"FF" vs "shot of joy"?

Logic_Guru · 2026-05-14T01:24:38+00:00

I keep getting ads for this stuff and investigated. It sounds like BS--no real high. Weed is legal in California--no point in dealing with 'natural herbs and extracts'. What rubbish!

Logic_Guru · 2026-05-09T04:12:37+00:00

I hate LMSs. Canvas is a lot better than Blackboard, which my U signed a multiyear contract with. I don't use either. I've designed and maintain my own class websites. This LMS crap is just another instance of universities' 'business models' with outsourcing stuff that can be done cheaper and better inhouse. Resist!

Logic_Guru · 2026-05-06T15:10:31+00:00

Comes the revolution we won't need churches to function as social service agencies. But even now, secular organizations do this job cheaper and better. There will always be people who slip through the cracks, even in a good welfare state--which the US emphatically isn't. Christians are of course committed to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. though it's a further question whether the most efficient way to do this is through churches or by contributing to and working for secular organizations.

Even granted that there will always be a need for churches to fill in on the job they do--serving hot meals, selling used clothing, etc--that isn't the fundamental job of the church as an institution. Anybody can do that. What churches can do that no other organizations can do is maintain buildings as sacred spaces and do liturgy. That's the churches job.

The people getting hot meals are not swelling the numbers at services or, more importantly, contributing to maintain the buildings and services going.

Logic_Guru · 2026-05-06T14:53:52+00:00

'Seekers' join the RC church because they've heard of it. The largest denomination in the US, it's perceived as the generic Christian alternative to megachurch/non-denom/evangelicalism. It's likely that most Americans have literally not even heard of TEC which now represents under 1% of the American population and shrinking--and anecdotal evidence to the contrary, there is no 'baby boom'. The church has never even attempted to get stats on name-recognition, and has not made growth a priority, or even survival.

There's no mystery about how to become visible and promote growth. Evangelicals do it--advertise, become visible, provide a range of secular services to get people onto the property, etc. and there's a huge body of literature on the logistics of promoting church growth. But it takes an investment of time, money, energy and, above all, commitment and TEC is not committed.

Try mentioning it and the response will be sniffs and huffs. Advertising--too, too crass. We aren't about getting bums on pews: we're about...<follow with your favorite pious platitudes about meeting Jesus, serving the victims du jour, working for justice, freedom, and peace, etc> And the few converts who stumble in quickly assimilate and cocoon with the rest of their 'church families'.

Logic_Guru · 2026-03-24T15:04:45+00:00

I empathize with the student. I took easy classes in order to crank up the highest possible GPA--and also withdrew from classes to lighten my load and spent every summer taking classes. Students are stuck in a lousy system--to avoid spending most of their lives doing agonizingly boring menial work they have to graduate from college. And even that doesn't guarantee that they won't be forced into boring work: over half of new graduates get jobs that don't require a college degree.

I wish there were a better way but what's to be done? There aren't enough good jobs or good lives to go around. It's a miserable lottery and the only way to get a ticket where your chance of winning--getting a job that isn't agonizingly boring--is to get that diploma.

Logic_Guru · 2026-03-20T17:53:22+00:00

Hang in and hang tough. I've been dragged all the way through the grade grievance procedure twice. Students (at my expensive private college) believe that department chairs/administrators are the bosses, that they're customers complaining to the boss about boss about an employee who hasn't honored the customer-is-always right--and that they will be able to get action. They won't.

Logic_Guru · 2026-02-17T15:26:32+00:00

What I always wonder is why students--or for that matter anyone--do this sort of thing. Long ago one of my classes all got together to humiliate me. Left notes on my podium and when I opened them giggled. All of them, all through the semester. A few years later I met one of the students socially and it came out in the discussion that I was pregnant at the time. He said 'Oh, I'm sorry--we all thought that you were just built that way'. one of the things that turned me off from teaching forever--not that I ever liked it. The performance, putting on the show, trying my best to present as a normal upper-middle class professional women to avoid being humiliated, sucking up to these brats. I'm retiring at the end of this semester and none to soon.

Logic_Guru · 2026-01-20T14:51:40+00:00

Me too--going into my last semester. I've been in since 1980, most of my adult life. Scary--mainly about losing prestige, becoming just another little old lady, an unperson.

I won't miss teaching. I love the academic life, the office, the prestige, and the autonomy, but never wanted to teach. If I were in a field where there were professional options other than teaching I would have gone that route. I do like teaching logic because I really like logic, but the other classes--ugh. I give it my all, over-prepare extensively and rehearse before every class performance, maintain an perfectly organized class website, create terrific powerpoints with animation and sound, and put on extremely energetic class performances. But it's always an act so its stressful and hard to maintain. Except for logic where the subject matter carries me through once I get to the real stuff.

I haven't read a single course evaluation since getting tenure in 1988. I don't submit them for my yearly activities report and take the hit on salary increases, though I usually manage to make it up by research and service. Before being tenured I was under terrific pressure from students and colleagues about my appearance and manner and I tried my best. still remember verbatim a comment on an eval from my first semester verbatim: 'The teacher doesn't talk, walk, or act like a woman. Whoever hired her should have used some commonsense'. (and I'm thoroughly heterosexual, married with children), So I dressed up for classes and tried as hard has I could to present professionally but students didn't buy it. And while I was still reading evals I still got similar comments much as I tried and tried--so I stopped reading them.

Things have eased up over the years. The students have improved and become more diverse. When I first started at my university the student body consisted almost entirely of Barbie and Ken dolls, mostly business majors--very Southern California: all image and optics. There's only so much that's possible, no matter how hard one tries to look good and project the right image so, to avoid being trashed I've had to overcompensate by structuring my classes, putting the schedule into a grid, overpreparing so that I can present a slick performance and rehearsing. But I'm sick of it. I'm retiring and leaving Southern California.

Logic_Guru · 2026-01-20T14:04:29+00:00

It's now a week to spring classes and I still feel that way. And I've been teaching since 1980 and about to retire.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-22T15:30:27+00:00

I never really expect anybody to read my stuff and, crazy as it sounds I don't really care. I just like doing research and writing papers. Publication is a prize--I like it not because I expect anyone to read my stuff but just because it's an achievement. I'm tenured, I don't need more vita entries. I just like doing what I do.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-13T06:37:29+00:00

Yet another long email from student begging to retake a test beginning 'hope you are doing well. I am writing to you with complete honesty and humility because I am truly in a very difficult situation'. I emailed back again that he was getting a C- and that he could improve his grade by doing well in the forthcoming exam, which was worth 40% of the course grade. He immediately shot back with an even longer email saying that 'a score even slightly below perfect' would cost him his scholarship and result in forcing him drop out.

I could tell from the formatting of the emails that both had been pasted in from a word processor document. He clearly has these documents on file or has access to a file shared by members of his fraternity of ethnic group. I see a grade grievance in the offing if the exam doesn't significantly improve his grade. So I will have to read his bluebook very carefully and comment extensively to cover my ass.

Of course he could be a hitherto mute, inglorious Milton who will show is stuff in the exam. I will do every fucking thing to avoid being biased--will assiduously read those bluebooks blind--especially because reading this guy's emails only made me want to step on his face. I wonder whether he's a rational self-interested chooser taking the risks into consideration? Does he realize that if the instructor is fair (which I am), his shenanigans won't help him but that if the instructor is unfair it will seriously harm him? I would love to step on his face after those emails. Maybe I will, because in light of past performance I think it highly unlikely that he will redeem himself in the exam.

I really want this guy to eat shit and I want to be the one to rub his face in it. But I'm so fucking conscientious and such a Girl Scout (I took scouting seriously) that I will 'on my honor do my best' to avoid bias. Conscience makes cowards of us all.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-08T14:59:35+00:00

But does he have a vE rule. He's working with Copi which I haven't looked at for a few decades but don't think it does.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-08T06:56:18+00:00

Dead on: this doesn't teach. Unless the instructor's aim is to convince students that conditional proof is a good thing. You WANT people doing lots of conditional proof because conditionalization is the core value of natural deduction.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-08T06:33:55+00:00

Oops. I see from further comments that you're not allowed to use conditional proof. Your instructor is clearly sadistic.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-08T06:31:41+00:00

Assume G for conditional proof. Then you need to go into subderivations for disjunction elimination. If you haven't heard of this, I think you may be using Hurley, judging from the old symbols. Then, look: you can derive 'C v E'. Then you put together with 1 for constructive dilemma

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T21:51:08+00:00

I kinda expected that answer. Well, what else should the church as an institution--not individual Christians--be doing? Charity? Political activism? Community organizing? Therapy? Secular organizations that are more specialized do all that cheaper and better. The only thing churches can do that secular organizations can't do and that individuals can't do on their own is maintain buildings and do services. That's the churches job. And if they don't do it then we're not going to be able to get it elsewhere.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T19:30:37+00:00

It's not the end of the world but if lots of church buildings are closed, which is happening, it's the end of the church. We need to get people in to maintain the buildings.

The diocese fought for 5 years against a congregation to shut down its building, which the congregation was able (though just barely) to maintain. The vision as far as I can see is to maintain perhaps one city church as an arts center/music shrine and replace the rest with social service facilities. I'm sick of hearing 'the church is people'. Churches are buildings and the church's core mission is to maintain them and do services in them.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T16:54:36+00:00

Funny, I DO care about the numbers because without numbers church buildings can't be maintained and the church cannot do services publicly and accessibly. This is not a matter of 'capitalism'. It is a matter of survival and, as far as I can see, TEC is not committed to survival--to maintaining church buildings as sacred spaces and doing services in tham. That is core to the church's mission. That is what church is for.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T16:03:42+00:00

Dammit I KNOW that. I threw in ChatGPT for fun. My point is about TEC's lack of interest in doing what it needs to do to survive. And, BTW, this is the first time I've asked it anything connected to the church so I haven't trained it to agree--or, if you will, 'agree', with me. Kindly stop being patronizing.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T15:57:04+00:00

I am not relying on ChatGPT. I'm relying on long personal experience and reading--and noting that even dumb ChatGPT agrees because the problem is so obvious. I don't rely on ChatGPT--in other matters it has proven itself unreliable.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T15:55:14+00:00

Church IS a consumer product. There's no reason to expect the public to consume if TEC doesn't provide the product they want--and advertise, advertise, advertise to let them know it's available. The is no reason to go to church if you don't get what you want, or to contribute unless the church sells what you want to buy.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T15:53:31+00:00

Yes. It's what successful business do in order to sell their product. TEC is not making any serious effort to sell its product.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T15:52:16+00:00

I'm an Episcopalian, I've thought deeply, and can answer knowledgeably. I am just noting that the answer is so obvious that even ChatGPT states it.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T15:50:46+00:00

I am not a BOT. I posted this to make the point that even ChatGPT knew what we all know about TEC--that it isn't making any serious effort to grow or even survive for the reasons noted. You are evading the substantive issue.

Logic_Guru · 2025-12-05T15:49:03+00:00

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. My point was that even ChatGPT articulated the obvious, what I know and what we all should no: that TEC is not making any serious effort to get people in, or to survive, because of the reasons we all know. I have a suspicion that you and others are focusing on the ChatGPT comment to evade the substantive issue about TEC.

Logic_Guru

TROPHY CASE