Jim Manzi has what looks to be an interesting new book
Cholesterol
The junk science. This pseudoscientific nonsense has been killing millions of people for decades.
Composite Americans
Last week, in an election campaign ad, Barack revealed his latest composite girlfriend — “Julia.” She’s worse than the old New York girlfriend. She can’t even be herself. In fact, she can’t be anything without massive assistance from Barack every step of the way, from his “Head Start” program at the age of three through to his Social Security benefits at the age of 67. Everything good in her life she owes to him. When she writes her memoir, it will be thanks to a subvention from the Federal Publishing Assistance Program for Chronically Dependent Women but you’ll love it: Sweet Dreams from My Sugar Daddy. She’s what the lawyers would call “non composite mentis.” She’s not competent to do a single thing for herself — and, from Barack’s point of view, that’s exactly what he’s looking for in a woman, if only for a one-night stand on a Tuesday in early November.
There’s a lot more.
Academic Fraud
At UNC:
The 10-page report said the findings are a blow to the university’s academic integrity. The findings were so serious that the university consulted with the district attorney and the SBI about investigating forgery allegations, as some professors said their signatures were forged in documents certifying that they had taught some of the classes in question. Professors also said they had not authorized grade changes for students that the department submitted to the registrar’s office.
Law enforcement officials declined to investigate because they did not think the forgeries, if proven, rose to the level of criminal activity, according to the report.
“We are deeply disturbed by what we have learned in the course of our review,” said Jonathan Hartlyn and William L. Andrews, two senior faculty administrators who conducted the investigation. “Our review has exposed numerous violations of professional trust, affecting the relationship of faculty and students and the relationships among faculty colleagues in this department.”
They added, “These violations have undermined the educational experience of a number of students, have the potential to generate unfounded doubt and mistrust toward the department and its faculty, and could harm the academic reputation of the university.”
I think that at this point, just having a Department of Women’s Or Afro-American Studies is a de facto blow to any university’s academic integrity.
The Job Market
Why it may not be back to normal until the end of the decade.
Roman Emperors
Ordered by how hard-core their deaths were. Hard to top Valerian.
Striking A Nerve
Well, this certainly has gotten Think Progress’s panties in a twist. They’re squealing like a stuck pig. This, from the sort of folks who think that “deniers” should be executed or shipped off to reeducation camps. That said, I’m not sure how effective such a campaign will be.
[Afternoon update]
As I said, I’m not sure that that this is a useful tactic, regardless of how badly the Warm Mongers behave. But as a commenter notes, it is the hit dog that yelps. Phil Plait isn’t happy, either.
Here’s the thing, though. There really are a lot of people in the AGW movement who think exactly like Ted Kaczynski, even if they’re not quite as pro-active in acting on their beliefs, including a former vice president of the United States. It is one thing to be concerned about the apparent results of some doing research in climatology, and wanting to have a reasoned discussion about its potential implications for policy. It is another to seize on them as an excuse to impose a political agenda on people that you’ve been wanting to do anyway, out of the hatred of humanity (Bob Zubrin just came out with an excellent book
For instance, I’ll be curious to see what Judith Curry has to say about all this.
A Better Life For “Julia”
Over at the Heritage Foundation.
[Update a while later]
The men in Julia’s life.
[Update late morning]
Wow. Just how big is the #Julia fail? Even MSNBC thinks it sucks.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
…I couldn’t help feeling that there was a little bit of a syllogism going on; that being that “Left” equals “good,” and “Right” equals “bad,” and therefore anything “Left” couldn’t be “bad” unless it were infiltrated by the “Right.” In my time covering Occupy Wall Street I have seen anti-Semitism, black nationalism, class hatred, and threats of violence; there have been rapes, a few murders, and now some domestic terrorism. One would have thought that these things would be sufficient warrant for a group like the Southern Poverty Law Center to stand up and take serious note, but, as I learned yesterday, there’s one problem: They’re just “not set up to cover the extreme Left.”
But don’t call them ideological.
Of course, the last time I took the SPLC seriously was…never. It’s a shame that anyone does.
The Dying Art Of Writing
A depressing essay. Just one more sign of the abysmal state of our educational system at all levels. I don’t think that you should get a college degree if you can’t write coherently and grammatically. Or graduate high school, for that matter.
I always found that the best way to learn how to wrote was to read, and appreciate, others’ writing.
More thoughts from George Leef. As he points out, inability to write clearly is probably indicative of an inability to think clearly.