working on a new chapter

[profbutters]

I have over two hundred pictures, so once I'm done sorting them out, I will be dividing them in half. It's not exactly going to be a Part 1 and Part 2, just 250 pictures is a lot.

What can you do, huh? I'm baking a pie. I figure that might help me, anyhow. And I've been playing. And . . .

well, here is Elaine.







 

Comments

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

Sigh, yeah, it's hard to say "well, screw you, I'm going to private industry." They already pay us a lot less because, um, we can't go to private industry. With scientists, that kind of makes sense, but with business professors, I say that's kind of bogus, since they already eke out their salary with consulting. Assistant profs in the business school who are just starting out make more than I do.

Here's a good laugh--did you know they originally suggested that everyone be furloughed, even if their salaries are paid for by outside grants? It wouldn't save the school any money, so what were they thinking, they could pocket the difference? Anyway, finally they decided they wouldn't do that, with a little help, like faculty organizations and outside funding institutions that said, fine, we will take your grant back nao.

Another favorite--when you teach at a polytechnic, the development people often have no clue where or how to get humanities grants. No kidding, I'm trying to apply for an NEH fellowship and need to be officially nominated, and no one knows who does that. My college's development officer knew I wanted to do something with being able to simulate theatrical staging so my students can "stage" scenes online. She sent me a link to military flight simulators.

She gets paid more than I do, too. I think she's a weetnsy bit overpaid.

[docnerd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the hard sciences are pretty much bulletproof when it comes to funding cuts. I imagine that for humanities types, the Suits could say, "You guys aren't working for the next week, we're killing all the power to the building so clean out your mini-fridges, no secretaries, no janitorial staff, say hello to the ghost town." But you can't do that in a building that houses science labs, because people tend to say things like, "Oh, you want to turn off the power? Well, would you like to explain to the government, who has spent several million dollars over the last few years to collect this tissue/establish and maintain this breeding colony of animals/establish and maintain these cell lines, why that is all going to be destroyed? No? Then GTFO, kthxbai." Similar deal with physics and chemistry labs, where experiments can be ongoing for several months, and one little interruption in data collection can ruin half a years' worth of work.

It sucks that you get no help with grants. They're a big enough pain in the ass to WRITE, when that's over with, you should at least be able to give it to someone who can handle all the paperwork BS.

Military flight simulators as theatrical staging tools... Now I sort of want to see A Comedy of Errors, with a Stealth Bomber and an F-18 playing Antipholus and Dromio. I mean, if there's one thing Shakespeare lacks, it's aerial dogfighting.

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

Oh, no worries, they already did that. Couple years ago they decided not to empty the garbage cans in my building more than once a week. Not sure exactly how that was supposed to save money, but I teach in the Music Building--English on the second floor, studios and rehearsal rooms on the first floor, those lit crits are all arty-farty and those musicians live like animals, anyhoo, they'll never notice. A colleague of mine was working late into the night on a Spanish textbook and he saw a couple of rats the size of possums. Even allowing for some natural excitement on his part, they must have been pretty big.

I don't go into campus if the building isn't officially open. Even if it's unlocked, it'll send some kind of electronic signal to Security if you go in. Another of my colleagues went to his office with his kids and was interrupted by some guy from Security pointing his gun at him, incidentally aiming over the stroller in which his two year old was sitting. He took the attitude that "hey, they're just doing their jobs." I figure, "fuck, I am not getting paid enough for that crap. I am working from home."

It's funny about financial commitments. I'm sure it would probably be cheaper to abandon the school's Arabian Horse program and cut way back on the Ag School stuff, but tough titty: the ex-cereal magnate who donated the land on which the school sits did it on condition that his Arabian Horse breeding program be maintained unto the crack of doom. Watching those horses frisk around on my way in to work really brightens the worst day!

My students have mostly figured out how to use Powerpoint, which at least conveys movement and spatial relationships. Some even use simple animations or embedded media.

[docnerd.livejournal.com]

Depending on the strain of rat, they can get to be small-possum size. Alternatively, he saw a possum.

I'm not sure how much of a drain Agricultural programs are. They tend to involve sciency-stuff, and therefore outside money. Having graduated from "Moo U" and riding on the equestrian team for a couple of years, those programs can fund themselves if they're managed properly. MSU had a dairy herd. They had grants to study various things associated with cattle and milk production, that whole bit. They composted the manure and used it as fertilizer for the turf management fields, and the milk was processed and sold on-campus in a variety of tasty ice creams and cheeses. The equine program got a MASSIVE grant from somewhere, and used it to build a state-of-the-art equine diagnostic and rehabilitation facility, with treadmills, pools, an entire biometric setup the whole bit, and it didn't cost the university a dime. But the prestige that comes from having the facility has brought in some money. They bred Arabs, and the horses were trained by equine management students, their medical care was taken care of by veterinary students, and particularly promising horses were shown in breed shows--MSU Magic J won a major Arabian Horse dressage competition about a year after they stopped letting us use him for equestrian team practices and gave him to the Dressage Chair to ride.