Every day is a new day and with that, a new opportunity.
EVERYONE is welcome and please join us each morning at 7:30 AM PACIFIC
to tell us what you're working on, share your show & tell, vent, whatever you want...
...this is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.
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For three years, I moonlighted as an adjunct professor of journalism with the usual adjunctive advantages of no benefits and low pay. But, unlike the other adjuncts, I had a full-time job besides, one that eventually took over so much that the teaching gig had to be surrendered if ever I was to sleep.
Teaching basic reporting can't be handled by a few exams. Hands on is not an option, it's a requirement. For students that means actually reporting, which means actually writing. For the teacher that means editing. Lots and lots of editing. And since the best editors must also be mentors as far as the craft goes, it means mentoring these rookies as well. And that takes time and energy. All of which leads, when you have another job, to the above-mentioned loss of sleep.
When you're in the early weeks of the term, and it's not yet clear which handful of students will have to be gently and mercifully told this-isn't-really-the-field-for-you, the editing process can be quite a hoot. Even students who will later do great work are prolific in the errors department—grammar errors, factual errors, spelling errors and, worse, spelling the name of a quoted source wrong. And worst of all, misspelling the name of someone's deceased kin in an obituary.
Some of those errors were hilarious. Like the time a student-reporter noted proudly in her first paragraph that a new Chinese-American teacher of chemistry she had interviewed spoke Mandolin. Some errors, had they made it into print, would not have been so funny, as when an accident-reporting assignment came back with the line (I swear): "She broke her jowl, wrist and female (femur) when the car turned over."
Over three years, dozens of goofs like those. I should have saved them all for book. I am, after all, a sucker for blooper reels and books that catalog mistakes of any kind. So, when I recently ran into one at a bookstore—Yes, I still go to those occasionally just to spite my Kindle—I had to buy it. It's Richard Benson's F in Exams: The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers, a thin trade pub.
Many of the secondary-school students whose test questions are featured knew they weren't going to get an answer right, so they went for what they perhaps hoped was funny enough to maybe lasso themselves half credit. I never have tried that because I'm not funny. Some of the students weren't trying to be funny but succeeded anyway. (Now that I can do.)
Among the questions and answers:
• What is the process for separating a mixture of chalk and sand?
It is a process called flirtation.
• What is methane?
Methane is a smelly greenhouse gas that is produced when trees and/or cows are burned.
• Adam cuts his arm. Blood gushes out and is red in color. What does this show?
He is not a robot, he's a real boy!
• In the Hawaiian Islands there are around 500 different species of fruit fly.Give a reason for this.
There are approximately 500 varieties of fruit.
• What happens when your body starts to age?
When you get old your organs work less effectively and you can become intercontinental.
• There are 300 students in the 10th grade. Mary and Mark want to find out the 10th grade's favorite color. Mary asks 30 people. Mark asks 150 people. Mark says: "My conclusions are more likely to be reliable than Mary's." Why does Mark think he is right?
Because Mark is a man.
• What is a network?
When you chat with people you don't like to try and get a job.
• Which artificial waterway runs between the Mediterranean and Red Seas?
The Sewage Canal.
• How does Romeo's character develop throughout the play?
It doesn't, it's just self, self, self, all the way through.
Okay. Enough of that. How about you? Have you tried funnyness as a last resort on an exam? Or do you just leave questions you don't know the answers to blank? And, if you teach, what great stuff have you found that you had to knock off points for while you were laughing your head off?
Latest Updates on Kossack Regional Meet-Up News Below the New Day sunrise cloud
:: COMMUNITY BUILDING UPDATES ::
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Let's build communities!
Every region needs a meatspace community like SFKossacks.
We take care of each other in real life.
I urge YOU to take the lead and organize one in your region.
Please tell us about it if you do and we're here for advice.
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THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
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Click >>>HERE to see a list of all the regional Kossack groups that have organized for social and activism events. There are handy links to contact each organizer to join.
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>>>Instructions on HOW TO FORM A NEW DAILY KOS GROUP
:: Events Currently on the Books for ALL Kossacks ::
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June 27- June 30th
Glacier National Park Kossack EPIC Meetup!
TIME: 24/7
LOCATION: Glacier National Park
402 9th St W • Columbia Falls, Montana
ORGANIZER: Send arizonablue a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. BlueJessamine
2. arizonablue
3. Mr.arizonablue
4. Truman
5. Ojibwa - arriving for the weekend
6. MTmofo
7. figbash!
8. spottedbear
9. jakedog42
10. Oke
11. cooltraveler
12. Mr.cooltraveler
13. state of confusion
14. Lute the Norwegian
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15. Josh Blue
16. Thinking Fella
17. Blu Gal in DE
18. NormAl1792
19. winifred3
Maybees:
Joan McCarter
slksfca
Ed in Montana
BoiseBlue
BoiseBlue GF
Timmethy
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Latest diary: Glacier National Park Check In! Glacier National Park Meetup - Part II w/ lodging and campground info!
Saturday, June 29th
Houston Area Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Goode Company Taqueria and Hamburgers
4902 Kirby Drive • Houston
ORGANIZER: Send Chrislove a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. Chrislove
2. nomandates
3. suesue
4. Mr. suesue
5. cosette
6. Delilah
7. MarciaJ720
8. jmbar2
9. mister mustardhead
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Maybees:
GrannyOPhilly
Mr. cosette
Bridgitt (honorary Kossack)
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Latest diary: Houston Area Kossacks: Meet-Up Scheduled for Saturday, June 29!
Sunday, June 30th
SFKossacks Watch the Gay Pride Parade
TIME: Meet 10:00 AM, Parade at 10:30 AM
LOCATION: One of the Montgomery BART Stations
The one at Montgomery and Market, across Market from the Palace Hotel • San Francisco
ORGANIZER: Send navajo a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. slksfca
2. dharmasyd
3. kimoconnor
4. navajo
5.
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Maybees:
SanFernandoValleyMom
Sychotic1
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Sunday, July 7th
Chicago Kossacks Go to a Ballgame!
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Fifth Third Bank Ball Park
34W002 Cherry Lane • Geneva
ORGANIZER: Send NormAl1792 a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. NormAl1792
2. figbash
3. broths
4. Mr. broths
5-10. edwardssl & her family
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Maybees:
winifred3
luvweasel
Jennifer Clare
luvsathoroughbred
Mr. luvs
ScottyUrb
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Latest diary: Chicago(land) Kossacks Meet-Up July 7: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
New York Hudson Valley Kossacks
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boran2
Saturday, July 13th
NY Hudson Valley Kossacks' First Meet-up
TIME: NOON
LOCATION: Hudson House
2 Main Street • Cold Spring, NY
ORGANIZER: Send boran2 a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. boran2
2. thankgodforairamerica
3. betson08
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Maybees:
ask
curly
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Latest diary: [Coming soon!]
Thursday, July 18th
Phoenix Kossacks Meet-up for navajo
TIME: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Rancho de Tia Rosa
3129 E. McKellips • Mesa
ORGANIZER: Send arizonablue a kosmail to attend.
navajo's in town one day, even though it's a Thursday we hope you can make it.
RSVPs:
1. arizonablue
2. Mr. arizonablue
3. navajo
4. Azazello
5. Mrs. Azazello
6. ninothemindboggler
7. Mrs. ninothemindboggler
8. thomask
9. mrs. thomask
10. BluejayRN
11. Late Again
12. Mother Mags
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Maybees:
Kane in CA
Kane in CA friend
cosmic debris
PSzymeczek
Mr PSzymeczek
Mr. Late Again
dewey in the desert
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Latest diary: ATTN Phoenix Kossacks: Let's Welcome Navajo to the Valley of the Sun!
Saturday, July 20th
Dkos Asheville, North Carolina Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: The Bywater
796 Riverside Dr. • Asheville
ORGANIZER: Send randallt a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. Randallt
2. Gordon20024
3. davehouck
4. Joieau
5. SteelerGrrl
6. SteelerGuy
7. Captain Sham
8. Smiley7
9. DawnN
10. Phil S 33
11.
12.
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Maybees:
eeff
Audri
gulfgal98
PearlJamSteelworker
Amy
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Latest diary: DKos Asheville Open Thread 5/18/13: Frogs and tomatoes and snakes, oh my!
Sunday, August 4th
NYC Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: Noon
LOCATION: Spitzer's Corner
101 Rivington Street (Ludlow) • NYC
ORGANIZER: Send Sidnora a kosmail to RSVP.
RSVPs:
1. joanbrooker
2. mconvente
3. belinda ridgewood
4. Yasuragi
5. sidnora
6. Its the Supreme Court Stupid
7. blue jersey mom
8. kathny
9. ask
10. rubyr
11. plf515
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Maybees:
andgarden
wader
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Latest diary: New York City Meetup - August - Choose your date
Send navajo a kosmail if you post a diary about an event so we can update our round-up.
Okay. Floor's open.
Tell us what you are doing on this NEW DAY?