David Foster

Academic Implosion Continues

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The University of North Carolina has been offered a substantial donation to create a new program in Western Cultures. 70 faculty members have signed a petition demanding that the university reject the money and stop talking to the foundation which is offering the donation.

The stated reason is that the foundation, which is conservatively-oriented, “has made many professors uneasy due to its financial support of organizations often critical of the university.” (Quote from article here.) Critical of the university?…the horror! There are also assertions that the negotiations between the foundation and the university administration are lacking in “transparency,” a charge that the administration denies.

It’s hard for me to believe that the negative response to this proposal doesn’t have something to do with the general negativity toward western culture which is prevalent in many “progressive” circles.

(hat tip: Common Sense and Wonder)

Hello World

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Oh, wow…I’ve got the keys to ChicagoBoyz. Can I get it started…ran rough for a minute, but now it seems to be turning over nicely. What to write about…perhaps a rant in the classic style.

DEAR CELL PHONE FANATICS

What exactly is it that you’re talking about that is so overwhelmingly important? It must be very important indeed..

*More important than the lane change you’re doing at 70 mph
*More important than the attractive person sitting across from you at the restaurant
*More important than showing common courtesy to the clerk in the checkout line

The thing is…you talk so loud, it’s hard to avoid overhearing your conversations..and they usually don’t sound all that important. It’s not usually about getting that corporate acquisition done, or even about picking up little Jimmy at school to take him to the dentist. An awful lot of it seems to be …talking for the sake of talking.

When the telegraph was first introduced, a journalist remarked:

“This extraordinary discovery leaves…no elsewhere…it is all here.”

If wired communications reduced the sense of elsewhere, does the abuse of wireless communications reduce the sense of the here and now?