Monday Night Linkdump #2

* Our friend, UNCG’s Own™ Jillian Weise, had a piece in the New York Times Magazine this week on going cyborg.

* Duke’s Own™ Alexis Pauline Gumbs is profiled at Race-Talk.

* Academia links: Ph.D. Supply and Demand. Ian Bogost on the future of the humanities. Losing the liberal arts.

* ‘Obama To Wait For Next Bruce Springsteen Album For Word On Economy.’

“If Mr. Springsteen puts out an E-Street Band project with one rave-up and several tracks containing an overarching theme of redemption, the president will certainly take that as a strong indicator of economic recovery,” said press secretary Robert Gibbs, adding that an album cover featuring an American flag would be “extremely promising.” “However, if he records a stark, haunting, Nebraska-esque exploration of blue-collar life, then it is time to lower interest rates and take immediate steps toward drastically reevaluating our current strategy.” The president has reportedly eschewed the supplementary Mellencamp Little Pink Housing Index used during the Reagan administration, as economists now widely believe it conveys a derivative, shallow view of the American fiscal landscape.

* Have I mentioned lately that Rachel Maddow is your president now?

* ‘”Tea party” polls better than GOP.‘

* The Conan O’Brien Contract Game. Grab your contract, but avoid the Jay Lenos!

* Daniel De Groot at Open Left, calling for fortitude in the fight against the filibuster, remembers how the elected Senate was won.

* ‘The Americanization of Mental Illness.’

* And some China superpower revisionism from The Diplomat.