Popular Sovereignty

Soft Opening

2006-09-20T13:48:33Z

In 7 hours 12 minutes, the South Bend area will have its very own Chipotle.

Two somewhat unconnected thoughts

2006-08-17T13:27:15Z

I felt really guilty driving into work at 6:15 this morning and passing the Gug seeing the lights in Charlie's office ablaze.
Friday's bad news is all weaklingrecords fault, just remember that.

You're On Notice Georgia Tech!

2006-08-11T21:01:55Z

Castro hates Sunday Ticket

2006-08-10T21:00:33Z

TV satellite dishes are a "germ-filled stew" which receive subversive propaganda.

Best openning to a news article ever

2006-08-10T14:56:43Z

From this morning's South Bend Tribune:

Winnipeg loves its pork, Calgary likes beef. Latin Americans are intrigued by Nostradamus. And except in Dublin and Southern California, hookers are far more popular than blow.

25 days

2006-08-08T19:48:26Z

Wish I could have seen No. 25 live in person, but it sounds like we have annother No. 25 coming along.

Turning back the clock and going Nuclear

2006-08-04T14:34:04Z

Today's New York Times is reporting that Constellation Energy has placed parts orders that would allow for the construction of a new reactor at their existing Calvert Cliffs plant which rests along the Chesapeake Bay or at their Nine Mile Point plant which lies along the Hudson River north of New York City. It is the first such hardware order since the 1970s.

In general this development is a good thing as safe nuclear power is critical to the United State's energy independence and to any hope of reducing US fossil fuel consumption and the related pollution caused by the burning of hydrocarbons.

On a side note, I thought Le Creusot made cookware. I hope Constellation has chosen to go with the neat Cobalt Blue finish.

Full Text at the Jump.

August 4, 2006

Nuclear Power Venture Orders Crucial Parts for Reactor

By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 — A partnership established to build nuclear reactors has ordered the heavy steel parts needed to make a reactor vessel, as well as other crucial components, apparently the first hardware order for a plant since the 1970’s.

The order, which an executive of the partnership said was worth “tens of millions of dollars,” was a major step toward actual construction after several years of speculation about a nuclear renaissance.

The partnership, UniStar Nuclear, made up of Constellation Energy of Baltimore and Areva, a European company, did not say where the reactor would be built. But it has previously identified as possibilities the Calvert Cliffs reactors, on the Chesapeake Bay south of Washington, and the Nine Mile Point reactors, in Scriba, N.Y., on Lake Ontario. It has said that it was negotiating with other utilities that could provide sites for the reactor, called an evolutionary power reactor, or E.P.R.

One piece of steel has already been forged, a co-chief executive of UniStar, Michael J. Wallace, said, but the construction date is uncertain and the parts might be stored until needed. The company anticipates a rush of construction orders and a waiting line at the few companies equipped to make parts that weigh hundreds of tons. One part can be made by only one company, Japan Steel Works.

Some parts could be made by Le Creusot steelworks in France.

“We’re creating the certainty that the most critical early-on hardware is in hand, so we will be in position to continue to move aggressively for construction of the first E.P.R. if everything else continues to line up correctly,” Mr. Wallace said in a telephone interview.

Among the items that had to line up, he said, was the establishment by the Treasury and Energy Departments of programs to distribute the aid packages that were laid out in last summer’s Energy Policy Act. Those packages include loan guarantees, production tax credits and insurance against regulatory delays.

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 27 possible reactors are under discussion across the country, as well as four designs that have been approved or are under review. That includes the E.P.R., a design based on the old Westinghouse pressurized water system, which was dominant in the last round of reactor construction, but with a variety of changes. The designers say it will be bigger, more durable and more reliable.

But utility specialists say that not all the projects are likely to be built. Gregory B. Jaczko, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Thursday, “I’m looking to see who is serious about building new plants by looking at who is putting money into buying components.”

The components in question are giant steel rings that will be stacked and welded together. Earlier this week, UniStar said it had struck a deal with BWX Technologies, a subsidiary of McDermott International, for BWX to weld the parts together and machine them at a plant in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Work could also be done at an Areva plant in Chalon-St. Marcel, France.

The finished reactor vessel will be 42 feet high and 19 feet in diameter at the largest point and weigh 1.2 million pounds. The system includes four steam generators, giant heat-exchangers that accept water from the reactor vessel at nearly 600 degrees Fahrenheit and 2,250 pounds of pressure and use it to boil water into steam. They are 80 feet high and 17 feet in diameter.

The vessel and the related parts that produce steam for making electricity would cost $200 million or so; the whole plant could top $2 billion. The price of the forgings is already in Constellation Energy’s capital plans, a spokesman said. In a news release, UniStar said that the order “sets the stage for more substantial financial commitments, which could be made in the coming years.”

One E.P.R. is already under construction, in Olkiluoto, Finland, where the initials stand for European pressurized reactor.

The design is derived from the Westinghouse layout already in service, but with several changes. It is 1,600 megawatts, about a third larger than the largest reactor operating here. It has a double-walled containment building designed to withstand the crash of a large aircraft. It has four emergency core cooling systems, any one of which would be sufficient in an emergency, so that it can continue operating even if some of the systems are deactivated for maintenance and repair. And because of design changes, it has 47 percent fewer valves, 16 percent fewer pumps and 50 percent fewer tanks than a typical existing model.

But it is a step behind the Westinghouse AP 1000 design, which is about 1,150 megawatts, and is also designed with fewer tanks, pumps and valves. The N.R.C. certified that design early this year.

Two General Electric models are also candidates for construction.

"Hot enough for ya, Richard?"

2006-08-03T19:37:56Z

In honor of the heat wave

2006-08-02T16:04:15Z

In rebutal to Weaklingrecords

2006-07-27T12:30:28Z

weaklingrecords has a post suggesting that this movie will be awesome.

Maybe, maybe not.

But I do know that this movie will be awesome:

Fair and Balanced at the New York Times

2006-07-26T18:16:22Z

July 26, 2006
Senate Removes Abortion Option for Young Girls
By CARL HULSE

WASHINGTON, July 25 — The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would make it a federal crime to help an under-age girl escape parental notification laws by crossing state lines to obtain an abortion.

The bill was approved on a 65-to-34 vote, with 14 Democrats joining 51 Republicans in favor.

A similar measure passed the House last year, and President Bush said he would sign the legislation if the two chambers could work out their differences and send a final bill to him.

In a statement, Mr. Bush said that “transporting minors across state lines to bypass parental consent laws regarding abortion undermines state law and jeopardizes the lives of young women.”

Critics questioned the necessity of the measure, saying it would apply to only a small number of cases and could result in criminal charges against close relatives or clergy members who interceded to help in a time of personal crisis.

Proponents of the bill, acknowledging that it was unknown how often such incidents occurred, said abortion clinics in states without such parental involvement laws had advertised that no consent was needed in an effort to appeal to those interested in avoiding such requirements.

“If they are advertising, then it obviously at least happens,” said Senator John Ensign, the Nevada Republican who wrote the measure. “If it is happening 20 times a year, it is still worth doing to protect those parental rights and to protect those children from being in these kinds of situations.”

The legislation is the latest in a push by anti-abortion forces to seek incremental changes in federal laws rather than press for a broad rollback of abortion rights.

The measure also provided Republicans another opportunity to reassure their social conservative base that its concerns were being addressed in an election year. And it gave them a chance to force Democrats to take a position on an issue some would prefer to avoid out of concern over alienating abortion-rights advocates on one hand or Democratic centrists on the other.

Twenty-nine Democrats, four Republicans and one independent voted against the bill. Polls have shown consistently that notification requirements are popular with parents. Advocates of the bill said most Americans shared the view that parents should be consulted when it comes to such a consequential matter in the life of a teenager.

“What opponents of this bill forget is that no parent wants anyone to take their children across state lines — or even across the street — without their permission,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

Opponents said cases would inevitably arise in which a girl had been victimized by a relative, or in which parents were not available or did not have the girl’s best interest in mind. In those cases, they said, the legislation will pose a hardship or worse.

“Life is not always the way we wish it to be,” said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, who opposed the bill. “Sometimes tragedies happen, and sometimes families are not just negligent but abusive, and sometimes young girls are taken advantage of by members of their family, people in whom they should be able to trust.”

Others were pushing the measure to provide an opportunity for some lawmakers who are against abortion to make political amends after voting last week to support expanding federal research using embryonic stem cells. They said the measure could penalize close relatives trying to come to the aid of a child in trouble, who was the victim of incest or feared a physically violent response to the revelation of a pregnancy.

“I don’t think the American people support throwing Grandma in jail because she embraced her granddaughter and said, ‘Oh my God, I’m worried that your dad may hurt you if you tell the truth,’ ” said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California.

Under the legislation, known officially as the Child Custody Protection Act, those found guilty of violating it would be subject to a fine and up to a year in jail. Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, said the provisions would apply to 26 states that have enforceable laws requiring minor girls to notify or receive the consent of their parents or seek approval from a judge before seeking an abortion.

Mr. Johnson said there “is evidence of widespread circumvention of these state notification laws,” though the frequency varies around the nation depending on the proximity of states without such restrictions. He said anecdotal accounts suggested that many cases involved under-age girls and older men.

Those challenging the measure said they believed that the number of those who went out of state specifically to avoid parental notification laws was low. They said Congress should instead focus on sex education and counseling. A proposal to create new pregnancy prevention grants was defeated on a 51-to-48 vote.

“The American public wants teen pregnancy prevented, not punished,” said Nancy Keenan, president of Naral Pro-Choice America. “This bill does nothing to protect young people or promote communication between teens and their parents.”

To stem criticism that the measure protected fathers guilty of incest, Republicans joined Democrats in approving an amendment that says a parent who has committed incest and transports a minor out of state for an abortion will also face a fine and jail time.

The chief difference between the House and Senate bills is that the House measure requires an out-of-state doctor to provide 24 hours’ notice to a girl’s parents or face criminal penalties. Parents can also sue the person performing the abortion.

Despite the strong vote for the measure, the Democratic leadership objected Tuesday night to a Republican call to appoint negotiators to begin reconciling the House and Senate bills, showing that Democrats were not going to make it easy to reach a final deal.

Important Op-Ed Piece from the WSJ on gaming NCLB

2006-07-25T16:18:57Z

Don't be intimidated by cool graphs like this:

or this:

The argument that Murray makes is important in understanding the flaws in NCLB.

Here's the first argument:

Any test that meets ordinary standards produces an approximation of what statisticians call a "normal distribution" of scores--a bell curve--because achievement in any open-ended skill such as reading comprehension or mathematics really is more or less normally distributed. The tests that produce anything except a bell curve are usually ones so simple that large proportions of students get every item correct. They hide the underlying normal distribution, but don't change it. Thus point No. 1, that using easy tests and discussing results in terms of pass percentages obscures a reality that NCLB seems bent on denying: All the children cannot be above average. They cannot all even be proficient, if "proficient" is defined legitimately.

Not everybody can be above average. Garrison K. is going to be pissed about that.

Read it at Opinion Journal.

Sticking it to the man, sort of

2006-07-25T15:44:25Z

Up until last week, my wife and I rebelled against conformity by subscribing to DirecTV instead of Comcast. Two years of blissfully shaking my fist at the lazy monopoly that is Comcast, the local cable franchisee...HD precipitated a sea shift in the pop household. More importantly, the desire to see ND play in HD precipitated the desire to get ABC in High Def. ABC isn't broadcast OTA in HD in my home market.

So now, instead of shaking my fist at Comcast, I shake my fist at SBC/at&t...that's right local phone monopoly we went with Vonage.

But at least I will get to see ND vs. USC in HD.

As we near the start of football season, a wish

2006-07-20T19:42:02Z

The Sports Guy has a fabulous column on picking an EPL team (something about getting addicted to soccer while having the World Cup on as part of his morning routine). I'm not willing to make a commitment to an EPL team yet but I found this paragraph from TSG's article to be thought provoking. If the gods of college football are listening, please ensure that this paragraph gets across the desks of Dr. Kevin White and Dr. Ken Dye.

You know how Red makes the comment that, after a life spent in Shawshank, he can't even squeeze a drop of pee without asking for permission first? I feel like that's happening to us. American sports have been ravaged by TV timeouts, ticket price hikes and Jumbotrons that pretty much order fans how to act. Just look at what happened in the NBA playoffs. Miami fans were urged to wear all white like a bunch of outpatients from a psych ward; the Detroit announcer screamed, "Let's give it up!" and "Lemme HEAR YOU!" as the crowd responded like a bunch of trained seals; Clippers fans weren't able to stand and cheer after an outrageous Shaun Livingston dunk in the Denver series because disco music was blaring at deafening levels. And it's not just basketball. During Angels games in baseball, the crowd waits to make noise until a monkey appears on the scoreboard. You can't attend an NHL game without hearing the opening to "Welcome to the Jungle" 90 times. Even our NFL games have slipped -- you cheer when the players run out, cheer on third downs, cheer on scores and sit the rest of the time. It's a crying shame.

All of the announcements congratulating the class of 19 something something, or celebrating the dominant performance of the men's CC team at the Catholic nationals take away from the pure joy of watching college football. Same with the band always breaking into a cadence or that damn Paul Simon song. Keep the focus on the game.

The irreversible path of secularization leads to this....

2006-04-10T16:18:03Z

43 Down is a dirty word

2006-04-06T17:23:03Z

The people upset over this are linguist snobs, but it is an interesting history of the word. Gives scUM a whole new meaning.

_________

A New York Times crossword gaffe.
By Jesse Sheidlower
Posted Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 12:25 PM ET

If you finished Monday's crossword puzzle in the New York Times, your answer for 43 Down, clued as "Scoundrel," was SCUMBAG. Most puzzlers, penciling in these letters, felt nothing more than mild satisfaction. But a small number knew enough to be outraged.

Allan Siegel, the assistant managing editor who is the Times' arbiter of usage and style, told me "we got dozens of angry messages from readers, as well as complaints from colleagues on the staff." Bloggers expressed their surprise and dismay. Why were people so upset?

The original meaning of scumbag is "condom." The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to 1967, with 1971 as the first example of the "despicable person" sense, but current research has pushed the dates back to 1935 (based on the still earlier scum, "semen," and bag, "a condom") and 1950 respectively.

The Times maintains strict lexical standards, and close watchers of the paper already know that "scumbag" has long been considered off-limits. In 1998, Indiana Rep. Dan Burton publicly said of President Clinton, "This guy's a scumbag. That's why I'm after him." But the paper, in an article specifically about the insult and Burton's refusal to apologize still opted not to quote the congressman directly, referring instead to his "use of a vulgarity for a condom to describe the President." Exceptions have been very few: In 2005, the term did appear in an article about a juror held in contempt after he looked at a defendant and said, "I think he is a scumbag." But such instances are generally regarded as accidents.

The most recent "scumbag" is particularly startling to some because it appeared in the crossword. Even in the staid linguistic world of the Times, the puzzle has remained an oasis of particular calm. Former crossword editor Eugene Maleska once noted that Times puzzles even avoid using the word "rape" in reference to the Brassica napus plant because of its resemblance to the (etymologically unrelated) word for sexual assault.

So, how did "scumbag" make it into the puzzle? Simple: No one realized it could be offensive. Evidence suggests that many people, especially younger speakers, are unaware of the sexual meaning (the Times' 1998 allusion to Burton's remark was particularly confusing to such people). All major general American dictionaries—Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary, Webster's New World College Dictionary, the New Oxford American Dictionary, the Random House Webster's College Dictionary—include the word only in its "despicable person" sense, without any "vulgar" label or acknowledgment of its origins. The "condom" sense can be found only in the largest dictionaries, such as the Random House Unabridged and the Oxford English Dictionary, not out of ignorance or prudery, but because the sense isn't very common. And it's not even clear why "condom" is such an offensive concept.

If you didn't know the word's dubious history, you might be hard-pressed to discover it. And you wouldn't be alone in your ignorance. In a New York Times forum, puzzle editor Will Shortz wrote, "The thought never crossed my mind this word could be controversial." Lynn Lempel, the author of the puzzle, wrote in a crossword blog, "I'm dumbfounded—and also just plain dumb I guess. I was totally ignorant of its vulgar side." Shortz said he would not include the word again.

The Times, of course, has every right to ban the word. As the Times' own style manual advises, "A larger concern is for the newspaper's character. The Times differentiates itself by taking a stand for civility in public discourse, sometimes at an acknowledged cost in the vividness of an article or two, and sometimes at the price of submitting to gibes." But the incident raises interesting questions. How offensive can a word be if people don't realize it's offensive? How many people have to object? Is gyp meaning "to swindle" OK to use if you don't know it's derived from Gypsy? And what about the opposite scenario, in which people are offended by something that's not actually offensive? Niggardly is unrelated to the racial epithet it sounds like, and squaw is not actually derived from an Algonquian word for the female genitalia; does that mean we can dismiss objections to the use of these words, exemplified by the recent campaigns by activists to strip squaw from U.S. place names?

There's a tendency among cautious folk to regard anything that might be offensive as offensive. But context should help us make these decisions. A nipple may be vulgar if displayed by a stripper, but it's surely not if it's being used to feed a baby. And in this case, the sense is unquestionably not vulgar. How do we know? The Times gives us the definition! If, once you come up with the seven letters, you're still bothered, well, you're the one with the dirty mind.
Jesse Sheidlower is editor at large of the Oxford English Dictionary. He thanks Yale linguist Laurence Horn for coining the phrase "crying Wolof."

The New York Times on my soulmate

2006-04-03T14:16:21Z

Not my real soulmate, of course, but a person with similar life goals and ambitions as mine. Meet "Vandy Lance." I could only imagine what Notre Dame Stadium would be like with 80K Vandy Lances instead of the Chardonnay sipping, brie eating, plaid pants wearing, no cheering spectators.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/sports/baseball/02cheer.html?ex=1144209600&en=e8bfa524a4a1544c&ei=5087

April 2, 2006

Cheering Section

A Heckler So Good He's on the Scouting Report

By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI

A recent scouting report of the Vanderbilt baseball team, put together by a league opponent, read in part: "The top recruiting class in the nation, including a heavy-hitting third baseman. Tough place to play. No. 1 heckler in the Southeastern Conference."

Close your eyes and imagine a fan so dedicated and loyal, so passionate and loud, so intimidating as he roots, roots, roots for the home team, that he actually becomes a factor in preparing for a game against Vanderbilt.

Open your eyes and meet Lance Smith, a k a Vandy Lance.

"I'm a fan, not a spectator, and there's a huge difference," said Smith, 46, a big supporter of virtually all of Vanderbilt's teams. "A spectator sits and merely observes, but a fan is someone who gets into a game and tries to help his team win."

Smith, a truck driver for United Parcel Service who lives in Donelson, Tenn., has been delivering his trademark chants, rants, cheers and jeers at Commodore games since 1969, when his father took him to a Vanderbilt-Alabama football affair.

"Watson Brown was our quarterback," he recalled. "We beat the legendary Bear Bryant, 14-10."

Smith said that since the Bear's bagging, he had been to about 2,000 Commodore sporting events in the past 36 years.

"If I wrote a book about the heartbreaking losses I have been a part of, it would be thicker than 'Moby-Dick,' " he said.

One of those losses came during the 2005 football season against Florida, a game decided by questionable officiating. That week, a deflated Smith phoned a sports talk show to announce that he was joining Referees Anonymous.

Tim Corbin, the baseball coach at Vanderbilt, said that Smith was "as big a Vanderbilt supporter as you will ever find."

"He does a great job getting our fans into the game," Corbin added. "At the same time, he can certainly get the other team riled up."

Smith often hops on the roof of the dugout at Hawkins Field to taunt opposing players. He once shouted at a visiting player from archrival Tennessee who failed at trying to stretch a single into a double, "You're so slow, it takes you an hour and a half to watch ' '60 Minutes'!"

Smith, who lives with his 21-year-old son Chris, never attended college.

"I couldn't go to Vanderbilt for five minutes," he said. "I didn't have the money or the grades."

He inherited his love of the Commodores from his parents, who did not attend the university either. When they died, Smith buried each of them in black and gold, Vanderbilt's team colors.

"Vandy Lance," said Rod Williamson, the sports information director at Vanderbilt, "has certainly had his moments."

Like the moment 16 years ago when he was ejected during the second game of a doubleheader against Mississippi State for telling an umpire, "You decided the first game; how about letting the kids decide this one."

Like his Midnight Madness moments, the first in 1997, when Smith helped celebrate the arrival of basketball season by having his head shaved clean before 12,000 fans, and an ESPN audience; and the next year, when he won a 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme in a free-throw-shooting contest.

Smith, who was asked by Vanderbilt officials to give a motivational speech at a 2001 freshman orientation, has twice received awards from the university in recognition of a lifetime's worth of cheering for the Commodores.

There is, of course, an occasional price to be paid for being Vandy Lance. Once, the mother of an Alabama baseball player was angered by Smith's razzing her son. She lowered her shoulder into Smith's sternum as he walked past her seat, knocking the wind out of his sails.

And every Halloween, a band of Tennessee fans storm his backyard to decorate it with reams of orange toilet paper.

"I can never stay up late enough to catch them," Smith said, laughing. "But I don't mind. I guess it's good for the rivalry."

E-mail: cheers@nytimes.com

DST in South Bend

2006-04-03T14:08:41Z

So far the only problem I have had with daylight savings time in South Bend was figuring out how to set my clock in my car.

Oh and the crops burning out in the field.

Woo-hoo, some sanity in politics

2006-03-15T01:40:09Z

Indiana's state house passed legislation that allows for the direct shipment of wine to consumers (from both in-state and out-of-state wineries). This was in response to last years SCOTUS decision that that it was unconstitutional for a state to allow in-state shipments but not shipments from out of state. The officially sanctioned leaches otherwise known as wholesale wine distributors vigorously opposed this decision. This is a decision for the little man.

Wine-shipment bill passes

Hoosiers would be able to buy wine from in-state and out-of-state wineries and have bottles shipped to their doorsteps under a bill that advances to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The Indiana Senate approved House Bill 1016 48-2 today. The Indiana House approved the bill on Monday. Daniels, whose aides helped broker a compromise, is expected to sign the bill.

The bill allows in-state and out-of-state wineries to ship up to 3,000 cases of wine per year. No more than 24 cases could be shipped to one customer. For both in-state and out-of-state wineries, customers would have to show identification in person prior to the first shipment. Also under the agreement, wineries no longer would be able to ship directly to retailers and instead would have to go through a distributor.

Wineries have been embroiled in state and federal legal battles over who could ship their bottles and where. This bill is expected to resolve most of those legal issues.

Are you celebrating Pi Day?

2006-03-14T14:43:54Z

Written in the USA date format, March 14 is an unofficial celebration for Pi Day derived from the common three-digit approximation for the number π: 3.14. It is usually celebrated at 1:59 PM (in recognition of the six-digit approximation: 3.14159). Some, using a twenty-four-hour clock rather than a twelve-hour clock, say that 1:59 PM is actually 13:59 and celebrate it at 1:59 AM or 3:09 PM (15:09) instead. Parties have been held by the mathematics departments of various schools around the world.

This day is celebrated in a variety of ways. Groups of people, such as maths or science based clubs, might gather to consider the role that the number π has played in their lives and to imagine the world without π. During such an event, pi celebrants may devise alternative values for π, eat pie, play piñata, drink piña Colada, eat pineapple) or watch Pi. The shape of the pie is sometimes square, due to the pronunciation of the equation of a circle = πr2, i.e. "pie are squared."

Enthusiasts also note that the day happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday. (See March 14th births for a list of other people with this birthday.) It's also curious to note that the renowned science and technology university MIT, known as widely for its unconventional, quirky take on maths as for its extremely high academic standards and low acceptance rates, often mails out its acceptance letters to be delivered to prospective students on Pi Day.

The "ultimate" pi moment occurred on March 14, 1592, at 6:53 AM and 58 seconds. When written in American-style date format, this is 3/14/1592 6:53.58, which corresponds to the value of pi to twelve digits: 3.14159265358. However, considering this was well before any kind of standardized world time had been established, and the general public had no concept of π, the occurrence likely went unnoticed.

I think I'll bake a cake.

March 12-18 is Sunshine Week

2006-03-13T18:00:25Z

Go FOIA someone.

The thought police looking to screw you over

2006-03-08T20:21:34Z

This report from insidehighered.com on the use of profanity in the classroom really pisses me off. A professor at a community college in PA was fired, FIRED, for using the word "fuck" during class. This is a crock of bullshit of the highest order and hope Mr. Williams sues the fucking pants off the state of motherfucking PA.

March 8
George Carlin Need Not Apply

When the semester started, Stephen E. Williams was teaching history at the Lancaster branch of Harrisburg Area Community College. But early in the semester, he stopped showing up, and his students received calls confirming the reason why: He had used the word “fuck” in class.

Officially, administrators at the college will not say why Williams was suspended or why the institution recently reached an agreement under which the tenure-track (but non-tenured) professor ceased to be an employee. But students in his classes started getting calls from officials soon after he left, asking if they had heard him swear in class.

The problem for Williams may be that their answer was Yes, although students also reported great admiration for Williams, and a number have complained about his removal as their professor. (Williams is not the only college professor in trouble over language this week: The Morning News reported that the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville just removed a popular adjunct in music for cursing and talking about controversial topics.)

Donald Dodson Jr., who has taken several courses from Williams, called him “an excellent teacher,” and said that the periodic profanity was part of his “blue collar approach” and a “conversational teaching style.” Williams, Dodson said, uses this style to reach out to students. Dodson said that he’s among the many students who take every course Williams offers — even though he gives tough exams.

As for the swearing, Dodson said it is something that isn’t constant and is never directed at an individual. “It’s just part of his style,” he said.

Dodson, who is 37 and is just back from military service in Iraq, said that it was relevant that Williams doesn’t teach in a high school, but in a community college where students aren’t young innocents. “I know what things are like out there,” he said, and a little profanity is part of life. To those offended, he said his message would be: “Get used to it — that’s the way life is.”

Michael Essig, an adjunct instructor in English at the college, also said that it was important to remember the context in which Williams taught. “We’re not dealing with children here,” he said.

“To me, this is about free speech and academic freedom,” Essig said. Since Williams was removed, he said, other professors have “had to wonder, ‘if it could happen to him, could it happen to me?’ “

Patrick M. Early, executive director of public relations at the college, said he couldn’t comment on Williams, except to say that he was no longer an employee and that there had been a “mutual resolution of the situation.” Early also said that Williams had the opportunity for a hearing involving peers, but opted for a settlement. (Williams did not respond to a message, and told local reporters he had been advised by his lawyer not to comment.)

Speaking generally, Early said, “we feel that academic freedom is essential to a high quality environment, but the use of profanity when it is not directly connected to the subject matter is something that is not covered by academic freedom.” Early said that the use of profanity would be O.K. in cases such as where the words are part of the lyrics of a song being studied.

Roger Bowen, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors, agreed that profanity should not generally be used in classroom instruction. But he said that some sense of perspective was needed when it is, and that a student complaint about profanity should be a time for a faculty member to be warned, not suspended. Bowen noted that Vice President Cheney had used the same profanity on the Senate floor and “he didn’t get fired.”

Dodson also raised the question about perspective. He noted that when he was serving in Iraq, he learned about the comments that Ward Churchill, the controversial University of Colorado professor, made about 9/11.

Said Dodson: “If Ward Churchill can say whatever the heck he wants, a professor should be able to use some profanity from time to time, especially if it helps him teach and get through to the students.”

— Scott Jaschik

For Political Science Junkies

2006-03-03T19:27:06Z

I just found out one of my favorite contemporary Political Scientist, Charles Franklin, has a blog covering, among other things tracking polls and analyzing them very methodologically.

Franklin is one of the reasons I decided to get an advanced degree in Political Science. In some ways, he was once a hero of mine.

Notre Dame is without peer

2006-02-27T18:57:00Z

at least according to newly released classifications from the Carnegie Foundation. No other University shares all of the characteristics that make Notre Dame unique.

Most of us already knew that, but it's nice to get confirmation from an outside source!

It's that time of year again

2006-02-24T20:52:38Z

where Universities across the country announce tuition for the following year. And like almost every spring before it, tuition at the University of Notre Dame will be going up faster than the rate of inflation.

In a press release today, Notre Dame announced next year's comprehensive fee of $42,137.

"Undergraduate tuition at the University of Notre Dame will increase 5.8 percent for the 2006-07 academic year to $33,407, and average room and board rates will be $8,730 for a combined total cost of $42,137."

For those playing at home, if tuition and fees continues to increase at 5.8% per year, the comprehensive fee will pass $100,000 annual for the first time sometime around 2022. For those that conceive this minute, your son or daughter will be looking at a comprehensive fee of around $125,000 the first year they attend Notre Dame. Start saving.