The News Thread

[Einherjar86]

"That doesn't look very scary! Looks more like a six-foot turkey..."

http://qz.com/858239/a-99-million-y...initively-proves-that-dinosaurs-had-feathers/

For a long time, dinosaurs were thought to be a relative of scaly lizards, but researchers have found more and more evidence in the past two decades showing that many species had feathers or plumage. A current exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Dinosaurs Among Us, presents extensive fossil evidence that feathered dinosaurs have evolved into modern birds, and therefore aren’t really extinct.

“I think at this point the number of specimens we’ve seen to date point to the fact that most theropod dinosaurs probably had plumage or feathers at some point in their life, [although] may not have been all the way through to adulthood,” says McKellar. “It’s basically one half of the [dinosaur] family tree.”

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

 

[arg]

lol look at this sniveling cuck


https://www.thestar.com/news/immigr...r-syrian-refugees-over-as-month-13-looms.html

he fucked regular canadians over for decades to come. at no personal expense or sacrifice to him or his leftist elitist circle. the fuck you crying about you pussy. fuck you.

 

[Einherjar86]

This is seriously too easy.

 

[Dak]

Very neat play on words and meaning that any French postmodern could appreciate.

 

[Einherjar86]

Any postmodern would also appreciate that its meaning is very unintended...

 

[Dak]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-truck-idUSKBN148287?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-russia-diplomacy-idUSKBN1481RE

Busy day.

 

[CiG]

It's really starting to heat up over here.

 

[rms]

NYS is attempting to pass legislation that makes public universities, and community colleges, free for anyone from a family <125K$

sadly, I think this is the right path but the sadness comes from the slippery slope logic used to justify this legislation

but I wonder if colleges are going to start raising prices even more for those >125K$ student or locked? should be interesting to see the development if passed

 

[CiG]

Seems like a retarded virtue signal idea to me, I don't see how this won't cause a lowering of quality in these schools.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Now this is something worthy of mockery, unlike that weaksauce Farage story up there.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

 

[CiG]

But it's okay, because he can say the words "radical Islamic terrorism" okay.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

But it's okay, because he can say the words "radical Islamic terrorism" okay.

Kind of says something about the Democratic Party as a whole when they somehow manage to virtue signal so much that they inadvertently cause someone like Donald Trump to be elected.

When someone says "radical Islam", they are making a clear divide between the regular followers and the extremists. It isn't healthy to outright refuse using the word "radical". Especially when you're so prepared to bring up the Crusades.

 

[Dak]

sadly, I think this is the right path but the sadness comes from the slippery slope logic used to justify this legislation

but I wonder if colleges are going to start raising prices even more for those >125K$ student or locked? should be interesting to see the development if passed

The money will come from somewhere. Nothing is free.

 

[Einherjar86]

Seems like a retarded virtue signal idea to me, I don't see how this won't cause a lowering of quality in these schools.

Depending on how we define quality, I think you could very well be right. Ironically, colleges know how to make money (despite the frequent incompetence of their accounting offices).

My guess is that schools will forego tuition for low-income students at the expense of curricula that don't generate as much enrollment, and/or don't significantly contribute to alumni employment - mainly humanities and liberal arts courses. Schools with decent endowments will be alright, but we'll probably see plenty of cuts.

 

[CiG]

Hypothetically, what would happen if all paying students left a school with a program like this?

 

[Dak]

My guess is that schools will forego tuition for low-income students at the expense of curricula that don't generate as much enrollment, and/or don't significantly contribute to alumni employment - mainly humanities and liberal arts courses. Schools with decent endowments will be alright, but we'll probably see plenty of cuts.

Yeah, money can come from cuts as well as tax and tuition increases. In this case, cuts are definitely the easier route. Buh-bye philosophy departments. Maybe gender/womens/feminist studies will be the bathwater out with the baby, but I doubt it since females comprise the majority on campuses.

Hypothetically, what would happen if all paying students left a school with a program like this?

Small colleges have been closing across the country, and I expect this trend to continue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/u...t-share-struggle-to-keep-doors-open.html?_r=0

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomlind...-colleges-poised-to-go-bankrupt/#73f36cb35b2f

 

[Einherjar86]

Most schools probably won't want to cut philosophy departments entirely, simply because of the cornerstone position that such departments occupy in the history of the "liberal arts education" (but then, if that's what is disappearing, then you could certainly be right). I'm guessing that we'll see hiring freezes, or strictly adjunct hiring, and fewer grad student acceptances. Philosophy departments may not disappear, but they will be reduced.

Gender and women's studies are in a safer position because many of their courses are often cross-listed with other departments, mainly English and history. As long as a course is fulfilling multiple degree requirements, it has an edge. The degree program specific to gender and women's studies might flounder, but I don't think we'll see decreases in enrollment there, for the reason you mentioned and others.

The biggest thing English departments have going for them is their overlap with rhetoric and composition courses. At BU the English department has a kind of working arrangement with the Writing department whereby grad students regularly teach composition courses. They're good resume builders, especially in an academic atmosphere that's tending toward education and pedagogy over research and discourse (in the traditional sense).

 

[Dak]

At more prestigious institutions I'm sure philosophy departments will stick around but even at large schools they are endangered. My school is just a couple thousand students outside of this list:
http://blog.prepscholar.com/the-biggest-colleges-in-the-united-states

And the philosophy department struggles to get double digits into upper level classes. The handful of large undergraduate classes (intro to phil, intro to ethics, business ethics) could easily be subsumed into other departments and covered by adjuncts.

 

[CiG]

I shouldn't laugh, but it's really ironic to see Islam and immigration in France slowly destroy all the progress feminism has made while at the same time many feminists and left-wingers defend Islam.