Comments on: Of Special Powers With Computers… http://smidg.in/2008/04/08/of-special-powers-with-computers/ The Smidgin: A Sporadic Blogger Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:39:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Karen http://smidg.in/2008/04/08/of-special-powers-with-computers/#comment-3810 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:03:08 +0000 http://smidgin.wordpress.com/?p=134#comment-3810 I had a similar experience working as a physics TA at Wheaton. Our department used to be notorious for using old, outdated equipment that only worked if you smacked it around a bit. Or, if a TA happened to walk by to help you out. I can’t tell you how much fun I’d have, watching students struggle desperately to get their motion detectors to work, or volt meters to take data. They’d use every trick in the book I knew, and finally, despairingly, would raise their hands, begging me to “fix” their detectors. Right, like I knew anything about actually fixing stuff. Still, I’d walk over, and take data, exactly like they had done, and gave them my best “are you an idiot?” look. Then I explain, in as patronizing tone as possible, “you just need to hit this little button here, called “collect”, to make it collect data…” and watch their faces go through such a fun collection of contortions.

So much fun.

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