"Rules for Papers" by Dr. Pretorius
[Via
Pharyngula]
Read "
Rules for Papers" which are:
Rule Number 1: NO BINDERS
Rule Number 2: STAPLERS ARE NOT COMPLICATED DEVICES
Rule Number 3: TITLES ARE IRRELEVANT
Rule Number 4: I HATE YOUR INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH
Rule Number 5: I HAVE READ THE BOOK IN QUESTION
The post is a funny one, especially the part about the binders, and the staplers, and the titles, and the ... oh crap, it's all funny.
Last night in AmNovel class, we had to turn in our 1-page journal entries. They're not really "journal entries" in the "write about what you think" vein, they're more like 300-word answers to a specific question. Anyway, one of the fine fellows in the class turns his in and he looks all worried, and his wife (it's so cute, they're taking classes together toward an MA, in their retirement-ish years) asks him why he's fretting. He says, "Because I have no cover page...should I have a cover page? Or a cover of another kind?" His wife looked at him like "You're kidding, right?" but obviously didn't want to say it, so I did: "You're kidding, right?" To which he replied, "no..." and we proceeded to laugh at his expense.
As for staplers, this is why I always carry a stapler in my bag—people never staple their papers before handing them in, and classrooms aren't equipped with staplers, nor are professors for that matter (nor should they be). So, tired of the scrambling of students "folding pages together in some intricate origami construction" and feeling for the plight of the instructor who will then have to deal with the mess, I just pass my stapler around. It's my contribution to the world, always having a stapler.
