Physics and Free Software

  • 23 Posts
  • 604 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 5th, 2023

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  • Oh boy does the question match my week.

    I caught 3 students cheating a few days ago. Their exams were line by line identical. The handwriting was the only difference. I called them in to my office having printed their exams out. They all lied, including when I showed them their papers side by side, but you could see it in their faces. They knew they were caught.

    Outside of this, I like these kids. They are good students with positive attitudes. Wanting to keep the consequences in house and prevent them from having to retake the course, I was very lenient and decided to give them all C’s for the semester.

    This wasn’t good enough for the student who I am convinced did the original work. She spoke with her academic advisor. He emailed me. Since he didn’t have all the details, he and I met to get on the same page. After speaking briefly, he agreed the penalty was fair.

    Yesterday, right before I was about to leave the office, my department chair came by. This was someone I very much did not want to involve. The student went to speak to her as well. As I expected, my chair told me I had to take the issue to the honor council. For the students’ sake, this was what I was avoiding the entire time.

    I stayed late to send an email to the head of the council. By the time I got home, I had several panicked emails from each of the students. I tried to reassure them that the council is often lenient with first time offenses. And if they are unreasonably punative, I will petition to apply my the original decision given I know my students better.

    Having spoken with the other faculty, I don’t think the ring leader was trying to go over my head to put me in a difficult position. She was determined to find help, and it took courage to admit what she did to get that help. I told her as much in the last email I sent. It’s a shame she may have made it much worse for herself and the others.









  • Is this a place to cast shade or self reflect? In the former experimental scientist. They have closets of oscilliscopes, vacuum pumps, cryostats. Enough to furnish 3 or more labs. They always say they’ll use it, but the pile only gets bigger.

    For me, I have the opposite problen in general. I throw everything away and end up buying or making new shit. Worst is probably code. Fuck making a repo. This is a one off. I can write the same code 3 times before I keep it, but I like to say that is what makes me a decent programmer. And I’ll keep telling myself that until I die.




  • Israel is guilty of genocide and will be held accountable. I understand this is the Israeli flag, but this meme is treading a line dangerously close to antisemitism. There are those who will not see a flag. They will see a symbol, The Star of David, many peaceful people display.

    The Star of David globally represents millions of Jews who are among those most against the Israeli occupation. Not only do they have the same abhorance of the unspeakable violence committed against Palestinians, Israel has hijacked their religion, cultural heritage, and the symbol representing their their passivist philosophy.

    Memes like this have the potential to create hardship for Jews in the same way Muslims were persecuted in the aftermath of 911. I have personally seen the defacement of mosques. The same has already happened to synagogues. A jokes may seem innoculous, but they can beget additional violence. Take caution when making ones such as this.

    (Before someone fronts Reductio ad Hitlerum, the swastika and Star of David are not even remotely the same thing)


  • It is impossible for an individual, barring a very niche case. And why waste labor provided by someone else? So far as I know, edge is base on, but not a fork of chromium. If that is microsoft’s approach, I can’t imagine anyone doing differently. Except for maybe a government “forking” by close sourcing a “fork”. (Which someone has definitely done). What’s going to come of that? The FSF suing the US department of defense? I’d support it, but good luck.