ALPENHORN BRINGS DOWN INTERTIE? All power to the Soviets! As there are no Soviets in Italy, does no power in Italy follow?
"Italy blamed France. France denied responsibility but then said an investigation showed a disabled power line in Switzerland set off a chain reaction of outages.
"Swiss authorities said a tree that touched a high voltage power line and disrupted supplies in Switzerland could have been partly to blame. And heavy storms in southeastern France near the Italian border might have been a factor, officials initially said."
28.9.03
ROUND AND ROUND ON VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY. A David Brooks report (requires registration) on the lack of viewpoint diversity in (some) academic disciplines in (some) universities has touched a few nerves around the academic weblogs. Here is a quick pass through a small sample. Crooked Timber's Henry Farrell doesn't see the phenomenon in his discipline, and he notes the existence of outside employment opportunities for policy-minded conservatives. (My short answer to his concluding question: brightness might include sensitivity to message. A scholar making a conservative argument from a university office, in a way that doesn't echo Pach talking points, comes off as credible in a way that a hired intellectual making a similar argument from a foundation office that is assisting in developing the talking points cannot, no matter how well he is paid.) Volokh Conspiracy's Juan weighs in with some experiences and a roundup of some other posts. Leiter Report (hmm, a Texas university allowing professors to post polemical material, are you listening, Indiana University?) offers a simple explanation that Professor Bainbridge finds wanting ... do read the comments to follow how it plays out.
Brooks quotes Volokh Conspiracy's Jacob Levy, whose impressions mirror mine. "And Jacob T. Levy, a libertarian also at Chicago, says some conservatives exaggerate the level of hostility they face. Some politicized humanities departments may be closed to them, he concedes, but professors in other fields are open to argument."
I'd go further. Why would any rational conservative, or rational liberal, or political position n.e.c., for that matter, want to get into an academic field where the conventional wisdom is that a large car, or a shopping center open all night, is a "profligate" waste of energy, but the production of four or five times as many Ph.D.s as will get onto the tenure track is not?
SECOND SECTION: Invisible Adjunct provides commentary and additional links.
THIRD SECTION: Critical Mass and OxBlog report from the belly of the monster.
Brooks quotes Volokh Conspiracy's Jacob Levy, whose impressions mirror mine. "And Jacob T. Levy, a libertarian also at Chicago, says some conservatives exaggerate the level of hostility they face. Some politicized humanities departments may be closed to them, he concedes, but professors in other fields are open to argument."
I'd go further. Why would any rational conservative, or rational liberal, or political position n.e.c., for that matter, want to get into an academic field where the conventional wisdom is that a large car, or a shopping center open all night, is a "profligate" waste of energy, but the production of four or five times as many Ph.D.s as will get onto the tenure track is not?
SECOND SECTION: Invisible Adjunct provides commentary and additional links.
THIRD SECTION: Critical Mass and OxBlog report from the belly of the monster.
BAKE SALE MANIA. Critical Mass observes, "Affirmative action as it is presently practiced is absolutely about race (and to a lesser degree, sex)--that's why we don't see affirmative action for political conservatives or fundamentalist Christians on campus. Those groups are under-represented in higher education, too--but they aren't organized by skin color or chromosomes, and the 'diversity of viewpoint' they conceivably bring with them is neither valued nor welcome at many schools. The 'diverse community' that this student so righteously references, and that SMU's administration so protectively manages, is one based on censorship of viewpoints (and, apparently, foodstuffs) that don't conform to the particular political orthodoxy of SMU's campus culture.
"Don't look for anyone in SMU's administration to appreciate this point voluntarily. Don't look, either, for them to realize that by shutting the sale down, SMU has helped the Young Conservatives of Texas make an even stronger point about the true logic of 'diversity' that exists at their institution and at many like it across the country. The media are now spreading a message about institutional hypocrisy and double standards surrounding politics and race that readily tops the message the bake sale--whose total profit was $1.50--was originally meant to send."
Tightly Wound opens up a can on the young man whose objections to the sale led to Southern Methodist's closing the sale down. "Perhaps Mr. Houston is referring to the portion of his college application where he was invited to check off whether he played football, lacrosse, golf, soccer, or liked to skateboard? Or maybe he meant to point out the portion of his entrance questionnaire where he was required to list instruments played, his sexual preference, eye color, languages spoken, and taste in music and literature, so that those things could be taken into account in the university's big Diversity Toteboard." Indeed. I don't ever recall having the opportunity to submit a modelling portfolio as part of an application for admission, employment, tenure, or promotion (they'd be hard pressed to assess this.)
Southern Methodist'sministry of information office of public affairs has released their side of the story, which Curmudgeonly Clerk has reviewed and found wanting. (I am unable to characterize a post that reads like a legal memorandum as a Fisking.) This follow-on post looks at the obligations of a private university to respect the First Amendment.
Two elements of Southern Methodist's policy, as represented in their own statement, come to my attention. Note first, "SMU has a designated debate area on campus for students to set up tables with information on various political issues, available to all student organizations." Is that the same thing as a free speech gazebo? Note further, "It is a violation of the University's nondiscrimination policy to sell goods at different prices based on race, ethnicity, or gender; however, signage expressing political points of view is a matter of free speech consistent with University policy." Things that make you go hmmmm .... is that first clause a precedent or a convenient justification after the fact? The "affirmative action bake sale" is itself a parody of a popular piece of guerrilla theater for International Womens' Day, namely cookie prices that reflect relative average earnings, unadjusted for age or experience. Has Southern Methodist in fact closed down such bake sales in the past? But then, isn't Southern Methodist itself violating its OWN nondiscrimination policy in offering financial aid? If there are any scholarships intended only for the right kinds of ethnicities or sexes, or if there are affirmative-action tweaks to the financial aid offers, the effect is to offer different prices based on precisely those things.
"Don't look for anyone in SMU's administration to appreciate this point voluntarily. Don't look, either, for them to realize that by shutting the sale down, SMU has helped the Young Conservatives of Texas make an even stronger point about the true logic of 'diversity' that exists at their institution and at many like it across the country. The media are now spreading a message about institutional hypocrisy and double standards surrounding politics and race that readily tops the message the bake sale--whose total profit was $1.50--was originally meant to send."
Tightly Wound opens up a can on the young man whose objections to the sale led to Southern Methodist's closing the sale down. "Perhaps Mr. Houston is referring to the portion of his college application where he was invited to check off whether he played football, lacrosse, golf, soccer, or liked to skateboard? Or maybe he meant to point out the portion of his entrance questionnaire where he was required to list instruments played, his sexual preference, eye color, languages spoken, and taste in music and literature, so that those things could be taken into account in the university's big Diversity Toteboard." Indeed. I don't ever recall having the opportunity to submit a modelling portfolio as part of an application for admission, employment, tenure, or promotion (they'd be hard pressed to assess this.)
Southern Methodist's
Two elements of Southern Methodist's policy, as represented in their own statement, come to my attention. Note first, "SMU has a designated debate area on campus for students to set up tables with information on various political issues, available to all student organizations." Is that the same thing as a free speech gazebo? Note further, "It is a violation of the University's nondiscrimination policy to sell goods at different prices based on race, ethnicity, or gender; however, signage expressing political points of view is a matter of free speech consistent with University policy." Things that make you go hmmmm .... is that first clause a precedent or a convenient justification after the fact? The "affirmative action bake sale" is itself a parody of a popular piece of guerrilla theater for International Womens' Day, namely cookie prices that reflect relative average earnings, unadjusted for age or experience. Has Southern Methodist in fact closed down such bake sales in the past? But then, isn't Southern Methodist itself violating its OWN nondiscrimination policy in offering financial aid? If there are any scholarships intended only for the right kinds of ethnicities or sexes, or if there are affirmative-action tweaks to the financial aid offers, the effect is to offer different prices based on precisely those things.
27.9.03
EUROSCLEROSIS DECONSTRUCTED. "Europe’s economy has outperformed America’s," contends Crooked Timber, who in an adjacent post point to a Mark Kleiman riposte to some Paul Johnson comments on the French way of doing things.
Professor Kleiman is certainly correct to observe, "And the idea that we can work fewer hours and enjoy higher material standards of living is a 'fantasy' only in Johnson's Puritanical fantasy life: in the real world, it's called 'economic progress' and has been going on since approximately the seventeenth century." (If not earlier: the berserkers of the tenth century were seriously underemployed compared to their forager ancestors. It is a shame that the earliest applied research into animal husbandry, crop cultivation, cheese making, and beer brewing are not written down. These all put any "aha" moments I have whether with paper and pencil or with a little help from Waterloo Maple to shame.)
Professor Johnson's full statement, however, is "The EU is built on a fantasy--that men and women can do less and less work, have longer and longer holidays and retire at an earlier age, while having their income, in real terms, and their standard of living increase. And this miracle is to be brought about by the enlightened bureaucratic regulation of every aspect of life." The fantasy he sees is in dirigisme rather than inventiveness bringing the increases in real income about. His complaint about the mandatory 35-hour week is more to the point, although he neglects to develop it. There are two developments he might have made. First, to an enterprising person, long hours on task are not necessarily a burden. (A visiting colleague recently told me that he was once locked in at Erasmus University and had to get help from security. Why? The university offices close at 17.30 and they are locked by 18.00. My colleague was in the North American mode of working on something as long as the enthusiasm was there. That the E.U. have not yet mandated panic bars on doors suggests the dirigiste state may not be as cloying as some perceive it.) Second, to the extent that the French style welfare state mandates large fixed employee-specific benefits to individual workers irrespective of hours of service, and it further limits the hours of service, it does pose substantial costs to hiring new workers. Those benefits quite likely mean that European workers who are actually employed will be quite productive.
Professor Kleiman is certainly correct to observe, "And the idea that we can work fewer hours and enjoy higher material standards of living is a 'fantasy' only in Johnson's Puritanical fantasy life: in the real world, it's called 'economic progress' and has been going on since approximately the seventeenth century." (If not earlier: the berserkers of the tenth century were seriously underemployed compared to their forager ancestors. It is a shame that the earliest applied research into animal husbandry, crop cultivation, cheese making, and beer brewing are not written down. These all put any "aha" moments I have whether with paper and pencil or with a little help from Waterloo Maple to shame.)
Professor Johnson's full statement, however, is "The EU is built on a fantasy--that men and women can do less and less work, have longer and longer holidays and retire at an earlier age, while having their income, in real terms, and their standard of living increase. And this miracle is to be brought about by the enlightened bureaucratic regulation of every aspect of life." The fantasy he sees is in dirigisme rather than inventiveness bringing the increases in real income about. His complaint about the mandatory 35-hour week is more to the point, although he neglects to develop it. There are two developments he might have made. First, to an enterprising person, long hours on task are not necessarily a burden. (A visiting colleague recently told me that he was once locked in at Erasmus University and had to get help from security. Why? The university offices close at 17.30 and they are locked by 18.00. My colleague was in the North American mode of working on something as long as the enthusiasm was there. That the E.U. have not yet mandated panic bars on doors suggests the dirigiste state may not be as cloying as some perceive it.) Second, to the extent that the French style welfare state mandates large fixed employee-specific benefits to individual workers irrespective of hours of service, and it further limits the hours of service, it does pose substantial costs to hiring new workers. Those benefits quite likely mean that European workers who are actually employed will be quite productive.
MID-AMERICAN WHAT??? With a 24-16 win over Iowa State, the Northern Illinois Huskies have beaten three teams with recent Bowl Championship experience, from three different conferences (Atlantic Coast (no, we aren't realigning for money), Southeast, and Big Twelve). The success of Mid-American teams against ranked and formerly ranked opponents this year is likely to provide material for social scientists of varying stripes, investigating whether or not limiting the number of scholarships has led to parity among the conferences. (That's not as easy as it looks, by the way. With more scholarships, more players are not playing. The not-quite-ready-to-start player with an offer from a strong team has to consider whether to get a full ride on the bench with the strong team or an otherwise equal scholarship with more playing time on a weaker team. It is not unusual for players to leave for lower division schools to get more playing time.)
In other sporting news, it was another ugly win for Wisconsin. Although the Badgers scored the first three times they had the ball, the kick coverage team did a pretty good imitation of a sieve, and only a roughing-the-passer call on an Illinois interception return prevented Illinois from tying the score. Meanwhile, the pennant races have come to an end, a month late as usual, with the Brewers spoiling Houston's run. Chicago's Cubs play at Atlanta. As it has been a good weekend to work and play, I shall not enumerate all the reasons to despise the (formerly Milwaukee) Braves.
In other sporting news, it was another ugly win for Wisconsin. Although the Badgers scored the first three times they had the ball, the kick coverage team did a pretty good imitation of a sieve, and only a roughing-the-passer call on an Illinois interception return prevented Illinois from tying the score. Meanwhile, the pennant races have come to an end, a month late as usual, with the Brewers spoiling Houston's run. Chicago's Cubs play at Atlanta. As it has been a good weekend to work and play, I shall not enumerate all the reasons to despise the (formerly Milwaukee) Braves.
SLIGHT INITIATIVE. Marginal Revolution reports on game-theoretic research applied to grandmaster chess. Grandmasters employ mixed strategies in their choice of opening. They may have also discovered slight advantages to the first move. Although the modal outcome is a draw (61 percent of world championship games since 1951) the player with white pieces has won 26 percent of the games and the remaining 12 percent of the games (rounding error, guys?) are wins for the player with black pieces.
I can offer at least anecdotal support for players using their favorite strategies in non-repeated encounters. Bobby Fischer, in Sixty Memorable Games remarked on a favored exchange sacrifice against a castled King, "I've made this sacrifice so many times I feel like applying for a patent."
I can offer at least anecdotal support for players using their favorite strategies in non-repeated encounters. Bobby Fischer, in Sixty Memorable Games remarked on a favored exchange sacrifice against a castled King, "I've made this sacrifice so many times I feel like applying for a patent."
THE QUOTE OF THE DAY IS A QUESTION. Electric Venom asks, "Why is it that I'm a 'nag' if I ask for someone to do something that's their responsibility in the first place, and which they haven't yet done, but if I say nothing and just do it myself I get told that I 'should have just asked'...?"
26.9.03
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "And what you need to know is that on the eve of WW2, there were those who opposed involvement in Europe on practical and philosophical grounds. If they’d had a lawn-sign culture like we do, you’d have seen SAY NO TO WAR AGAINST GERMANY here and there, and “FREE POLAND” bumperstickers. It all would have seemed alarming and depressing and tiresome; how long have we been talking about his Hitler fellow, anyway? It would seem distant and remote - it’s all over there, after all - but also terribly close, since you knew someone in the service, and there were rumors of new conscription drives that might not spare guys like you, or guys like your boyfriend. It was all quite unsettling." James Lileks, who also notes how rapidly sunset goes to twilight to night this time of year.
PUNCTURING THE RESEARCH MYTH. There's lots of good discussion about the benefits and costs of academic publishing. Invisible Adjunct (just go and scroll) frets over the tension between the imperative that a scholar demonstrate evidence of scholarship and that a university press demonstrate evidence of commercial utility (this may come as a surprise, but I hold that market tests for academic research are difficult to come by. I think I stole the idea from Friedrich Hayek.) Brian at Crooked Timber concurs in part, dissents in part. Semi-Daily Journal has it about right:
"When book-fetishization, entrenched prejudices, and administrative neuroses run up against budgets, they will fall. Have every university press "publish" books that it doesn't believe will sell 2000 copies by putting .pdf files up on their respective webservers.
" If all university presses did this tomorrow, the crisis in scholarly publishing would be solved--as would the difficulty assistant professors have in finding publishers.
"We can move from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom tomorrow, if we will just open our eyes and abandon our false consciousness. The High Energy Theory subfield of physics moved from journal articles to webservers as their principal locus of intellectual activity back in 1995. It's been nearly a decade since then. Why have the rest of us not followed them?"
Well, one difficulty vanishes, as university presses might find the option of maintaining servers rather than presses and rolls of paper attractive, and the professor does all the typesetting (Scientific Workplace to Adobe Gold, forsooth!), but the difficulty of having it peer-reviewed first remains. Professor DeLong rather modestly does not mention his colleagues' work in providing peer-reviewed electronic journals in economics. Go here and note that five of the six have the imprimatur of the American Economic Association.
But there is yet another dimension to the problem, and it involves rediscovery of the division of labor. (You really should do that research on the rights and responsibilities of the land-grants and the normal schools in the 1950s. I know, I know.) A long time ago, Charlie Sykes, in Profscam (details or compare prices provided some evidence of corruption in journal review procedures, and asserted that most of the journals could go out of business with no loss in the stock of wisdom. Perhaps so. I'll withhold commentary on that other than to note that in the late 1980s I learned of at least one proposal to start a journal to publish papers rejected by other journals. (I'll resist snarking about refereed journals not listed in Journal of Economic Literature.) It's clear to me that
(1) original research is useful
(2) without original research, education unbecomes
(3) producing original research is not for everyone and
(4) some people have comparative advantages in passing along the knowledge others have discovered.
In light of those four points, it strikes me that the one-and-only-one-road to tenure might play a role in the cost squeeze the university presses encounter.
UPDATE: Outside the Beltway is thinking along similar lines about the One Career Path model.
"When book-fetishization, entrenched prejudices, and administrative neuroses run up against budgets, they will fall. Have every university press "publish" books that it doesn't believe will sell 2000 copies by putting .pdf files up on their respective webservers.
" If all university presses did this tomorrow, the crisis in scholarly publishing would be solved--as would the difficulty assistant professors have in finding publishers.
"We can move from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom tomorrow, if we will just open our eyes and abandon our false consciousness. The High Energy Theory subfield of physics moved from journal articles to webservers as their principal locus of intellectual activity back in 1995. It's been nearly a decade since then. Why have the rest of us not followed them?"
Well, one difficulty vanishes, as university presses might find the option of maintaining servers rather than presses and rolls of paper attractive, and the professor does all the typesetting (Scientific Workplace to Adobe Gold, forsooth!), but the difficulty of having it peer-reviewed first remains. Professor DeLong rather modestly does not mention his colleagues' work in providing peer-reviewed electronic journals in economics. Go here and note that five of the six have the imprimatur of the American Economic Association.
But there is yet another dimension to the problem, and it involves rediscovery of the division of labor. (You really should do that research on the rights and responsibilities of the land-grants and the normal schools in the 1950s. I know, I know.) A long time ago, Charlie Sykes, in Profscam (details or compare prices provided some evidence of corruption in journal review procedures, and asserted that most of the journals could go out of business with no loss in the stock of wisdom. Perhaps so. I'll withhold commentary on that other than to note that in the late 1980s I learned of at least one proposal to start a journal to publish papers rejected by other journals. (I'll resist snarking about refereed journals not listed in Journal of Economic Literature.) It's clear to me that
(1) original research is useful
(2) without original research, education unbecomes
(3) producing original research is not for everyone and
(4) some people have comparative advantages in passing along the knowledge others have discovered.
In light of those four points, it strikes me that the one-and-only-one-road to tenure might play a role in the cost squeeze the university presses encounter.
UPDATE: Outside the Beltway is thinking along similar lines about the One Career Path model.
IT'S THE ARROW IMPOSSIBILITY THEOREM. Highered Intelligence poses a problem:
"1) A government has 8 programs, call them 1-8.
2) 75% of the people want to reduce government spending.
3) No single government program has at least 50% of the people who want to get rid of it.
4) Spending does not get reduced.
"I don't know what this is called, but there was a name for it. Something similar might be happening with collegiate education. EVERYONE wants diplomas to be worth more, but the students don't want to do the extra work and the schools don't want to lose their customers and ultimately no one is willing to take it on the chin because everyone's benefiting in one way or another from the current system."
The first phenomenon is a voting paradox. There are a lot of those out there. The second has elements of a prisoners' dilemma, but there may be sufficiently many participants in the higher education enterprise to resolve it. Consider, first, that parents often make great sacrifices to get their kids into name schools (there's a rant coming on that vanishing middle class, probably tomorrow, which is connected to those sacrifices) and thus the students do the extra work (often the wrong kind of extra work) in high school to get into the prestige colleges and often apply themselves once they get there. As noted here, the students recognize that they are in fact not benefitting from the current system, if they're encountering schedule-completion hassles.
The prisoners' dilemma problem arises during the periods of slack enrollment, as I've discovered in conversations with colleagues, some of whom have been around these parts longer than I (yes, there are a few ... I'm amused when the Up-and-Coming seminar speaker reacts with a "wow" when they discover I've been seventeen years in one place) and who report that there is hysteresis in high-school advising. A college that tightens its admission standards in the fat years carries that reputation into the lean years, when the admissions office might have slackened standards a bit. The problem there, however, is not with the hysteresis but with the university's planning. Middle school enrollment patterns are often a pretty good indicator of college application patterns five to six years down the road, but in the thirty years I've been observing planning I've noticed promiscuous neglect of such evidence, beginning with the University of Wisconsin building a very nice dorm, erm, residence hall along the lake shore that was never used as such. (The University of Chicago's curricular reforms of the late 1990s were particularly ill-timed. Not only did they engender ill will with graduates, but they were addressing an enrollments problem that was going to go away in a few years. And an economist was leading the charge to make the change. I don't have that many hairs to pull out.)
Hypothesis: there is an equilibrium in which standards are higher and students do more work, and there are gains from trade in making those things happen.
"1) A government has 8 programs, call them 1-8.
2) 75% of the people want to reduce government spending.
3) No single government program has at least 50% of the people who want to get rid of it.
4) Spending does not get reduced.
"I don't know what this is called, but there was a name for it. Something similar might be happening with collegiate education. EVERYONE wants diplomas to be worth more, but the students don't want to do the extra work and the schools don't want to lose their customers and ultimately no one is willing to take it on the chin because everyone's benefiting in one way or another from the current system."
The first phenomenon is a voting paradox. There are a lot of those out there. The second has elements of a prisoners' dilemma, but there may be sufficiently many participants in the higher education enterprise to resolve it. Consider, first, that parents often make great sacrifices to get their kids into name schools (there's a rant coming on that vanishing middle class, probably tomorrow, which is connected to those sacrifices) and thus the students do the extra work (often the wrong kind of extra work) in high school to get into the prestige colleges and often apply themselves once they get there. As noted here, the students recognize that they are in fact not benefitting from the current system, if they're encountering schedule-completion hassles.
The prisoners' dilemma problem arises during the periods of slack enrollment, as I've discovered in conversations with colleagues, some of whom have been around these parts longer than I (yes, there are a few ... I'm amused when the Up-and-Coming seminar speaker reacts with a "wow" when they discover I've been seventeen years in one place) and who report that there is hysteresis in high-school advising. A college that tightens its admission standards in the fat years carries that reputation into the lean years, when the admissions office might have slackened standards a bit. The problem there, however, is not with the hysteresis but with the university's planning. Middle school enrollment patterns are often a pretty good indicator of college application patterns five to six years down the road, but in the thirty years I've been observing planning I've noticed promiscuous neglect of such evidence, beginning with the University of Wisconsin building a very nice dorm, erm, residence hall along the lake shore that was never used as such. (The University of Chicago's curricular reforms of the late 1990s were particularly ill-timed. Not only did they engender ill will with graduates, but they were addressing an enrollments problem that was going to go away in a few years. And an economist was leading the charge to make the change. I don't have that many hairs to pull out.)
Hypothesis: there is an equilibrium in which standards are higher and students do more work, and there are gains from trade in making those things happen.
MANDATORY FIRST AMENDMENT TRAINING? The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education takes California Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo (that Cal Poly - SLO is just a bit infelicitous, nicht wahr?) to court. Porphyrogenitus covers.
THIS DEFIES PARODY. "A City Council committee on Thursday advanced a resolution that would make Chicago the largest city in the nation to condemn the USA Patriot Act, which aldermen said is trampling the civil rights of many of their constituents." Details here (requires registration: it occurs to me that those of you who have Los Angeles Times passwords ought to be able to use those). OK, in that, nothing new, other cities have sought to opt out. What defies parody is another news story I heard on the radio, shortly after the report on the Council's actions. A few years ago the Council repealed a spitting ordinance, but did not remove it from the published Book of Rules. (I did a quick Google search and failed to turn up a story to cite.) That gives the police a useful tool. Consider a some guys, standing on the corner, pegging the thug-o-meter in their demeanor but doing nothing illegal. Cop sees the guys. One makes the mistake of unleashing a loogie. Officer has all the cause he needs to search the miscreant.
UP, DOWN, SPINNING AROUND. "Economy Grows at 3.3 Percent Annual Rate" is the headline here. Unemployment insurance claims require special seasonal adjustment. Durable goods orders down in the most recent month (there's another series that gets seasonal adjustment: the new house building season is winding down, and the Christmas season is yet to come.)
LAY TO AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED. Although Talk Like a Pirate Day (curiously, there is no sub-dialect for university administrators at the site) was last week, there are some interesting pirate quizzes out on the seven servers.
Off the ways comes
You are a Pirate Second Class
What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!
In the drydock is
You Are A Pirate!
What Type Of Swashbuckler Are You?
brought to you by Maddog Varuka & Dawg Brown
I report, ye decide, lubbers!
Off the ways comes
You are a Pirate Second Class
Do you remember the last time you took a chance? I do. It was when you decided to leave the security of your mother's womb and headed for the bright light. It's time to head for the next bright light, my friend. Creativity is not your strong suit. You are good at doing what you are told to do and that, in itself, is a gift. It's not a gift to you, mind you, but rather a gift to those who will be there to tell you what to do. You like long walks on the beach and cuddling, but would never admit that to your Guy friends who think you are okay but can't always remember your name. Tapioca pudding seems a bit extreme for a fellow such as yerself, what with all the bumps and stuff. It's a good thing ye be on a pirate ship,
otherwise, ye'd would be walkin' because ye be positively pedestrian. Have a nice day.
What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!
In the drydock is
You Are A Pirate!
What Type Of Swashbuckler Are You?
brought to you by Maddog Varuka & Dawg Brown
I report, ye decide, lubbers!
INFERIOR GOODS? One of the local race tracks has an advert that goes something like this: "And they're off! Out of the gate it's Get Up Early and Walk the Dog, followed by Do the Laundry and Wash the Dishes. Out of nowhere comes Call from Mom, followed by Nagging and Guilt Trip. It's Nagging, it's Guilt Trip, and Nagging is relentless ..." Makes me wonder what the race track thinks about its clientele (the advert first ran in late July and in August, and it has returned recently) and it makes me wonder who else is listening to the news-radio stations I'm hearing this on. I also have to wonder about its accuracy, in an era when schools are sending Nagging and Needs Attention notes reprimanding parents!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Going Underground's CME celebrates a birthday. Check out the pictures of recent transport advertising.
PLAGIARISM AS THE HISTORIAN'S PLAGUE. Get thee to Milt's File (and while you're there, see if he's lamenting "there goes the neighborhood," or if he has more in mind.
DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY. Not just a soundtrack for a collegiate movie anymore, reports Joanne Jacobs. On the other hand, "don't know much biology" might not be accurate anymore.
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