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#1
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on Today at 08:47:22 AM
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on May 03, 2024, 08:57:21 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 03, 2024, 05:48:38 PMFor my part, I would be curious to know how many especially among those most vocally dismissive or sneering of these protests--have ever participated in a protest of heir own. Because I see a lot of tarring with broad brushes going on.

Dude, I grew up on the west coast in the '80s. 

I observed my fair share of protests and participated in several.  That's part of the reason I think this style of protest has turned sour.

Nevertheless, I marched against the first Gulf War because at the time it seemed like a very scary prospect.  It did not (yet) lead to World War III, but I think we've seen a whole series of atrocities on all sides in part because of it (no facile answers to what we should have done exist, BTW).

So yeah, I've seen protests. 

And for the record, I think one can be anti-occupation and anti-occupied Palestine without being antisemitic.  Israel has things to answer for and America should stop supporting her until she becomes a humane state.  Oh, and Hamas is a terrorist organization.

However, we have been marching, screaming, occupying, and fighting police for close to a hundred years if you count the Bonus Army of 1932.  MLK prevailed because of his maturity in the face of oppression.  Now we have kids occupying their very vulnerable college campuses, resisting when given lawful commands by the police, and then crying to the media when they are arrested.  And many people have a specific kneejerk reaction, "The students were peaceful," as if that gives them the right to break the law.

We need a new cultural imagination to meet our challenges.  I don't think the old system is working any more.

FWIW, I didn't have you in mind.

Fair enough. 

I will concede that these protests have gotten a hella bunch of news.  I doubt that either Israel or Hamas care, but it certainly got the attention of the politicians.
#2
General Discussion / Re: NYT Spelling Bee
Last post by ab_grp - Today at 01:54:12 PM
Good day!

Whee, got to QBABM (just had to edit since I had one word left when I posted)! Husband got it early.  Congrats on getting there yesterday, cathwen! We had team QB.  I needed bacilli, flak.

No luck on LB again!

Thanks for the good health wishes, cathwen and Langue_doc! He has been having some electrical issues lately and had to wear a monitor all of the previous week, so this was the follow up with his cardiologist about those results.  Looks like he may either have a thyroid issue, so will be getting bloodwork to check that out and/or will be a good candidate for something called ablation.  It seems to be an outpatient procedure kind of like an angiogram or cath lab where they will see what's doing what or not doing what and do some cauterizing? It should help.  In the meantime, he is starting a different blood thinner.  One of the contraindications is apparently eating lime.  Glad I looked that up, because we have lime pretty much every night squeezed on fish and veggies or in ceviche.  I'm not sure that's enough to be a problem, but we are not taking chances until he can get ahold of the doctor on Monday.  So doctor is not super alarmed, but it is just hard dealing with medical issues that compound or cause other medical issues.  He's in a weird place of sometimes needing to take more of one heart medication when the arrhythmias start or his heart rate gets too high, but that makes his blood pressure too low, so he gets dizzy.  So he needs to exercise but may be pushing too hard or who knows what.  Anyway, at least there's some stuff to investigate and a path forward and it doesn't sound completely dire! I am gunshy about him going into the cath lab setting again since last time you may recall he was just getting an angiogram and found out he had to have open heart surgery. 

Cathwen, hah sorry to hear that about the elusive circuit breaker solution! I really wish they could just ask that on the phone.  Though I guess they are happy to make money or even after hours money not breaking a sweat.  I think it's hard these days as well because so many warranties state that you can't mess around with the unit at all and if a qualified service person doesn't make the repair the warranty is void, etc.  It's quite a racket.

Langue_doc, thanks! It was a nice video call.  I have only used that app once before, for a quick telemed visit.  Somehow child and partner were centered nicely, and no matter where we put the tablet we looked tiny.  That just made me think that I should see if there's some setting like autofocus that I can turn off.  Now that this kid lives full time in their university town with partner, I guess it's good to figure out video call technology.

Sorry for all the rambling!

Happy solving!
#3
It isn't clear if the majority of the students at Columbia or their parents who are paying their tuition support the protests. Parents who aren't very affluent probably spent years saving up for their children's education, only to find that courses have been moved online, and there's minimal learning. The faculty, according to one of the professors have been asked to modify final exams:
QuoteAfter students occupied the university's storied Hamilton Hall — and police officers in riot gear conducted over 100 arrests — the administration closed the campus, moved all classes online and recommended that we professors either trim or eliminate final examinations in our classes.

Outsiders seem to have taken it upon themselves to join the protests, despite the campus, a private institution, having closed the campus to facutly, students, and other employees. There are bound to be complaints from parents as well as requests that Columbia return this semester's tuition.

The only accomplishments of these protests so far have been the disruption of the costly education of their fellow students and vandalism. The war continues unabated. Protesting in front of the NY state senator's office, the Israeli embassy, and the United Nations would have been far more effective.
#4
General Discussion / Re: NYT Spelling Bee
Last post by Langue_doc - Today at 10:57:35 AM
Afternoon!

Pangram and above genius. Last words were calla and lilac.

ab_grp, hope the cardiologist appointment was just routine, and you had a good Facetime visit with youngest and partner.

Happy solving!
#5
Teaching / Re: Teaching About The Middle ...
Last post by spork - Today at 10:51:38 AM
Quote from: poiuy on Today at 08:26:11 AMThere are some good infographics in this article, especially maps showing how land boundaries changed over time:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/18/mapping-israeli-occupation-gaza-palestine

You could curate specific information for your class from that article. I was teaching a class on migration last Fall when the Hamas attack happened so I found information from that link very useful for my students.

I teach at a regional public where students are often not well prepared, mostly uninformed, geographic knowledge abysmal, and they have pressing problems related to their day-to-day survival that they understandably prioritize.

Cool. Thanks.
#6
The State of Higher Ed / Re: Protests and police on cam...
Last post by spork - Today at 10:50:29 AM
Quote from: dismalist on May 03, 2024, 03:35:51 PMHamas is not Gandhi.

What's a Gandhi?
#7
Research & Scholarship / Re: May Research Thread
Last post by Parasaurolophus - Today at 08:47:49 AM
More T1ing today. I'd like to start writing up that referee report, too.
#8
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on May 03, 2024, 08:57:21 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 03, 2024, 05:48:38 PMFor my part, I would be curious to know how many especially among those most vocally dismissive or sneering of these protests--have ever participated in a protest of heir own. Because I see a lot of tarring with broad brushes going on.

Dude, I grew up on the west coast in the '80s. 

I observed my fair share of protests and participated in several.  That's part of the reason I think this style of protest has turned sour.

Nevertheless, I marched against the first Gulf War because at the time it seemed like a very scary prospect.  It did not (yet) lead to World War III, but I think we've seen a whole series of atrocities on all sides in part because of it (no facile answers to what we should have done exist, BTW).

So yeah, I've seen protests. 

And for the record, I think one can be anti-occupation and anti-occupied Palestine without being antisemitic.  Israel has things to answer for and America should stop supporting her until she becomes a humane state.  Oh, and Hamas is a terrorist organization.

However, we have been marching, screaming, occupying, and fighting police for close to a hundred years if you count the Bonus Army of 1932.  MLK prevailed because of his maturity in the face of oppression.  Now we have kids occupying their very vulnerable college campuses, resisting when given lawful commands by the police, and then crying to the media when they are arrested.  And many people have a specific kneejerk reaction, "The students were peaceful," as if that gives them the right to break the law.

We need a new cultural imagination to meet our challenges.  I don't think the old system is working any more.

FWIW, I didn't have you in mind.
#9
Teaching / Re: Teaching About The Middle ...
Last post by poiuy - Today at 08:26:11 AM
There are some good infographics in this article, especially maps showing how land boundaries changed over time:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/18/mapping-israeli-occupation-gaza-palestine

You could curate specific information for your class from that article. I was teaching a class on migration last Fall when the Hamas attack happened so I found information from that link very useful for my students.

I teach at a regional public where students are often not well prepared, mostly uninformed, geographic knowledge abysmal, and they have pressing problems related to their day-to-day survival that they understandably prioritize.
#10
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on May 03, 2024, 08:57:21 PMAnd for the record, I think one can be anti-occupation and anti-occupied Palestine without being antisemitic.  Israel has things to answer for and America should stop supporting her until she becomes a humane state.  Oh, and Hamas is a terrorist organization.

However, we have been marching, screaming, occupying, and fighting police for close to a hundred years if you count the Bonus Army of 1932.  MLK prevailed because of his maturity in the face of oppression.  Now we have kids occupying their very vulnerable college campuses, resisting when given lawful commands by the police, and then crying to the media when they are arrested.  And many people have a specific kneejerk reaction, "The students were peaceful," as if that gives them the right to break the law.

We need a new cultural imagination to meet our challenges.  I don't think the old system is working any more.

Well said. What I think many young people don't get is that MLK modelled his actions on Gandhi, and both of them saw that their protests were only a pointer to the social change that would inevitably happen in a basically moral society. No protest had to achieve specific, short term results. The impatience of protests now requires that they have concrete, immediate outcomes, so the disruption has to escalate until they win.

"Getting out the message" has been replaced by "getting in peoples' faces until they cave."