I own the #copyright for the lectures I give to college students, but for some reason the #FBI has not yet contacted me with offers to prosecute anyone recording all or portions of my lectures without my written permission. I'm seriously considering putting an FBI warning at the beginning of every lecture. I think it might start good conversations about whose interests the cops choose to protect in American society.
Ever thought you'd see logic gates and origami in one sentence?
Professor Inna Zakharevich joined Elecia( @logicalelegance ) and Chris( @stoneymonster ) to talk about Turing complete origami crease patterns.
Listen to the latest episode of Embedded: https://embedded.fm/episodes/474
Some of you are aware of the ongoing TA #strike at #McGill, and it pains me to see the administration is succeeding in actively dividing undergraduates, graduate #students, and #professors alike, by pushing all three to the absolute mental limit. We - and by that I mean all three above - must NOT let the administration tear the social fabric in our #university to put money before people. When the #union says "united we bargain, divided we beg," it means not just them, but everyone. 1/
The #university has demanded the #faculty to #scab - that is, to perform tasks usually delegated to the TAs, such as grading - despite being in a jurisdiction that explicitly prohibits scabbing. This puts every #professor between a rock and a hard place: by scabbing, they break the law and betray the #students; by not scabbing, they lose their job (most are not unionized here, and although it is wrongful dismissal, one simply cannot afford the lawsuit) and also betray the students. 2/
The existence of the law empowered the #union and many sympathizing #students, who are often unaware of the #professor's situation, to be over-passionate vigilantes for #scab behaviour. Classes were disrupted due to perceived scabbing*, and there are increasing speculation on the technicalities regarding what does and does not constitute scabbing. This further limits the options that #professors have and creates an atmosphere that encourages witchhunting. 3/
Subposting from another conversation a little... while teaching #Psychology in #ScienceFiction course the students and I once figured out that there are some easy ways to create a #dystopia . The ones I can remember right now:
A reasonable-sounding rule or law is administered in technically consistent but problematic way (often by a bad actor or someone/something with no consideration for kindness, harm, etc.).
Something that cannot or should not be experimentally manipulated... is.
#2 is my fave, because I can do a bad imitation of the Standard Deep Voiced Movie Announcer Guy and say things like
"In the future, where gender is assigned by a computer..."
or
"Imagine a world where sexual orientation, mathematical ability, and food preferences are decided by a government genetic lab..."
Russell is an unsung hero of #OpenSource in Australia - it's his diligence and hard work that has kept the books straight for Linux Aus and auspiced conferences for several years now 👋
This week, one of my mentors passed away. We often had a fraught relationship- what should the discipline of literature include, what should a curriculum look like, what is canon - but found peace and reconciliation a couple of years before she retired. Another mentor passed away 15 mos ago. I’m a mix of grief, some guilt, fear (I am now the mentor, not the protégé), and a renewed sense of my own mortality. There’s a lot going on here right now. #academia#professor