In other news, hotel conference facilities still lean into Tabasco, which is still trash
Lee Gardner
@leegee.bsky.social
Reporter at @chronicle.com, music nerd, lotsa other kinds of nerd too. Half of @essentialpod.bsky.social and all of @vgplusrecs.bsky.social. He/him
Not a *band*, but Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, and Another Green World slaps pretty hard. Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street is likewise a pretty impressive run from around the same time.
Mia Murphy 🏳️⚧️@miamurphy.com · 4d agoWhat's the best three album run from a band? (the correct answer is Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure by Rush, but I'm excited to learn second place)
It seems like half the stories I write these days involve a college cutting programs and jobs. This week I got to write about one trying to do something else to stop the bleeding.
What Can a Struggling University Do if It Can’t Cut Any More? Change.
Instead of continuing to shrink, Southern Oregon U. is trying to shift how it functions.
chronicle.com
I'm usually on vacation at this time of year, but this year I'm not and am discovering that it's challenging to try to do my job, because everyone else is on vacation.
About 100 years ago, my great grandfather was working in a trainyard. He and some others were eating lunch under some empty cars to get out of the sun when an engine bumped the line of cars to move it. He was cut in half. My grandfather was a teenager. He worked factory jobs his whole life.
Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 7d agoEnough “what would you do on the commune questions” If you got sent back 100 years and were given your grandparent’s job, what are you doing?
In re: the current discourse about criticism, as I used to tell budding arts critics, your “yes” is only as good as your “no.” If you’re positive about everything, why should anyone take your word about anything?
billy woods + ELUCID + Kenny Segal + Human Error Club + Ryan Crosby = Armand Hammer x Tiny Desk Really enjoyed cooking this one up with Kenny, who has made many of my favorite beats. This is basically the first time Armand Hammer's played with a band on-camera. youtu.be/uP23-YE-T30?...
Armand Hammer: Tiny Desk Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
youtu.be
Currently trying not to swallow my own tongue over the fruits of today’s higher-ed email newsletters.
Listening to a podcast at 2x speed while answering emails isn’t "learning." It’s just noise with a productivity badge. If you want real leverage, turn off your phone, sit in silence, and read a damn book.
Read More. Read Often. Read Every Day.
Stop Looking for Productivity Hacks. Pick Up a Damn Book.
joanwestenberg.com
Many thanks to the Toronto Star for inadvertently showing us why we should all use the Oxford Comma. Apparently Sylvia had some, let's say, complicated hobbies:
ADAPT OCTAVIA BUTLER’S XENOGENESIS TRILOGY INTO A PRESTIGE-TV LIMITED SERIES YOU COWARDS
It’s Friday, so here’s a music rec: an amazing trove of lovely, sexy bedroom pop. RIYL Arthur Russell (who plays on it!)
MY SKYSCRAPER, by Nirosta Steel
17 track album
ulyssa.bandcamp.com
Ignore the hed. My friend @carlsonics.bsky.social’s piece is actually about critical thinking. Everybody agrees it’s important, but what exactly is it? And if it can be taught, how? Important piece, imo.
Can Colleges AI-Proof Their Students?
Higher ed claims to foster critical-thinking skills. It has no real system for developing them.
chronicle.com
I was like, why does the air in DC smell like some kind of aromatic wood? And then it hit me—maybe that’s Canada.
Last night I dreamed I got really serious about going back to school to get a masters in public administration, which doesn't make any sense for a whole bunch of reasons.
A ton of American discourse about US foreign policy ends up in the Bojack Trap
I haven’t eaten a Vienna sausage in many decades, but I still feel compelled to pronounce that first word with the cadences of my forebears: VYE-ennuh
It feels ridiculous to be told my entire life the importance of reducing my energy usage and switching to stuff like LED bulbs and then read reports of energy prices spiking in many US communities due to data centers.
When you read in The Atlantic that your cousin is allegedly infested with demons and your sleepy Appalachian hometown is some kind of hellmouth. Good piece from @mccrummen.bsky.social.
The Demon Next Door
A growing number of charismatic Christians see themselves as waging a spiritual battle against the forces of Satan. Sometimes those forces are right across the street.
theatlantic.com
Reading Philip K. Dick’s short stories, many of which can now be read as prescient about AI. In his version of the competing-with-clankers future, we humans do not fare well!
Another day, another dream about top-editing stories at Baltimore City Paper, where I haven’t worked for 14 years and which doesn’t even exist anymore.
I wrote a short piece about the modest mystery of the Texas public with booming enrollment that is nonetheless offering voluntary separations to a big chunk of its employees.
The U. of Texas at Tyler Is Growing. Why Is It Offering Buyouts to a Quarter of Its Staff?
Such offers are often a sign of budget challenges. They can also affect morale.
chronicle.com
I think we will see more colleges offering employee buyouts. Sometimes, it will be to close budget deficits, but it will also be used to grow other areas more than a typical budget would allow.
The U. of Texas at Tyler Is Growing. Why Is It Offering Buyouts to a Quarter of Its Staff?
Such offers are often a sign of budget challenges. They can also affect morale.
chronicle.com
Another professor fired for comments about Charlie Kirk is poised for a payout, this time $1.9M from University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The prof, Tamar Shirinian, won't return to campus: www.knoxnews.com/story/news/e... via Keenan Thomas
University of Tennessee to pay $1.9M to professor fired over Charlie Kirk comment
The cultural anthropology assistant professor will not return to the University of Tennessee faculty.
knoxnews.com