Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

“Does it fit the story I like?” has become a proxy for “true.”

Yeah, not all of the answers are in “the data.”

“Bullshit artist” is a construct that is defined and studied by folks who are trained and use things like statistics to test hypotheses. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising, but still when it is first encountered, it causes one to sigh.

I still don’t understand prescription drug advertising. I can’t buy the stuff why is is marketed to me? Then I remember the beer and cigarettes ads my friends and I could recite as young teens.

Your service was terrible and it was way to expensive. I don't think you really want me to fill in your customer service survey.

"Scientists reach their conclusions for the damndest reasons: intuition, guesses, redirections after wild-goose chases, all combined with a dollop of rigorous observation and logical reasoning to be sure." - Stephen Jay Gould

Yeah... faculty... don't share students' work without their knowledge and consent.. especially with AI.

"If you are not here on time, you are out of here." Yeah... if you are faculty in any school who maintains this "policy," you demonstrate you do not known what is fundamental to your profession.

Some ideas you can be told, but those aren’t very interesting or important. Those you are must be taught are more interesting and important... and if you are lucky enough to be taught to by someone who understands learning, all the better.

Little Feat is the best band I forget to listen to.

“Productivity” is a wonderful concept, except that it is really meaningless is many contexts.

Reading to audio books, I find I more quickly understand the overall argument, but I miss getting into the details, immediately marking references to read, adding marginalia, etc.

“We observed this...” and "It is correlated with this other thing...: can be confirmed.

“The second was due to the first” is much more difficult to confirm... and your conclusion is assured to be incomplete... whether you admit it or not.

Those folks who advocate computing as a public utility... we need to listen to them.

Education shouldn’t be about answering questions as much as it is about making connections.

Which came first the bee or the flower? Seems a more interesting question.

Yeah, can we all agree no envelope should be manufactured that one might be tempted to lick to seal it?

“Our ways of learning about the world are strongly influenced by the social preconceptions and biased modes of thinking that each scientist must apply to the problem.” -Stephen Jay Gould

Course grades are really a measure of “ability to negotiate relationships in a hierarchical social organization.” If we recognized that maybe we wouldn’t waste so much energy fretting over them. #education

The problem with giving your strategy a catchy name is that folks stop there and don’t get into what you really mean. The problem with not giving it a catchy name is no one will ever hear of it.