Random Notes from a Crank

The past month has featured one disappointing series finale and a movie as a series finale. 

The much talked about Game of Thrones series finale shows what the last two seasons have been, a foray into HBO fan fiction. I was a bit surprised that Jon offed Danerys, but I don't get the logic of Tyrion's claim that Bran the Broken has the "best story." The best story of all is Jon Snow's. 

All in all, the last season was rushed.

And Martin still hasn't published the last two damn books. 

With much anticipation, I watched the Deadwood movie. I enjoyed it. It didn't end with a neatly wrapped ending, but we can assume that Hearst gets off on the murder of Charlie Udder because based on historical accounts, he did just fine for himself. It was nice seeing the bastard get beat up though. 

Regardless, it was a pleasure to watch those Deadwood characters again. 

Pacific Standard has a great article outlining that trickle-down economics is a scam: "The IMF Confirms That 'Trickle-Down' Economics Is, Indeed, A Joke." 

Random Notes from a Crank

I was happily surprised to read Tom Philpott's article in the May/June issue of Mother Jones. In "Playing Chicken," the author informs readers about how Perdue, the chicken industry giant, has gone to not using antibiotics. Let's hope other meat producers follow their lead because Perdue has based its decision on science and the fact that antibiotics really don't significantly increase weight gain. 

The President killed it at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner. 

I'm not surprised at all that students who have a "consumer" mindset to their coursework often get lower grades than students who see themselves as learners. Read all about it in "Students with Consumer Mindset Get Lower Grades." The final ¶ is noteworthy because students are getting that attitude from somewhere: "Government, too, should be cautious when talking about the ‘value’ of higher education purely in terms of a financial transaction as it may encourage students to feel like they are simply buying their degree. As a result, they may start to develop a ‘you teach me’ attitude rather than one that fosters effortful engagement with their chosen subject.”

I'm glad to see the Game of Thrones tv series has rediscovered the Iron Islands. I suspect they'll play catch-up with the books as new happenings unfold. I had suspected Ian McShane will play Victarion Greyjoy, one of my favorite characters in the books, but that doesn't seem to be the case. 

Random Notes from a Crank

For major writing projects in my courses, I provide the criteria I use when I evaluate their work. For larger projects, I sometimes create what I call "alternate criteria" just for kicks. I thought I'd share the alt criteria for a recent project:

A Successful Teaching Portfolio (Alt Criteria)

• Provides quality writing
•  Lights a candle of pedagogical knowledge
•  Instills pistis in the reader
•  Has rhetorical kung fu
•  Puts the critical in critical thinking
•  Is enjoyable to read
•  Exemplifies phronesis—practical wisdom
• Assures the reader that you know what you’re doing
•  Makes the mind step lively
•  Seduces the reader with smart ideas, policies, assignments, and lesson plans
•  Shows that the Teaching Force is strong in you
•  Offers prose free of hokum, claptrap, “Engfish,” gobbledygook, administrative-speak, and logical boondoggles
•  Is a hooey-free zone
•  Seeks vengeance on anyone who ever doubted your ability as an instructor
• Creates the sound of one hand clapping 

That's me quoting my professional self, something I rarely do on this blog. Don't get used to it. Those hyperlinks above might take you to some places though. 

With the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, I wonder if anyone has approached Cheech and Chong about doing a movie? 

Regardless, I'm curious about how much tax revenue those states will generate from pot sales this year. 

Typical of HBO's adaptation of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, this season's first episode of Game of Thrones sexxed up the storyline. If I remember right from A Storm of Swords, when Tyrion and Oberyn Martell meet for the first time, they do so on the road to King's Landing. Instead, HBO has Tyrion Lannister going to a whorehouse to meet the Red Viper, and the first scene that introduces Oberyn and Ellaria Sand plays with the backstory that they're both bisexual. Classic move, HBO. 

And if you're a fan of the series, here's "Death Never in Games of Thrones Never Looked So Beautiful" from Mashable. 

Random Notes from a Crank

A new business opened this summer in the small college town where we live. It's called Fruit Chill, and the establishment's fare is frozen yogurt. It's a partially self-serve deal. There's a whole process. You go into the store, grab a cup, and then yank on the dispenser of what flavor you want. Last time we went there, the flavors were pomegranate tart (nonfat), blueberry tart (nonfat), French vanilla, cookies-n-cream, strawberry, and double chocolate. My favorite has been the nonfat mango, but that got replaced by the sweet-salty pretzel flavored yogurt that Mrs. Nasty likes. Nevertheless, the next part of the process is where employees take your cup of yogurt, and you select what toppings you want on the yogurt such as M&Ms, various nuts, gummi bears (my kids' favorite), honey granola (my favorite), chocolate sprinkles, multicolor sprinkles, and so on and so forth. The topping of sprinkles got me pondering. I'm wondering if there are any food chemists who have tried making a different kind of sprinkle. What I'm calling for is a sprinkle made from vegetables. The food manufacturing giants have made strides creating juices that are a mix of both vegetable and fruit juices to sneak vegetables into kids and adults' diets that they sorely need, especially considering the sobering news about the health of Americans if you've watched Weight of the Nation or read reports on the subject. I want the food chemists to make a mainly vegetable-based sprinkle, which would be injected with some type of natural sugar (honey would be good) and other compounds to make the sprinkle stay together. Think of it, as a parent, you'd get to feel good about kids getting sprinkles. Hell, you'd be putting sprinkles on all kinds of dishes. Kids and adults would have another means they'd get part of their recommended daily intake of vegetables. In fact, if you want to turn it up a notch and make this sprinkle notion more alluring for kids, why not make the sprinkles in the form of little snakes for dramatic purposes: "Hey, Tommy, how 'bout some sprinkle snakes on your mashed potatoes?" Tommy would be eating up that stuff with sprinkle snakes all over it. So if you see these veggie-based sprinkles, or even better sprinkle snakes, coming out soon, you can thank yours truly. And I'd like a kickback for coming up with the idea. Take note food chemists out there, you thievin' mofos.

Stories like this one scare the hell out of parents. Unfortunately, these disappearances don't seem rare anymore. And this hits close to home because both my brother and sister live in Evansdale (right next to Waterloo), and my brother's house is right on Meyers Lake.

Last week, someone good-naturedly called me a "big cheese" at my place of work. I laughed about it, but that comment also got me thinking: If I were a cheese, what would I be? I'm going with sharp cheddar or smoked gouda.

As I noted in late May, I went on a binge of watching episodes of The Game of Thrones. Shortly thereafter, I figured I'd give reading the books -- A Song of Ice and Fire series -- a whirl. As I said before, I haven't read a book that would could be labeled as fantasy fiction since junior high school, back in the early 80s. But this book series has sucked me into its world. Currently I'm over halfway through the third book, Storm of Swords, and will be reading the fourth and fifth books. The books have a plot-twisting quality to them. In addition, the author of the series, George R. R. Martin, made a masterful choice by using third person omniscient and having each chapter told from a certain character's point of view. He's taken a technique from Faulkner (think of As I Lay Dying) and other authors and made it more palatable by working in third-person. There are so many excellent characters, and unlike other fantasy fiction I remember reading, there's a great deal of moral ambiguity in these tomes. Even though there are supernatural and fantastical elements to the story, the books read more like historical fiction and political intrigue, which works really well for me. I've become addicted to reading the novels.

And if you've read the books or watched the series on HBO, you might be pleased and/or surprised to learn that two characters' names -- Arya and Theon -- have become popular baby names. Arya is one of my favorite characters in the books so far, but I'd never associate my kid with Theon Grayjoy. I guess it's better than naming your daughter Cersei or your son Joffrey -- but not much.