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#1
The State of Higher Ed / Re: Indiana law requires "inte...
Last post by apl68 - Today at 09:21:22 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on Today at 08:17:15 AM
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on Today at 07:49:32 AMMore conservative desperation.

Sure, but the fact that it can even be framed in terms of expanding intellectual diversity rather than the much more obvious requirement that they adopt the government approved viewpoint is unprecedented. (For contrast, consider the legislation that has been discussed here to prevent public schools from teaching certain viewpoints. That's the much more "normal" action historically.)


If you're saying the the universities have ceded much of the high ground in intellectual freedom debates, and made themselves into easier targets for those who wish them ill, there's a lot of truth to that.
#2
Two things can be true at the same time. If it is the case the plagiarism has occurred but only uncovered due to an outside actor with a different agenda, what do you propose? Let it slide due to the method of discovery?
#3
General Discussion / Re: NYT Spelling Bee
Last post by ab_grp - Today at 08:29:18 AM
Good morning!

Got to genius with pangram so far.  Yesterday I got to also QBABM again with final word parka.

And I had no luck on LB again.  That was a tough one.  Congrats, cathwen and ciao_yall! I was wondering if they are trying to make it harder to get a 2fer.  I guess technically you still "win" if you solve within however many words, so maybe they are trying to make it so you have to have a really good vocabulary to see the 2fer words.  Some of the recent solution words have been less common than typical, but on the other hand if you can spot one made up of all these weird letters you probably have a good chance of getting a mate. 

And thanks cathwen and Langue_doc regarding vaccine suggestions and wishes!

Happy solving!
#4
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on Today at 07:49:32 AMMore conservative desperation.

Sure, but the fact that it can even be framed in terms of expanding intellectual diversity rather than the much more obvious requirement that they adopt the government approved viewpoint is unprecedented. (For contrast, consider the legislation that has been discussed here to prevent public schools from teaching certain viewpoints. That's the much more "normal" action historically.)
#6
More conservative desperation.
#7
General Discussion / Re: What Have You Read Lately?...
Last post by apl68 - Today at 07:42:19 AM
The Hills Beyond, by Thomas Wolfe.  I thought that this relatively short work by Wolfe would make a good introduction to the author.  The cover claims it's a novel. It's actually a collection of material culled from the great mass of drafts he left behind when he died.  There are many vivid and interesting passages, but overall it reads like what it is--a jumble of material released by an author's estate and admirers to give the author a kind of posthumous zombie publishing career.  Which goes to show that this isn't as recent a phenomenon as people may think (Though in recent years it has really been getting out of hand--way too much recent popular fiction now bears the names of deceased authors such as V.C. Andrews).

Wolfe also, like so many 20th-century literary icons, comes across as somebody who holds most of his fellow citizens and their culture in contempt.  I've often suspected that one of the rewards of liking them is the way they make their fans feel similarly superior.  Can't say as I admire such an attitude.  That said, the satire directed in some places against the myth of the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy, which had reached a peak in Wolfe's day, was aimed at a target much in need of puncturing.


Alive:  The Story of the Andes Survivors, by Piers Paul Read.  In 1972 an aircraft carrying an Uruguayan college rugby team crashed in a snowy wilderness high in the Andes.  When searchers failed to find them, the survivors faced months of struggling against avalanches, blizzards, and more with nothing like adequate clothing or other gear.  They had no food, and had to force themselves to eat the bodies of their friends who had perished in the crash.  Eventually two of them made a desperate trek out of the mountains to get help.

It really is a wonder that sixteen men survived all that.  It has been called the "Miracle of the Andes."  Some survivors and their families considered it an authentic divine miracle.  They commissioned Read to write this "authorized" account of their ordeal from their interviews.  He did such an effective job of evoking their experiences that Alive has become one of those nonfiction classics that has only been added to, never superseded by, later accounts.  It's the sort of portrait of real people under extreme stress and degradation that is tough to read, and yet prompts admiration for the persistence and resourcefulness on display.

At least some survivors are on record as saying that they didn't feel that Read adequately captured their experience.  Several have over the years published their own first-hand accounts.  I've read one, and may check out another sometime for the sake of getting a different perspective.  Some of the survivors went on to have high-achieving careers.  They felt that, having been given a second chance at such a high cost, they were responsible for making the most of their lives.  Which, now that I think about it, seems like an appropriate theme for the Easter season.
#8
Quote from: apl68 on Today at 07:19:13 AMSounds too subjective to be a very good piece of legislation, that's for sure.

Ridiculous as it is, the irony that the government is accusing universities of having a lack of intellectual diversity shows just how bad the culture wars have been for society.
#9
The State of Higher Ed / Re: Indiana law requires "inte...
Last post by apl68 - Today at 07:19:13 AM
Sounds too subjective to be a very good piece of legislation, that's for sure.
#10
Research & Scholarship / Re: March Research Thread
Last post by Parasaurolophus - Today at 07:13:25 AM
Finish checking, then gotta make a start on finding commentators for a conference.