Monday, November 05, 2012

So grateful to be an American

There are times I make jokes at the expense of Americans*.  But, I am so glad to be an American.

Take today, when I was rushing to finish Problem Set 3 of EdX's Public Health 207x.  I got one problem wrong initially, so I checked the online discussion forum for the problem set.  One student posted that the professor walked us through a very similar problem in lecture and gave the lecture number.

Another student posted that would be great, except that the lectures are posted on YouTube (PH207x) and YouTube is blocked in his country.

BTW, the class is picking up and becoming much more interesting now that we are moving out of the mathematical preliminaries and into epidemiology.  You can still sign up and join the learning.

Consider this a Public Service Announcement (PSA): 

  • Democracy is a fragile living thing.  
  • Remember to go out and vote tomorrow, if you are eligible.  
  • We all have a responsibility to tell the truth and call liars on their lies.  
  • Don't let bullies get away with bullshit.

* The joke:

Q: What do you call someone who can speak two languages?
A: Bilingual
Q: What do you call someone who can speak three languages?
A: Trilingual
Q: What do you call someone who can speak one language?
A: American

We get away with this joke because English was a second language for both Bad Dad and myself.  However, it has become our primary one and our poor child is a true American.  We are shipping her off to sister city, Lareto, Mexico to help rectify that.

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