I’d like to name a street, “WhatTheFuckAreYouDoingToThatMonkey”.
“So, where are we meeting?”
“Oh, 2117 WhatTheFuckAreYouDoingToThatMonkey. Bye”
How much more interesting would life be? Both for the one saying it (who gets to say something awesome) and the one hearing it (thinking, “OK… so what was going on there and what street are we meeting at!?!?”).
I wonder what such a street name would do to property values…
I’m sure we’ve all heard of the “Double Slit Experiment”; here’s a pretty decent look at it:
Danger!Danger!Danger!Danger!Danger! - This clip is part of a film (“What the bleep do we know?”) made by a cult. From what I can tell, though, this clip is pretty decent until it goes to the “How did the particle know?!?!?” garbage. The particle didn’t “know” anything - but in order to observe something, something ELSE has to bounce off of it during its journey (Enter Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle).
I’d like to say that I’d fully vetted this video, and it’s nearly spot on the mark. The best I can do is say that it seems to largely fit with what I’d puzzled out about the experiment on my own. The Wikipedia page on the topic is completely unapproachable.
We now know the source of the evil Replicators!
RBC Royal Bank!
DAMN THEM! Only they could be so devious!
(That’s right… one of the designers for the show hit “view/source” in his web browser one day, while doing personal banking, and chucked it into the show. Pure awesomesauce)
Oh my God. Painful in the extreme.
My selection bolded. Survey link here.
For which semester did you pre-enroll for courses: (select all that apply)
Spring 08 Fall 08 Winter 09
Overall, how would you rate your experience using the pre-enrollment software:
Great Good Average Below Average
What aspects did you like best about pre-enrolling for courses? (select all that apply)
I like being able to indicate my course choices so the University can plan to offer what I want I want to avoid having conflicts in my schedule I like using software that is easy to use and this was easy to use I like to indicate campus location, day vs. evening and DE vs. on campus preferences for the courses I want
What aspects did you find disappointing about pre-enrolling for courses? (select all that apply)
I found the software difficult to use I selected my courses and then found out that the Department will not offer the course The timing of the pre-enrollment period is not convenient for me I still had conflicts in my schedule despite pre-enrolling I indicated my preferences for specific courses and did not get them There was nothing I did not like about the pre enrollment process
ERROR!:You must not check any more than 4 choice(s). [OK]
Pre-enrollment for Winter 09 occurred between June 23rd - 29th, did you pre-enroll for Winter 09?
Yes No
You would be more inclined to use the pre-enrollment software: (select all that apply)
If the instructions were better and the software was easier to use If the program was marketed differently If pre-enrolling guaranteed that you would get an enrollment appointment, otherwise, you would have to wait until open enrollment If I better understood the benefits for me to pre-enroll If my selections more closely resembled my resulting timetable If the time period to pre-enroll occurred during the enrollment appointment period, right now there are too many dates to remember I like it the way it is I do not want to pre-enroll for courses Other (please specify)
The process for inputting courses is rediculously time consuming - I end up having to specify things I should never need to specify (Why do I need to tell you what campus I want the course offered at, when it throws up an error when I enter everything but the ONE campus where the course is offered? How many campuses do we have that we need to use sloppy and un-intuitive letter codes, why not dropdowns?)
Why does the page need to freeze and partially reload after every entry? Why do I need to manually add 5 lines? Why can I only add 5 courses? (I’d like to add spares so the schedule can “fall back” to other options instead of leaving me a course short)
Setting “Priority” levels is extremely unintuitive, and it’s very unclear exactly what they do
Why do I need to specify “time of day” preference? I know there’s only one bloody option that’s going to be offered for my class, and it’ll depend upon the prof’s preference.
If there’s a conflict in my courses right now, one of the courses gets dropped and then other people are inserted into the class up to the class limit - meaning that the prenrolement process PREVENTS me from taking classes I need (I’m 4th year in an aggressive program - All my class selections are priority #1 if I want to graduate on time)
There’re more… I’d wager there’s a character limit on this text box though.
**Oh god… kill me now.
-First option asks two things - I shouldn’t need instructions if your software was better
-“Marketed differently” - what do you learn from this question? NOTHING! “OH, DIFFERENT you say” - “Different” leaves you with infinity other ways to suck ass
-I don’t even know what three is asking… entering 4th year, and I don’t know what they’re getting at. I’d wager they never actually tested this survey with their target audience.
Do you have any feedback for us in regards to the pre-enrollment process?
Yes (Please Specify)
The preenrollment process is unintuitive, unhelpful, and ultimately prevents me from getting the classes I need.
The idea isn’t a bad one - but the implementation is utterly horrible. I was still trying to settle the mess this process made of my Fall classes when I had to select my Winter classes. I think that bears repeating - I DID NOT KNOW WHAT MY FALL CLASSES WERE, AND I NEEDED TO SELECT WINTER CLASSES. This is a huge problem.
I hate this process, and I hate that it wastes my time when, ultimately, people still get stuck in horrible situations.
Heck, even your “survey” is unintuitive and unhelpful. You have some of the best in the biz on campus, just a few doors down. I’d wager this thing was never checked over by them.
Did you guys even read this survey before you put it out? Why is this text box non-wrapping? I shouldn’t need a horizontal scroll bar here. See, a fundamental usability issue which could be solved with two minutes of work, but nothing is done because no one gives a damn. Congratulations, I’m sure all data you collect from this will be garbage, but since it was “a survey” you’ll pretend it actually has value.
Take a first year research methods class. You’ll learn a lot.
No
The window then closed without any indication of why. When I went to the window that LAUNCHED the survey window, I saw this:
Thank you for participating in this survey.
Ugh. What TRASH!
After some big Freedom Of Information Act lawsuit, the compensation for University Presidents is now coming out!
Before, all they had to do was disclose the raw numbers for anyone over $100,000 (like every other public sector employee). Now they’re disclosing some of the more juicy bits. Full article from the Globe.
Here’s my favourite one:
“People with this kind of talent and skill set are not easily available,” said Colum Bastable, chair of the board of governors of Hamilton’s McMaster University, which has taken the most heat for its promise to pay its president $1.4-million in annual instalments of $99,999 after he retires in 2010.
$100,000 is the magical reporting number. Oh, and that’s apparently IN ADDITION to his 6-figure pension. That’s real nice of a publicly funded institution.
Apparently paid leaves after they’re done their term as President is common as well - it used to be that they’d use that time to do some research and get back in the academic game. Now, though, a lot of presidents aren’t even from academia, so the “no strings attached” leaves are just a gigantic perk.
No word yet on what UW’s paying Davie.
Here are a few of the geekiest minutes you’ll ever experience.
That’s right - an animated singing, dancing, musical extravaganza to explain why perpendicular storage is awesome.
Whoda thunk it?