Exam Fairness Fail

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

I had an exam for my criminal justice class today. I’m generally much better at the essay portion than at the multiple choice, and they were weighted equally, so I decided to focus more on the essay so I could get a near-perfect score on it to make up for the multiple choice that I would most likely do poorly on. I quickly went through the multiple choice, then started on my essay.

For whatever reason, about five minutes after I noticed that someone had written “Time Remaining: 15 min” on the chalkboard, my professor’s alarm went off and he told everyone to stop. Of course, I was seated in the front, and the professor happened to be standing right next to me, looking at me, so I stopped without getting a chance to check through my multiple choice answers.

As I got up to turn my exam in, there were people still frantically writing, and some were even writing while they were standing in line to turn in their exams.

What I learned from this? If you want a fair shot at the curve, sit in an arbitrary seat in the middle of the lecture hall so you can get five extra minutes like everyone else, as opposed to sitting on the side so you have to stop immediately when time is up because your professor is right next to you.

 

Tip of the Day

If you’re in lecture and you notice a loose strand of hair on your paper, don’t grab at it or try to brush it off without first making sure that it is in fact a loose strand of hair.

Or else you’ll end up like me and end up noticing that this “loose hair” is still attached to the girl sitting in front of you.

 

Picture of the Day

Epic Grease Fail

Epic Grease Fail

I think this is an epic using the proper amount of grease on a pizza fail.

It looks bad now, but it’s nothing compared to what it was like as I was eating the pizza. As I lifted up each slice, there was a thick glossy layer of grease on the bottom of both the pizza and on the box.

This is what it looked like after I ate 3/4 of the pizza, let it sit (and dry) for a few hours, then came back and finished the remaining two slices.

If you look over at the top-right corner of the photo, you’ll notice that that’s where the lid of the box is, and it’s also covered in grease – that’s where I tried to wipe off the excess grease from the pizza slices.

 

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Topic #80: What non-exercise activity do you wish would keep you fit?

The answer to this one is easy – the non-exercise activity that I wish I would keep me fit is typing. Although some people addicted to using their computers may consider typing to already be an exercise so they have an excuse not to leave their desk, I don’t think moving your fingers and using the muscles in your forearms is enough physical activity to be considered exercise.

However, if I were to choose an activity that would be considered exercise that I do a lot, typing would be the best candidate. Because I’m an extremely fast typer (extremely fast being defined as faster than any other human being I’ve met in person before), typing takes more energy from me than it would from pretty much anyone else (unless there’s someone that has a unique typing style of lifting their fingers several feet into the air before hitting the keys). In addition, the amount of time I spend typing is still massive, even though I save tons of time by being a fast typer.

Thus, I think that if I got a full-body exercise from everything that I typed, I would essentially be one of the most fit people alive. Unfortunately, if this was the case, I would probably cut down on other outdoor activity that is considered exercise, though. For example, instead of walking to class, I would probably find a bus that takes me as close as possible to the building containing my lecture. As a result, I would probably not receive enough sunlight intake and get a shortage of Vitamin D and overall not become healthy.

But of course, that could easily be solved by doing some of my typing work outside.

 

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 21

Number of times I did my own laundry: 2

 

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Bus Bewilderment

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

 

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Topic #78: What is the strangest thing that’s ever happened to you on a bus? If you don’t take buses often, how about on an airplane? While driving to work? While walking home from school? And if nothing strange has ever happened to you while using transportation of any kind, what is the strangest thing you can think of that you wish had happened to you while using transportation?

I’ve never had any strange experiences on buses – weird things have happened, but they’re things that could happen anywhere, not only just on a bus. However, I do recall an event that other people on the bus thought was strange at the time.

I’m not sure if it’s like this for all public buses, but the buses at my university have a yellow cord that extends across the side of the bus. This yellow cord is the signal cord – you pull it when your stop is approaching so the bus driver knows that (s)he has to stop at the next bus stop. If the cord is not pulled and there is nobody at the stop waiting to board the bus, the bus passes the stop without stopping. Unfortunately, many first-riders don’t know this; if I hadn’t read through the Metro website before my first time riding a bus, I would’ve never known either.

One day when I was going to work, two women entered the bus. Apparently, they weren’t getting off very far from where they got on, and they were expecting the bus to stop at every stopping point regardless of if people were present at the stop or if the cord was pulled or not. When one of the women saw her destination approaching, she stood up and put her bag around her shoulder. As she shifted momentum to start walking towards the door, the bus driver passed the stop because nobody pulled the cord. She looked slightly confused and sat back down.

As the next bus stop approached, she got up again and put her bag back on her shoulder. As she again shifted momentum to start walking towards the exit door, the bus passed the stop without stopping. This time, she looked completely puzzled.

This went on for about two or three more stops.

As my workplace was approaching, I pulled the yellow cord to signal that I was intending to get off. When the bus got to my stop, it pulled over so I could get off. When the women saw this, they stared at me in bewilderment and gave me a “how did the bus driver know you were getting off here?!” look. I’m pretty sure this was the strangest bus moment for these women.

 

Picture of the Day

Sleeping Lawyers

Sleeping Lawyers

From my criminal justice textbook:

“… lawyers have fallen asleep during their clients’ death penalty trials, yet one Texas judge found no problem with such behavior. He wrote that everyone has a constitutional right to have a lawyer, but ‘the Constitution does not say that the lawyer has to be awake.'”

 

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 21

Number of times I did my own laundry: 2

 

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Don’t Have a Car?

This post is over 15 years old and may contain information that is incorrect, outdated, or no longer relevant.
My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

 

Picture of the Day

What Happens When You Don’t Have a Car But Still Need to Use the Drive-Through at the Bank?

What Happens When...

Easy.

 

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Topic #76: What’s your favorite number and why?

My favorite number is 8.

Figuratively, it’s the most symmetric numeral other than 0, and nice proportionality is important in being physically appealing.

As for the actual number, 8 appears very frequently in many different aspects of my family, including house numbers, birthdays, important dates, and sums of the digits of important values.

 

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 21

Number of times I did my own laundry: 2

 

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Monetary Happiness

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

 

The Daily Shoot Assignment of the Day

#DS496:

Today, let’s illustrate the emotion of being happy. Make a photograph that represents happiness to you.

Can Money Buy Happiness?

Can Money Buy Happiness?

 

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Topic #76: How do you find your muse? When you sit down to blog, or have a creative project of any kind you need to work on, how do you get yourself motivated to do it? What are your rituals or habits?

I actually have no problem motivating myself to blog or do a creative project when I get started on it; the problem I usually have is to stop doing other mindless activities (like watching YouTube videos made by random people) so I can actually get started on doing something productive.

Generally, when I encounter this problem and notice that I’ve spent a lot of time doing something unproductive, I usually set a specific time for when I’m going to move on to something productive, and start wrapping up my mindless activity. Another helpful thing to do is to remember how much I actually enjoy writing once I get started on it and try to get myself to look forward to it.

Once I start blogging, I usually get immersed in my thoughts and have no problem thinking of things to write. As long as I’m fully rested and alert, I can essentially write about any topic (even topics about which I have no background knowledge) because I tend to make random and intruging connections with topic prompts and past experiences that are so unexpected that they’re funny.

 

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 21

Number of times I did my own laundry: 2

 

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Switchless Mouse

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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

 

Tip of the Day

If you use a computer at the library, be sure to remember that you’re actually using a computer at the library.

Or else you’ll end up like me, and when you’re done using the computer, you’ll habitually go to turn off your wireless mouse, spend 15 seconds looking for the off switch, then realize that this isn’t actually your wireless mouse and you’re not actually using your laptop.

 

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Topic #75: What’s the biggest lesson you learned so far this year?

The biggest lesson I learned this year is not to wait under the sign if you’re waiting for the bus if the stop is near a corner, and to instead wait at the corner.

As you can probably see, I’m defining “big” differently than expected. I didn’t want to sit here thinking about the most important or meaningful lesson I’ve learned (and even if I did think of something, I probably wouldn’t share something meaningful to me anyway), so I decided that because buses are big, I would use that instead.

This happened back on October 28, 2010. I made a vlog abot it back then, and in case you didn’t watch it or weren’t around that long ago, here it is again.

(Yay for recycling content.)

http://youtu.be/5FMq5WdquYE

 

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 21

Number of times I did my own laundry: 2

 

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Big Black Creatures

This post is over 15 years old and may contain information that is incorrect, outdated, or no longer relevant.
My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

 

Tip of the Day

When walking outside and zipping up your jacket at the same time, keep in mind that massively large, extremely fast, black creatures generally don’t inhabit populated cities. Or else you’ll end up like me, think you saw one, and jump back in surprise before you realize that it’s actually only a shadow.

 

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Topic #74: Close your eyes. Count to ten. Then imagine a beautiful ancient castle (tastefully remodeled to include central heating, kick-ass wi-fi and WordPress.com ready laptops everywhere). Now walk down the endless main hall, a hall filled with amazing rooms of wonder. Go into the 2nd room on the right. What’s inside?

I open the door to this mysterious room and suddenly get blinded by light. As my eyes adjust, I notice that instead of walls, this room has windows. The bright light comes from the sunset that’s shining extraordinarily brilliantly into the room. I look around and see a bunch of grand chairs that look extremely soft and comfortable.

I approach one of the chairs and feel it, noticing that it’s made out of velvet. I keep rubbing my hand on it back and forth for the satisfying feel of softness. After I become content, I take a seat inside the chair. My whole body sinks in enough that I’m almost completely surrounded by plush chair and every part of my body is comfortable. I lean back to realize that the back of this massive chair is also just as soft as the seat, and I sink deeper and deeper into the back of the chair.

I look to my right and notice that my laptop is sitting on a table just within my reach. I grab it and open it up to notice a note that says “This laptop’s processor has been upgraded to the best processor available on the market compatible with your hardware and operating system, and its memory capacity has been maximized.” I open up my laptop and do what I usually do on a daily basis on my laptop.

After I get tired, I get up and go to the room next door. I open it up and realize that it’s a massive room, again with windows instead of walls. There’s a massive bed in the center, twice as big as a king-sized bed. I jump in the bed and my body sinks in the perfect amount so there’s no pressure anywhere. Then I fall asleep.

 

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 21

Number of times I did my own laundry: 2

 

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