Confessions of a Community College Dean: Thoughts on DIY U “Eleemosynary institutions have real and serious flaws, but they exist to empower the weak. They are necessary to empower the weak. If you rend them asunder, you will expose the weak to the predations of the strong. This is so fundamental that I’m surprised it… Continue reading Links for 2010-05-27
Category: Culture
Non-Dorky Poll: Vote Reporting
As James Nicoll is fond of saying, context is for the weak. So here’s a context-free poll regarding the reporting of election results: Releasing a rank-ordered list of candidates with vote totals after a contested election is:online survey If you’d like to explain what context you might imagine this to have in the comments, that… Continue reading Non-Dorky Poll: Vote Reporting
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Festive Update
There’s no rest for the wicked, as last weekend’s hectic running around is followed by another busy weekend, with some on-campus stuff on Sunday as part of our annual Accepted Students Days. More importantly, though, I will be on a panel at the Empire State book Festival on Saturday from 12:45-1:30 pm: BLOOK: Going from… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Festive Update
Academic Poll: Hail, Stranger
I’m getting considerably more email from people I don’t know these days, which has me wondering about the ways people address one another. Hence, a poll: You are writing an email to a person you have never met before, who you know to be employed by a college or university. What salutation do you use?(survey… Continue reading Academic Poll: Hail, Stranger
The Ethics of Santa
Janet has a post grappling with the ethical implications of telling children about Santa Claus. SteelyKid is too young for this to be an issue yet, but on this issue, like many others, I turn to my favorite literary philosopher, Terry Pratchett: “All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasies to… Continue reading The Ethics of Santa
The Death of Sincerity
Paul Krugman had a post today calling Obama the WYSIWYG President: There’s a lot of dismay/rage on the left over Obama, a number of cries that he isn’t the man progressives thought they were voting for. But that says more about the complainers than it does about Obama himself. If you actually paid attention to… Continue reading The Death of Sincerity
Why the Record Industry Sucks, Aleph-nought in a Series
As a companion piece to Steve Albini’s famous rant about how the pop music industry systematically screws its artist, theToo Much Joy blog provides a look at their royalty statement: I got something in the mail last week I’d been wanting for years: a Too Much Joy royalty statement from Warner Brothers that finally included… Continue reading Why the Record Industry Sucks, Aleph-nought in a Series
Poll: Holiday (Music) in Hell
The Onion kindly provided this Patton Oswalt demolition of the “Christmas Shoes” song. while it’s funny, it is a reminder that we have reached the time of year when radio stations across the country will begin inflicting holiday “cheer” on their listeners. which seems like an excellent subject for a poll: Which of these holiday… Continue reading Poll: Holiday (Music) in Hell
What Our CV’s Say About Our Profession
As mentioned on Twitter, I spent much of yesterday reading and rating a huge number of grant proposals. As such, I’ve looked at a lot of CV’s and resumes, and the contrast is striking. People who work in industry tend to use a resume format that is mostly just a list of jobs and degrees,… Continue reading What Our CV’s Say About Our Profession
Hey to Uganda
I mentioned a few times that one of our physics graduates from 2008 was spending a year in rural Uganda, working at a clinic and school there as part of a college-run fellowship program (with Engeye Health Clinic. Steve is back in the US now, and headed to graduate school in Seattle in Atmospheric Sciences.… Continue reading Hey to Uganda