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Ok so my skitzoid marketing instructor sends the whole class an email telling us that if we leave class early and cause a disruption he will lower our grades. For some reason I seemed to have enough free time on my hands this week to go to war with him over this and I found it pretty interesting. Here is our email battles for all to see online. I started withhis origina email and ended with his last one. Everything is in order. Enjoy...
From now on in this class, people that leave and disrupt class are warned not to do this. If I can identify you and I think you did it intentionally, this will affect my impression of you and your final grade. For the rest of you, thanks for your attentiveness.
Dr. Skitzoid
So I got offended and wrote this...
I do not appreciate being threatened in Email. I am not using my Auburn account because I don't want you to alter your impression of me and dock my grade because you dislike me. However I am pretty sure that grading people on how
you like them is not in accordance with university policy. I believe that if you read the Tiger cub you will see that it does not really matter whether you like me or not.
Thanks
Skitzoid responded with this witty stinger...
There was nothing dealing with like/dislike in my message, it was merely dealing with classroom management procedures and the instructor has every right to manage the class properly. As long as you do not disrupt class, everything is OK. If you want to see me about this, come during
my office hours.
Of course I had to reply...
I have no problem with "classroom management" I am not talking about that. I think everyone would agree that the instructor has every right to manage the class properly. The point I am making is that statements like
"If I can identify you and I think you did it ntentionally, this will affect my impression of you and your final grade."
are threatening and imply that you will lower students grades simply because you dislike them. That may fall under classroom management to you, but to me that is a blatant threat, and I do not appreciate it. With statements like that being made there is no way I want to come by your office. I would be afraid to come near you for fear of affecting your impression of me and my final grade. Thats just what I need is to explain to people that I would have done OK in marketing, but the instructor disliked me so he lowered my grade.
No thanks.
Well he had a little something to say about that...
You are not seeing the point of the message. People were leaving early
and disrupting what I was doing in class. If you did not do this, you
have nothing to worry about. I will not hold it against you to come to
my office and then explain this to you. Classroom management deals with
the issue of leaving early without permission, not personal
likes/dislikes.
And I felt obligated to tell him he was wrong...
OK I think I am getting it now. You do not want people to leave class because it disrupts class. If a person leaves class early that will cause a disruption. If a person causes a disruption and you identify them, that will make you have an unfavorable impression of them. If you have a bad impression of a person then you probably dislike them. If you dislike some one then it is OK to deduct points from their grade even though that is not a grading criteria listed on the syllabus.
So even if a student makes high A's on their tests and assignments they could make a B' or C in the class because you invented new grading criteria based on a pet peeve of yours. I guess the reason for the confusion is because I did not see any of this in the sylabus, and it just came as a shock to me.
Thanks for clearing everything up.
He really told me this time...
You seem to feel strongly about the implications of my statement when there is no proof of the like/dislike aspect. Certain things are considered the norm of operating a class whether they are on the syllabus or not. I felt it was necessary to illustrate it the way I did
so it does not happen in the future. If this is not satisfactory to you, then you should drop the class.
I think he tried to dodge the issue and did it pretty well until that last one, but he just got lazy in my opinion. What do you think?
Ok so big man and I got into it again, and I am stubborn and a little arrogant so I decided to post the final emails between the 2 of us.
Mine...
Ok so basically what you are saying is that you never told the entire class
in an email that you would alter their grade if you had a bad impression of them? You never told the class that causing a disruption would alter your impression of people and their grades? Tell me where to look on the syllabus to
find the part about grading criteria that concerns ANYTHING other than the points earned by tests and assignments.
Classroom management has to do with keeping people under control. I understand that it is your job to do that. The like dislike aspect is not something I made up.
"If I can identify you and I think you did it intentionally, this will affect my impression of you and your final grade."
Let me break down what I read in that statement and you tell me how I mistook it. I hear you saying that if you catch a person leaving your class you will have a bad impression of them that will reflect in their final grade.
If you can show me how having a bad impression of someone is grounds for subtracting points from their grade then that is great. I read the syllabus and it says NOTHING about our grade being totaled based on your impression of us. There is nothing in there about us losing points because you got aggravated. I just want to understand, so help me out here and explain to me how I misunderstood
your words. Be very specific because we don't seem to be communicating here.
Thanks
Well he finally cleared things up for me...
As mentioned, the only way to clear the issue is to talk to you directly which is not going to happen. You
are the only person to do this email and the people that did leave without telling me called to explain why it happened. So, this will be the last email.
So basically I think this dude represents all that is evil whicle at the same time being a huge dork. In any case I still have a high B inhis class and he wears the same shirt to class every day. All in all I think I am the winner here.
Opinions?
Remember these times people because only in California will you ever see a highly paid body builder, a midget, a porn star, an aristocratic upity woman, a comedian who smashes fruit with a hammer, your next door neighbor, your third grade teacher, and some crippled guy who sells dirty magazines on the ballot to run for Governor!
Holy freakin crap, I stop watching the news for a few days and California goes nuts! Even more so than it already was! I mean who the crap decided that you can impeach a governor? The people voted for him in the first place didn't they? What caused them to change their minds? Oh yeah, I know what it was... They saw Terminator 3 and all had the same thoughts as the rest of us: "Whoa that was freakin awesome did you see that explosion? And that fight... and oh gee whiz what about that scene with the machine gun? I want that guy to be Governor!!!" I mean honestly who wouldnt want Aahnold to be in charge of their state? I think we could use a guy like him here. But if I was living in Califoahnia (Thats how Aahnold says it and that is what it will be referred to from now until the end of his term.)
Personally, I would vote for Gary Coleman. He hasnt had a break since he did that guest appearance on the Wayans bros. back in the day. I think he would make a good Governor of Cali because he represents that circus of a state better than anyone. Everyone knows you can't have a circus without midgets.
I called Cali the other day and asked if I could run, but believe it or not there actually are requirments and not just anyone can run. It is a highly important institution that the entire state takes very seriously. Yeah... and monkeys might fly out of your butt. ...Well they might, since this is the internet I dont necessarily know you. Whatever.
Im out. The world is a crazy place and if for one second any of you think that "normal" is something that happens the majority of the time then you are sorely mistaken.
I cannot believe the crap that I see on TV. I was flipping through the channels the other night and I was amazed at some of the crap we call entertainment. E! has got to be a network run by retarded 14 year old fat girls who can't live lives of their own, and can't get a date, so they have to exploit the personal lives of the no talent hacks we call celebrities. Don't get me wrong I am not sympathizing with celebrities, when you make 10 million dollars a year you can put up with dumb people telling lies about you on television. What you cannot do is pretend you know ANYTHING about politics or major issues. Which brings me to my next point.
If I see one more celebrity on the news or even in an interview telling me that I should agree with them because they have their own television show, or sleep with Jlo then I am going to slap some one. Leave the news to people who know what they are talking about. Like Jon Stewart.
Of course no TV rant would be complete without giving credit where credit is due. MTV sucks just as much rhino as any other network. Any network that give someone like Justin Timberlake credit for having no talent needs to be shut down by the brute force of an elite group of Army rangers who are pissed off because they didn't get to kill any of Saddam's henchmen in the fake war we are fighting.
And what is the deal with Justin Timberlake? When the freak did this guy decide he was black? Man I have no talent, and I am from a middle class background. Where the hell is my record deal? Where is it? Oh that's right, I don have the ability to sell out for some cheap popularity. I am so cursed!
Whatever I can't think of anything else about TV that bothers me right now. Maybe I should try watching before midnight or something. I bet TV is awesome during the daylight hours. Yeah... and next time I go to the bathroom I might just lay a golden egg.
If I ever post anything like this...
"The philosophy change is reflected in the title. The word "biomimetic" means exactly what you'd think it means. It refers to objects or systems that behave organically, or that imitate life. I was first introduced to this term as an engineering design philosophy. This philosophy involves studying nature to determine clever means to common ends. It's a good way to design things. Some common themes throughout nature are adaptation, and an ability to choose the most appropriate responses to a situation. These are the aspects of the biomimetic philosophy that I want to bring to this blog. It's going to change often. In fact, change will be the only constant. I hope this change brings productive evolution both for myself and for those who happen to look at this site. On that note, drop me a line, let me know what you think. And check back often."
...please send me an email telling me that I am nothing but a tool with my head stuck up my ass. I dont know where to start with this crap. Anyone who takes the internet this seriously needs to be kicked in the head and spat on. For more ramblings from a person who grossly overestimates their IQ go to http://www.auburn.edu/~padgeda/blog.html
Im out.
Ok, so I have been trying to use this space not to write about events that happen to me, but more for opinions and such. However, every once in a while something comes along that I just feel the need to share, and I figured this is as good a place as any.
Like any good story this one starts out with one of the all time best Intros... So, I was going into the men's room the other day and... We all know what goes on in men's rooms. In any case I was doing my thing at the corner urinal because it was the furthest from anyone else. Call me crazy but i just don't like doing that in front of other people. (I suffer from frightened turtle syndrome.) Anyhow this guy pulls up beside me and starts doing his thing. Any guys that have ever used a men's room know that no matter what happens over there you NEVER look to see what is going on. I don't know what exactly went on but I will try to describe it by what I heard.
I hear this guy walk up he clears his throat like he is about to do something big, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. He takes a couple steps back, which I thought was odd. I hear the unzip. There is a pause. Now, words will not be able to do justice to what I heard this man unleash next, so you will have to use your imagination. The sound I heard next was something similar to when you turn on the shower or a hose. It sounded like there was enough pressure in this mans bladder that he could have written his name across a billboard. To be honest I am surprised he didn't fly backwards across the room! It sounded like he was pissing with a fire hose. I really wanted to make sure that something hadn't gone terribly wrong but I was not about to look over. You just don't do that. I finished up and got the heck out of there because I didn't know if he was going to flood the place or what.
I don't want to make any hasty judgment calls, because I didn't really examine ANYTHING, but this man was African American, and I have heard rumors. I don't know, but whatever his deal was I am glad he found the men's room when he did.
Why are monkeys so darn funny? Of all the animals monkeys have to be the funniest by far. I mean who doesn't smile when they think about a monkey? The word itself is funny. Say it with me. Monkey. Monkey. M-O-N-K-E-Y. It's just fun to say. It works great to spice up otherwise dull phrases. Don't want to be hooked on phonics? Try hooked on Monkey phonics. Experiment with others, its fun!
It is a multi purpose word. Think of how many curse words you can substitute it for. For example... "Son of a Monkey!" Or... "Oh Monkey!" And don't forget "Go f*** a Monkey!" Well maybe that last one wasn't such a good example. Whatever.
Their behavior is funny too. They are always doing crazy things like climb trees and eat bananas. They eat bugs off of each other. And not to mention that whole throwing their poo gag. That's always good for a laugh. These are just such crazy animals. Ant to think we are only separated by a few links in the DNA chain. Simply amazing.
So from time to time I read other peoples websites and profiles and webjournals. While I am glad these people have the free time to post their thoughts there are some rules that should be followed.
1. Never use the word blog, blogger, blogerific, blogalicious, or any other form of the root blog to describe your site. I realize the name of this service, but that is a copyrighted name that is used to market the site and is supposed to be catchy and stupid. When you use these words you only wind up looking like a bigger ass. You cannot become cool by using nerd lingo.
2. Be careful what you write in your journal. There is a good chance no one wants to read it. If the most exciting thing that happened to you today is something that happened at work, and it happens every day then spare me. I do not care if the fat lady tore her pants again, or if the boss said something else stupid. Unless it will make me laugh, I do not want to read it. Think really hard before you waste my time with a stupid post. With that said this rule does not apply to me. I am creator of these rules and therefore above them. Deal with it.
3. If you suck in real life your website will probably suck too. Don't try to compensate for being a really big tool in real life by acting like a stud online. If you suck, then you suck. Believe me, it comes through over the internet.
Keep these rules in mind when posting things on sites like these. Thank you for your patronage.
I am flipping through the channels last night and I swear every channel has a few reality TV shows. I gotta get in on this action. Most of these shows feature a bunch of people hooking up or dating in one way or another. A few of them are more original and are aspiring writers hanging out with accomplished actors, or drunken comedians walking around major cities late at night. I am thinkin that I could make my own reality TV show that would actually be REAL. Something many of these shows lack. If there are any Hollywood producers reading this then get ready, because I am about to make you the pitch of your career.
Ok so What I would need would be 2 people to follow me around with cameras. I am talkin some good producers that can prompt me into monologues where I say a whole lot of stuff that could get me in a lot of trouble. The producers would follow me around so that people could watch my show and see what REAL life is like. That's right they can live it during the day, and then watch it at night. I think once they think they have a good idea of what life is like I could start introducing them to the people in my life that make it interesting (read drive me freakin nuts). Perhaps an ex girlfriend, or maybe a crazy professor. Now what is the catch you ask? Where is the elimination? What makes this show different? Well let me tell you.
So the cool thing for reality TV seems to be some form of elimination and a weird twist. Well I would allow the audience to vote on the most obnoxious person in my life each week. This person would then be kidnapped and knocked unconscious and shipped to one lucky viewers house so that they could actually live like me for a week. How cool is that? Oh yeah you vote on the most obnoxious person and then you might get to meet them!
Ok so I don't have all the kinks worked out, but I am getting there.
Have you ever noticed that soft drinks like sprite and mountain dew are being marketed as sports drinks? Their ads look just like Gatorade ads. Is there anyone who doesn??????t know that carbonated drinks dehydrate you? Not only that but they are just sugar long with the carbonation. What good is that going to do me?
Then there are the "real" energy drinks that actually give you energy. Have you ever read the back of a Red Bull can? That drink won't give you wings but it will at least provide energy like it claims. There is nothing in it except sugar and caffeine. Well there are some B vitamins too. Maybe those are what make it taste like piss.
Oh well, maybe I am just old fashioned but I will stick with water when I am actually working up a sweat.
I haven???t figured this out completely, but famous people seem to live in a world different from the one I live in. I see on the news that Demi Moore is dating Ashton Kutcher. I don???t know what to say about this because one part of me is thinkin congratulations to that lanky pothead. The other part of me is thinking that Demi Moore must be one of the stupidest most emotionally insecure women on planet earth to need a kid that much younger than her for companionship. Of course we all know that honor would go to Cameron Diaz. Cameron has found her validation little Justin Timberlake. Allow that to sink in for a moment. I can wait.
WTF? Justin freakin Timberlake? The squeaky voiced wigger from Nsync? I mean really what on earth could women see in this kid? Granted he is a wealthy entertainer, but so is she! It???s not like some lame 16-year-old girl who is infatuated with the guy because MTV says he is cool. This is supposedly a grown woman who is supposed to be able to think for herself. I guess money can't buy a clue. Props to homosexual Justin though. Gay dudes always get a few token cute girls who are convinced they can turn them.
The things the famous do are just weird. Not just who they date but the things they think they are entitled to. It is not unheard of for these people to clear out entire stores so they can shop in private. Who the crap do they think they are? Not only do these people think they get special privileges, but when you become famous you apparently become an expert on everything. I see more people on the news giving the President, and everyone else in authority advice. I am not an expert like they apparently are, but if the public voted for these people shouldn???t that give them more credibility than the walking headshots that are Hollywood?
I guess they are so weird because they can literally afford to be.
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