From Boing Boing: “…One such recent example included the manufacturer’s labeling of equipment where the words ”Master/Slave” appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label. We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment or components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County department.”
We have two computers, Slave 2 and Slave 3 in my department….considering that we’re medieval we should call them Serf 2 and Serf 3…or move to Lord/Vassal…or since we have a system named after Bede we should really call them oblates…
Trip to Lexington completed. The Dodge Neon Thrifty gave me was really pretty nifty for a small car - not bad git-up-n-go for something with a lawnmower engine and the savings in gas was enough so that I only once in traffic missed my V-6.
(speaking of the v-6, it’s out of the shop and runs like a million bucks…or at least…a grand. *cough sputter* aaaaaaack)
Interestingly enough the trip both down and back consisted in crappy weather in Michigan and (especially) Indiana that suddenly changed for the better once beyond the Ohio border. Curious, yes. Surprising, no. It may be a good time to mention that the highway system in Indiana is wacked - you can’t effectively get anywhere from anywhere. Bizarre. Wacked, I tell you. Wacked.
Anyway…the folks at U KY are very nice. I met with what seem at the time was the whole damn campus - 2 in the morning (after a large coffee on my own whilst I perused the student paper), a lunchtime colloquium, grad students (with coffee), 4 more meetings (1 with more coffee - I was just about humming), and 2 more faculty at dinner (decaf *twitch*). Lovely, lovely people. I think I would be really happy there, and moving a family and managing to live whilst in school not totally impossible. Lexington reminds me a lot of Kalamazoo in some ways, and the surrounding area really very pretty. Fewer strange looks at my yankee accent than in Nashville, where they’re outright hostile, but since KY was on both sides, er herm, I suppose there are less…historial issues. Got some honestly valuable gossip/warnings about other programs to which I’m applying off the record (and with caveat that they know they’re biased. heh) that I plan to follow up on so that I have all the information I need once letters begin to arrive in a few months.
I’m glad I went. I need to pop in on more places, but that was a Very Good Trip, indeed.
Deplorable comments from composer Mikis Theodorakis of “Zorba the Greek” fame calling Jews the “root of evil.”
Why not call the far left Nazi-esque anti-Semites and just be done with it?
Today’s breastfeeding apologize, you idgits. Sheesh. State law is state law. Frankly, considering some of the disgusting ways I’ve seen people wolf down a Whopper in the dining room of BK I’d rather watch a woman breastfeed…and who the heck is tasteless enough to stare at a breastfeeding child, anyway?!? Didn’t their Mommas teach them nothin’?
Odd. Now, if my cups had overfloweth’d like that I would have sought to donate to a milk bank, myself. Heart in the right place, head clearly tad off…but CHOCOLATE?
Things that will not result in a Ph.D.
I am working on my Statement of Purpose. I am not enjoying the process. I think this is some sort of hazing ritual and I’d prefer, at this point, to simply streak naked through their stadium in lieu of this twisted essay. That’s saying quite a bit, really, considering. (note photo, above)
Have also updated and reorganized the CV. Am talking to other schools at the advice of several people who think I’m selling myself short…dunno about that, but I’m supposed to apply for some ‘reach’ schools in addition to the ones I think will actually accept me, so…
Will visit U Kentucky in a week and a half. I’ll drive to Notre Dame, too, I think. Perhaps I’ll do a pop-in at U Michigan in January since it’s close enough for government work for a quick jaunt… I should probably make the drive to U Indiana, but not before the holidays at this point. I don’t know that I’ll make it to U Virginia before it’d be time to hear back on my application so if they like me (”you like me, you really, really like me”) then I’ll make the trip. Trips cost $. Applications cost $. Em’s birthday party and presents cost $ (and let’s not even begin the discussion of two children and the Fat Man in a Red Suit).
As I often remind myself…I’m getting a Ph.D. application process instead of a dishwasher for Xmas.
How does one wrap that??
Check this out - design your own history kit! [warning: opening at work may result in spending an inordinate amount of time mucking about with the site!]
This story would disturb me far less if I wasn’t living in a city, my daughter attending school in the public schools here, in which I can totally see something like this occuring. Yowzers…
