Tuesday Night Links

* Welcome to My Massive Open Online Cult!

Welcome to my MOOC—Massive Open Online Cult—a 10-week course based on the revolutionary educational models of Coursera and edX. Due to the “massive” nature of this course, I am unable to interact with prospective cult members individually. Though I am acutely aware that the most fulfilling cult leader/acolyte relationship arises from months of sustained and deeply personal psychological manipulation, this is simply not an option with the MOOC format. However, I will do my best to break down your resistance mechanisms throughout the taped lectures.

* Alex Kudera considers adjunct misery. Treating graduate students as people, not just scholars in training, will make them better professionals. Our Dirty Little Secret.

Now that three-quarters of college teachers are contingent faculty members like Duffleman, the depiction of professors as tweedy, pipe-smoking dons or turtlenecked, bearded radicals with actual authority is inherently reactionary. It paints all faculty members as a pampered elite, disconnected from the “real world,” ignoring the reality that most of them have more in common with Wal-Mart employees than they do with the one-percenters who preside over Kudera’s urban academic hellscape of poverty, terrorism, outsourcing, deskilling, externalization of costs, and privatization of profits.

* Hollis surveyed administrators in higher education, with the somewhat startling result that “close to 62% of respondents . . . confirmed that they had been bullied or witnessed bullying in their higher education positions in the last 18 months” (36). And while “African Americans, women, and members of the LGBT community experience proportionally higher levels of bullying,” Hollis found that men in higher education still reported rates of bullying higher than the national rate (41, 42). Hollis argues that these differential rates demonstrate that there is considerable intersection between bullying and harassment, which may expose colleges and universities to legal jeopardy.

* University of California – Diploma Mill.

(1) The New University of California shall provide no instruction, but shall issue college credit and baccalaureate and associate degrees to any person capable of passing examinations.

* As the debate about the drone and the war on terror in America emerges, these are the voices that are not heard—those of the victims and the targeted communities.

* Salesmen in the Surgical Suite.

* SCOTUSblog menu of today’s coverage of the Proposition 8 argument. Emblazoned in red, same-sex marriage dominates social media.

At this blog, Lyle Denniston observes that, with the Justices so clearly split along ideological lines, focusing on Justice Kennedy to predict an outcome was an “even more reliable approach this time” than usual, and Justice Kennedy appeared strongly tempted to conclude that the case was improvidently granted. Thus, as Amy Howe observes in her review of the arguments “in Plain English,” “the real question before the Court is not whether it would strike down Proposition 8, or what the broader effect of such a decision might be, but whether it is going to reach the merits of the case at all.” Tom Goldsteinexplains that if these indications hold true, the Court’s ruling will take one of two forms: Either the Court could conclude that the proponents of Proposition 8 lacked standing to bring the claim, in which case it would “vacate the Ninth Circuit opinion but leave in place the distinct court decision invalidating Proposition 8,” or “the Court may dismiss the case because of an inability to reach a majority. . . . The upshot of either scenario is a modest step forward for gay rights advocates, but not a dramatic one.”

* Atheism as the next civil right issue? We shall overcome…

* Robots Have Taken All the Good Jobs, Report Economists.

* Aaron Bady vs. magical realism. Aaron vs. the Great American Novel.

* Google Objects To Existence Of New Swedish Word.

* Planetary gets an omnibus.

* John Brunner accurately predicted 2013.

* Rand Paul continues his hard pitch at the readers of this blog: Sen. Paul: Obama, Bush ‘lucky’ they weren’t arrested for smoking pot as kids.

“Look, the last two presidents could conceivably have been put in jail for their drug use,” Paul said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Look what would have happened. It would have ruined their lives. They got lucky. But a lot of poor kids, particularly in the inner city, don’t get lucky. They don’t have good attorneys. They go to jail for these things. And I think it’s a big mistake.”

* And another great what if: With today’s technology, would it be possible to launch an unmanned mission to retrieve Voyager I?

Thursday Night Links

* Clay Shirky, getting right to the point: “MOOCs are a lightning strike on a rotten tree.” Okay, now we’re getting honest! Let’s have that conversation.

* Actor James Cromwell has been arrested for allegedly disrupting a University of Wisconsin Board of Regents meeting where he was protesting animal testing.

* Some people like to claim that minorities can’t take jokes; those people have never had to try to take a joke. The frat in question, incidentally, has already managed to be re-suspended.

* A brief history of the first eleven Lady Doctors Who.

* North Carolina Appoints Pre-School Opponent To Head Pre-School Services.

* The Tick That Can Make You a Vegetarian.

* It’s not you, it’s quantitative cost-benefit analysis.

* Average earnings of young college graduates are still falling.

* I’m extremely disappointed to report I haven’t read a single one of the 10 Weirdest Science Fiction Novels That You’ve Never Read.

* The federal prison population has spiked 790% since 1980.

* The Master of The Master of Disguise has watched the Dana Carvey flop 21 times since November.

* Is marijuana the last, best hope for labor unions?

* Black writers at DC comics.

* Justice League starts from scratch.

* Fox News Claims Solar Won’t Work in America Because It’s Not Sunny Like Germany.

* And just to see if Tim Wientzen read down this far: when Joyce sketched Bloom.

Evening Links

* World saved from Zack Snyder Star Wars movie.

* But it was too late for the Atlantic, powerless before Tom Cruise’s superpowers.

* 2013 in franchise science fiction, from io9. Only Brad Bird’s 1952 can save us now.

* New York Times already hyping Ender’s Game.

* The best companion says she won’t be back for Who‘s 50th.

* The Disneyland of paranoia. See also McSweeney’s:

First, they came for unregulated handguns in the possession of citizens with violent criminal records, and I said, “You know, that sounds reasonable. Someone with a violent criminal record has probably lost his or her right to possess a handgun. So, yeah, sounds good.”

Then they came to require background checks, gun licenses, and regular gun safety courses, and I said, “All of this sounds fine to me. Guns are dangerous, and we regulate every other dangerous product. So, really, whatever you want to do on this is also fine.”

Then they came for my assault rifle, and I said, “Assault rifles? You should have started with assault rifles. You’re doing this backwards. But OK, of course you can have my assault rifle. Why do I need an assault rifle?”

Then they came to guarantee mental health care to everyone, because our treatment of our most vulnerable citizens is a measure of our dignity as a society, and I said, “This one is obvious. In fact, I can’t believe we HAVEN’T been guaranteeing mental health care for everyone who needs it. Let’s get going on this.”

* And just one political link: The high price of being single in America.

We Wait. We Are Bored.

My Grading Scale for the Fall Semester, Composed Entirely of Samuel Beckett Quotes.

Wednesday Night Links: Žižek, Affleck, and More

* ‘This is why, back to The Dark Knight Rises, the only authentic love in the film is Bane’s, the “terrorist’s,” in clear contrast to Batman’: Žižek (or someone claiming to be Žižek) reads The Dark Knight Rises. 

* Jane Hu has tonight’s timeline of future events.

* Ben Affleck tapped to ruin Justice League.

* Singularity & Co., Unique Bookshop Will Save Obscure Sci-Fi Titles.

* What everybody gets wrong about Jekyll and Hyde. Bracket that “everybody” and it’s a decent reading of the novel.

* After Wade Michael Page, the suspect in the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting, was fired from a Harley Davidson shop in 2004, he left behind an application to join the Ku Klux Klan. What’s on the KKK application form?

* Will Democrats hold the Senate?

* McSweeney’s has a reason a day to vote for Obama.

* Do-over: Rep. Steve King Wants To Repeal Everything Bill Obama Has Ever Signed.

* Be wary of talk about privatizing the post office.

* And July was the hottest month ever recorded. Enjoy your apocalypse.

Wednesday!

* Life advice from Neil Gaiman: Make good art.

* Too ignorant to know it can’t be done: Teenager reportedly finds solution to 350-year-old math problem.

* From the too-good-to-check files: McSweeney’s interviews a safecracker.

Q: Do you ever look inside?

A: I NEVER look. It’s none of my business. Involving yourself in people’s private affairs can lead to being subpoenaed in a lawsuit or criminal trial. Besides, I’d prefer not knowing about a client’s drug stash, personal porn, or belly button lint collection.

When I’m done I gather my tools and walk to the truck to write my invoice. Sometimes I’m out of the room before they open it. I don’t want to be nearby if there is a booby trap.

* Foundation and Krugman, in Wired.

* And Mother Jones takes on America’s growing tax problem.

Friday Friday Friday

* Somebody awesomely trolled the New York state assessment exam.

* Concluding that racial bias played a significant factor in the sentencing of a man to death here 18 years ago, a judge on Friday ordered that the convict’s sentence be reduced to life in prison without parole, the first such decision under North Carolina’s controversial Racial Justice Act.

* Why, after decades of talk about the importance of a labor–environmental alliance, can’t the blues and the greens get it together?

* Americans Elect can’t get it together either (and thank heaven for that).

* “Special Effects” is the first great Ze Frank video of the “A Show” era.

* Things Don’t Seem Wonderful If You’ve Seen Them All Your Life.

* H.P. Lovecraft Answers Your Relationship Questions.

* Brian Wood teases The Massive.

* Abigail Nussbaum says The Cabin in the Woods wasted a perfectly good plot.

Once you know The Cabin in the Woods‘s twist it’s impossible not to think of the film like this, and to have used this rich vein of story for little more than a metafictional gag seems like a criminal waste.

* Science has finally perfected the sonic screwdriver.

* Zero-hour for high-speed rail in California.

* Mike Konczal and Aaron Bady talk The Wire at bloggingheads.tv.

* And there are struggles deeper than the struggle with God: The Stages of Grading.

Links without Context or Content

* Pawlenty on the 2012 GOP field: We’re all liars without conscience or remorse.

* DATELINE 2050: Atheist Muslim Fundamentalists run the country! Oh, if only we’d listened!

* Finally a reason to go back to Daily Kos: Tom Tomorrow has just become their cartoon editor.

* Halfway there: Foreign nationals who are married to U.S. citizens of the same sex may apply for spousal green cards and other benefits, immigration authorities announced Monday, but it remains to be seen whether the government will issue them.

* At McSweeney’s: Rubber stamps I wish I had for grading freshman composition papers.

* At the Chronicle of Higher Education: 6 Easy–and Not So Easy–Pieces of Advice for Grad Students. Kids, it’s all it takes.

* And watch out, man-children: Peter Jackson is looking to girlify The Hobbit.

Monday Morning Links

* National Geographic: “Zombie” Ants Found With New Mind-Control Fungi. (Thanks Erica!)

* Income inequality in the U.S., Egypt, China, and elsewhere. Via Christina by way of Tim.

* The Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights women at work. The number you’re looking for is 81.2 cents on the dollar.

* Demystifying everything: Blue eyes not actually blue.

* And McSweeney’s has an important report from H.P. Lovecraft’s First Day as a Substitute Teacher at Arkham Junior High School.

State of the Tuesday

* Obama’s State of the Union is here. I didn’t watch, but I saw enough on Twitter to see that Obama didn’t learn his lesson the first time he announced a spending freeze. So stupid.

* Obama leads all challengers in North Carolina.

* No filibuster reform for you.

* Planned Parenthood tries to head off another moronic right-wing hoax—by calling the FBI.

* Frances Fox Piven vs. Glenn Beck.

* Why Johnny can’t learn: “Sexy News Anchors Distract Male Viewers.”

* And Hemingway’s blonde jokes.

Q. Why did the blonde drive into the ditch?
A. She was overtaken with despair. No one was awaiting her arrival.

Writing Your Sitcom Pilot

The Scene Where the Sexy Female Lead Is Caught Naked.

How exactly your female lead will end up unintentionally naked is up to you, but bear in mind that the situation will reveal a great deal about the kind of sexy young woman she is…

Monday Monday

* FAQ: The “Snake Fight” Portion Of Your Thesis Defense.

Q: Do I have to kill the snake?

A: University guidelines state that you have to “defeat” the snake. There are many ways to accomplish this. Lots of students choose to wrestle the snake. Some construct decoys and elaborate traps to confuse and then ensnare the snake. One student brought a flute and played a song to lull the snake to sleep. Then he threw the snake out a window.

Thanks Tim.

* You had me at “Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion incident.” Thanks Dad.

* The Jossless Buffy reboot is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. EW has Joss’s reply.

* The New York Times reviews Anne Dick’s PKD biography.

* 23 years old, $200,000 dollars of student loan debt. Related: Is Student Debt the Next Front in the Consumer Debt Crisis? Via MetaFilter.

* LOL denialists: An influential 2006 congressional report that raised questions about the validity of global warming research was partly based on material copied from textbooks, Wikipedia and the writings of one of the scientists criticized in the report, plagiarism experts say.

* And tomorrow’s news today: Obama wins! Obama wins!

Tuesday Night

* A Note to Parents from Bruce Springsteen, High School Cross-Country Coach.

* Unexpected: Conan beat everyone last night.

* How to serve Koopa meat. Via Kottke.

* And the Hudson River Tunnel lives (maybe). Meanwhile Christie needs to cut the feds a check for ruining everybody’s day.

Courses I Wish My College Had Offered

At McSweeney’s.

Frivolous Tuesday

* LEGO, you know I trust you, but I’m not sure about this.

* What is Japan doing with its super-old people?

* Psychologists use the term “irrational antagonism” to describe what happens between people isolated together for more than about six weeks… IN SPACE!

* Oregon Trail: The Movie: The Trailer. Related: No Son of Mine Plays Oregon Trail Like That.

* One cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion: an illustrated guide to beards. Via Pharyngula.

* What have you learned from your many years of monkey torture? They hate it. Monkeys hate flying squirrels, report monkey-annoyance experts.