SallyCat

High school history. I teach AP European history (1450-present) and a sophomore World History course that starts around the late Middle Ages and ends with the 1919 Versailles Treaty.

The Spanish Inquisition, certainly, but that was brought into Spain to persecute and drive out Jews and Muslims, not really to root out and correct heresy for purely theological reasons. The Roman inquisition was more dedicated to "inquiry" and you usually had to work pretty hard to end up dead by their hands. Incidentally, the Roman Inquisition has been a boon to social history, since we learn a TON about illiterate rural villagers that we would never know except for trial records. The Richard Gere film Somersby for example, is based on Natalie Davis' The Return of Martin Guerre: a true story based on the trial of a man accused of being an impostor. Carlo Ginzburg (The Cheese and the Worms and The Night Battles) has basically made his career as a historian by raiding inquisition trial records and writing about what they tell us. And what they tell us is really cool: early modern peasants believed some weird, fascinating shit.

Relatively, but it was still a state religion, and I think Germany and England saw more witchcraft persecution in the seventeenth century than any other Euro countries. Actually, I shouldn't have said that Protestantism had a dampening effect, just that there's some data to show that there were more Catholic scientists in the early-modern period than protestant, and that the causal connection between protestantism and science has probably been overblown. Luther didn't exactly embrace science, but by the 17th century, Protestantism was much more favorable to it. Funny, though, that it's evangelical protestantism today that attacks science more than other religions in America.

Eight in ten Americans say they belive in angels, and more than half reject evolution. High- rise buildings lack a 13th floor. And yet: iphones. What makes our culture modern is that our scientists don't belive in angels. Don't get me wrong, we have powerful institutions devoted to thwarting science. The motives tend to be financial rather than supernatural. You'd like my class, eaf, and I'd like having you as a student. Our next reading is from Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World.

I didn't realize readers would take such a deep dive into the student's work. I should say that this is not a formal submission. They have a midterm exam next week that will contain one of two possible essay questions. This student has sent me a draft and asked for feedback. Thus, I'm not terribly concerned with small grammatical errors. This particular question is about the development of scientific empiricism and its impact on traditional sources of authority. Heresy is beyond the scope of the paper for the most part. What I want them to understand is that there were traditional sources beyond just the Bible (Galen& Aristotle, e.g.) , and that scientists trusted those sources not because the Church demanded it and not because they were foolish, but because they operated within an institutional and intellectual paradigm that made it inconceivable that the sources could be incorrect. In which case, expecting them to "think outside the box" as we like to say, is somewhat unreasonable. Even Copernicus was essentially working within the Ptolemaic system, not trying to debunk it in its entirety. Now, the advocacy of empiricism in the public sphere, especially in astronomy, could get a person in trouble, though in fact it tended to be Protestant churches that had a dampening effect on the advancement of science moreso than the Catholic Church. (Poor Bruno was convicted more for his unorthodox theological ideas than for his heliocentrism). So, Galileo's trial is interesting of course, but we're looking at the development of modern scientific methods as a whole.

It's a little joke. They know they're supposed to capitalize it but they constanly forget. I don't use the comment feature because I want to be as intrusive as possible. If I leave a student's text alone by commenting marginally, they tend to think their text is fine and doesn't need revision, no matter what I say in the margins. I've found that I need to force them to go back and at a mimimum remove (better yet, address) my edits. This is not an essay that requires citation, so the student is in the clear on that score.

That's Jack. Sally was his older sister who alas is no longer with us. You would like Jack: his main interests are eating meat and pooping.

You are not the first or ten-thousandth person to suggest that. I do what I want.

Saturday, January 13, 2018 My Couch I planned for today’s trip by checking the weather forecast carefully throughout Friday evening and then not setting my alarm for Saturday morning. Just no. Awakening at a positively adolescent 7am, I loaded my gear onto the coffee table and began the day’s mission. Stoke levels were high, since the weather was warm and dry; really perfect essay-grading conditions. I chose my 13-inch MacBook Air, which I think was the right tool for the conditions. Definitely the right length, though I could have gone with a 15” for more visibility. There were no crowds at the couch save for an old, snoring tabby. I estimated being able to get in about 7-10 essays per hour and I wasn’t wrong. Low stoke level. In a total gaper move, I checked PASR before getting started. A real distraction. I think I need some lessons on how to stay focused. I don’t want anyone lower than a level III instructor, though. I have unique focus issues. Once I got down to business, the day turned out to be more challenging than I’d hoped. I expected strong, clear, and thorough thesis statements, and instead found myself slogging through piles of hyper-generalized bullshit about “people” doing things “back in the day.” I had to deploy a lot of warnings about using the first-person voice and ended up taking more breaks than I’d planned because it was just rough-going at times. Disappointing conditions here. I’ll probably keep at it until the evening, but I’m definitely going to hit the kitchen for a couple of beers later. A good day overall. Better than unemployment anyway.

Alas, you're right. It drains pretty well, but not that well. You'll all just have to avert your eyes because you're gonna see some spectacularly shitty skiing tomorrow.

Soft spring snow is a BLAST. You just have to pay a little attention to waxing carefully. Last year my last ski day was July 3 at Mammoth. Everyone says "the snow is heavy, it's warm, you really need to slow down in the spring." Fuck that. I came here from Louisiana: it's NOT hot here in April, heavy snow makes everyone a hero, and what's not to like about soft bumps and beer on the patio!? I like to finish the season sunburned, broke, and exhausted. And YAAAAAAAAAAAAS to loving winter thanks to skiing!

Ok, ok! Skiing it is! Tough life.

True. And all my bike stuff is packed away for the winter; would be a pain in the arse to get it out. Maybe I could score a job somewhere that has a climate that allows for skiing and mountain biking in the same day.

Thanks! I'm sorely tempted to get out the bike and ride the Trex trails tomorrow, followed by a zen jump-shot session in the school's empty gym. I'll change my mind 30 times between now and the morning.

I'm fairly work-free from now through Tuesday and will ski as much as possible. Dunno about tomorrow--what're the odds of it being a big sheet of ice? Guess I'll have to go up and see.

EDIT: Oops, sorry, Indiggio already said this.

When I lived in New Orleans my Mardi Gras crew rolled at 7am & I was on the breakfast committee, in charge of mimosas and bloody marys. Never underestimate the fun of early-morning public drinking. I spent part of the day throwing beads at the evangelical preachers on Canal Street with their hateful signs. Very satisfying.

I said I'd like them to take a look at it and see what they could do. So they came back and said "broken," which at first I thought was fine, but if it was such an easy fix...ah, well... no sense worrying about it. Next time I'll be more assertive and ask to speak to the tech. (I did not need the skis immediately and expected to drop them off and pick up another day. I was in street clothes when I entered the shop). On a more positive note, I had a weird issue with the bindings on my other skis Monday night; All of a sudden, I could lift my toe up and town inside the binding very noticeably, (Solomon Warden's. Do not recommend. They squeak like an old barn door, too). and it made me nervous. So I brought them into the shop just on the off chance that they could help, and they did. Took them 20 minutes and when I went in to pick the up the shop tech came out and explained what he'd found and what he'd done (super nice guy who also works in the bike park's shop in the summers. I can't remember his name; dammit). He also told me to come back for adjustments if I needed them at no charge if any movement returned. That's actually way more typical of my experience with the shop and I was very happy.

Just heard from the shop to which I returned my skis. Here's what they said: "Somehow the insert for the screw had become smooth so there was nothing to screw into. We had a helicoil inserted into the opening and fastened into place which gave something for the screw to latch onto. " So I'm a little bummed because I feel like Blue's shop might have been able to do that, or if not, they could have told me what I needed and I could have done it myself. The skis should arrive Monday if I'm lucky. If the planets align, I might be able to spend a full day Tuesday on new skis.

That's a pretty gaper move, but at least you didn't sexually assault the potatoes. If I ski in the spring with GSS, remind me to bring my rape whistle. Word. You can't shove your turns in mushy snow.

Well, that's one day that really shouldn't be white anyway.

Kids are fine; it's administrators that make you want to go back to waiting tables.

Sorry, I can't type for shit on my phone.

That sounds about right.

Old boots, but I have really tight calves evidently, so I have to do the stretches they taught me in PT or else I get forefoot pain. I haven't been as diligent lately as I should be.