Teachers Who Don't Teach and Don't Really Care

This topic is a real serious peeve of mine. I have had mostly decent and fair teachers all throughout my educational experience - but there have been a few who were absolutely awful. There are some who care nothing about their students' success. There are those who justify their lack of appropriate instruction as just the way professionals do it. They care nothing about the consequences of their actions. Then there are the teachers that reward students who kiss their backsides and reward those who do favors for said teacher rather than grading based on the work the student does in class. I have had my share of all three types and because I was expecting to get graded on my abilities in class with the material covered - I ended up getting burned - I failed or was forced to withdrawal when it was possible for me to do so.

In my Junior year in high school I started out with good grades - with some room for improvement. Then around November of that term - I came down w pneumonia and was out sick for about two weeks. When I came back - most of my teachers were considerate and understanding and gave me the chance to make up the work I missed, gave me extra time to study for exams/quizzes, or gave me extra credit to keep my grades up. In essence they gave me a chance to succeed. Unfortunately, two of my teachers were not nearly as decent or understanding. They refused to give me a chance because they could not be bothered and did not give a damn about a student who was initially doing well in their classes. Both of these teachers expected me to take the exams coming up at the same time as the rest of the class - claiming that I had as much time as everyone else to study for them. And my chemistry teacher downright refused to let me make up the missed lab assignments. Before I got sick - my guidance counselor was so impressed with how well I was doing she encouraged me to look into some good colleges and universities for after I graduated. However, because of these two teachers refusing to give me a chance - my guidance counselor changed her tune - saying that I'd have to make up the missed work, etc., over the summer - and that I might want to consider going to community college. So, in essence, I was severely punished for getting pneumonia.

Then there was the college English teacher who gave the good passing grades out to the students who did a special favor for her - and started flunking everyone who did not do so. I just thought the woman had it in for me only - and I could not figure out why - until I talked to another student who was in the same boat as me. My essays for the class started out w passing grades. First a C, second paper got a B, and the third an A. At this point, it was just past midterm. Then she mentioned that she needed some folks to help her paint her house if anyone was available. Those available decided to help her out - since she seemed like a decent and good teacher, giving fair grades, etc. After this event took place, she started giving all those students who did not show up to paint her house F's on every paper for the rest of the term. I ended up getting an F, and another girl got a D, only because she had straight A's since the first paper. That's how I knew the teacher was a fake. As a matter of fact, when she looked at the rough draft of the paper she gave me the F on - she said it looked really good and well written and that I would likely get another A. The rough draft was almost identical to the final paper.

Then there's the physics professor who just did not believe in teaching the material we needed to know in order to take and pass the exams. He actually said as much to the entire class - after most everyone in class failed the first exam. He even insulted everyone for being losers and for not studying - except we all studied what he went over in class and read the text as instructed to do so. The point is - he did not test on the material he went over in class. This makes no sense. Why teach a class in the first place - unless you're going to teach it in the best way for students to learn the material - so that they have a chance to learn and pass the exams. Again, a teacher who did not believe in giving students a reasonable chance at success. Very inefficient and ineffective teaching style. The most disturbing about this professor's teaching tactics is twofold. First, the head of the physics department later told us that unfortunately most physics, math, and chemistry professors at major universities teach this way. Secondly and the most disturbing, most engineering students are taking these exact same classes and are not learning what they really need to be learning - like gravity, tension, pressure, and other major natural forces and processes in nature. These engineering students get severely curved grades so the professor doesn't lose tenure. This lets the students pass but without the knowledge they took the class to learn in the first place. Now we have engineering mistakes and disasters that are costing people their lives because of the failure at the educational level.

Hey, if you don't want to be a teacher - then don't be a teacher. But, if you want access to the goodies - the perks - that come with the teaching position - like labs available for your research and experiments - then you may have to teach - but at least do it the right way. Students and their families are going into severe debt to pay for and take these classes. The least a college or university professor can do in return is teach the material that the students need to know for the exams and for their careers. The best professors I ever had - did teach this way - the right way.

Giving Honest Scientists a Bad Name

A couple posts ago I mentioned about the spam I was getting enticing me to buy a PhD. Yes, I was a wee bit upset - I have issues about this due to the fact that several years ago I had to do a research paper about intelligent design and the Discovery Institute - which I also mentioned. The thing that quite literally pissed me off so much was the fact that there were a bunch of guys over there in that so-called think tank who were parading around PhD's in Geology - a field that I know all too well - while at the same time claiming that evolution is not reality and other very obviously scientific theories, etc. I could not - for the life of me - figure out what college on this planet would award such out-of-touch-with-reality morons who do not even know what the scientific method is - PhD's in geology. So, I did a bit of background work on them - they had bought their PhD's and used them dishonestly to pretend they were real world scientists - so that Congress would take them seriously.

I am sure that those schools that give out these types of degrees are doing it for good reasons - to give some well deserved and serious folks who just have lots of other real life stuff they have to deal with - a leg up. However, thanks to the dishonest jerks at Discovery I. - they have given such degrees a bad name and a very ugly reputation.

The intended purpose was to give serious scholarly-minded individuals who might have some real world obstacles - esp. financial - or even a family to care for - a fighting chance at proving themselves worthy of that piece of paper. The D. I. "geologists" took advantage of this - but dishonestly so. They prove it by their arguments - if you want to call them arguments at all - in favor of I. D. Real scientists are very logical people - but the D.I. are extremely illogical - their arguments make no sense in any way. This is why real scientists won't waste their time dealing with them. Unfortunately, this hasn't stopped them from pushing their holy scriptural doctrine through legislature - against the separation of church and state - which is a firmly held part of this country's political and governing process. They are so anti-American and anti-science that it's hard to believe any American could or would ever give them any funding to keep their bullshit "think tank" running.

The Discovery Institute is the primary cause of the dumbing down of our American educational system and our society. They are akin to the monstrous Nazis - trying to infiltrate and destroy this country from the inside. Their degrees should be recalled by the schools that gave them out - esp. considering that they have not proven themselves as scientists by the rest of the scientific community.

Thanks Discovery Institute - for all your honest work - sincere concern for the state of our nation's educational standards - and your logical and realistic worldview.

Thank you, thank you very much!

Weight Loss Peeve

More peeves from me. This time about the weight loss stuff that comes through my email filter. It's not as easy as it seems to those without weight issues to comprehend. Starving oneself is not a realistic option. Neither is over the counter meds and supplements. There is no magic pill out there. Besides, it's very detrimental - bad - for one's health to lose lots of weight very quickly. The human body needs time to adjust to the change. Altering one's diet and increasing their physical activity as much as possible is the only way that really works. The science does not back up all the hype out there about obesity. As a matter of fact - most of the info [hype] is not backed by the scientific research at all. The science actually contradicts the mass media bullshit out there. I have yet to see one person lose weight by drinking diet sodas - it never worked for me - or anyone else I ever knew. Eating one meal per day while in high school actually caused me to gain most of my extra weight.

One has to change their mindset and make certain adjustments to their daily eating habits and activity levels for the pounds to melt off safely and easily. There has never been a quick fix - and never will be - not a safe one at least. Support from family and friends is also essential to success in this matter. Not sabotage - emotional or otherwise.

Thank you - thank you very much! Ba - Da - Bing!

A Bit of an Update

Just want to pop in and give an update on what's happening with me.

Less spam on buying degrees - but still some comes through anyway - fortunately not as much.

Just had a death in the family and will be doing the funeral thing all weekend in my home town at the usual place. So, work is still on hold at the moment.

Hopefully next week I will be able to finally get some more work done on the paleoclimate class work. I found a decent tutorial online - actually it is a second set of class notes - it never hurts to add something. I still need to talk to my professor since he was out of town doing field work. I must get cracking on the various research projects I have lined up as soon as possible. I'll need to do field work for many of them. Some locations are out of the question - like Jericho - due to terrorist activity in that part of the world, but it doesn't hurt to do as much as I can preemptively.

As for the big project that is already underway - I do have a really good piece to add in at the last minute - but I do not want to go into too much detail - in case the technology falls into the wrong hands. Obviously, security features will have to be added. And the last piece to be added will be the piece de resistance - but nobody knows about it but me - and that is how it will stay until I consult in person with my top guys.

Until next time...

Remote Geiger Detector and a Rant

I have been thinking about a great many things of late. And regarding the subject of the K-T Extinction event - I do believe it would be useful if we could detect radioactive materials with something like a Geiger counter but from a safer distance. This could be useful for finding the remains of meteorites - if in fact they are radioactive in nature. It would be useful also for doing any research associated with past nuclear disasters - such as Chernobyl and other places. These areas are obviously unsafe for people to study first hand with any realistic safety - but we should still be able to study the after affects in order to gain a greater understanding and hopefully prevent future disasters like them.

On another note - I am a bit peeved about something I have noticed popping up in my spam filter. Some folks actually have the nerve to send ads attempting to entice me to practically "buy" my own PhD. You know the ones - the nonaccredited "universities" and such. I have no use for such things. If a PhD is in the possible future for me - then it will be by honest hard work - not by the quick, dirty, and in my mind highly suspect and dishonest means of acquiring any sort of diploma. If I am meant to achieve such a point in my career - I will do it the right way - not the sleazy way. Such a degree has to be earned through the proper channels. I seriously doubt that there is a single Rhodes Scholar out there who ever earned any of their degrees by such a route. I am not attempting to compare myself to them by any means but the route they took to success should be a litmus test of sorts for anyone trying to earn any degree: Associates, Bachelors, Masters, or Doctorate.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do various things - the honest hard-working way and the lazy dog way, respectively. The wrong way reminds me of when some classmates would pay the smart kids to do their homework for them or the ones who just wrote the right answers from the back of the math textbooks instead of actually using their own braincells to figure it all out. They always did really bad when the exams were passed out - because they never did their homework. This is not the way to become the next Einstein, people!

As a matter of fact I am one of those types of people who have absolutely no respect whatsoever for any person who goes about getting any degree in this way. Do they even have to endure the rigorous comprehensive and peer review? Who do they consider their peers under such circumstances? What kind of dissertation could they possibly give and to whom? What do they write their theses about? Are their arguments valid and sound? Do they follow the basic laws of logic and reason? How is honesty and integrity foolproofed? How do we know Joe Smith actually did the work required to back up his claims? Who was his advisor(s)? How are we to know whether or not he may be lying and faking his results?

A case in point: The Discovery Institute of Seattle, Washington - if it still exists - has many of it's members and affiliates who have "earned" their so-called PhD's by this route. I am not entirely sure but I do believe that some quite literally bought theirs'. And our country allows these losers to have some say over important issues like what to teach children in biology class. Yes, I am speaking of their "intelligent design" wedge movement. Their primary argument is a case of what is called circular reasoning. It's akin to defining a word with the word itself. It is empty and illogical and has no meaning whatsoever. But the DI argues the case so convincingly that members of Congress actually fall for their Sophist-like arguments - something like dishonest lawyers. Scientists rely on logic and these morons are so close-minded and illogical that it is practically impossible to have a decent discussion about their claims. This is why real scientists and scholars won't get involved - because as my mother always used to say - you can't argue with crazy people. And the DI is obviously quite daft. They are like the head lemmings and actually expect the world to follow them into the abyss.

Ok! Enough of my ranting for awhile! Until next time...

Project status and other issues

Just some points to cover... Big Red is officially off the project. An action he has recently taken with respect to a personal matter between us, has proven that he can not be trusted in any way on the Remote Sensing project - or in any other way for that matter. All words he has said, whether they were voiced or in other formats have all been lies - and his actions thus far, all deceptions. Due to the very serious nature of the project - I cannot trust him in any way or on any matter - EVER. As Trump would say - Big Red, YOU'RE FIRED! You WERE the weakest link! You have disgraced and dishonored yourself and your professors and others by your choices and actions and makes one wonder about you apparent upbringing. As the REM song asks: What's the frequency Kenneth? Apparently, you chose as low as you could go.

My other helper is still on board and is willing to keep at it. I got a message from his big brother recently about it. I will attempt to send the right stuff in your direction, my old friend - stay tuned for further developments.

I have been reading American Prometheus lately - the biography of J Robert Oppenheimer. It is very interesting and gives quite a great deal of insight into his life and career - personal and professional. Surprisingly, he reminds me of someone I know very well - striking similarities, in fact. Almost spooky!

As far as my research projects are concerned: I intend to start making some serious headway on the Deccans project. The really irksome matter, as someone pointed out on a previous post - we are unable to actually do any fieldwork onsite at the Deccan Traps. This is quite unfortunate since it holds many clues to that puzzle. Especially important is the seriously altered Moho layer underlying that volcanic province. Maybe once the other computing project is finished, we can develop a means to detect various features like faults, oil and gas reserves, and other important resources. This could also be helpful to anthropologists and archaeologists to find old burial grounds, mass graves, and other large manmade objects. Mapping the ocean floor more extensively would be helpful as well.

A thought on AIDS research: I am wondering if researchers have looked into the cat kingdom for potential answers since both big cats in the wild and our domestic cats are prone to feline AIDS. There could be a potential solution to this problem down that avenue. It doesn't hurt to look into it. Remember how Penicillin was originally found. It may be something in the genes in both humans and cats that gives the virus an advantage. Have we even done a genome on HIV and AIDS yet? I certainly hope so.

Until my next post... Onward and Upward!!!

Endgame

The remote sensing invention will still happen, because I told my friend I would help it come into reality. I say what I mean and I mean what I say - 100% of the time - at least for the most part. Actually, the reality of the situation is that I do believe I have found a couple great guys who are tech savvy enough to take on the job. One is a very old and dear friend of mine. Hi there Tom. Take good care of your mum - she's a great lady - and like a second mum to me.

And the other is the man I love more than anything else in the Universe and can not imagine living my life without him. Actually he's the man I will marry - hopefully very very soon. Actually, the sooner the better. Hey there Big Red! Love ya baby! How long do you expect me to wait around? I was starting to worry - but you're my one and only. My old man! Wink wink! Besides, do you or do you not want to be happy and successful? I am sure your parents and the rest of your family would want that. I cannot imagine a parent who would wish their son or daughter anything less than this.

Yes I have edited this post - big time. The original was necessary - but I recover fast - down but not out for too long. Can't be doing that. ...Now where was I...oh yeah...

Don't know what to do about paleoclimatology class. Thanks to an unfortunate series of circumstances, it looks like I might be waiting around awhile to retake it. Such is life!

Until next time - or nextpost... We're going to the chapel and we're goin to get married...goin to the chapel of love.