Wow. Or WOW!

Which brings up the question of writing, and reading, more generally. In short, I encounter people who cannot read what is written and understand it in such a way as to describe or explain without violating actual words written (_said_ in some cases). As a teacher I have found this, and as a consumer of the words others put out, this I find is almost universal.

As a curious sort (junkie?), I am disappointed if I try to find intelligent authorities with the goods I am after. YouTube was YouTube "university" for me a few years ago. Now it is slop (ref. House of El, no nonsense, sophisticated presentation, plus my own experience) and enshitified (ref. Doctorow, Cory, quite insightful this his coinage) hardly worth a go-to source for the true, beautiful, and good, i.e., useful. What's needed is curation, and that will not happen given the current zeitgeist.

Many say AI in one form or another is to blame. I say yes _But_. If one uses the current tools at hand, one can help craft the true, beautiful, and good--er useful. But having accomplished this, I believe, multiple times over the past several years (inter-linear.com), I believe I am among a minority of amateur technophiles working for the common good.

My latest foray (yesterday) resulted in a surprise and concomitant dilemma. Here is  a sketch of that experience.

First question to ask for what AI could produce to reduce the pressure of my curiosity:  "There are physical and biological effects of a singular orgasm on the male and the female. What are these and their contributions to human health?"

The second question, which the first response did not actually answer: "Anecdotal note: I find as a senior male that after ejaculation urine flow is stronger and evacuation more complete and quicker. Is there research about this hypothesis?"

Answer: Confirmed. I am right about that, without going into details personal or scientific.

I asked, with AI's help, a follow-up question to the first above, and here is where the surprise came, downloaded to my computer a few moments later. The  question: Research and compare the specific prophylactic health benefits associated with regular orgasm in males versus females, specifically documenting the impact on prostate cancer risk in males and dysmenorrhea and vaginal atrophy in females. Include data on changes in sperm morphology, leukocyte counts, and menstrual cycle regulation, creating a structured comparative report that highlights these sex-specific physiological and preventative maintenance roles of orgasmic activity, based on clinical research findings." (I obviously had help beyond my pay grade in the wording of this.)

I got an artifact, I will call it, a PDF beautifully formatted and written for an informed but not specialist reader, entitled "Sex-Specific Preventive Associations of Ejaculation, Orgasm, and Sexual Activity: A Comparative Report."

Wow. Or WOW!

Here is the _But_: What is this document? and would it be useful if shared (other than writing here concerning its provenance)? It has some value, as a kind of academic/scientific report. There are 171 sources cited as relevant to its validity/credibility.

The rules for citation of such a work are evolving, and different publishers require and recommend slightly different styles and disclaimers. Here is a key point about the document I got from the AI engine.

_A key consideration from multiple university library guides: the report itself already cites its primary clinical sources (PubMed, PMC, Harvard Health, etc.) with full URLs. Those primary sources are what readers should cite for any specific claim. The AI citation above attributes the synthesis and compilation work — the research, structuring, and drafting — to Perplexity, while the underlying evidence remains attributable to the original peer-reviewed studies._

So the actual citation for this document is the copy provider's choice among the professional style manuals, and the disclaimer, something like, "This report was researched, compiled, and generated by Perplexity Computer (AI agent), Perplexity AI, August 2026. Primary clinical sources are cited inline throughout". This needs to be up front or otherwise clearly transparent provided along with the document itself.

Tentative conclusions. One, what amazing work can be produced given carefully worded prompts or questions to reputable AI solutions (e.g., Perplexity). Two, it seems a kind of new genre(?) for grappling with knowledge bases and producing and including in scholarly work efficiently summarized states of the art.

 A copy of the PDF is here if interested. 

About JKM

https://sites.google.com/view/jkmactavish/home

Muzzle the master

I have a German Shepherd, don't you know.
She's so pretty she could compete and show.
She loves attention, begs and barks for work,
though this gypsy she's got a little quirk.

Oft times it's not enough when we just walk,
returning home I face a face and toothy talk.
I thought and trained my women so they'd mind.
Plain or pretty I got the other kind.

Pull and push they never bought this man's mights.
Just two options: they either bolts or bites.
My girl this working dog, she's with me still,
'spite of my mind's right and her motive--Kill!

And the fair ones I've tried to hold and thrill?
I have a German Shepherd, don't you know.

Good vs Evil

Life is often our struggle, lose or win.
Evil knows no bounds thus nothing is barred.
Good sets limits, deems otherwise a sin.
All make exceptions: Repute's never marred.

Let's admit Evil's scores are always high.
escaping what Good says they should deserve.
The Good stand tall without concession's sigh,
believing strong in defeat this does serve.

So goes the contest till we'd quit the field.
Good would have both be as they themselves are.
One walks off; Good remains without a yield.
Fortune or no, who is the shinning star?

Evil's glory will not in justice end.
Care less for Good its power to amend.

S&*t happens*

I choose to laugh than shed a tear
for that which happens that I feared.
What I can manage, trust I  do;
if not, I find no cause to sue.

Mistakes and errors we do make
regardless heaven's goodness sakes.
So imagine not for what can be.
Wait with patience and say, 'Let's see'. 

Meanwhile accept the lot I got,
for nothing more there is this plot.
Try as might that things are not so.
In the end with what I have must go.

Rest in love, understand the few.
Look there, they're sitting in our pew.

__________
* On the occasion of a difference in perspective with a loved one. 

Tailoring Learning for International Students

[I wonder if anyone by this time (2026) would take, or need, such a college course. I kinda doubt it.]

Tailoring Learning for International Students
© 2008 John Kevin Mactavish

 Abstract

A unit of instruction that uses the Internet in a variety of ways needs a context. The context in this discussion is a traditional college course and how it is designed for students coming from different countries. What follows is a sketch of the course and its units of instruction. These center around classroom and computer laboratory meetings. The meetings have a structure, or process, and the instructor has a limited number of roles to play. Student learning is based on choices in objectives and computer learning activities. The sketch concludes with an example learning objective and some different types of Internet activities to help meet that objective.

Introduction to Computers . . .
is a beginning college course for intermediate level English students. The course takes place in the classroom and the computer laboratory with the instructor acting as a meeting facilitator, content presenter, and tutor. Although the course is documented online and uses the Internet, it is traditional face-to-face pedagogy (Wuensch, Aziz, Ozan, Kishore, & Tabrizi, 2008).         

Because students come from different national educational systems and they have different computer skills already, the course has to make room for these differences. Giving choices of which learning objectives to work on accommodates these differences and helps students develop their computer literacy as well as demonstrate practical skills.

The course has ten three-and-a-half hour classroom-lab meetings. Each meeting is a three-step process. The process gives the instructor the roles above and looks like this.

        1. What have you discovered? This is a review of required readings and what
students have been working on so far.
        2. What do you need to know? This step introduces new material and gives time for discussions and student presentations.
        3. What do you need to be able to do? This step is about discovering and
demonstrating skills in the computer laboratory.

The topics for the class meetings show the general scope of the course. The student chooses one or more of the objectives for each meeting. If the objectives and their learning activities for a meeting do not give the student something new to learn , he or she can work with the instructor and decide what is best.

Here are example objectives students can choose for the first five class meetings.

         1. Course Overview, Computers and the Internet: The learner should be able to
design a directory structure for a student taking three courses, or for an office worker involved in three projects. The design should include folder and file naming, the types of files included, and sample content for each.
         2. Hardware and Software: The learner should be able to analyze a recent version of MS Windows and report on what it should have to be an operating system.
         3. Word Processing: The learner should be able to create and print or upload a one-page, double-spaced text document showing as many features of the program as possible--fonts, point size, tables, columns, pagination, and so forth.
         4. Presentations with Media: The learner should be able to produce a simple outline of a presentation for school or work with at least five PowerPoint slides.
         5. Spreadsheets: The learner should be able to create two original spreadsheets, one showing a personal or project budget with monthly and annual sample numbers and one showing the formulae for the calculations.

These are the rest of the topics for the meetings: Mid-Course Exam; Databases;
Sharing Information on the Web; Current Issues and Review; Final Presentations and Exam.

To show how this course uses the Internet to meet learning goals or aims for different students, the first thing to remember is that the course’s approach already tells the teacher what to do. When a student selects an objective for a topic, choices of what the student does in order to learn opens up . Here is an example from meeting three. The learning objective is that the student should be able to list five Internet applications for school or work. The list should include why each application is helpful.

Computer lab activities to help learn or demonstrate meeting this objective include
the following types and examples. A student would work on one or more of these.

Search: Search for "computer operating system" using Google and define what it is.

Quest: Go to the Web sites for two different operating systems and find what
applications come with them and what each does. Afterwards, open the programs menu on your computer and find out if you have these applications.

Message Board: Go to the university learning server and leave a message on the
Newbie forum about programs students find most useful for their school work. How many different programs do students list? Are any from the Internet?

OCLC: Go to the university library catalog online and find this article: Pierre
Dillenbourg (2008). Integrating technologies into educational ecosystems. Distance
Education, 29(2), 127-140.

E-mail: Copy and paste the abstract of this article into an e-mail and send your
instructor a copy.

Reading: Read the article. Does it say anything about Internet application programs?

Self-archiving: Put a short bibliography for a paper on one of the free bibliography
Web sites. Then retrieve it in print or document form.

Document Storage: If you have a Gmail or Yahoo account, go to the document
storage area and upload a document, maybe a draft of one of your papers.

Reference: Look up APA style guide online. Can you use any of the information
presented to complete assignments for this course?

If one sees these activities as part of the design of teaching a lesson, the above fall into place in the process. First is in the classroom. The teacher talks about two or three things you can use computers and the Internet for. Then the teacher leads a discussion. Step two is also a classroom activity. It might be to hear and watch a PowerPoint presentation on how to access some online resources like the ones in the lab learning activities. The instructor would make the presentation. Finally, the students work out their own list of applications to help them in work or school. The instructor circulates in the lab helping and tutoring to make sure students are learning and completing the work each chose.

__________
Reference
Wuensch, K. L., Aziz, S., Ozan, E., Kishore, M., & Tabrizi, M. H. N. (2008). Pedagogical
      Characteristics of Online and Face-to-Face Classes. International Journal on
      ELearning, 7(3), 523-532. 

Brut(us) wisdom

 Julius Caesar

"Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this."
I would run the race fettered but by me,
not lose myself and thus my life should miss.
To each his own differs to what we be.

The crowd this way and that blindly steers,
of choice one's robbed--the power of the wave.
Never thoughtless thought elsewhere leads or veers.
Onward where the masses say what is safe.

Grant me space to find what to me will sate.
There I will compete in that precious place.
To hell with what they say is destined fate.
I'll err or triumph 'gainst self determined space.

Dear noble friend, I know you wish me well.
Rest easy. I will thrive as any inflated swell.