now that you are the smartest class I have ever had, I think you will do just fine on quiz 2 by actually completing Worksheet 3, which includes problems very similar to calculation types 1, 5, 7 and 8 on the quiz. Oh, a couple of calculations on this quiz are pretty substantial and will require considerable practice. 5. If you can’t see your first quiz grade on the HW Service or can’t figure out a HW Service issue, do us both a favor and DON’T E-MAIL ME. Instead, go to the regrade request site on the web, download a regrade request, and hand it to Alexis in class. Remember, you only have two weeks to rectify grading issues. 6. Where are Dr. Laude’s Office Hours? I know it is a pain, but with the number of students attending my office hours varying between 1 and 200 on any given day, it is hard to find a room that is just the right size. Besides, I like having my office hours in my office where I can host intimate gatherings of upwards of 30 students. But when those tests and quizzes roll around, intimacy goes out the window and a room for a couple hundred seems more appropriate. So how to know which is which? Method 1. I will tell you in the musings each week. For example: • Every day leading up to the exam on the 14th will be held in a classroom rather than my office. • Every day after the exam on the 14th, and for the next week, I will use my office for the next week. Method 2. Make up a little poem to assist with a common sense assessment. Here are two I have come up with: If there’s a quiz or a test, it’s not in Dave’s nest Or Is there a quiz or test soon? Go to the classroon.One of your classmates also provided some. Most make no sense to me or seem just wrong, but hey, I don’t get today’s youth so maybe you’ll like his better. For example: • If you don't want your grade to go 'ka-boom' see Dr Laude in a larger room • On days when you use a calculator, Judy will say "see you later" • If you'll be nerv-ous, there will be more-of-us • If you will fill out a sheet, Dr Laude is across the street • You don't want to say "oh no?" then go to WEL, BUR, or GEO • Monday is Welch, Tuesday's hours are Geology, Wednesday and Thursday are Burdine, I should've taken Astrology! 7. The Peer Assistance Effort is up and running and likely to be quite full over the next week leading up the exam. I have arranged meal cards for the off campus sorts who will be assisting. If you ahven’t been contacted yet, e-mail me to see what the snag is. In the last couple of days, some others of you have indicated an interest in being a peer—at this point I think we are full, but I will forward your names to the TAs and you can confirm with them any availability of spots. Even if you aren’t formally a peer, I do hope you appreciate that this peer effort is a very flexible effort to get students engaged in active learning. You don’t need to be a peer assistant to be a peer assistant, if you catch my drift. Any effort you make in an active learning environment with others to propel the learning forward is what matters, and you can do that regardless of whether you eat dinner with a TA. 8. Next week we …
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