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  #211  
Old October 1st 04, 05:02 AM
O J
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On Thu, 30 Sep, Seanette Blaylock wrote:

Several books and stories I'd have otherwise loved were absolutely
ruined for me by high school English classes that did this.


Tell me, did you ever have one of those English teachers who wished he
or she had been a Shakespearean actor? We didn't study The Bard in
high school, but one of my teachers sure hammed it up when we studied
Marlowe.

Regards and Purrs,
O J
  #212  
Old October 1st 04, 05:02 AM
O J
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Posts: n/a
Default

On Thu, 30 Sep, Seanette Blaylock wrote:

Several books and stories I'd have otherwise loved were absolutely
ruined for me by high school English classes that did this.


Tell me, did you ever have one of those English teachers who wished he
or she had been a Shakespearean actor? We didn't study The Bard in
high school, but one of my teachers sure hammed it up when we studied
Marlowe.

Regards and Purrs,
O J
  #213  
Old October 1st 04, 05:18 AM
Seanette Blaylock
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Default

O J had some very interesting things to say
about A Miracle Story (WAS: Latest news on "the eye"):

Several books and stories I'd have otherwise loved were absolutely
ruined for me by high school English classes that did this.

Tell me, did you ever have one of those English teachers who wished he
or she had been a Shakespearean actor? We didn't study The Bard in
high school, but one of my teachers sure hammed it up when we studied
Marlowe.


Not that I recall.

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL
  #214  
Old October 1st 04, 05:18 AM
Seanette Blaylock
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

O J had some very interesting things to say
about A Miracle Story (WAS: Latest news on "the eye"):

Several books and stories I'd have otherwise loved were absolutely
ruined for me by high school English classes that did this.

Tell me, did you ever have one of those English teachers who wished he
or she had been a Shakespearean actor? We didn't study The Bard in
high school, but one of my teachers sure hammed it up when we studied
Marlowe.


Not that I recall.

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL
  #217  
Old October 1st 04, 11:55 AM
Howard Berkowitz
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In article , "Elise"
dragon and thistle at snet dot net wrote:

Jumping up and waving hand Algebra!!! Cut Algebra!!!!! Yeah! When
was
the last time you figured out what "x" was in real life! ;

Hugs,

CatNipped ----- whose gradepoint average was brought down by the
dreaded
math


I must admit to figuring out what "x" is equal to on a fairly regular
basis.
Of course I loved Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus in school and hated
picking apart various well-told stories to find the deeper meanings
within.

A pet peeve that DH and I were recently discussing: Why can't a story
just
be enjoyed as a story? The only one who truly knows the deeper meaning,
if
any, is the author. In the case of most classes in English Literature,
most
of those authors were long since deceased. Perhaps the teachers held
regularly scheduled séances?



Admittedly computer science rather than literature, but I still remember
a brief and dubious sampling of one graduate program. I was taking a
course in [of interest to CS people only] discrete mathematical
structures, and the lecture was on applications of finite state automata.

The professor happened to pull an example from a very familiar industry
document, a standard method of measuring network performance. He showed
a page, and said "the description here can be rewritten in our terms to
mean AAA".

I raised my hand. "Professor, do you think that BBB might be an
alternate interpetation?"

"Nonsense. This is clear."

A few minutes later, I inquired again, "could it be that the thought was
BBB?"

"No".

I couldn't stand it any longer. "Sir, I really think you should conside
the BBB interpretation."

He whirled around and demanded "why on earth do you think a silly thing
like that was in the committee's mind?"

"Because that's not what I meant when I drafted that section. You might
want to look at the list of coauthors."

It was clear he was tenured, as he changed the subject with barely a
blink.
  #218  
Old October 1st 04, 11:55 AM
Howard Berkowitz
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article , "Elise"
dragon and thistle at snet dot net wrote:

Jumping up and waving hand Algebra!!! Cut Algebra!!!!! Yeah! When
was
the last time you figured out what "x" was in real life! ;

Hugs,

CatNipped ----- whose gradepoint average was brought down by the
dreaded
math


I must admit to figuring out what "x" is equal to on a fairly regular
basis.
Of course I loved Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus in school and hated
picking apart various well-told stories to find the deeper meanings
within.

A pet peeve that DH and I were recently discussing: Why can't a story
just
be enjoyed as a story? The only one who truly knows the deeper meaning,
if
any, is the author. In the case of most classes in English Literature,
most
of those authors were long since deceased. Perhaps the teachers held
regularly scheduled séances?



Admittedly computer science rather than literature, but I still remember
a brief and dubious sampling of one graduate program. I was taking a
course in [of interest to CS people only] discrete mathematical
structures, and the lecture was on applications of finite state automata.

The professor happened to pull an example from a very familiar industry
document, a standard method of measuring network performance. He showed
a page, and said "the description here can be rewritten in our terms to
mean AAA".

I raised my hand. "Professor, do you think that BBB might be an
alternate interpetation?"

"Nonsense. This is clear."

A few minutes later, I inquired again, "could it be that the thought was
BBB?"

"No".

I couldn't stand it any longer. "Sir, I really think you should conside
the BBB interpretation."

He whirled around and demanded "why on earth do you think a silly thing
like that was in the committee's mind?"

"Because that's not what I meant when I drafted that section. You might
want to look at the list of coauthors."

It was clear he was tenured, as he changed the subject with barely a
blink.
  #219  
Old October 2nd 04, 04:45 AM
William Hamblen
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Posts: n/a
Default

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 19:28:07 -0400, Howard Berkowitz
wrote:

Today's miracle is tomorrow's routine, and perhaps obsolescent the day
after. We don't always have cures -- but we increasingly have reliable
methods to turn death sentences into manageable chronic diseases with
good quality of life--and tough financial choices.


I've got a copy of the 1940 edition of the "Merck Manual". It was a
different world then. Sulfa was brand new and the only antimicrobials
with any track record were Paul Ehrlich's Salvarsan and similar
arsenic compounds for treating syphilis. The tragedy of Massengill's
Sulfanilamide Elixir, which used toxic ethylene glycol to dissolve the
drug, was fresh news. My own father was run over by a dairy wagon as
a small child and had a compound fracture of his right arm. The
doctor wanted to amputate immediately as it was a dirty wound and
bound to become septic. My great-grandmother refused to let it
happen. They irrigated the wound continuously with Dakin's solution,
an antiseptic solution of sodium hypochlorite and boric acid, and it
healed. My grandfather nicked his thumb whittling a toy for one of
his children. The thumb became infected and eventually part of it had
to be amputated. He was sick for months.

  #220  
Old October 2nd 04, 04:45 AM
William Hamblen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 19:28:07 -0400, Howard Berkowitz
wrote:

Today's miracle is tomorrow's routine, and perhaps obsolescent the day
after. We don't always have cures -- but we increasingly have reliable
methods to turn death sentences into manageable chronic diseases with
good quality of life--and tough financial choices.


I've got a copy of the 1940 edition of the "Merck Manual". It was a
different world then. Sulfa was brand new and the only antimicrobials
with any track record were Paul Ehrlich's Salvarsan and similar
arsenic compounds for treating syphilis. The tragedy of Massengill's
Sulfanilamide Elixir, which used toxic ethylene glycol to dissolve the
drug, was fresh news. My own father was run over by a dairy wagon as
a small child and had a compound fracture of his right arm. The
doctor wanted to amputate immediately as it was a dirty wound and
bound to become septic. My great-grandmother refused to let it
happen. They irrigated the wound continuously with Dakin's solution,
an antiseptic solution of sodium hypochlorite and boric acid, and it
healed. My grandfather nicked his thumb whittling a toy for one of
his children. The thumb became infected and eventually part of it had
to be amputated. He was sick for months.

 




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