Zompist Bboard Again

I realize that this probably won't convince you, because neolibs see ~*~ Education ~*~ as not just a way to learn how to do X, but as a way to ~*~ Become a Better Person ~*~, but this is a classist notion that must be defeated. This isn't classist or neoliberal, it's reality. Of course, it also dep...

Yes, it's weird that every so-called "intellectual" the CIA pushes on us suddenly loves traditional values. I'm amazed they thought that would work. This is what I mean when I say everyone is literally Hitler. It seems like we have to ignore the entirety of civilization and think independ...

That's a shame because we shall have left again by then. We shall be over for most of July and the first half of August. Ah well, the PhD is 3.5 years long, so I’m sure you’ll come back sometime during then… Maybe. This is the first time coming since I went for fieldwork for my own PhD in 2022.

When I was asked what football team I support on the Megabus, I said "Scotland". That is honest, and an appropriate answer to avoid football rivalry within Scotland. Ah, but what team do you support when you're not on the Megabus? If I ever would watch a football match again? Scotland, Ge...

I just had my first ice cream of the year. It's pretty appalling what inflation has done to the price of a scoop, but still - ice cream. Honestly… there’s just something about that first ice cream of the year that makes it worth it, no matter the price. Summer mode officially unlocked. … oh , right...

No, not really. Glasgow seems to be NI's outpost across the sea. It seems you're right -- and in particular sectarianism is associated with the rivalry between Glasgow's Celtic and Rangers football clubs. It's not just Glasgow; the sectarianism is found over a lot of the surrounding area, and I've ...

I got a PhD offer! After thinking about it and talking to as many people as I could, I accepted this offer yesterday. Thank you to everyone here who gave me advice! Of course, I’m still feeling very contradictory about it, but I’m determined to make the most of this opportunity. (Climate is genuine...

hwhatting wrote: ↑Tue Apr 08, 2025 8:18 am *) Another fun fact - the Nazis never formally abolished the Weimar constitution, they mostly ignored it, changing its stipulations, when they felt they had to, by simple laws or even by executive orders.

That sounds ominously Trump- like.

1° Life on a liveable planet is essential to the greater good. A common thread with pet issues is that the people who believe in them think that their issue is the most important issue, and furthermore that it is most important now . Globally, if we don't defeat fascism we will not have a liveable ...

Light reading: The Know-It-All, a comedy about an aging "smart boy in school" who decides to read the Encyclopedia Brittanica to reclaim his genius mantle. Super duper right-wing, but the author being a minority puts a cap on how much of an asshole he can be. What do you find right-win ab...

The June and July temperatures are similar between Glasgow and Sydney as is the total precipitation. This is quite ambiguous… do you mean June–July temperatures in Glasgow are similar to June–July in Sydney? If so that’s actually quite a difference, because that’s winter here but summer there. Yes,...

1° How do get the idea that Green-ness would be a pet issue? By "pet issue" I mean any issue which one is willing to sacrifice the greater collective good over. Take Gaza for instance -- while what the Israeli gov't has been doing there is horrific, being willing to risk getting Trump ele...

Glasgow is close to my hometown, Edinburgh, which is also a major city in Scotland. One of the most negative aspects of own current PhD is the sometimes somewhat erratic supervising so, if you have good news about the supervisor, that is important. The June and July temperatures are similar between ...

fair enough, i agree it's not a slam dunk but then again, why dismantle the apparatus of empire? Because of ideology. It's a mix of neoliberalism, libertarianism, fascism and Christian fundamentalism. Especially relevant are the first two parts that say "Big Government is Bad". That is of...

A lot of left-leaning thinkers today like Gabor Mate romanticize tradition and authority. I regard these people as more authoritarian than the Stalinists. You mean this Gabor Maté ? I admittedly know little about him but nothing is mentioned about political views and the only tradition is the use o...

Leftist media is supposed to be for the working masses. If it's fringe or for educated people, there's something wrong with its priorities. It needs to feature more exclusives on wrestling, strip shows or whatever until gutter rats are seen reading it. You can either appeal to school marms or the e...

The mistake everyone's making (including myself) is in believing the debate is about socialism vs. capitalism or conservatism vs. liberalism. I really thought so myself until recently. But I've come to realize this is entirely unimportant. The only political question right now is whether we still w...

Light reading: The Know-It-All, a comedy about an aging "smart boy in school" who decides to read the Encyclopedia Brittanica to reclaim his genius mantle. Super duper right-wing, but the author being a minority puts a cap on how much of an asshole he can be. What do you find right-win ab...

Derek Lowe has a good article on What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF . I implore everyone in the US to write to your representatives as he requests at the end — this is some of the most scary stuff I've yet seen, and its consequences aren't restricted to the US. It is really quite disappointing...

Stop debasing yourself with the "but they too", it comes across as very infantile and it does nobody any good. Indeed, violence is part of the problem, as Martin Luther King noted in is 19657 book. It is somewhat fitting that the Trump inaugaration took place during MLK celebrations becau...