Thirty-eight questions that will utterly destroy it.
I think my favorite is whether or not NASA invented thunderstorms to cover up the sound of space battles.
[Via Geek Press]
Category Archives: Education
The Climate-Change Fundamentalists
More thoughts on the extreme-green religion.
[Update a while later]
Saving the planet, lawsuit by lawsuit:
Aside from the idea that a cease-&-desist letter can be copyrighted anymore than a parking ticket or a receipt from the gas station can, there are several other curious points the University makes. I’ve written to Ms Malloch seeking clarification, and will let you know as soon as I receive her response. Re the defamation threats, Brandon Shollenberger might like to know that my cracker-barrel legal team was the driving force behind “Rachel’s Law”, which ensures that no libel judgment from a jurisdiction that does not provide free-speech protections as strong as America’s will be recognized by courts here. But note yet again that, for all the complaints that “climate change denialists are suing scientists”, it is, in fact, the other way round. In Queensland as in the District of Columbia as in British Columbia, it’s the scientists who are suing.
Yes. Their “legal defense” funds are actually legal offense funds.
P. J. O’Rourke
“What I would tell the graduating Rutgers class of 2014.”
Here you are graduating from Rutgers, which is, as I mentioned, the 69th-best university in America. Maybe Rutgers should add more vegan selections to its cafeteria fare. U.S. News & World Report scorekeepers go for that kind of thing. Actually, you’re tied for 69th with Texas A&M, an NFL first-round draft with a small college attached.
Your most famous alumni are Garret A. Hobart, 24th vice president of the United States, Ozzie Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet, Mr. Magoo, and seven former governors of New Jersey. Given the recent history of that office, I promise not to tell anybody. (Gov. Kean went to Princeton.)
And you just wasted $100,308 on tuition, fees, and room and board, assuming you were able to zip through Rutgers in a mere four years. Although you only wasted $53,996 if you were living in your parents’ basement. But you wasted $156,404 if you’re one of those bridge and tunnel people from out of state. Let’s call it a hundred long. Approximately 14,000 of you are graduating this year. That’s $1.4 billion wasted.
Why do I say “wasted”? Those of you who are, know why. Those of you who, for reasons unfathomable, are sober on this occasion may need it explained.
I have done research. I used the same tools for deep and comprehensive understanding that you used for your essays and term papers—Wikipedia and random Internet searches.
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (at least as reliable a source as the National Association of Cats and Dogs), the average starting salary for a newly graduated B.A. is $45,633.
Not bad, you say. There’s almost rent and a car payment in that, after taxes. But “average starting salary” assumes you’re salaried. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 75 percent of college graduates are in the labor force. Maybe the rest are on a grad-school full ride getting a Ph.D. in string theory.
There’s reason to doubt it. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows 44 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed. A report in The Atlantic claims half of those recent graduates are working “in jobs that don’t require a degree.” And, in a National Center for Education Statistics survey, 48 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds with student-loan debt say they are unemployed or underemployed. Can you spell KFC?
I wouldn’t bet on it.
The Big Fat Latest Review
Ancel Benjamin Keys may be responsible for more premature death and suffering of Americans than anyone in history.
As someone said on Twitter:
@DrEades Saturated fat was the CO2 of the 70s-80s.
— Daniel Kirsner (@Gelf_Sara) May 15, 2014
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s probably the ultimate review, from Michael Eades:
I want to write a review so good it inspires everyone to buy the book immediately and read it. Why? Because I think it is one of the most important books on nutrition ever written. Maybe the most important. And I feel a responsibility to inspire as many people as I can to get their hands on it.
…this book is so brimming with valuable information that I was almost paralyzed in trying to figure out which parts to excerpt. A book review always comes with excerpts, and this book presented me with such a bounty of choices, it took me forever to decide which to use.
Considering the source, that’s pretty high praise.
Rape On Campus
It belongs in the courts. It does seem like a quaint idea:
The lefty stuff always leads to the same place. But you’re crazy to go to these schools if you’re a man. And women don’t want to go to schools that men avoid. So I predict either an eventual equilibrium, or a collapse.
His predictions have been playing out pretty well, so far.
Climate Change
Only in Washington is it the greatest challenge that we face.
Well, to be fair, it might be on campus, too, which is another bubble of unreality.
I Checked My Privilege
“…and it’s doing just fine.”
Call: “Check your privilege!”
Response: “What you call ‘privilege’ is just me being better than you.”
They won’t like it. It will make them angry. Good. Because tactics like “Check your privilege” are designed to make us angry, to put us off-balance, to baffle us and suck us down into a rabbit hole of leftist jargon and progressive stupidity.
Don’t follow them. Mock them. Accuse them of adhering to a transphobic cisnormative paradigm and start shrieking “Hate crime!”
Don’t worry about not making sense. They’re college students. They are used to not understanding what people smarter than they are tell them.
It’s just the latest stupid thing to come from the campus loons.
[Update a few minutes later]
Link is fixed now. Sorry!
Physics Girl
A new Youtube channel.
Don’t Know Much About History
The frightening thing is that this woman teaches schoolkids.
Nazism was many things, but “capitalism,” unfettered or otherwise, was not among them.
Universities
It’s not really a new thing, but this is the latest indication that most universities aren’t. They clearly want a diversity in everything except opinion.
[Update a few minutes later]
“I blame Rice as much as the bullies. By withdrawing, Rice sends a message to other campuses that the tactic works.”
Sadly, yes.