Conservative or intoxicated with the draught of new power? (by anon)

I am really tired of people calling themselves conservatives when they are radicals overturning tradition and precedent at a breakneck pace in order to pursue abstract ideals.  This is not conservative at all.

Edmund Burke wrote:
“You may proceed by degrees.  We must all obey the great law of change.  It is the most powerful law of nature, and the means perhaps of its conservation.  All we can do, and that human wisdom can do, is to provide that the changes shall proceed by insensible degrees.  This has all the benefits which may be in change, without any of the inconveniences of mutation.  Everything is provided for as it arrives....This gradual course…will prevent men long under depression from being intoxicated with the large draught of new power, which they always abuse with a licentious insolence.  But, wishing, as I do, the change to be gradual and cautious, I would, in my first steps, lean rather to the side of enlargement than restriction.”

Breaking with 50 years of tradition of protecting collective bargaining, ramming the Budget Repair Bill through as Democratic State Senators were barred from entering the building, passing the bill in the Senate with less than two hours notice in a special session, and rejecting more incremental changes (as the union had conceded all of the cuts to benefits demanded by the governor) is not conservative.

The bill was motivated not by the conditions on the ground and the accumulated wisdom of trial and error, but by what Burke derided as “abstract thinking.”   Radical anti-public sector ideologues is a much closer description of the actions in Madison over the past 36 hours.

Absolute Gov't Failure (by Critically Pissed)

Sad day.  Angry day.  Scott Walker and his Republican senate just passed a bill tonight stripping most of all the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

Link: Wis. GOP bypasses Dems, cuts collective bargaining

It doesn't matter if you are Democrat or Republican - you should be pissed.  Why?  Because they completely circumvented democracy.  Whether you love unions, hate unions, or are somewhere in-between, with all of the hoopla going on precisely regarding collective bargaining rights, the last thing anyone should do is ram through a bill destroying all those rights without talking/negotiating with all parties.  How could anyone regard that as the right, responsible thing to do?  Democracy means that one must deal with the messy business of people relations (gasp!).

The Republicans took out the collective bargaining bits from the Budget Repair Bill and made it into a stand alone anti-union bill (which then didn't require the fourteen Dem senators to come back for the vote to happen because it is not a budget bill).  This should also cause some pause since Walker kept insisting that getting rid of collective bargaining WAS a budget issue.  Making it a stand alone bill means that it is not budget-related.  Why the 180-degree turn?  Answer: because getting rid of collective bargaining rights was never about the budget.  It was simply to get rid of unions.  At least Walker is now admitting the transparency.

Sad day.  Angry day.  Our Gov't is failing at governance.

I'm sick of stupidity! (by anon)

I'm sick that anyone thinks that Scott Walker is doing something right.

I'm sick of jerks running our government and not even willing to talk about some kind of compromise.

I'm sick God-damn libertarians who think that individual wealth is more important than than the community as a whole.

I'm sick of that shit-for-brains Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, who is considered to be an intellectual Palin (holy shit!).

I'm sick of people not thinking that education is more important than it is.

I'm sick of the business school making a ton more money than the humanities.

I'm sick of dorks who think that the politician who has a complex view on a matter is somehow less of a good candidate than the politician with a black and white view of the world.

I'm so sick of people believing that public employees are making out like bandits when it is the super rich who are the real thieves.

I'm tired of that hell-hole Fox News and how people really think that they give any semblance of objective reporting (except for Shep! He's good.).

I cannot believe that Glenn Beck has all the support he has!!  Absolute crazy.

I'm sick of being sick of all these things!!  What happened to good thinking?  What happened to everyone pulling together for everyone else?  Why is up down and top bottom?  I'M ASKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...because it just doesn't make sense to me!  What the fuck is going on?  That is not rhetorical.  PLEASE.  Answer me.  My head is about to explode.  I am seriously hitting a wall because the lack of reason and morality (YES MORALITY) is  abundantly clear out in our stupid America.  How is it that Walker's plan so transparently exploits the middle class in order to pad the corporate pockets even more, and there isn't one huge Wisconsin (nay, American) voice saying "NO"?  It shouldn't even be a consideration.

And the worst part about it is that I don't feel like I can change anything.

To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test (by anon)

Some students are quick to say that I did not learn "anything" in his or her class. 

The problem with this statement is that if they took examinations in the class, then they learned something. This research published in the prestigious Science journal re-evaluates the value of examinations. So from the previous study on what they learn in class (writing and substantive reading) we may have to add examinations to the list. This is an exert from a longer piece written by Pam Belluck and appears on New York Times web site, but you can access the complete article at Science online.

 

"The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods. One of those methods — repeatedly studying the material — is familiar to legions of students who cram before exams. The other — having students draw detailed diagrams documenting what they are learning — is prized by many teachers because it forces students to make connections among facts.  These other methods not only are popular, the researchers reported; they also seem to give students the illusion that they know material better than they do.

In the experiments, the students were asked to predict how much they would remember a week after using one of the methods to learn the material. Those who took the test after reading the passage predicted they would remember less than the other students predicted — but the results were just the opposite. “I think that learning is all about retrieving, all about reconstructing our knowledge,” said the lead author, Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor of psychology at Purdue University. “I think that we’re tapping into something fundamental about how the mind works when we talk about retrieval.”    

Well I guess exams are not useless after all.

The Fucksaw? Prof behaving badly?! (by anon)

Every now and then a story comes along that makes you stand up and say to yourself - what the fuck is this?

So Prof Bailey teaches a popular human sexuality course at Northwestern (this writer's alma mater) and conducts sex toy demonstrations after hours in his home.  One such demo involved a naked woman and the use of a contraption he calls the fucksaw. Did he violate any school policies? Is this an appropriate class related demonstration or just a crazy ass prof behaving badly?  It does appear that one can learn much from Prof Bailey's classes, and after all students are adults, but I do have a few problems and issues with the fucksaw.  This particular experiment using a mechanical work tool is negative from where I sit. Shame on my alma mater.  Prof. Bailey be thankful you teach at Northwestern. Your head would be served up on a platter if you taught at any of the UW campuses. Several years ago, the legislature along with UW System whacked a prof for saying that 911 was an inside job, so you know what would happen with you and your fucksaw.
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Northwestern University Professor Under Fire After Class Sex Toy Demonstration

A Northwestern University professor is defending a controversial after-school demonstration, which featured a naked woman "being repeatedly sexually stimulated" by a device he called a "fucksaw" in front of students. 

 

The Daily Northwestern reported Tuesday that Prof. John Michael Bailey, who teaches a popular Human Sexuality course at the school, often holds after-class events which include everything from "a question-and-answer session with swingers to a panel of convicted sex offenders."

Last week, the after-class event featured a naked woman being stimulated by a motorized sex toy called a "fucksaw" on stage, the paper reports. The woman was not a student.

The A.V. Club Chicago explained the toy in question:

The "fucksaw" in question is basically a dildo attached to a reciprocating saw which, when cranked up to full blast, can drive a person to orgasm.

Students were reportedly warned about the explicit nature of the demonstration, and were urged to skip the event if they were worried about being uncomfortable.  One school administrator told the Daily Northwestern he was surprised to hear of the demonstration, but said it most likely did not violate school policies. But after the "fucksaw" story made national news Wednesday, the university's president spoke out against Bailey's after-class event.

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After this story went viral everyone at Northwestern decided to speak out against it.  Prof Bailey may be given his walking paper. He may become a millionaire with the fucksaw. Anything is possible in America.

Appropriate use of UWW email? (by Xavier)

I'll just come out and say that Walker makes me wretch.  I'm not the only UWW faculty member who has such a reaction to our new goon in office, but it is important that you know that I feel that way.  I say that because yesterday I received an email from another faculty member in the College of L&S who has been quite vocal against Walker's budget plans.  The email was criticizing the UW System's response to the latest installment of Walker's budget plans that cut about a tenth from UWW's budget.  The criticism blasted UW System for being too weak in their response and significantly understating the dire consequences of Walker's proposal.  The email continues to note the failed leadership of UW System's president as well as imply that UW System is not advocating for education adequately at all.

With that said, I agree for the most part.  I am wholly against Walker's proposal and I think that UW System could be stronger in its reaction.  But what I think is a little inappropriate is that that email sent from that faculty member presumably went to every faculty member in the College of L&S.  If by chance, I did not agree with that email, I would be pretty pissed.  I'd probably be thinking, "Why does that loudmouth feel that he/she can just spout off like that unsolicited?"  Should that person's views have that kind of forum when we try to protect our email inboxes from just that sort of unsolicited stuff?  If every faculty member started emailing everyone else their gripes, we would be flooded fast with email after email.  If I had thought that the UW System's response was appropriate and that the System president was doing a good job, should I send an email to everyone too?

So though I agree with the email, I think it is was inappropriate to send it everyone.  But I could be wrong.  It might have just gone to a few people of whom the faculty member felt comfortable sending it.  But I don't think that was the case.

Prof behaving badly! (by anon)

Wait a damn minute here! I understand that sometimes faculty feuds can be toxic but peeing on a colleagues' office door is behaving badly and just plain nasty. On most jobs this kind of behavior would get you fired immediately but not on most college campuses, as profs are protected by the tenure system. I suspect the prof in question was fined for peeing in public, as college campuses are considered legally as public sites. I bet this is the gossip of the day at Cal State.

 

Here is the story:

 

A Cal State Northridge professor has been caught on tape peeing on a colleague's door, the Los Angeles Times reports. Tihomir Petrov, 43, a mathematics professor, had been fighting with his office neighbor. Petrov faces two counts of urinating in a public place. The videotaped incident occurred in December.  According to KTLA, the school installed cameras near the target's office after finding puddles of what appeared to be urine at the office door. Petrov was granted a 30-day arraignment extension this week, the Daily Sundial reports.

Just plain nasty and stupid. He should have known that there was a camera in the hall but he is safe - he is tenured.