A Strategy That Probably Avails You Nothing Against Invading Space Caterpillars

You know that Page 123 meme that's going around:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5.Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Well, I'm not generally big on memes, but this one got me a result so funny, I can't resist.

From Vol. 1 of The John W. Campbell Letters (Chapdelaine, Chapdelaine, and Hay, eds.):

Stab him, and see if that bothers him.

This book is in my heap of Stuff To Read Real Soon, so all I currently know about the context of that sentence is that Campbell (an Illustrious Editor) seems to be speculating with one of his authors about what sentient space caterpillars might be able to withstand. Hooray for the state of science fiction, circa 1953.



In other news, I knocked another thousand words out of the big book, this time out of Haldur's political troubles with the Order when he flees the palace and sets up shop printing seditious manifestos.

Well, Here's Something That Will Never Fly

Check out this astonishing article in the New York Times. Apparently our nation's illustrious Secretary of Education knows just what American higher education needs: federally mandated standardized testing for undergraduate degrees. Because, you know, No Child Left Behind has been such a rousing success in our nation's primary and secondary schools.

This quotation is especially mind-blowing:
“Too many Americans just aren’t getting the education that they need,” the report said. “There are disturbing signs that many students who do earn degrees have not actually mastered the reading, writing and thinking skills we expect of college graduates.”

And increasing the emphasis on standardized testing is so conducive to developing sophisticated writing and critical thinking skills, right? Nothing like filling in dots with a number two pencil to reveal a capacity for independent thought. And turning colleges into cram schools is sure to prepare our college graduates to compete in a global labor market.

Thank you, Secretary Spellings. Why didn't I think of that?