The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Good morning!

Pangrams and above genius. Last word was moony.

baptize/exchange

Thanks, ab_grp. According to the therapist, the pain was most likely due to an inflammation, which seems to have subsided. I think the pain medication, which is also anti-inflammatory, helped. The last time I had a series of physical therapy appointments was in June last year, so it's been a while since I'd been to this facility. The two physical therapists who usually work on my back greeted me like a long lost friend! Is your husband's consult/appointment today? Sending you both good wishes.

Happy solving!

Morning!

Back on schedule.

Yesterday was a day of /facepalm misses. QBwH for anatomy. LB needed a hint for baptize-exchange because in my brain it's spelled baptise.

Let's see how today goes!

Happy solving!

Quote from: apl68 on May 20, 2024, 12:57:22 PMThe DEI world just can't catch a break.  Now in the news--a former DEI program manager at first Facebook and then Nike convicted and sentenced for stealing $5 million through her work, using various kinds of fraud and kickbacks. 


https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/former-diversity-program-manager-facebook-and-nike-sentenced-federal-prison-5-million


She has just handed those who write DEI in general off as nothing more than a boondoggle a jumbo-sized magazine of ammunition.  It's got to be enough to make DEI officers who are passionate about their work put their faces in their hands.

In my experience I have observed people who are a little on the outside and believe that all sorts of programs are really a racket for insiders.

So when they get on the "inside," they believe they are just doing what "everyone else" is doing.

I have had people get very upset with me when I try to explain that procedures are X, and we can do as they asked, still, we need to follow the procedures. Oh, you don't actually want to demonstrate you are doing what you are getting paid to do? That's... kind of a problem.

For Columbia Univesity in particular, the uniquely bad police violence was instigated by outside agitators in the business community, who called the NYC mayor to have polcie come to campus and bash heads. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/16/business-leaders-chat-group-eric-adams-columbia-protesters/

A university administration needs to stand against that type of invasion. It takes special awareness to recognize the "business leaders" in this role. It is not that uncommon for the police to be used by the powerful to suppress dissent and accountability, even in the US. That is what was happening at Columbia.

I spent around 20 hours on a series of flights last week, so watched a few movies:

Tar (2022)

Cate Blanchett is amazing in this and deserves the various awards that she won. It takes a while to get to the point, but it does follow through quite effectively. My only qualm is with the last 15 minutes or so - I would have left that on the cutting room floor.

Grade: B+


Bombshell (2019)

The story of Roger Ailes fall from Fox News, and the women who brought him down (especially Megyn Kelly). This is told in the same style as The Big Short and Vice, with lots of quick cuts and winks to the camera, which is perhaps not the best way to tell a story about sexual harassment. On the other hand, the performances are all good and they look nearly identical to the people they are portraying. Overall, it is watchable, but not good.

Grade: C+

Past Lives (2023)

Nice little film about immigration and culture and leaving things behind. It is well written, acted, and paced. And it has really stayed with me over the last few days.

Grade: A

Quote from: secundem_artem on May 20, 2024, 01:30:49 PM

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 20, 2024, 10:27:20 AM

Quote from: Ancient Fellow on May 20, 2024, 03:36:51 AMConsidering the sacrifices made by post grads and their families to earn a doctorate, especially in the midst of such a terrible economy and job market, I think the university's granting a doctorate to a friendly cat is remarkably tone-deaf.

I don't know that that's substantively different from most other honorary doctorate recipients, though. Here, the default is just some civil servant who's done nothing more than their job for thirty years.

I thought that's how you get an MBE.

Not all that different from the Oxford MA, then!

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 20, 2024, 10:25:48 AMTwelve pages today.

Got them in.

Then, there was this...https://www.savannahnow.com/story/lifestyle/columns/2012/04/30/filler-dont-bet-pineapple/13659237007/

Thanks for everyone who read and/or responded.  This news piece came up on television early this morning:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ozk9-CfqcM
And this article came up on my computer Google News Feed:  https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/may/14/my-whole-library-is-wiped-out-what-it-means-to-own-movies-and-tv-in-the-age-of-streaming-services

In the academic field I am in, these are big issues (access vs. ownership) (dealing with multiple forms of media for content and then that technology going out).   

For so long physical tape (whether audio or video) was the standard and universal.  In the past couple of years I have had to have medical scans and I always ask for a CD for myself.  At one hospital I had to go to a basement dept to get this because each dept no longer had computers with cd trays as they once did.  Another place had difficulty downloading the files to CD  I waited an hour, but then they still had to send in the postal mail because they could not figure out the technology.  I began to take my own blank CDs and usbs, but these were not used. 

I do think storage/retrieval, access/ownership will continue to be an issue that is examined. 

Quote from: apl68 on May 20, 2024, 12:57:22 PMThe DEI world just can't catch a break.  Now in the news--a former DEI program manager at first Facebook and then Nike convicted and sentenced for stealing $5 million through her work, using various kinds of fraud and kickbacks. 


https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/former-diversity-program-manager-facebook-and-nike-sentenced-federal-prison-5-million


She has just handed those who write DEI in general off as nothing more than a boondoggle a jumbo-sized magazine of ammunition.  It's got to be enough to make DEI officers who are passionate about their work put their faces in their hands.

"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."
--Eric Hoffer