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Date: 09 Aug 2007 12:25:11
From: !Jones
Subject: How do you ride a bicycle?
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I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
"Why is the sky blue?"
Jones
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Date: 13 Aug 2007 07:07:32
From: Marian
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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On Aug 11, 6:58 am, "(PeteCresswell)" <x...@y.Invalid > wrote:
> Per Phil:
>
>
>
> >http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/oneword.asp
>
> I kind of figured Snopes would have had it covered...-)
For my comprehensive exams at the end of university one of my
professors made a mistake in his phrasing and left out the bit where
the question says "explain in an essay ... blah blah blah".
It so happens that this particular set of exams was tailor made for
me. I chose the teachers, was given lists of reading material in
advance. No other student had those questions. Only me. Knowing the
professor very well I looked at this yes/no question that clearly was
not intended to be a yes/no question and wrote the word "yes" on the
first page of the blue book. I then skipped two pages and started my
actual essay.
-M
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Date: 11 Aug 2007 02:26:21
From: lightninglad
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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> The problem was to figure out what he wanted. A correct answer
> usually ran about four pages or so.
>
This is of course a failing in the education system. Whole classes
struggle to analyse what the question actually means because the
wankers that set the questions are often quite dumb. You pass 'exams'
by feeding back to the teacher what they told you, but in a different
format. It's got very little to do with learning.
How do I ride a bike? Laying down.
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 13:53:11
From: (PeteCresswell)
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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Per !Jones:
>I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
>question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
>Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
>depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
>question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
>"Why is the sky blue?"
I like the story about the prof who, on a philosophy final, posed
one question: "Why?".
Students filled entire blue books... but supposedly the student
who got an "A", answered "Why Not?"
--
PeteCresswell
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 18:54:19
From: Phil
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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(PeteCresswell) wrote:
> Per !Jones:
>>I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
>>question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
>>Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
>>depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
>>question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
>>"Why is the sky blue?"
>
> I like the story about the prof who, on a philosophy final, posed
> one question: "Why?".
>
> Students filled entire blue books... but supposedly the student
> who got an "A", answered "Why Not?"
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/oneword.asp
--
Phil
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 18:58:27
From: (PeteCresswell)
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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Per Phil:
>
>http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/oneword.asp
I kind of figured Snopes would have had it covered...-)
--
PeteCresswell
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 16:06:00
From: !Jones
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:53:11 -0400, in rec.bicycles.tech
"(PeteCresswell)" <x@y.Invalid > wrote:
>I like the story about the prof who, on a philosophy final, posed
>one question: "Why?".
I have heard that. I'm dubious, but I have certainly heard the story.
I had one once, in an education class, that went: "Write an
instructional objective appropriate for this class."
My answer: "The student will be able to write an instructional
objective appropriate for this class."
It must have worked because I passed. Never saw the final, though.
Jones
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 14:41:47
From: datakoll
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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On Aug 10, 10:10 am, "DanK...@gmail.com" <DanK...@gmail.com > wrote:
> On Aug 10, 9:26 am, datakoll <datak...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Aug 9, 8:50 am, "Carl Sundquist" <carl...@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > > "!Jones" <p...@off.com> wrote in message
>
> > >news:8i1mb31pc50nlhq43l69innp6dkv6c3fmp@4ax.com...
>
> > > >I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
> > > > question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
> > > > Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
> > > > depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
> > > > question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
> > > > "Why is the sky blue?"
>
> > > At this point of the summer, quite sweatily.
>
> > with great caution
>
> with reckless abandon- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
flip over dah rock and what do ya see....
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 18:30:28
From: Tom \Johnny Sunset\ Sherman
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
>
> flip over dah rock and what do ya see....
Sow bugs.
--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 14:10:00
From: DanKMTB@gmail.com
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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On Aug 10, 9:26 am, datakoll <datak...@yahoo.com > wrote:
> On Aug 9, 8:50 am, "Carl Sundquist" <carl...@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > "!Jones" <p...@off.com> wrote in message
>
> >news:8i1mb31pc50nlhq43l69innp6dkv6c3fmp@4ax.com...
>
> > >I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
> > > question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
> > > Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
> > > depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
> > > question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
> > > "Why is the sky blue?"
>
> > At this point of the summer, quite sweatily.
>
> with great caution
with reckless abandon
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 13:26:53
From: datakoll
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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On Aug 9, 8:50 am, "Carl Sundquist" <carl...@cox.net > wrote:
> "!Jones" <p...@off.com> wrote in message
>
> news:8i1mb31pc50nlhq43l69innp6dkv6c3fmp@4ax.com...
>
> >I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
> > question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
> > Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
> > depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
> > question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
> > "Why is the sky blue?"
>
> At this point of the summer, quite sweatily.
with great caution
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Date: 09 Aug 2007 18:28:06
From: Phil
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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!Jones wrote:
>I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
> question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
> Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
> depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
> question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
> "Why is the sky blue?"
>
> Jones
Ice floats because of its lattice structure. The sky is blue because of the
atmosphere. You ride a bike by turning right when you're falling to the
right. Same goes for the left. Next? :)
--
Phil
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 16:01:52
From: !Jones
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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On Thu, 9 Aug 2007 18:28:06 -0400, in rec.bicycles.tech "Phil"
<nice@try.to > wrote:
>You ride a bike by turning right when you're falling to the
>right. Same goes for the left.
You would not have passed. He wanted a discussion of angular momentum
and orthogonal vectors...the "right hand rule" and all that jazz.
The problem was to figure out what he wanted. A correct answer
usually ran about four pages or so.
>Next?
That would depend on whether or not that class was required. I
suppose it would be a visit to the registrar to change your major... I
hear psychology is an interesting topic and lends itself to such
simplicity.
Jones
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 18:52:55
From: Phil
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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!Jones wrote:
> On Thu, 9 Aug 2007 18:28:06 -0400, in rec.bicycles.tech "Phil"
> <nice@try.to> wrote:
>
>>You ride a bike by turning right when you're falling to the
>>right. Same goes for the left.
>
> You would not have passed. He wanted a discussion of angular momentum
> and orthogonal vectors...the "right hand rule" and all that jazz.
> The problem was to figure out what he wanted. A correct answer
> usually ran about four pages or so.
>
>>Next?
>
> That would depend on whether or not that class was required. I
> suppose it would be a visit to the registrar to change your major... I
> hear psychology is an interesting topic and lends itself to such
> simplicity.
I like not living from paycheck to paycheck, thank you very much ;)
--
Phil
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 17:27:32
From: Michael Press
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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In article <46bb94f7$0$16533$4c368faf@roadrunner.com >,
"Phil" <nice@try.to > wrote:
> !Jones wrote:
> >I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
> > question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
> > Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
> > depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
> > question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
> > "Why is the sky blue?"
> >
> > Jones
>
> Ice floats because of its lattice structure.
I just tried it. The ice did not float; it fell on the floor. ???
--
Michael Press
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Date: 10 Aug 2007 16:10:47
From: !Jones
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:27:32 GMT, in rec.bicycles.tech Michael Press
<rubrum@pacbell.net > wrote:
>> Ice floats because of its lattice structure.
>
>I just tried it. The ice did not float; it fell on the floor. ???
I had him for mechanics; that was his chemistry question. I think
that's heading in the right direction, though. The commonly accepted
length was about four pages; your whole grade depended on your
response.
Jones
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Date: 11 Aug 2007 20:24:39
From: Michael Press
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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In article
<bskpb3ppj94uvbnumfkq3541b5c7c1np4v@4ax.com >,
!Jones <piss@off.com > wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:27:32 GMT, in rec.bicycles.tech Michael Press
> <rubrum@pacbell.net> wrote:
>
> >> Ice floats because of its lattice structure.
> >
> >I just tried it. The ice did not float; it fell on the floor. ???
>
> I had him for mechanics; that was his chemistry question. I think
> that's heading in the right direction, though. The commonly accepted
> length was about four pages; your whole grade depended on your
> response.
It is easy to go awry analyzing buoyancy.
Last I heard neither the blue scattering of the
atmosphere nor the proximate cause for the expanded
solid H2O lattice were satisfactorily accounted for.
--
Michael Press
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Date: 09 Aug 2007 07:50:58
From: Carl Sundquist
Subject: Re: How do you ride a bicycle?
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"!Jones" <piss@off.com > wrote in message
news:8i1mb31pc50nlhq43l69innp6dkv6c3fmp@4ax.com...
>I once had a mechanics prof who was famous for giving one simple
> question on the final. "How do you ride a bicycle?" was one example.
> Another that I recall was "Why is the sky blue?" Your entire grade
> depended on your response and he didn't give passing grades away. My
> question was "Why does ice float?" which was comparatively easy to
> "Why is the sky blue?"
>
At this point of the summer, quite sweatily.
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