Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda by Flip-Floppers from Bibliotechnophobe

There is such a thing as too much... The Romans and their incendiary orgies, the Mayans and their jungle destruction for the gleaming white glory of their temples, the black gold hidden under the dunes, the smog and haze of modernity. Even in the face of better plans, the try and fail still gets its due, wisdom being gained or lost a matter for the beholders and beheld.


Alright, so here's my obligatory posting on my thoughts of this class so far. First, I really wish the online section would have been kept separate from the on-campus section. I don't really understand why this wasn't done, other than to experiment with Skype-cast whatever technology, and to experiment with a crash course in confusion for most of the students involved. Having 150 people posting on the discussion boards just gets out of hand, not letting a professor make their own curriculum for a class is always a bad idea, clarity on assignments and just what is expected of you in general gets drowned in the mud or everyone posting trying to figure it out. Things aren't as bad as they initally were; I stick to my group discussion board for postings (but even that is unfortunate because the opinions of the other half of the on-campus students won't get heard unless in class), this blog is manageable, the assignments seem to be clear now. I guess I and my classmates just have to grin and bear the fact that we're the guinnea pigs for whatever kind of distance education program they're experimenting with.

One thing I kind of don't appreciate is Prof. Wilson's blog. If you're going to be with the rest of the class in having to make one, then make one. Blowing it off with some silly language/gibberish generator is juvenile and really unprofessional. I understand keeping a "diary" isn't his "thing." But if you're planning on blowing it off/flat out don't want to do it, then at least invoke the "executive privelege" of the instructor to not have to do the same assignments as students. Simply put, if my teacher doesn't give a shit about it, why should I? Smooth move, exlax (as Weird Al might say. Alligator t-shirts, anyone?).

And as far as the discussion board postings, I think Prf. Wilson makes a point about people avoiding antagonizing one another with discussions. I went ahead and played devil's advocate with my discussion board posting this week (RSS feeds/libraries) to see how people would respond. But I'm going to have to side with the person who mentioned in class that being middle-of-the-road with ideas/opinions and being a librarian go hand in hand. Information, in the truest sense, isn't one-sided. I frankly enjoy my status as a flip-flopper; I like to think I see more of the totality of situations than the hero who sees it in black and white. Granted, it might not make for lively discussions/lead to things getting done immediately, or, more appropriately, it might not mean we're challenging our own thoughts enough, so making the class aware of this was ultimately a good point- after all, it gives me yet another idea to flop on, right? So I guess expect more devil's advocate from yours truly on ye olde CourseWeb. Over and out.


The heat has returned, and tempers flare like the prominences of distant stars, witnessed by the ruthlessly uncouth soothsayers riding comets to atmospheres far from the ones their lungs call familiar. Walking the sprites of heat lightning in the stratosphere the world over is the preferred term of service to the animating spirit than this life of action for the sake of results irreversible.