The Marking

Just a short post to interrupt my marking. (Hmm, procrastination--another good topic a future blog post...)

Marking is not the most enjoyable thing. This fact has nothing to do with the quality of the answers. It's just awfully repetitive. I get to read answers to the same essay question over and over and over... This is by choice, mind you. When it comes to written/short-answer/long-answer I try to mark as many of the same question as I can, so that I can be as consistent in marking as possible.

So I get a fresh cup of coffee (hmm, coffee--another good topic for a future blog post...), put on some quiet music and concentrate on marking. This is difficult, as interruptions and distractions are many. Luckily, it's just me and the baby this afternoon. Awesomely, I've discovered the perfect music solution for both of us: Rockabye Baby!

These are baby lullabies of rawk songs, and improbably include songs from:

• The Beatles
• U2
• Bob Marley
• Coldplay
• No Doubt
• Metallica
  
• Led Zeppelin
• Radiohead
• Green Day
• Nine Inch Nails
• AC/DC
• and more.

You've never lived (as a parent) until you've heard American Idiot, Enter Sandman, or Highway to Hell played as a gentle, soothing lullaby. Insidious, bizarre, and just about the only way to simultaneously satisfy both a cranky 3-month-old and a cranky psychology instructor. (Country music fans, don't feel left out: check out Hushabye Baby.)

Why aren't you studying?

The Links

Now that lectures are over, it's time for learning to: continue. By now, being a student of psychology, you've seen just how broad this field is. Well, I'm a student of psychology, too. (OK, so I'm not officially a "student," but I love continuing to learn about psychology--which, really, is learning about ourselves.) I try to stay up-to-date on interesting and important research. A good way to get a general view of things is to follow a number of blogs.

Here are some of the blogs I read for education, for interest, and for entertainment. You might even see some of the things that are written about in these blogs appear in lectures.

• Mind Hacks. Although this Mind Hacks is a really good book on psychology, the blog goes way beyond that. It covers topics from art and aesthetics to hard-core neuroscience and bogus science. Vaughn is the main poster; I don't know how he keeps up the pace. Consistently excellent.

• Scientific American Mind Matters. Postings often include full-text articles from Scientific American Mind magazine. Eclectic and interesting, but a bit too much brain-focused. Still, there are many high-quality postings.

• Discover Mind & Brain. A companion to the print magazine Discover. Not quite as good overall as the preceding two blogs. Postings do not occur as frequency either. Also very brain-centric, which probably helps to attract readers.
  

• jnd.org. Usability "guru" Don Norman writes articles about design, science, and human factors/ergonomics. You can read his monthly column for Interactions magazine here, but there are lots of other neat things. One post made me run out and get a new stapler. Woot!

You can subscribe to all of the above blogs via RSS.

Why aren't you studying?