The Fora: A Higher Education Community

You mean...stuff actually happens in the first 10 minutes of class each day?  Who knew?

We've had staff members who were the same way about the first 10 minutes of the work day.  Or at least they tried to be that way....

Quote from: kaysixteen on April 23, 2024, 08:12:05 PMAnyone see 'Civil War' yet?   Worth seeing?

The Captain America one?  Yes, it is excellent.

I got an email from a student complaining that "you said I missed class, but I've only missed one.   YOU'VE canceled 3!" 1 cancelled, 1 moved online, 1 snow day.

When I explained that being late 12-15 minutes every week is the equivalent of missing 2-3 days worth of lecture, she was confused.  "What do  we do in the first 10 minutes of class, anyway?"

All that stuff you didn't know about.....

I'm now dealing with what I think are "favorite, why didn't you email me?" emails. 
Stu was absent from lab two weeks ago.  No email to me or their TA.  Now they are "alarmed" to see the 0s in the grade book. 
"But I was sick!"
I'm sorry they were sick, but I'm not psychic.
And yes, there are instructions in the syllabus, class website, & my "welcome to class" email saying what to do if you are sick & miss class.  I only start tracking folks down if they miss an exam or 2 weeks in a row.

Good morning!

Finally straggled to genius with the pangram, but it was tough today.  Yesterday we almost had team QB but were missing tantulum, numbat, and some other word I forget at the moment.

I also had the schmofficial vestibule-endow.  I agree, ciao_yall, LB has been tricky!

Happy solving!

Good morning!

QBwSBB help to find alumna, numbat, and my last word, tantalum, which required not only the SBB hint, but a search for an alphabetical list of elements. Sheesh. Today I'm struggling with the last three words; I got the pangram early on, though.

LB: vestibule-endow, which was the "official" solution. I have a 2fer today also.

Happy puzzling!

Some T1, some refereeing.

Iran seems to be considering Hamas as "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and supplying them with weaponry, but other than that, is there any material assistance coming into Gaza from the Arab world?  If there are huge protests in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or elsewhere about what is happening to their co-religionists I have not seen any mention of it.  It's not as if Egypt opened the Rafah crossing to let in any refugees.

It seems as if the protests are coming only from milk fed, middle class American college students at Ivy League schools brought up on a diet high in content about power, colonialism, and privilege.

My take on the whole situation is two-fold.

Hamas made a horrific miscalculation.  I think they figured that if they could provoke Israel into an all out shooting war, the Arab nations would come to their aid militarily.  That does not appear to have happened other than maybe some food aid air drops.

Second, Netanyahu completely buggered up the response to October 7.  I can't think of any example where a superior military power was actually able to dislodge a rag tag militia that can hide among the populace, take a few pot shots, and disappear back into the crowd.  Destroying Hamas was a fool's dream.  And now he has a tiger by the tail and is either too stupid or too afraid to let go.  Alternatively, he has the taste of blood in his mouth and has decided he likes it.

There are no good guys in this debacle. 

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on Today at 07:50:14 AMIs there a better word I should have used? Because it wasn't an accident, and it was a war crime (deliberately killing unarmed civilians and prisoners is forbidden by international law).

Hamas seems to be able to get the best of both worlds. It can be seen as "defending" the people in Gaza, but the atrocities it commits can be overlooked because it's not actually overseen by any government, (so pesky things like international law don't apply to it.)

Quote from: Ruralguy on Today at 07:28:00 AMAlso, sorry, but please be careful in using words like "murder." Murder implies intentionality. Although a soldier intentionally shot a weapon, they certainly didn't intentionally shoot a hostage from their own country.

I mean, they were unarmed, unclothed, waving a flag, and yelling in Hebrew, explaining that they were hostages. They wounded one who crawled into a building to hide, and they hunted him down and killed him. They may not have intended to kill three hostages, but they certainly intended to kill three unarmed people. It's a distinction without a meaningful difference. If I plot to murder my rival but the person I kill turns out to have been his brother, it's still counted as murder.

Is there a better word I should have used? Because it wasn't an accident, and it was a war crime (deliberately killing unarmed civilians and prisoners is forbidden by international law).