Merry and tragical! Tedious and brief!

That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow

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Does Shakespeare have a quote for every occasion?

Quals in 2 days.

The clouds pass..

.. and the air is mild. Hummingbirds are flitting. Roses are blooming. Seems like spring has finally sprung. And brought breathtaking sunsets along to the party.

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P.S. You haven't seen flitting until you've seen hummingbirds. Whirrr-swoooop-whirrr-swoop. 0 to 60 flowers in under a minute.

Poyum writing

பாசம் செல்லும் பாதை

அலை போன பின்னும்
தரை ஈரம் கொள்ளும்
மழை போன பின்னும்
இலை தண்ணீர் சிந்தும்

நடந்து செல்கையில்
தரை ஈரம் இழக்கலாம்
கடந்து சென்றால்
இலை நீரும் காயலாம்

எனினும்,

பாசத்தின் பயணம் நீளும்
சென்ற அலையும் திரும்பும்
நேசம் அன்பென மாறும்போது
கோடையும் மழையாய் பொழியும்

Is there an innate worthiness (or unworthiness) to something? Or is it all relative?

Bloopers

I grade about 150 papers each week and sometimes it helps to get unintentionally funny answers.

Q: What is the area of this bacterial colony?

A: 18 hours (underlined, too)

Q: What is the diameter of this bacterium?

A: 3 micromolar

Q: How many bacteria are there in this colony

A: 10^-7 (yes, fractional number of living things. w00t!)

Q: Define recombination

A: A process by which chromosomes exchange information with each other (Facebook for bacteria. EM profile pics, anyone?)

Perceptions

I am teaching a bunch of students and have to give them a test at the beginning of every class to see if they have come prepared for the lab. I gave the first one last week and when I was correcting the answers, realised that the average was less than 70%. I wrote an easier quiz the next time around and, at the end of it, asked them how they felt. Having seen their low scores on the first one, they all said, 'So! Tough! Much tougher than the first time'. But they had all done better on the second one - an average increase of 15%.

I wonder how much such thinking affects our daily decisions. Do we find everything harder if we fail once?

Hmm..

Something simple?

Something about this song reminds me of starry nights

and the sound of rustling tree leaves