Unqualified Offerings

By Thoreau
Having apologized to the people of Yemen and Egypt for paying my taxes, I should also apologize to Bradley Manning for not doing enough.  Greenwald has been blogging about Manning’s detention for a while, and I was remiss in not blogging it until now.  In a word, the conditions of Manning’s detention are nothing [...]

By Thoreau
I wish the people of Egypt and Yemen the best of luck in their efforts to bring down their dictators.  Inshallah, Mubarak and Saleh will soon be running for dear life.  As far as I’m concerned, Joe Biden can go f*ck himself and join Mubarak and Saleh in whatever dark hole they flee to.  [...]

By Thoreau
There’s another type of kool-aid, besides the type associated with educational or management buzzwords:  The kool-aid drunk by somebody who is absolutely enthralled by a technology (new or old) and wants everybody whom he’s working with to also use it.  A few people with whom I collaborate on a project have set up a [...]

By Thoreau
D&D not allowed in prison. Isn’t that cruel and unusual punishment?

By Thoreau
Person high up:  “I want to meet with you ASAP to figure out if there’s any way at all to get [something expensive].”
Middle manager:  “Well, don’t you think we need to first wait and see what  some committees have to say about some ongoing processes so we can read tea-leaves and check the palace [...]

By Thoreau
Teh Evil Fiziks Lair is a popular spot to hang out, so you need to get reservations in early.  I just put mine in today, for late summer.
They have already updated their database to handle an unusual issue that will come up in the travel paperwork.  7 months early.  IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF [...]

By Thoreau
I’m grading the first midterm in a junior-level mechanics class (yes, I’m starting midterms early, I want them to have a wake-up call).  And, honestly, I don’t ever want to use a piece of technology that these kids have any role in designing.  Once this class goes into the workforce, I plan to renounce [...]

By Thoreau
On Friday, I was getting some advice from some senior colleagues who have reviewed grants for a particular organization.  As part of my proposal, I need to talk about my accomplishments mentoring research students and the environment I will be doing it in.  I can write quite convincingly about my accomplishments, and as long [...]

By Thoreau
I often dislike intertubez invocations of “privilege”, because the intertubez commenters invoking it often want a magic “I WIN TEH DEBATE” button.  However, I think the Onion has perfectly encapsulated some very, very real aspects of white privilege.

By Thoreau
Let’s say that there’s a certain task to be done.  And you want to obstruct it and make sure that if it happens it happens in a particularly idiotic way.  And you know me well, and you know that I’m full of piss and vinegar and scorn for do-nothing bureaucrats and disregard for authority.  [...]