Friday, March 20, 2009

30 Pies Thrown at Me (Literally)



This is what happens at CMU when you post on your blog that you want to fail more students.

32 comments:

  1. Yeah, right... :)

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  2. It's true! Maybe some of the people who were there can attest to this.

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  3. I was taught by my mother who was starving during second world war not to waste food.

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  4. Kids these days are out of control, I tell you. I was taught by my mother not to throw pies my professors.

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  5. I was actually serious, my mother did tell me ths: "do not waste food."

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  6. My mom told me that I should be clean and presentable, so I have gone home and taken a shower after this pie incident.

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  7. Presumably, you have not heard of anybody actually hungry.

    Zvi M. Kedem
    http://www.cs.nyu.edu/kedem

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  8. The one redeeming fact about these pies that the students threw at me was that they were not actually pies. They were just a pile of whipped cream.

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  9. Maybe it's just me, but my first plan of action for how to pass a class would not include soiling the professor with pies, much less leaving photographic evidence of it.

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  10. Good times were had by all. Well, except maybe for von Ahn, but he deserved it :P

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  11. So, now will you fail them or not????
    Did this made your more strict or it mellowed you??

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  12. In India at some universities if you do so and your students are members of some mafia gang, they will kidnap you and give you a good beating. I know many professors at those type of colleges who go underground after releasing the grades :-)

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  13. The question is, who should you fail: the out-of-control, insensitive-to-world-hunger students who threw pies at you, or the cowardly student who did not? Or perhaps you should fail students randomly, just to keep them on your toes. I am fortunate not to have anyone likely to throw a pie at me, and I'm not planning to visit Pittsburgh until this comment thread is long forgotten.

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  14. I wish I could have been there to see this. However, I was comatose, following a hard-pitched battle with this week's 251 homework. (I won. Take that!)

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  15. Argh!!!
    I can't believe that CMU students are so lame! There is not even a UTube video about it! ;)

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  16. Anyone who thinks that throwing food at Luis is a waste of food clearly does not know him. :) I do feel sorry for the cleaning staff, though.

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  17. Saying that you want to fail more students few days before pi a professor day was probably the worst idea ever...

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  18. Hey Luis, I have this genius idea. How about you charge kids 5$ to pie you. Make a post about failing kids the day before. And therefore, instead of some random committee getting money, you get rich!

    (for coming up with this idea you can give me an A in 251. It took lots of discrete mathematical thinking :P)

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  19. $5*30 = $150. I don't know but if I were him I don't think I want to get paid $150 to get your whole day ruined by getting pied 30 times..

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  20. Proof that it's him: http://twitpic.com/2bb78

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  21. So, Luis, how did you fare vs. John Mackey?

    I'm reminded of the MIT tradition of professors competing to win the Big Screw. They wouldn't just talk about failing students; they actually do things like give calculus lectures in French, covering material that would be included on the final exams.

    Luis, if you're trying to turn CMU into MIT, you'll have to crank up the evil a bit. :-)

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  22. I think I fared well against Mackey!

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  23. You think you only fared "well" against Mackey? Clearly you lost..

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  24. Not sure what you mean. I got way more pies thrown at me, but I threw more pies at him than he at me.

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  25. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  26. Because obviously.. the winner would always claim that he/she smashed the opponent.

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  27. video evidence:
    http://www.cmu.edu/news/news-notes/pi_day.mov

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  28. Anyone who thinks that throwing food at tLuis is a waste of food clearly does not know him. I do feel sorry for the cleaning staff.

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  29. What happened is infinitely more desirable than being forced to recite every digit of the number "Pi". Infinitely large WINK

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  30. It absurd, contradictory, almost bizzare that a PROFESSOR says he wants to FAIL more students. It implies wanting more stupide people. Or unknowing any other motivation toward studying different from a animal-avoid-pain fear technic.

    The ideal (not attainalbe but orientative) is a professor who doesn't have to fail ANY student due to his great job.

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