Russian soldiers guard the remnants of Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, which was destroyed earlier this week. +1 for political street theater. (ht Michael Madill) pic.twitter.com/wexe64lx0Q
— TimKarr (@TimKarr) July 27, 2018
Happy anniversary to Donald Trump asking a foreign adversary to hack his opponent’s emails! https://t.co/V4dt2UUT39
— Adam Smith (@asmith83) July 27, 2018
The Helsinki Summit was 11 days ago
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) July 27, 2018
It’s been a long 97 days: pic.twitter.com/LPq1S1gAZt
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) July 27, 2018
all this reality show needs now is paul manafort singing russian karaoke folk songs https://t.co/lcoQEgVJig
— darth™ (@darth) July 27, 2018
If you play the Trump-Cohen tapes backwards, you can clearly hear "I bury Paul Manafort."
— John Lurie (@lurie_john) July 25, 2018
The conventional wisdom in Washington is that nothing happens in August.
August is going to be insane.
— Kevin Madden (@KevinMaddenDC) July 27, 2018
Fox News by August: “Look, America teamed up with Russia to defeat the Nazis. This is just like that except the enemy was Hillary Clinton.”
— Schooley (@Rschooley) July 27, 2018
never met with russians
met with russians over adoption
met with russians for election dirt but thats ok
met w russians but did not collude
met w russians did some light collusion
met w russians, colluded but really everybody does it right?
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 27, 2018
Trump’s best angle at this point is just to say that the whole conservative movement was infiltrated and he couldn’t defy the NRA and Torshin.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 27, 2018
satby
Good morning all! By the time you read this I’ll be off to the market, then immediately after to the airport. Just checked into my flight. I’m really jazzed about my trip to NYC and my reunions with my exchange son and my co-workers. Not to mention meeting NYC jackals and NotMax!
Everyone have a great day ?
SiubhanDuinne
Have a wonderful trip, Satby!
geg6
Bon voyage, satby! I’m jellus. I ♥️ New York, even in summer.
Sister Golden Bear
Have a great trip, Satby!
Can’t remember whether I posted that I’m back in the hotel (from the hospital) for another three weeks of recovery until I released to go home.
Still have some uncontrolled pain, which I’ll talk to the clinic about when I’m taken in Monday for a check up. Unfortunately, the hospital pharmacist wouldn’t give me the strongest pain killer since it has potential interactions with another medication I’m taking, and I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask about substitutes before I left the hospital.
But the nurse who did rounds today thought I was doing well. The after-care, well, it’s definitely not fun, as expected. Though I’m told it gets easier once the swelling comes down.
Cermet
@satby: Have a good trip and fun with the jackals.
@Sister Golden Bear: Sorry to hear all that and hope the pain recedes and you get better fast.
A good morning to all the Jackals out there.
delk
Good Morning!
LeeM
Looks like a busy birthday for Dr Mrs LeeM today. An F1 tornado spun out of the severe thunderstorms yesterday and devastated the wildlife education center habitat at her work. All the critters are safe and accounted for in their backup holding areas, but the big water oaks fell across the fencing surrounding the wolf, bobcat, cougar and bison habitats. The damage from Hurricanes Matthew and Irene were nearly repaired, and now this again.
Nicole
Ha! So funny to see that photo at the top of this post. I think a lawyer friend of mine from Los Angeles gets the nod for it going viral- he’d posted it on Instagram and FB, giving the h/t to Michael Madill, who he got it from, but the photographer is unknown. I asked to share it on my page, he said sure, he’d make the post public and 24 hours later, his public post now has over 22K shares. I got a FB message from him this morning saying he guesses my instinct to make it public was the right call. Heh. I’m going to message him back once it’s not 4AM on the West Coast to tell him to check out Balloon Juice to see it.
Waldo
I used to think that with each lie Trump told, he was digging a hole he’d never be able to climb out of. Now I see his plan is to reach a depth at which realty itself implodes.
Nicole
@geg6: If it’s any consolation about not being in NYC yourself, it’s particularly gross here right now, even by NYC in summer standards. The heat isn’t terrible, but a week of on-and-off rain has left it really, really humid. You can’t escape it. I got on a C train and the car was air conditioned cold… and still humid. Same thing at the movie theater. Ugh. Which, as I was there to see Skyscraper, aka Towering Inferno Starring The Rock, just added insult to injury.
rikyrah
@satby:
Have a great trip??
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
rikyrah
@Sister Golden Bear:
Sorry about the pain. Hope that they can help you get better.
SFAW
@satby:
Have a great trip!
OzarkHillbilly
Must see TV:
……………….
SFAW
One of the tweets in Cole’s feed (or whatever it’s called) talked about having a tough time remembering which one is Uday, and which one is Qusay.
I used to have the same problem, until I
learned this one weird trickcame up with this simple reminder:Uday is the stupid and evil one, and Qusay is the evil and stupid one. Problem solved!
Nicole
@Sister Golden Bear: I’m also sorry about the pain and am really sorry you’ll have to wait until Monday to talk to someone about it.
SFAW
@LeeM:
The Lord
works in mysterious wayshas a really fucked-up sense of “humor.”SFAW
Since Ozark seems to be off his game this morning, I’ll say it for him:
Bleach.
SFAW
@Sister Golden Bear:
Sorry to hear about the pain, I hope you get some relief soon.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Delusion is a powerful drug.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: The word is “Blech” and I am seeing my granddaughter in her annual horse show today so it is decidedly not a “blech” day.
Raven
There’s danger on the edge of town
Ride the King’s Highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake, he’s long, seven miles
Ride the snake
He’s old and his skin is cold
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
You still in Houston?
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: And denial is not a river in Egypt.
Chyron HR
@OzarkHillbilly:
Awfully braggadocious for someone who claims he barely escaped with his life. (chin scratching emoji)
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I know what YOU write on a daily basis. We talked about it yesterday, gramps.
I was also going to make some smartass comment along the lines of you-snooze-you-lose, but since it’s apparently NOT a “blech” day, I guess I’ll punt on that.
Best wishes to your granddaughter! Have a good time at the show, gramps.
Sister Golden Bear
@Nicole: Actually a nurse will be here tomorrow morning to do rounds, and I’ll raise it with her then.
The clinic does have staff members who you can 24/7 if needed, but since it’s a four-day holiday weekend here in Thailand, I hate to make a big deal out of it, if there’s intermediate steps we can take.
The big question is whether I’ll be able to sleep through the night with the sleeping pills they gave me. (Last night I was waking up almost every hour.) It was a little difficult to figure out because it feels like I need to pee really badly, but in reality it pain from the swelling of the surgical site. If I have another sleepless night, then yeah, I’ll escalate things, politely of course, because Thailand is adverse to public demonstrations of irritation and anger (shows that you can’t control your emotions).
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: nah, I’m at the Farmers market on my way to the hardware store!
debbie
@satby:
Have a great time in that great city!
OzarkHillbilly
@Chyron HR: He’s a pu$$y with a gun and a big mouth. I’m a little surprised he’s still alive.
debbie
This was a great way to start off my Twitter-reading day!
debbie
@Sister Golden Bear:
Glad you’ve got a good pharmacist who caught that almost-blunder.
NobodySpecial
Good morning!
Bit bummed since my vacation plans to GenCon fell through. Hope everyone else is getting in some quality vacation time this week!
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I hope somewhere in that documentary someone points out that Trayvon was defending himself against a man he had noticed was stalking him. I never hear anyone talking about. Either everyone gets Stand Your Ground protection, or no one should.
HeleninEire
@geg6: LOL. When I left NYC I said out loud to no one in the room “Goodbye NY summer; I will not miss you.”
And I left in November!
NotMax
In case it was missed by any planning to attend, reservations at the meeting spot are listed under NotMax. So if it’s crowded, those who may amble in later on can be readily led to the jackal area by the tavern staff.
HeleninEire
@satby: Enjoy NYC. It’s the best.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: I will. My son got married recently (Baby Girl is his daughter from a previous relationship)(and she really likes his new wife) so now they are a “family”, hence we don’t get to see her near as much as we used to.
Immanentize
@satby:
Have a great trip. I so wish I could join you in the Big Apple! Please have someone take pictures of all the attending miscreants?
m.j.
I’m getting paranoid. I keep trying to watch the Samantha Bee – Masha Gesson coffee and car ride thing and all it wants to do is keep buffering. Everything else seems to load fine.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Back when people were still arguing about it, that was the first point I would always make. Apparently, only white people get to stand their ground, black people engage in unprovoked attacks on peaceful law abiding citizens. Shocking, I know.
Immanentize
@Sister Golden Bear: I’m glad to hear that you moved to the recovery hotel. But sorry about the pain. I am not a doctor! but when my wife was in her worst stages of pain, the palliative care Doc had her taking tynenol along with the narcotics. It really seemed to help for whatever medical reasons… Is that an option?
One of my favorite silver lining stories: when Julie was in the hospital for the final experience, a young new resident came in on rounds in the morning and said, “Wow! You know, if you were opiate naive, that dose you get would kill you.” Julie just leveled him with a look and said, “I am not opiate naive.”
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Sadly, we now have plenty of proof that your theory is true. I remember one egregious case in FLA., where an AA woman’s house (!) was being broken into and she shot the burglar and was immediately charged with murder — no stand your ground for her! I guess all ground belongs to the white folks.
Kristine
@satby: Have a great time!
One of my favorite sites is the subway station for the Natural History Museum. Mosaics of bats, monkeys, birds etc on the walls.
Also, the Cloisters, if you can manage it and especially if you like things medieval.
Also, too, il Laboratorio del Gelato gelato is amazing.
John S.
The rubes (i.e. Trump supporters and the media) are already fixating on the GDP numbers, so none of this matters again.
That will likely change once GDP comes back t earth following the run on soybeans in anticipation of tariffs, but facts and pesky details are not important to the rubes.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Immanentize:
Do you know what the DA’s reasoning was for charging her with murder instead of letting her off under the STG law? Whatever happened with the woman’s case
MomSense
@Sister Golden Bear:
I’m so sorry about the pain. I can’t take opioids so I’ve had episodes after surgery or dental work with pain. This may seem weird but listening to music in a comfortable position can help. Pick music that you love. I prefer with earbuds to block out other sounds.
There is some research on this but nothing conclusive yet. It doesn’t stop the pain but it does help me.
I hope you get some relief.
Gaffa
@SFAW:
Mork is cunnin’ but brutal, while Gork is brutal but cunnin’!
Although I don’t think any of the Greenskins would put up with the Trump clan. They’d give them to the Snotlings to play with.
Immanentize
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I’m not sure I remember, but I’ll try to find it later…. I want that one in my pocket.
MomSense
@satby:
Have fun!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@SFAW: people say Uday is the stupid one, but if so, he’s stupid like a fox… he’s furthest away from all the criminal activity, and hence best positioned to assume control of what’s left of the family fortune while everyone else is doing time. I guess there’s a strong possibility that nothing will be left but at least he’ll have his freedom.
Ohio Mom
@Sister Golden Bear: I remember learning during my surgical adventure five years ago that poorly controlled pain interferes with healing. I hope you get enough of the right stuff soon.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
Was that the same woman who shot in the air, not even at the person?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize:
I think it’s “pics or it didn’t happen”, that’s what the kids say.
RedDirtGirl
@satby: See you Sunday! Didn’t realize NotMax was just visiting, as well!
Immanentize
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Here is one case, but this is slightly different from the one I’m remembering -+ but horrific also:. Linky
Immanentize
@MomSense: That’s the link above — the shooting in the air one. But there was another…. Sadly probably dozens.
PS. Bee stung boy OK?
Mandarama
@Immanentize: That’s a great story—Julie was clearly bad.ass. Love it!
When are your college visits? We made it through our crazed 2500 mile campuspalooza…hmm, that phrase makes it sound more fun than 7 informational sessions and miles and miles of walking! It was helpful for my son, though. He has adjusted some of his preferences just based on that feeling you get. And I realized that what he needs in a school isn’t remotely what I myself respond to. ?
JPL
@Immanentize: For those who don’t want to link to fynyt the case is also on wikipedia.
link
It wasn’t stand your ground, because it was only a warning shot.
zhena gogolia
Are those really Russian soldiers???
Gin & Tonic
@HeleninEire: On a ski lift in NZ one time, I sat next to a retired schoolteacher from Philadelphia. She doesn’t like summers, so she’s in the Philly area from October through March-April or so, then goes to NZ until the beginning of October. It’s more or less winter all year for her.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: I do believe that woman was arguing with her husband who was threatening to get violent with her. Again.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: No. Street theater. Thrift shop uniforms.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Your son and his wife reeeeeaaally need a date weekend dontcha think. ??. They could always drop baby girl off with you.
My adult kids are not close to grandkid time and are saying they are not going to ever have children. Here I am a freakin baby whisperer who knits.
It’s gotten so bad that random babies are smiling at me and doing the reach out for me to pick them up at the grocery store. They know who would be the cool grandma.
Gin & Tonic
@MomSense: There have been clinical studies that ibuprofen and acetaminophen (paracetamol for furriners) taken in alternation (i.e. different each two hours) are as effective as oral opioids. Of course fentanyl, morphine, demerol, etc, are a different beast.
Immanentize
@Mandarama:
Up and coming campus visits! Rice 8/9, UT Austin 8/10, take in a good music show at Gruene Hall 8/11…
Then off to So. Cal. for UCSD, Harvey Mudd, UCLA and USC the following week. I’m already exhausted! Of course, the Immp has done almost nothing on his application essays yet… Wrangling and stress ahead!
MomSense
@Immanentize:
He’s doing well. No more meds. How is Immp feeling? I’m really glad he likes his job.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
I’ve done that before. After any kind of surgery though I can’t take ibuprofen or naproxen. Just Tylenol.
Immanentize
@MomSense:
Almost recovered from the wipe out, but his left paw is still pretty messed up. Hasn’t gotten back on the bike yet. We got new pedals and some bike gloves. Which I think he now understands why they are a good thing.
JPL
@Immanentize: Exciting times for little Immp though. I’m exhausted just reading about your pending travels.
rikyrah
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
After a lot of protesting, she was finally let out of jail.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: Then you should take some time to meet the rare breed of Southern California jackal while you’re in the area. U$C, blech.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Are you sure that it was a burglar?
I am thinking about the case where the boyfriend was abusive, admitted that he was abusive, and still she was prosecuted for trying to defend herself and her child. That’s the case that I am thinking about.
Another Scott
@John S.: There are, unsurprisingly, early signs that the housing market is cooling off, also too. CalculatedRisk:
(McBride was warning about the housing bubble long before the crash.)
The US economy is a huge, complicated, behemoth of a thing, but one can’t beat up on it forever without facing consequences. The fall and winter are likely to be interesting (in the Chinese proverb sense), especially with the threat of another federal government shutdown looming…
Be careful out there.
Fingers crossed for a pain-free, quiet weekend for everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
Ok I’m off to Masshole land. Going to spend an overnight with an elderly relative who needs a little company and someone to see if anything unsafe is happening at the house.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Sounds like a great trip for you and Little Imma ?
JPL
@Immanentize: If you have time while you are in Austin, you should see this
It’s only thirty minutes from the campus by foot.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Have a good trip
MomSense
@Immanentize:
Road rash?
This sounds terrible but I’m the tiniest bit ok with my kids getting non lethally humbled by activities. A little extra caution is a good thing especially on/in anything with wheels.
I hope he feels better.
Yarrow
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: No. None of his kids with Ivana are innocent. They’re all involved in the treason.
@satby: Have a great trip!
rikyrah
Why Lucretia really shut down her clothing line??
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Why-Ivanka-Trump-really-shut-down-her-line-of-13110960.php
Gelfling 545
@Sister Golden Bear: Bless you. I hope your healing is rapid. As to aftercare, I was wobbly about dressing a few tiny incisions from gallbladder surgery. If I ever need anything more serious heaven help me and any who have to participate in the care! You are such a strong person. Wishing you well.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense:
He shares custody with Baby Girls mother, so he and his wife get date wkend every other. Every now and again there is a conflict between their busy lives and their wkend with BG and then we get her for the wkend, but it does not happen as much as it did before they got married.
Immanentize
@JPL: Oh, I love the Austin bats!! Thanks for reminding me!
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
So are they protestors or supporters? I’m guessing the former.
Another Scott
@rikyrah: Glad that story mentioned – https://grabyourwallet.org/ It’s a good list, well worth thinking about when buying stuff.
(Too many) Companies these days only understand money. The only way to get their attention is to stop giving it to them.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ohio Mom
@Another Scott: It’s anecdotal but I am seeing signs of a slowing housing market in my neighborhood (like all good suburbanites, following the area’s housing prices is a minor pastime).
I so do not want to live through another Great Recession.
Immanentize
@MomSense:
Yes, abrasions galour! Palms of both hands, elbow, shoulder, up his back some…. And I agree completely. No broken bones equals a good experience.
Mandarama
@Immanentize: Austin is fantastic! My brother lives there. It’s hotter than hell, though, as I’m sure you know. ?
Harvey Mudd is in my kid’s top 3. Let’s just plan to dump them at the same school together and commiserate!
Mine hasn’t done anything on applications yet either. (He spent most of the summer working in a lab.) And honestly, the schools he loves have such low admit rates that it’s like a snowball’s chance in…well, Texas.
Mandarama
@Sister Golden Bear: I’m amazed at your bravery, being far away from home and tackling this. Wishing you the fastest recovery!
Yarrow
@Immanentize: Since you’re visiting Rice, you can also check out the bats in Houston. Not as dramatic as the Austin bats, and their numbers were diminished by hurricane Harvey, but still cool. They’re under the Waugh bridge over Buffalo Bayou. There’s a viewing platform with info boards and such. Link.
Another Scott
@Ohio Mom: Around here, in NoVA, it’s not as bad as the 2006 slow-down, yet, but there are signs of slowing. A few months ago, just about everything (with some exceptions) seemed to be selling in a week or less. Now, I’m noticing more and more homes that have had signs in front for many weeks. And plots of in-fill land are dropping in price (e.g. 2.2 acres in a flood plain was $650k, now $500k, and still no obvious nibbles.)
Lumber prices are way up too according to CR (probably at least partly the result to Donnie’s Glorious Trade War with our Notorious Enemy Canada). (groucho-roll-eyes.gif).
We’re not yet to the 2006 insanity, and I don’t really expect us to get there unless things change (e.g. some insane tax law changes to pump up the mortgage market), but any slowdown in new housing should be watched carefully. It leads recoveries and is an important sign of coming recessions.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
Hey, remember the “we were only meeting at Trump Tower to talk about Russian adoptions” schtick? Turns out that an organization my boss is involved with was part of the fig-leaf for that story.
She gets a call from an AP reporter early last Sunday morning, wanting to know about her connection to the two jokers he cites in this article. Turns out that they had met with her at FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoptions), feeding her a line of bull about all the terrible lies Bill Browder had told, and that if FRUA would only start lobbying against the Magnitsky Act, maybe Russian adoptions to the US could start up again. Now, Jan is no fool, and she knows what professional ethics are into the bargain, so she told them flat-out that FRUA wasn’t going to get involved. So they mooched away, but lo and behold, *the very next day* they show up at Trump Tower!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/emails-lawyer-who-met-trump-jr-tied-to-russian-officials/2018/07/26/2f06a404-9138-11e8-ae59-01880eac5f1d_story.html?utm_term=.4afe48afd868
debbie
@Another Scott:
An even more ominous note, at least in my mind: At some lenders (as in Fannie and Freddie, but also others), approval for modification doesn’t rely on income. In fact, income isn’t a factor at all.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@OzarkHillbilly: Looks great. Don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach watching it as I can barely stand to look at that racist piece of shit. Great to see Jay-Z following in the political footsteps of his better half ;)
debbie
@Sister Golden Bear:
I hope my comment about the pharmacist didn’t come off as dismissive of your pain. I’m not at all dismissive of anyone’s pain, but I know many who have gotten into more trouble based on healthcare providers not paying careful attention to the risks of drug interactions, etc.
SFAW
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Yeah, well, I don’t think owing the Russians hundreds of millions of $$$ is something he’d look forward to.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ohio Mom: How’s about another Great Depression?
debbie
@debbie:
Gotta get moving on the pile of errands I need to do, but for more information about new mod rules, you can Google Fannie (or Freddie) Flex Modification.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Or drug allergies. I can’t count the number of times I have been prescribed anti-inflammatories and then have to remind the Doc that I am allergic to aspirin (cross reactions due to I suspect using the same receptors) and they go, “Oh yeah.” and put away their prescription pad.
germy
Owl Jolson
germy
Owl Jolson
germy
Okay, this is a first for me.
I leave one comment and it appears twice?
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
One thing that is also never brought up is a 27 year old man should be stronger than a skinny 17 year old boy. Zimmerman should have been able to more than hold his own against Martin.
The Pale Scot
@Waldo:
I believe the term is “Crossing the Event Horizon”
Tokyokie
@JPL: There used to be bats in the ewe tee football stadium as well, but the stench of baked guano during early-season afternoon games was such that the bats were driven out/exterminated.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: Nicole Wallace has often said that when trump hired Manafort, everybody in politics knew he was a bottom-feeding has-been with a dirty client list. What I recall hearing was that he was more or less a has-been, but one who knew convention rules like nobody else, a sign that trump was gearing up for a brokered convention. I don’t remember any talk about a dirty client list, as opposed to say, Lanny Davis, whose shady clients are mentioned all the time. Rarely so for his partner, Michael Steele (I don’t know if they’re still partners, I know those types of deals often have short lifespans).
SFAW
@germy:
Your comment must have been SO GOOD, it just couldn’t be contained.
The Pale Scot
@Raven: Stay away from the brown acid
tybee
@LeeM: oatland island?
Immanentize
@Tokyokie: now it’s just the glorious grackles pooping everywhere.
The Pale Scot
@Sister Golden Bear: Don’t be shy about asking for pain meds, no sleep = slower recovery
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108: He outweighed Trayvon by 70 lbs. (220 vs 150) On his side, Trayvon had some martial arts training.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
Once, I posted a comment and it appeared five times. For some now-forgotten (but good) reason I had mentioned breasts. FYWP made me seem obsessed with boobs, and I have never forgiven it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Uncle Ebeneezer: Yeah, I would have trouble watching it too. Feel the need to tho.
B.B.A.
Is it bright where you are? Have the people changed? Does it make you happy you’re so strange?
RedDirtGirl
@MomSense: That’s so good of you. Be sure to carve out moments for yourself.
ruemara
@Sister Golden Bear: Get better soon! I seem to have missed stufff.
Have a good time in NYC, satby. In fact, try to have less of a good time since NY goes overboard.
RedDirtGirl
@germy: Sure wish I could see that tweet, but I’m blocked by Ragnarok Lobster! I’ve been assured it’s nothing personal, by people more familiar with twitter than I, but it still stings!
OzarkHillbilly
@B.B.A.:
The sun is shining.
Yes, but their still assholes.
Very happy. Thank you for asking. Mind you, I have a long ways to go before I measure up to your strangeness.
OzarkHillbilly
@RedDirtGirl: I think you can read any twitter account without signing in. At least, I always have been able to. As I understand it, blocking only keeps you from engaging with the blocker.
germy
@RedDirtGirl: It’s a brief clip of “Owl Jolson” doing his “I wanna singa, ’bout the moon-ah and a june-ah and a spring-ah” song as he dances into a gruff agent’s office.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@OzarkHillbilly: yup, I follow twitter through safari, you can just google (name) twitter and a page will probably come up
Ken
@Miss Bianca:
Vaguely, but it was so long ago now that we’re all on Trump time.
jeffreyw
@Amir Khalid:
Here’s a puppeh picture to help get your mind out of the gutter, Amir.
RedDirtGirl
@jeffreyw: And yet there is at least one boob in that photo, too. Interesting…
RedDirtDirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks for the tip!
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: @jeffreyw: @RedDirtGirl: Had a conversation with a female friend who found men’s obsession with breasts puzzling and just didn’t understand it. I mansplained it for her by pointing out the fact that “We don’t have them.” All the men in the group nodded in agreement, the women weren’t so sure.
jeffreyw
@RedDirtGirl:
This one may doubly pique your interest!
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, I don’t buy that either.
Humdog
@Amir Khalid: Sure, Amir, blame WP………
OzarkHillbilly
@jeffreyw: This blog is really going to the dogs.
trollhattan
@Immanentize:
One year behind ya. So not ready….
Way back in the day my bro was accepted to Harvey Mudd but chose MIT instead, depriving the family a lifetime of the most awesome college sweatshirts evah.
Enjoy your excursion! I’ll be taking the kid to Haaavaaad at Cal women’s soccer next month. “There, you visited both.”
JMG
@Immanentize: That’s a fine list. If you son is accepted by any of those schools, he will like it.
trollhattan
@Humdog:
It’s the sole reason Amir is inundated with boobs!
Has anybody told him “chicks dig Telecasters?”
frosty
@Immanentize: HMC grad here. You’ll find it radically different than the others on your list because it’s so small. Mitigated by Scripps across the street, though.
trollhattan
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s the classic mistake of looking for something deep in the puddle that is the manbrain. Always look to the simple explanation first.
Baud
Y’all talking about boobs and you didn’t invite me?
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Are you really sure about that?
Aleta
@OzarkHillbilly: I really laughed your last line. Downright witty.
mad citizen
@NobodySpecial: Hey Nobody Special, if no one else got the reference, I know what GenCon is, since I work across the street from the Indy convention center. It’s always a fun time seeing the attendees, costumes, etc.: https://www.gencon.com/. GenCon has become huge, and I think Indy locked it up for a good while.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ted Cruz will not stand for people spreading nutty rumors about his father and the Kennedy assassination
Aleta
@MomSense: Have a good trip.
Rand Careaga
@OzarkHillbilly: On a road trip thirty-five years ago I dropped in on an old friend in North Carolina. In her day—the early to mid-seventies—she had cut a wide swath through Southern California young manhood in the LA party scene, so I was surprised to learn, catching up with her after seven years, that she was now playing for Team Sappho. “I’m fascinated by women’s breasts, Rand,” said she. “I love to kiss and fondle them.” “Why, what an extraordinary coincidence!” I exclaimed.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
I like to illustrate the concept of gender dimorphism by saying that women have breasts, and men should not.
Fair Economist
@Ohio Mom: Don’t worry, the housing market will not cause another Great Recession. It is overheated and due for a correction but it is nothing like the Aughts.
I won’t make promises about trade wars, tax cuts, or Brexit.
RedDirtDirl
@Amir Khalid: Are you talking about moobs, now?
MobileForkbeard
@Mandarama: Are there any BJers in Austin? Looks like I’m going to be there for a few days in early October and I’ve got a least a couple nights free.
Redshift
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I thought it came out fairly quickly that his previous client was the massively corrupt Putin-backed leader of Ukraine, but I could be wrong. I also recall some skepticism about the “convention rules” justification, since it had been more than a decade since Manafort had worked on a personal campaign, and rules aren’t static.
There wasn’t enough skepticism, of course. But I think that was because most of the political class were assuming he was hired because most competent people wouldn’t work for Trump and because Trump is cheap and he worked for free.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Fair Economist: I’ve been waiting for a stock market correction for about six years. I think there have been two dips of, or very close to, 5%– one in ’14 or ’15 and one in Feb/March of this year?– but it bounced backed quickly kept going up. I’ve learned not to act on what I think the markets should do.
Baud
Who could have predicted?
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1KI0GD
zhena gogolia
@jeffreyw:
Cute dog :)
Aleta
Cat “sports highlight of the day”
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: My niece just got back from 2 college trips with her daughter, and she is exhausted. I suspect there is a lot of that going around!
Sister Golden Bear
@ruemara: I’m in Thailand for genital reassignment surgery (I’m trans), i.e. re-arranging the bits to match the gender I’m living as. Was in the hospital for a week post-surgery, and now I’m back at the hotel for another three weeks before they’ll release me to go home (where I’m taking an additional month off before returning to work). Hotel is right next to the surgeon’s clinic, and he does enough patients that the hotel reserves two floors for them. His nurses do daily rounds, so I’m not like I’m on my own, plus there’s a community of 20 some odd patients who are there at any given time, and who tend to look out for each other.
@debbie: Not at all. I’d rather have a cautious pharmacist (although from what’s I read about the potential drug interactions, perhaps a bit too cautious). My main gripe is that she didn’t alert the clinic staff who were taking me back to the hotel, and see if there were any alternatives that could’ve been arranged. (And ironically, her prescription for Tylenol is potentially dangerous because the total daily amount allowed exceeds the FDA limits and it’s easy to damage your liver with too much Tylenol.)
Fortunately non-stop cold packs all day on my crotch have helped a lot, by reducing the swelling that’s contributing to the pain. Also helped that I finally had an enormous week’s plus-sized poop that relieved some of the pressure. (You’re strongly discouraged from pooping during the week you’re in the hospital because it can be problematic when you’re stuff full of vaginal package post-op.)
@The Pale Scot: Oh definitely, been there done that when I had pinched nerve pain and couldn’t sleep. The trick is doing it in a way that no one loses face, Thailand being a “face culture.”
Baud
Oh joy.
CNN
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
It wasn’t a fist fight between some hulking black man and defenseless white guy. That really gets left out in the telling by a lot of folks.
Chyron HR
@Baud:
Every primary needs a what’s-his-face. You know. That guy. He killed a man.
Mandarama
@frosty: Hey, a Mudder! My son loved the vibe there. And their admissions marketing has been fantastic. He says he got the “I have found my people” feeling. He felt that way at MIT as well…he vibrated like a tuning fork the whole time. I’m just fretting because all of these schools could fill 10x their slots with very (somewhat) stable geniuses. Thing 1 here is not perfect or a savant; he’s just in love with numbers and patterns. (He was pretty much born that way. Husband and I both majored in English.)
StringOnAStick
Getting ready to go out for another mountain bike ride in Crested Butte, CO after doing a really long, dusty and biting fly infused ride yesterday. Today will be mellower, I’m just not as strong as I used to be though I did advise and then passed 3 young guys half my age yesterday. They will have “crazy old lady on a bike” stories to tell when they get back home.
It’s been at least 5 years since we’ve ridden here and the trails are in so much worse shape now that this is such a well known and well advertised destination, plus the CO population has boomed. That was my favorite trail but it’s so wash boarded now that the downhill pounds my knees, so that’s probably the last time I’ll ever ride it. Oh well, but I have great memories from it.
We have friends who are house trading in Denver right now. The realtor they chose told them the market is starting to soften but starter priced is still moving well. Too much higher and they sit a bit. Denver has grown like mad for a long time and some slowing would be a good thing it seems.
? Martin
@gene108: Something else commonly underestimated is initiative and determination. Whoever has the initiative has a huge advantage. And the stakes aren’t always mutually agreed upon. Is Travon looking to tell someone to back off and George looking to physically harm someone? If so, they’re going to enter this thing at a very different level. I learned that the hard way as a kid in NY in the 70s when what I thought was a standard playground fight resulted in a knife stuck in my leg. Not only did he get the first blow in, but when it wasn’t enough to tip the fight in his favor he went to ‘knife’. I never considered that knife would be making an appearance. I wanted to win the fight, not send him to the hospital. He wanted to send me to the hospital from the outset.
Since then I always assume someone who is aggressive toward me is planning for the worst. First order of business is make sure they can’t get back up to find and use that weapon. But I had to learn that lesson the hard way. Thankfully I survived to make better decisions later. Trayvon didn’t.
And this is part of the reason why I think cops in the US are so aggressive. They have to assume that a gun will make an appearance in any scenario, simply because they are so widespread and so unregulated and concealed and open carry so common. We will never make progress on police reform until we make progress on gun reform.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: IIRC there was something in the write-ups of his meeting with Juncker that they agreed to talk, and that they won’t talk about auto imports and rules. I think trump really wants to fuck with the auto industry, to do something “strong” and “tough”, and that will fuck things up. Somebody said in one of the streams of media white noise I have on too often for my own good, NPR or MSNBC, that GM and Ford were preparing for fuckery.
CaseyL
Hi, everyone! I am treasuring the brief morning respite from the heat, thinking I should really work on some glass before my studio turns into a toaster oven. But I haven’t had my morning coffee yet, so…
In other news, I am thinking about taking an early retirement. Office work at a major university is clearly not what I should be doing. The management culture is as toxic as anywhere in the private sector. Maybe worse because they use the language of respect, equality, “safe workplace,” and so on, but it turns out to only be an item on a liability-avoidance checklist.
I am considering options. Working for a veterinarian looks good – at this point in my life, I’d rather spend my time with critters than with humans – or even retail at a lively, cheerful petfood store. I *really* want to sell my townhouse and move out of the city, but getting the place ready to fetch top dollar will require at least ten grand for various cosmetic repairs. I’m seriously considering it, though, esp. if the real estate market is starting to cool off.
Decisions, decisions.
J R in WV
@Sister Golden Bear:
Glad you have left the hospital, hope the desire for better food is fulfilled!
I will say this about that pain, when I had my shoulder replacement(s) we asked a friend RN to stay with us for a few days, not knowing what to expect. She told me I needed to stay ahead of the pain if at all possible. It is way harder to regain control having lost it than to keep it under control all along.
Second shoulder I tried to move from the post op pain relief to my maintenance medications much too quickly. Once the post op meds wore off, I was not nearly as recovered as I had thought. In fact, I went through most of another prescription from the surgeon’s PA before leaving it behind, into PT for a couple of weeks, being driven around by wife.
RN friend spent some years working as a trauma nurse at a local hospital, so knew her stuff cold. Very smart person. Several of our neighbors have gone into serious nursing as adults, after building their farms.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I had heard that they only agreed to talk, but I wasn’t sure if there was a separate deal on soybeans. It appears not.
Mandarama
@MobileForkbeard: i have to think a city as cool as Austin *must* have some jackals in the vicinity. In October the weather will be better—and I hope Beto will be getting ready to kick past odious Ted, too!
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: That was too funny!
Baud
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-us-canada-44993221
? Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Did you see the report that we’re now down to flash cards to get through trade negotiations. Maybe Trudeau can show up with some hand puppets during the NAFTA talks. Are there any nursery rhymes that focus on multilateral trade negotiations?
trollhattan
@Fair Economist:
As someone less than a hundred miles from the lava-hot nexus of overheated real estate I can vouch that neither massive overbuilding nor tens of thousands of sub-prime mortgages (“deeds of trust”) are in play here. What’s primarily being built in my metroplex is mid and high-end multi-family in the city center, fare more than the typical suburban ranchettes. Even if the jerbs market cools the worst result would be easing back of the mindboggling rents they’re fetching.
Seven-figure sales are suddenly commonplace in my neighborhood where recently we’d see one a year, tops. It’s Bay Area refugees and when that slows I’ll surrender some of my paper equity but shed no tears. Folks cashing in on that sweet equity in a refi might feel differently, but I’m not that guy.
zhena gogolia
@Sister Golden Bear:
Wow, you are brave. All the best to you!
trollhattan
@Baud:
They’re supposed to by a “China-worth” of soybeans? Where would they even keep it all? Morans.
I’m waiting for the almond ranchers to start whining at Trumpy. Coastal elite bastards.
Miss Bianca
@StringOnAStick: Oh, where in Crested Butte? I lived up there for a year. Always loved mountain-biking on the loops. Will never forget how Stella led Luna into an encounter there with a porcupine. Nothing like being on the trail pulling quills out of a puppy’s muzzle.
frosty
@Mandarama: You need to remember they may not want 100% stable geniuses. HMC could have filled my class with Californians from private schools. I think I was a diversity admission: easterner from an average public high school. I didn’t even have calculus in HS! But I finished, which half of my class didn’t.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Donnie really, really hates imported, expensive, German cars (M-B, BMW, Audi) He really, really wants to slap huge – 35% – duties on them. (WARNING – FTFNYT link). He pointedly said that his agreement with Junker did not include autos.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he tries to impose some huge tariffs on imported cars from Europe, but it’s hard to think of a more Republican group overall than premium auto dealers, so who knows what would happen. No doubt he would do his best to spin anything into some Giant Bigly Victory, no matter how much other damage he does in the process…
(sigh)
101 days to go. The only way to end this madness is to vote Trump’s Minions out of office everywhere.
Eyes on the prize.
Cheers,
Scott.
? Martin
@trollhattan: Yeah, things here in SoCal are a bit more manageable, but if they added half a million units, we’d still be above the national median home price. Thankfully my city has mostly shifted to high density multi-use properties – 4-5 stories above retail. Rents/sales prices for these are quite a bit lower and the increased density means we might take another run at mass transit. Parking lots and not farms are becoming the constraining factor on continued growth.
Aleta
@gene108: Despite his physical advantage w/o any gun, Z’s swaggering is all about how his gun proves he’s a tough man. The NRA says so too: Real men carry guns. Reminds me of the old manly cigarette ads. And starting to smoke was a rite of passage; while now the sales pitch is increasingly about getting your young kids their first gun.
CaseyL
@Miss Bianca: Oh, that poor baby – ouch! Did you make it a point to carry a pliers with you at all times?
@Sister Golden Bear: I was going to mention the dangers associated with Tylenol, so am glad to see you’re aware of them. It sounds like they’re taking very good care of you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and joy with your now-correct body!
Aleta
@Miss Bianca: That is the worst. So painful–for the dog too : ) –and on their so sensitive noses. Watson would never be so foolhardy. : )
RedDirtDirl
@? Martin: thanks for that perspective.
? Martin
@frosty: The misconception by the public is that colleges admit based on top line GPAs and SATs. We don’t. We admit mostly based on local context. How well you did with what you had to work with. Sure, you can fill your class with AP Calculus students from Palo Alto, but you’re going to miss a ton of talented students that didn’t have the foresight to be born to rich parents in Palo Alto. We’d rather take a top student from an underfunded school than someone in the 20th percentile at a school where every kid did 11 SAT prep programs.
Some would consider that a ‘diversity’ effort, but we really do believe that every student regardless of geography should have the chance to go to college, and if we can hold off the SAT/GPA race we’re happy to do it. I know a number of the folks at HMC and they have the same attitude.
FWIW, HMC is the best undergraduate engineering program in the country. That’s not a hugely popular opinion, but I think it’s unquestionably true. Nothing against MIT and Stanford, but their focus is more at the grad level.
Miss Bianca
@CaseyL: Actually, amazingly, I had my Geek Tool on me at the time, which had a pair of pliers as part of its array. Lucky, that, because she was scraping her paws bloody, and we were several miles from home.
Aleta
@Sister Golden Bear: Sometimes I’m amazed at how well cold packs work for some pains. Hope it gets better soon.
J R in WV
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So, now we know that Rafael Eduardo Cruz doesn’t understand how the constitution of the United States works:
Free Speech as discussed in the First Amendment only addresses the government’s inability to limit speech. Facebook, Twitter, AT&T can all limit speech on their platforms to what is generally and commonly considered acceptable for polite society.
Which is none of Alex Jones’s bullshit, which is lies intended to cause harm to individuals and to society as a whole. No private business needs to facilitate Jones’s lies for any reason at all, and especially not because of the First Amendment, which only applies to government control of speech, which is right there in the text of the 1A:
Cruz is a dumb ass, supposedly a brilliant scholar, Ivy league, doesn’t remember as much about the Constitution as I do, a public school guy mostly, no law school, no polysci, just liberal arts and computer science. I’m better qualified to be a US Senator that Cruz is, I have a heart! And a brain!! he apparently has neither…
RedDirtDirl
Any one have a head count for the nyc meet-up? I’m thinking of making commemorative buttons!
H.E.Wolf
@Mandarama:
Once upon a time I had a [very low-level] job in a departmental admissions office. About 1 in 10 applicants were admitted… and it was really clear that the “I found my people” vibe went both ways. It wasn’t all on the basis of test scores, either, which was heartening.
I predict that Thing 1 will be recognized as “one of ours” by the admissions folks.
schrodingers_cat
@? Martin: Ignorant and proud of it, like his base.
frosty
@? Martin: For me, what sets Mudd apart is the requirement to take 30% of your classes in the humanities. That leads to different kinds of engineers and scientists and a different pool of frosh than other STEM schools like Va Tech.
Matt McIrvin
@J R in WV: Besides, Cruz himself correctly accuses Jones of slander, which is not protected speech.
H.E.Wolf
@Baud:
If I recall correctly, the bad guys in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” are sneered at (by the omniscient authorial voice) for overproducing soybeans and then letting them rot.
I’ve never cared to figure out whether Ayn was sneering at soybeans as Foreign, or Unmanly, but there’s definitely an undertone of some kind. (There’s also a Problem With Grapefruit, as I remember. Grapefruit is somehow REALLY unmanly. [ETA: it is in “Atlas Shrugged”, I mean.])
? Martin
@frosty: We’re pretty close to that (25%) but what makes Mudd special is that they’re a size that allows faculty to make meaningful investments in individual student success, and that’s hard to find at a program with the resources to provide good engineering facilities, faculty with industry experience and good pedagogy, and a whole person focus. It’s a really fantastic program.
Josie
@? Martin:
This is a very cogent explanation of fight dynamics that I had never heard before. It makes a ton of sense and has given me something to think about. Thanks much.
Steve in the ATL
@Sister Golden Bear: fentanyl patch? Has helped the wife a great deal.
Another Scott
@Steve in the ATL: J uses prescription pain patches for various issues, and has for years. It helps her a lot, but of course, like any medication in the USA, there are the usual annoyances:
1) The local drugstore being bought out (Rite Aid to Walgreens) means that they by default carry a different brand now.
2) So the price changes, and the adhesive / plastic used changes.
3) So, it doesn’t work as well.
4) So she has to special-order the brand she wants.
5) So she has to fight with her insurance company to get reimbursed properly.
6) GOTO 2
It’s annoying. :-/
Here’s hoping that SGB and all the other Jackals fighting with pain issues find something that works for them, and are able to stick with it without issues.
Cheers,
Scott.
MagdaInBlack
@Aleta:
For that type, masculinity comes from externals: its a costume one wears, usually an exagerated costume : big guns, big trucks, big talk, etc. Take away the costume, they have nothing. Thats why ( my theory ) they’re so frightened.
See also : Trump behavior.
chopper
@Baud:
i’ll put aside a bottle of dago red wine in case he wins.
Frankensteinbeck
@Sister Golden Bear:
CONGRATULATIONS! At least two thirds of my friends are trans. I have no clue why. It does put me in a position to say that the surgery makes a big difference in happiness, and also takes some serious recovery. This is a major step in your life, and I am thrilled for you.
germy
Call your representative! But be careful…
Shell
My gosh, a day here in Maryland where it ISNT going to rain? Can I actually leave some of the windows open for a few hours? I cringe hearing about the devastating fires in California and again wish we could somehow parcel our weather around the country.
? Martin
@Josie: Ideally in a fight, you get the first move and that move is enough to cripple your opponent to some degree. If all you can do is stun them, that’s pretty good – you keep the initiative. Think of it as a kind of debt that you have just put on your opponent. But, if that move results in them recalibrating the rules of the fight, and they escalate to a weapon, or from causing pain to causing permanent damage, then you might be in trouble.
After that fight I got into an incident with a couple of bullies about a year later. They knocked me off my bike and threw my bike into traffic. Wasn’t much I could do there but back down as I was smaller than either of them, but I was ready for the next encounter. I had learned. They escalated the next attack and tried to throw me into traffic. But I had a pipe wrench hidden in my sweatshirt and put both of them in the hospital – one for quite a long time with a skull fracture and some other broken bones. I knew then I couldn’t afford either of them to get up (turns out one had a knife but never got a chance to pull it out). I was outnumbered and both were bigger than me. They thought they understood the rules of this bullying thing and I changed those rules. Nobody bullied me after that. Word spread fast in middle school. But they had also lost the initiative – I was ready for them. I expected it, and sacrificed the bike immediately to prevent me from getting hurt and countered their move before they realized that things had changed.
Thankfully for them and me a motorist stopped and pulled me off of them. I think I would have kept swinging that wrench until they stopped moving. I was not going to get stabbed twice. Also thankfully for me, he was able to give a statement to the police for how the incident started, though I think I would have been okay otherwise. I was like 90 lbs and they had 3x my mass. I’d have to be a fucking sociopath to start that fight.
J R in WV
@Another Scott:
I had a similar round with my Medicare supplemental insurer, Humana.
Evidently my commonly prescribed inexpensive generic for my chronic condition was bought up by a MBA thinking along the lines of Michael whatshisname who promptly increased the cost by a couple of orders of magnitude.
So my family doc studied a little and found another generic I’m trying. But obviously it doesn’t work the same as or as well as the original drug. I wrote a furious letter to the CEO of Humana, but then never mailed it. No point. He wouldn’t ever even see it. But his security office would. No thanks!
Mandarama
@frosty: Many thanks for this perspective, and same to Martin and H.E. Wolf! Mudd’s core curriculum offering is actually one of the appealing factors to my kid. Even though the humanities classes don’t come as naturally to him, he really values the experience of them. His other dream schools also have requirements along those lines (MIT and UChicago). He liked Penn less upon visiting because their disciplines are siloed, and Brown’s open curriculum didn’t appeal to him either.
I actually think diversity recruiting is great, since I have seen a huge improvement in my own formerly-homogenous Southern university in the last 20 years. So while Thing 1’s being from a TN public school may help a little at his dream colleges, he is still a middle-class white dude and I have no problem with the fact that he might not get some chances because he belongs to an overrepresented category. I had an argument with my beloved old FIL about this, because Fox News told him our precious baby “is going to be discriminated against.” ? I told him he could always feel better by looking at photos of Congress or Fortune CEOs.
? Martin
@germy: Fuck them. Getting arrested when not breaking the law is the risk we need to be willing to take. I’ve had run-ins with Dana before. He’s okay up to a point and then he goes ballistic.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Baud:
I’m so sorry for foisting this doofus on America guys. He’s my rep and he’s a reliable Dem vote. That’s it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m not a big TMZ-whatever the fuck guy, but… what the fuck? were Brady and Lucretia ever a thing?
trump’s whole psycho-sexual vicarious-fantasy thing with Ivanka just gets creepier and creepier
germy
@? Martin: Just between you and me, I think Dana takes money from Russia.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: This is what her access journalism gets her. A “juicy” tidbit about wishing his daughter had married someone more popular and manly. This is the inside stuff that makes Maggie feel superior to the rest of us outsiders.
Was this news really worth losing her credibility over?
? Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trump shopping Ivanka around seems very much in-character.
dmsilev
@frosty: I was at MIT (cough) years ago, and we had to take 25% Humanities classes of various sorts. It’s a really good idea for technical schools.
Elizabelle
@? Martin: You win my personal “comment of the thread” with comment 161.
Black people, and others, are dying from police violence because there are too many guns out there in the populace and the police just assume they’re dealing with a gun. Police are afraid of the population they are there to protect and serve. They will never admit that, but they are. Thanks, NRA.
I had that experience a few months ago. I was stopped by a very young state trooper for searching along a major highway for a lost puppy I’d seen a few days previously. Main takeway for me was that he was afraid of me, even though I am a middle-aged white lady who was armed with a dog leash, an EZ open can of dog food, a cell phone, and my keys. Period. He was kind enough to give me a ride back to my car, but was never at ease. (He’d already called in my information and had me empty my pockets before I was ever allowed in the cruiser.)
Kicker to the whole thing was, on ride back, we chatted and it turns out he’s a competitive shooter. He suggested I might enjoy taking up firearms too. Big believer in the 2nd amendment. Uh huh.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@? Martin: I can picture that golf game
“You should call my daughter Ivanka. She’s a real piece of ass, just ask Stern”
“Um, Donald, I’m married… to a supermodel with more money than you…”
“You’d have beautiful children, the chins would be a problem, but Ivanka’s got a chin doctor, the best, you wouldn’t believe it!
“I have three kids already… what?”
“and think of how much you could get for exclusive press rights to that wedding, for photos of the honeymoon. I know the guy at the National Enquirer, terrific, classy. And we’re about to open a hotel in Baku. It’s in the Philippines. Or Montenegro. Somewhere like that. Terrific, classy like you’ve never seen”
dmsilev
@Mandarama: Chicago’s core curriculum is very much a love-it-or-hate-it thing. I know people in both categories. Very much worth having your kid talk with students there to make sure that it matches what he wants.
Another Scott
@Mandarama: I went to Chicago for college, and am thankful I did. Having a decent background in the humanities is really, really important for later in life. Technical stuff leaned in College is obsolete really quickly these days, but knowing how to read and write and think reasonably clearly will never go out of style. One really does have to figure out how to teach one-self and stay reasonably current in technical fields, and that means much more than figuring out how to solve problems in class. It’s going to get more and more important as the world continues to get smaller and more inter-connected, also too.
Tech and STEM whizes who don’t spend time reading and writing literature and history and economics and the like along with their STEM classes are hurting themselves (and the country’s (and the world’s) future).
J has spent the last few weeks working with a recent PhD (trying to help him with a post-doc application). She’s pulling her hair out because he seems to have little or know conception of how bad his English is – and he’s a native US-ian… :-(
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Waldo:
I see your problem. You are giving shitgibbon enough credit to actually think, especially enough to think ahead. You are right that if he could do that this is the direction he’d go, but alas it’s not actual thought, it’s just shear incompetence allied with shear malfeasance.
Josie
@? Martin:
Thanks again. I’m a writer, and you have just helped me with a section that I have been struggling with. Who knew i could find fight expertise on BJ? ;-)
Miss Bianca
@Another Scott: Wow, thank you for that ringing endorsement of the importance of the humanities for STEM students! With your permission, I’d like to send it off to my best high school bud, a PhD in Comp Lit currently teaching in a very STEM-oriented high school. She’ll be delighted with it!
On the flip side…given that tech does tend to get dated…I keep wondering what the minimum amount of STEM knowledge to be actually ‘literate’ in it is for people like me, who were drawn to and gifted in the humanities – English, other languages, history, philosophy – but struggled with math and science, and also dithered over filling the STEM requirements for my undergrad degree.
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
Seems somewhere around 27% of them think that exactly. Funny how that is.
Not.
Fair Economist
@germy:
Maggie Haberman is friends with Roger Stone. She has always been on their side, and never had any credibility to lose. She throws out the cute gossip and occasional negative but irrelevant tidbit to disguise the fact she shills for them.
Another Scott
@Another Scott:
know conceptionno conception(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Steve in the ATL
@Another Scott: “Having a decent background in the humanities is really, really important for later in life. Technical stuff leaned in College is obsolete really quickly these days, but knowing how to read and write and think reasonably clearly will never go out of style.”
This is why I generally hire only liberal arts majors.
And I really wish more people understood your last point about focusing on tech skills and ignoring the humanities is making the works a worse place.
The dude who invented the MBA will spend eternity in hell next to the guy who invented the leaf blower.
Mandarama
@Another Scott: Thanks to you and dsmilev both! I know what you mean. My kid would like such requirements, but several of his friends would not. Our tour guide at MIT was a little salty (as the kids say) about the core requirements he must endure, heh. I teach college writing to mostly non-humanities kids, and it is a slog for them and for me. But ultimately I know the difference it makes.
dmsilev
@Miss Bianca: What I’d call a reasonable survey of STEM, in the context of a four-year college stay:
* A couple of math courses. Definitely statistics (really useful for understanding all sorts of things), and then maybe a survey course in calculus.
* A course or two of computer coding. The specific languages and features go in and out of style quite quickly, but a lot of the basic concepts don’t change. Again, gives some tools for understanding what tech specialists are talking about
* A physical engineering course. Mechanical or civil or something like that. Real world behavior of things.
* A few basic science courses, whether the traditional bio/chem/physics, or something else. Get an idea of the scientific method, what is and isn’t reasonable questions for science to address, some sense as to the current state of understanding of the world.
That’d be about one course per semester, spread over a four year program, and is aimed at giving a broad perspective on ways of thinking, rather than specific knowledge which might become obsolete fast.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
At some point most people do recognize crap when they see it, especially if they have to pay hard earned money to buy it. Except for shoes of course.
p.a.
Have there been site issues? Or has it been my ISP?
Miss Bianca
@Steve in the ATL:
Steve, are you actually in the ATL today, or somewhere else? I need to know where you want your Internets delivered.
Another Scott
@Miss Bianca: Sure, forward away. Glad you liked it. :-)
J and I both got our STEM PhDs around 30 years ago. We both took lots of math, physics, etc., classes. But neither of us has had need for the various tricks (“as you learned in kindergarten, here you have to complete the square…!”) for solving physics problems since then. In our case, it’s all about studying new materials, new uses for them, new characterization techniques to figure out what’s going on at the fundamental levels, etc. Yeah, you have to have some gut-level understanding of the underlying physics, but having the ability to think in new areas is what really matters. The theorists worry about all the math, and even then they write proposals for time on the various US supercomputer farms, rather than doing long-hand derivations. Almost nobody, well except for that one weird guy, ;-) , does closed-form long-hand derivations of partial differential equations with relativistic Green’s Functions, etc., etc. any more. In our area, that is – I’m sure that people who write the software have to know the derivations in many cases. But the real-world problems are too complex these days for long-hand derivations, so software is the way to go.
But even with the software, one has to be able to write proposals and reports and prepare presentations and argue coherently in a short amount of time (“I’m busy, what’s your ‘elevator pitch’ for why I should care about what you want to have funded over the next 3 years?”). In the real world of research these days, the humanities are incredibly important, even for brainiac STEM people.
/soapbox
Cheers,
Scott.
burnspbesq
@Mandarama:
Be prepared for the kid to fall in love with Claremont. Gorgeous campus, gorgeous town, awesome school. Basically Williams without winter. Wicked expensive.
RedDirtDirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If I were drinking something right now it’d be coming out my nostrils!
germy
@Fair Economist:
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev: Ooh, wow, I think you’ve just given me my Khan Academy curriculum! Thanks! ; )
In all seriousness, that sounds like a good, intellectually rigorous course.
One of the things that drew me to the thought of applying to St. John’s College, was the idea that there was this core base of knowledge to be fluent in Western Civilization, and that hands-on study accompanying certain classic scientific texts was part of the curriculum for all students. They were the very model of the not-so-modern Canon, and very unapologetic about it.
Now, the actual experience may have driven me crazy – since even as a starry-eyed high school student back in the 70s I couldn’t but note critically that there was only *one* text on their Canonical List that was written by a woman – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice – but on the other hand, I would have been learning Classical Greek and studying Newtonian physics, which would have been…kinda cool, if not particularly relevant to my workaday world.
debbie
@Steve in the ATL:
Remember the old days when being “well rounded” was a good thing? ?
Mandarama
@burnspbesq: Too late! He and his dad went out there on spring break. Gorgeous time of year. I’m resigned to it all. And I’m afeared of flying, so that aspect will be fun. Still, it’s my job to launch them as far as they want to go.
Miss Bianca
@germy: Oh my God…am I reading this wrong, or is Maggie H actually *throwing shade* on a Master of the Universe? And if she is doing something so wildly uncharacteristic, is it a sign of the Apocalypse, or merely that Roger Stone is about to be toast?
Ruckus
@Redshift:
And it looks very much like he didn’t work for free either. Just that his paycheck came from 4664 miles away.
J R in WV
@germy:
Pretty typical petty behavior for fearful RWNJs. Rohrabacher also announced his support for returning Alaska to Russia last week, “if a majority of people in Alaska would support that change…”!
What a clown. Why? Just why?
frosty
@Miss Bianca: Minimum? Definitely physics. Newton’s Laws, electricity/ magnetism (Maxwell’s Equations). Then relativity and maybe quantum. Chemistry and biology? High school level OK. Math? I’d say enough calculus to do the physics. I think you could skip multivariable and complex and differential equations.
Ruckus
@? Martin:
How would you get the shitgibbon to understand them?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: Wonder how Dana would feel about returning Alta California to Mexico “if a majority of people in California would support that change…”?
zhena gogolia
@Steve in the ATL:
Whenever somebody gives me the tired thing about how, obviously students aren’t taking Russian because it won’t get them a job, I tell them about my student who got into every major law school in the country (she chose Yale). People are really ill-informed about how an undergraduate major relates to one’s eventual career.
zhena gogolia
@J R in WV:
I think that tweet was from 2014.
Immanentize
@frosty: @Mandarama:
The Immp is looking at a lot of schools that are total crap shots for him. Like his college counselor said, once you get to 15% or less acceptance rate, every school is a reach….
For various reasons, the Immp is not applying to MIT — too many locals apply, and he did not like the computer science department vibe. Also, not on the common app. at all. He is already forced into writing the common app., the coalition app (UTex) and the U.Cal. system app. The things these poor kids go through! He is also looking at Michigan, which he really liked when we went — tremendous facilities. Then there are ones closer to home — UMass. Amherst, Northeastern, that “H” school because it has a new entrepreneurial engineering program, and that “Y” school because of it’s amazingly well funded theoretical AI program…. I think he likes Rice best so far because it focuses almost exclusively on a broad based undergraduate education he knows he can head somewhere else for grad school. I hate to wish time away, but I will be happy when this is all decided by — at the latest — next May.
We should all swap stories in September….
Steve in the ATL
@? Martin: “Are there any nursery rhymes that focus on multilateral trade negotiations?”
You meant to ask, “are there any pr0n movies that focus on multilateral trade negotiations?”
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
Try it out of a full sized GS. Took 3 of us and as I had the least gravity affecting me by 30 or so lbs each I had to pull out the quills. No pliers. Fun times.
Major Major Major Major
@Miss Bianca: St. John’s is a really interesting place.
I feel like people don’t talk enough about the importance of STEM literacy for humanities majors. Apologies if that was explicit on the thread, my coffee is only now kicking in.
Steve in the ATL
@Major Major Major Major: math is hard.
Eljai
@Steve in the ATL: Debbie Does Multilateral Trade Agreements?
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: he likes Rice best because…he visited there the one week a year that Houston isn’t a hot, humid, miserable swamp?
And I wanted you about what happened to my grandfather after he graduated from Rice.
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
He’d never have been elected to congress as a repub if he had those. It’s in their bylaws that they are not allowed to possess or even borrow the use of them. And it shows.
Steve in the ATL
@Eljai: perfect! Well, as long as the star looks like Ivanka.
Jesus. Just from typing that I need a drink and a Silkwood shower.
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL: This is so true! Look at me! A creative Wrting/Cinema double major who went to law school. OK, don’t look at me….
But people are right — the ability to think through a problem and work in teams are the two ultimate skills needed for success. All the rest is application of knowledge learned. There is a nice sub-movement in the University world called “STEAM” instead of “STEM” which adds the arts to the mix. But communication skills are, I think, more important even than creativity in most job situations. When my students ask me what do they really need to focus on to be great attorneys, I quote the Rolling Stones and tell them, “Everything in the world that you can possibly imagine!”
Steve in the ATL
@Steve in the ATL: warned, not wanted, you stupid phone and stupid website without a mobile edit function!
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: I would be happy if our journalists could do arithmetic and understand percentages.
James E Powell
@germy:
The NYT – really the entire press/media – believe their purpose is to deliver this kind of inside stuff.
Immanentize
@dmsilev:
Many colleges and Universities have great, creative courses like this. At my University, there is a course in Urban Physics which teaches students about large scale urban infrastructure designs and implementations like water delivery, sewage removal and processing, the electric grid, and traffic control. It is such a great course. And it is all physics.
Major Major Major Major
@Steve in the ATL: But it isn’t! At work we implement a remedial stats literacy course for community college students that succeeds partly because the curriculum is designed to “rescue” students from thinking they “just aren’t a math person” and will never be able to learn it because “math is hard.”
And really even basic statistical literacy–not just numeric but understanding statistics–plus some logic, would go a long way. And if that’s not out of reach for community college remedial math students I’m sure you can figure it out, mister globetrotting lawyer.
@schrodingers_cat: Yep.
Steve in the ATL
@Major Major Major Major: not so worried about myself as I took calculus as a high school junior, but agree that statistics should be mandatory for all US citizens.
germy
@James E Powell:
Rather than the… actual issues that affect our lives.
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: I would be happy if our journalists could understand the difference between “disinterested” and “uninterested”. How do we have a fourth estate that’s not good at math OR English?!
Miss Bianca
@Major Major Major Major: OK, “remedial stats literacy course” is EXACTLY what I want to start with, well…STAT! That student you’re describing is ME!
Mandarama
@Immanentize: Michigan is on Thing 1’s list as well, but we haven’t managed to visit. I’m so glad you guys liked it! That is valuable input. I know what you mean about not wanting to wish time away. I’m really trying to work less this year so I can concentrate on his last year at home. At the same time, the application process is overwhelming, like you said. (A lot of stress on kids who already work a lot harder in school than I ever had to at their age.)
My tiny LAC required me to complete two years of core that included physics, psychology, economics, math, etc. and I am really grateful, even though I knew I wanted to be an English teacher from the fifth grade on. And my husband has degrees in English and creative writing, and he is an IT director.
The PI in the lab my son worked in this summer talked to him about critical thinking and the difference between being “a consumer of knowledge and a producer of knowledge.”
Immanentize
@Miss Bianca: Stats and a good course about using excel.
sgrAstar
@Kristine: and don’t forget to visit the Willamette meteorite, at the Natural History Museum. It is HUGE and awe-inspiring.
Ruckus
@Steve in the ATL:
Trying to come up with a witty line but can only say QFT! OK, OK here goes, the MBA guy has to stand at attention in a leaf suit and the leaf blower guy has an unlimited supply of gas and a serious tremor in his throttle hand.
smintheus
Deliberate obtuseness in this Washington Post article explaining why the Trumpsters kidnapping children couldn’t re-unite them with parents. It’s pretty damn heavy with excuse mongering about the limitations of federal databases. But no mention of Trump’s public declaration that the kidnappings were intended to terrorize migrants. No mention of the refusal to give parents or children info about where family members could be found. Barely even acknowledges the
possibilitycertainty that the administration intended all along not to re-unite families.Basic words like “cruelty” don’t appear at all in the article, although administration apologists are quoted at length explaining that their actions and motives have been deliberately misrepresented, their good intentions [sic] ignored.
However, not a single parent or child is quoted. Or named.
Steve in the ATL
@Mandarama: “The PI in the lab my son worked in this summer talked to him about critical thinking and the difference between being “a consumer of knowledge and a producer of knowledge.””
Be a B-J front pager, not just a commenter!
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
Oh, God, you haven’t been around my institution then.
zhena gogolia
@Steve in the ATL:
Oh, that battle has been lost, I’m afraid. That’s one of my pet peeves too. Why get rid of a perfectly good word by smushing it with another one that means something different?
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: @Miss Bianca: @Major Major Major Major: was playing golf a few years ago with a magazine publisher. When my putt on one hole didn’t quite make it to the cup, he told me that 95% of putts that are short don’t go in. I always thought he was making a joke, but the current state of our media has caused me rethink that.
Immanentize
@Mandarama:
That sounds a lot like my very broad definition of scholarship — Expressing a unique idea that is tested in public. It requires something new, but also that it will be examined and considered by others. Creating knowledge rather than consuming it is the same point, I think.
If you do get to Michigan, ask to see the Wilson Center — it’s like 22,000 sq. ft. of maker space — for the friggin’ clubs! Solar racer, Baha racer, solar sea, robotics, hyper loop. Amazing.
Suzanne
@Immanentize:
The arts are communications. In fact, that is all they are.
Visual literacy is desperately needed these days.
As someone who works with so very many engineers who have crap skills at both verbal/written communication, as well as zero ability to observe or envision a damn thing, I can tell you that engineers desperately need both humanities and fine arts in their lives.
Immanentize
@smintheus:
This is a serious tell. If they wanted people to care, they would be all over the human aspects of this horror story.
Just One More Canuck
@Steve in the ATL: I have an MBA – the biggest problem I found there (and it was more pronounced with the undergraduate commerce students) was that the faculty actively discouraged clear thinking and writing in favour of bullet points that obscured rather than clarified the conclusion
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
They are also important in many other areas of work. Pretty much anywhere you actually have to think to accomplish the task. Let’s say you run a plastic molding machine. You have to know how to remove the part, trim the part and fill the box. For 8 hrs a day. The 2 hardest parts are the boredom from the repetition and the noise and they make comfortable ear plugs. Let’s say you make the molds that fit in the machine that the operator has to stand in front of for 8 hrs. It might take months to design and build all the interacting parts that are built to rocket motor tolerances and you have to be able to see the 3D end result built around a drawing of the part just to get started. It requires a way of thinking that is much more rounded than most people get from school.
It’s not just current day tech that requires real thought over rigid rote work. It’s any process other than production repetition.
Steve in the ATL
@debbie: assuming you’re not just taking a shot at the fat around my waist I haven’t been able to shake since hitting middle age, in my family we were expected to be renaissance men. I’ve always been grateful for that as it has made me a better husband, father, lawyer, and citizen of the world.
I knew that I couldn’t learn everything so I decided that one area to skip would be Middle East politics. A hugely complex and irrational problem that likely won’t be resolved until those lunatics nuke each other. One of the many things for which I will never forgive the W. Bush cabal is forcing me to learn about it. Fuckers.
Immanentize
@Suzanne: I wish the engineering schools would hire you to explain that problem. My son is a good writer, a pretty fair photographer, and good at coming up with novel narrative ideas. Also, he is good in a team — a skill he learned in his years of robotics. Also, he can program. The last is more knowledge and the former things will take him places regardless what he ends up being passionate about.
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
Was at lunch the other day and one of the guys was talking about his son getting ready to go to college. Someone asked about a specific school and dad’s answer was, “It’s $66,000/yr tuition for there, he’s not going there.” Dad’s a working machinist, makes decent money but nearly $300,000 for his kid to go to school? Ain’t going to happen.
Mandarama
@Immanentize: I can see in my own students how much they want to just go to either published criticism or a crowd-sourced site like Shmoop and just expand on a safe idea about a text we’re reading. They’re scared to interpret on their own in case they get it wrong, and that is a problem. I’d rather see them take some risks in their thinking, even if they end up with an argument that needs a lot of work. And I would say in the last 10 years I have gotten a lot more resentment from students about the fact that there is not a rubric or a quantifiable checklist that will get them an A grade on a paper.
@Suzanne: Truth!
smintheus
@Immanentize: The kindest interpretation is that they wanted to give voice to the bureaucratic view that the scandal was mostly caused by bad record keeping practices. Which of course is BS. They don’t want the public to care too passionately, they want the public to say ‘oh alright then, if that’s all it was.’
Steve in the ATL
@Suzanne: architects are a curious bunch. Not many people can handle both the engineering and design aspects that the profession requires. Thus we end up with a lot of wannabes who become engineers or interior designers instead. Or, you know, shitty architects.
smintheus
@Mandarama: I’m heading back in the direction of something I did with success early in my career: give numerical scores on essays rather than letter grades, and break those down further into 3 or 4 components (development of thesis; comprehensiveness and/or insight of thesis; use of the textual evidence; quality of English). Students are much more willing to accept my assessment and adapt to my expectations when I give them [admittedly faux] precision about elements I’m looking for.
Suzanne
@Immanentize: In my career, I work with structural, mechanical, civil, electrical, and plumbing engineers daily, and then other specialty engineers on an as-needed basis. The biggest issue I have with them as a class of people is that they have no fuckin’ vision. They cannot see—without significant handholding—the value in or the strategy to do something that they haven’t done before. They see their little part of our projects and cannot see how it ends to coalesce into a cohesive whole. They are also not comfortable moving forward unless they have all of the information they feel they need from the outset, rather than making good assumptions and revisiting those assumptions later if necessary.
There are a lot of designers who suck at actualizing, who have imagination and vision but insufficient skills to make things real, but there are also too many engineers who have the exact opposite problem, who don’t understand that every single project is doing something that, in some way, is something we’ve never done before. When I get to select my engineering teams, I look for those who have this understanding.
Immanentize
@smintheus: I agree that is what they want — and it is pretty awful. Especially, as you say, that is the best interpretation.
Mandarama
@Ruckus: Well, there are interesting things going on with regard to college costs. From a professional standpoint I believe that tuition rates are ridiculous and most institutions are dumping money into the wrong things. I probably shouldn’t even get started on that rant.
As a parent, I have been pleasantly surprised to find out that many schools don’t actually end up charging their published rate. They determine what the family contribution should be based on income and assets, and a lot of families end up receiving aid in the thousands of dollars. Mind you, that might just be because we are looking at schools with outsized endowments. But the philosophy seems to be, if you can get in, we will make it affordable for you. We met a lot of Ivy students who are 1st-gen or come from Pell-eligible families–20% of Harvard’s last incoming class, they said. And at Princeton, I think, you don’t pay any tuition if your family makes under 160K per year! That seems like a lot of America.
lollipopguild
@Steve in the ATL: “If you can’t be an athlete, be an athletic supporter.”
Ruckus
@Mandarama:
Had this discussion with a fellow worker on Thursday. Put it in a different context but it was the same discussion. He’s young and enjoys his work and I’ve been trying to get him to learn to look at things from several directions and I think it’s helping. He’s coming along nicely, taking on more and more at work, thinking with his head before he starts moving his hands. It’s fun to see this happening.
Robert Sneddon
@Steve in the ATL: Basically it’s a p<0.05 joke. There's a move afoot to start rejecting papers that have results just within the p<0.05 bracket based on the belief that the data has been tortured until it confessed rather than it reporting a true result.
Major Major Major Major
@Robert Sneddon: Of course, then people will just torture it until it’s at p<0.03. That which can be gamed, will. No, I don't have a solution.
Mandarama
@smintheus: You know, that probably is the right way to go. I have done similar in my interdisciplinary courses and I get fewer complaints about grades. Sometimes I just get so frustrated with their end-result obsession, you know? But I guess our world makes them that way.
Suzanne
@Steve in the ATL: I often say that the reason architects lead the design team (as opposed to engineers) is because we’re the only ones who can see all of the disparate parts of the solution and stitch it together into something that doesn’t suck. I was never any great shakes in STEM, though I did very well in structures courses in graduate school, and I am fairly numerate and logical. But I never took anything past trigonometry, and one can be a licensed architect in every state with only algebra-based coursework and exam. The value that we offer is that we can design (not engineer, but DESIGN) spaces that work for people. Many engineers I work with just do my math. It is a rare engineer in those fields who contributes more than that.
(I do all of the egress calculation and cobe compliance on my projects, but that is really a bunch of arithmetic.)
Mandarama
@Ruckus: He’ll always recall you giving him that kind of confidence in his own judgment–and the belief that it’s ok to reach, even if you miss.
Ruckus
@Mandarama:
Very true.
I’ve only met this guy a couple of times, he’s a friend of the boss, who was also at lunch so I wasn’t going to butt in with my very outdated college info. But I understand about the financial means to go, if the student is capable. And often these seem to be kids from not wealthy families, who are far more than capable, but without the financial resources to compete. If they don’t try they will never get in but that trying can be hard on the family dynamics.
smintheus
@Mandarama: Yeah, it grinds you down dealing with students who are only interested in grades and expect to be able to do the minimum and get the best grades. For years I’ve taught Roman history using a delightfully bizarre ancient novel (The Golden Ass); every class at least a quarter of the papers turned in refer to no more than the first 25 pages of the novel. I warn them not to pull that; they do it anyway.
Immanentize
@Mandarama: @Ruckus:
I could say a lot about tuition, but Mandarama is right — almost no one — not even Chinese students these days — pay the full tuition price. There is something every school has called “the discount rate.” That is the average amount less than the published tuition paid by students. So, at my University, the discount rate is about 30%. At some schools, it is as high as 60 or 70%. The schools that have such high discount rates fall into two categories — near failing schools that need to fill their classes, and the very well-endowed schools that let a lot of people go for free.
Ruckus, your friend should not fear the published tuition rates….
Ruckus
@Mandarama:
A lot of parts of our world do. Everything is about results, almost nothing is about the road to get there. And the road is the best part.
Did we win our game? Not did we play better as a team than ever before.
Is my bank account bigger? Not is my bank account sufficient.
……..
OldDave
@Steve in the ATL:
Oh Hell Yes (and I”m sure others have beat me to this. I still wanted to give this a big thumbs up.)
Steve in the ATL
@Mandarama: @Ruckus: “when the student is ready, the
teacherfinancial aid appears”Steve in the ATL
@OldDave: I am here to serve
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
I understand but he doesn’t. The quoted price is the one he has to meet.
A side note. I’ve only met him a couple of times, he’s good friends with my boss. This was at lunch with my boss and a couple of coworkers and this guy and his brother, who work together. We chatted a bit but the dynamic just wasn’t there to discuss this in detail at a work lunch. Plus I was having this side discussion about well rounded thinking with the coworker I talked about above. A good day, but one has to pick their moments.
Robert Sneddon
@Major Major Major Major: p<0.03 is a lot harder to game by throwing every stat test at the data and seeing what sticks than p<0.05 and if you've got below p<0.05 by honest means then it's a win of a sort.
Ruckus
@Steve in the ATL:
Is this your new side, here to serve?
Miss Bianca
@smintheus: You are teaching…The Golden Ass…and the kids don’t make it past the first 25 pages? Jesus Chicken-Fried Christ, I remember staying up all night to read it! Is modern-day smut just that much more ubiquitous or ingenious than old Apuleius?? I can scarcely believe it!
Steve in the ATL
@Ruckus: been working at Chik-Fil-A on weekends; trying to follow the direction from corporate.
Steve in the ATL
@Miss Bianca: I suppose even Lysistrata is G-rated in a world where kids have access to the internet
Major Major Major Major
@Robert Sneddon: sure, just saying that a different arbitrary cutoff is still an arbitrary cutoff.
Immanentize
@Ruckus: Law is a service industry….
Steve in the ATL
@Major Major Major Major: @Robert Sneddon: nerd fight!!!
Immanentize
@Robert Sneddon:
I just wanted to say thank you for your Edinburgh advice. We had a fabulous time — great weather you have there in Scotland (winks)
ETA I mean that literally in this case, we had a whole week of fabulous sun. no rain and cool nights.
smintheus
@Miss Bianca: I find it a continual source of mystery. It’s not a novel I enjoy putting down. But I have lots of students (sitting in the back usually) looking blank and drooling during class discussions.
Miss Bianca
@smintheus: Good God, I would think that all you’d have to do is tell them, “uh, just skip over the bestiality parts” to have them tearing thru’ it!//
OldDave
@Steve in the ATL:
Saturday, you mean. The Orthodox Baptists at Chick-Fil-A are closed on Sunday.
Fair Economist
@Major Major Major Major: It takes 67% more torture to get to p=.03 than to .05. It moves things in the right direction. At p=.01 it takes 5 times as much torture and things improve substantially.
Mandarama
@Miss Bianca: Seconded! This would be like teaching Chaucer with The Miller’s Tale and having them complain it is stuffy.
@Steve in the ATL: I sometimes teach Lysistrata and they are pretty damn shocked by it, esp. if I point them towards the Beardsley illustrations. The best part? They are prim because the texts are SO OLD and they “can’t believe people way back then thought like that.” They wouldn’t be bothered by the same kind of humor in a contemporary text. So that always leads to fun discussions of our concept of “high art” and “classic.”
Steve in the ATL
@Mandarama: as I understand history, people didn’t start having sexual relations until the 1960’s
Ruckus
@Immanentize:
You haven’t met Steve in the ATL I take it………..
Ruckus
@Steve in the ATL:
A lot of people alive today didn’t. Probably most.
lollipopguild
@Steve in the ATL: Certain conservatives will Tell you that before the 1960’s nobody, I mean Nobody had sex at all anywhere at any time. Where everybody who was on the planet in 1960 came from is anybodies guess.
Ruckus
@lollipopguild:
I believe that a lot of those conservatives are realists, in that they don’t think anything is real unless they can see and touch it and it fits in their tiny, tiny, warped minds.
debbie
@Steve in the ATL:
No, not taking a shot. Bemoaning the abuse that Liberal Arts gets.
I still remember the exact moment an MBA came in and took over the publishing house where I worked. It was the beginning of the end of the house. That’s what MBAs have done to this country.
Major Major Major Major
@Steve in the ATL: @Fair Economist: I don’t think any of us are in disagreement.
@Mandarama: My freshman year in college I took a course, Serious Laughter, that looked at classical humor and how it relates to modern comedy. As you may imagine we examined several Aristophanes plays.
sgrAstar
@?BillinGlendaleCA: U$C, double blech! Shame to miss CalTech, btw.
Mandarama
@Major Major Major Major: Now that would be a fun class, to take or to teach!
I’m pretty sure a lot of my students believe that all reproduction was decorous and arranged in olden days, and surely NO ONE had thought of dick jokes 25 centuries ago.
frosty
@Ruckus: That’s the list price. Apparently everyone gets a discount. Except us engineers who make just a leeetle too much money. And have equity in the house and retirement savings.
RedDirtGirl
@Miss Bianca: I spent a day at the Santa Fe campus in 11th grade. I remember liking it a lot. My mom was living there at the time. I ended up at Columbia, and appreciated the core curriculum. Not comparing the two, but just the idea of going back to foundational texts of mostly, but not exclusively, western culture.
I’d have to say I agree with Gandhi about a civilized western world… Here’s hoping we get there someday.
I’m guessing this thread is nearly moribund, So I’ll pop in again later, upstairs. But have a cooking query for those still hanging out here.
What’s the easiest/quickest way to roast up peppers? I bought some shishitos (sp!?) and assorted small peppers and want to get ’em done. No grill, just gas stove/oven.
Tanks, as my Irish co-worker like to say/write.
RedDirtGirl
@Immanentize: Where do I sign up for that?
J R in WV
@Steve in the ATL:
“math is hard.”
Yes it is. I started Calc after 15-20 years with no math… dropped it to take College Algebra, which helped a lot. Then took Calc 131, then like a dumbass took Calc 230 in summer school to a totally bored hostile professor. Spent all morning in class, rest of day in “math lab” with grad student coaching me on what the prof didn’t mention. Then finally 231 to complete calc requirement. Made a B!! 13 hours in Calc! Ouch.
@zhena gogolia:
Tweet could have been from anytime… still, shows what a dumass Dana is in real life.
I only click on Twit links, not a user, no log in, same for Facebook, no account, can’t see anything usually.
RedDirtGirl
@Steve in the ATL: Well, keep up the good work!
frosty
@Mandarama @Major Major Major Major: My Shakespeare prof at HMC made a point of showing us all the dirty jokes Willie tossed into his plays.
TomatoQueen
@RedDirtGirl: I’m a Johnnie, Annapolis, late 70s. There was something fog-clearing about realizing that the primary texts of Western civilization could come away from their pedestals for the bright purpose of study, without textbook mediation or befuddlement. As to roasting peppers, I understand this is accomplished with a metal skewer and a low flame, and of course more courage than I possess.
RedDirtDirl
@TomatoQueen: Indeed.
Sister Golden Bear
@Steve in the ATL: Probably a dead thread but…
The challenge is that I’m currently in Thailand, and Thailand has some pretty strict drug laws. Admittedly this is for medical use, and hopefully short-term, since a day-long regiment of ice packs may have turned my into a beavericicle but does seemed to helped a lot with the swelling that’s one cause of the pain.
Nurse today did say the clinic probably has some alternatives that I can talk about when I see them tomorrow for my check-in.
joel hanes
Way late to this thread, but:
I took five years getting through engineering school because the in-major workload was so high, and I wanted to take humanities too.
If you’re going to be anywhere in STEM, you will never regret having taken a good technical writing course.
Best decision I ever made.
Another Scott
@OzarkHillbilly: Dead thread, but I think there’s evidence that there’s much more to it.
Nature – Scientific Reports:
Note the caveats in the text, but male brains (in this study) are (generally) wired to evaluate curves and ratios and make attractiveness judgements based on that. Breasts (generally) have the smallest radius curves of the major female body features. Coupled with the (nearly) universal human tendency to judge symmetry to be more attractive than not (pairs (breasts, ears) are more pleasing than singletons (noses)), it’s not hard to see why males can’t help but pay attention to female breasts.
tl;dr – a lot of it is biology!
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.