Thursday, September 28, 2017

Random Notes from a Crank

I'm trying to invent a new word. This word needs to concisely sum up this feeling: a professor who has taught for many years sees freshmen making bad decisions that he or she has seen year after year, but he or she has a sense of futility that whatever advice he or she might give is not going to be heeded. 

If you have any ideas for the new word that exemplifies that feeling, please post in the comments. 

Here are some intriguing data points from September's "Harper's Index":

  • Amount that Carrier promised to invest in an Indiana plan in a deal with Donald Trump to save domestic jobs: $16,000,000
  • Percentage of that money that will be used for automation: 100
  • Amount taxpayers spent in 2013 on food stamps, Medicaid, and housing assistance for Walmart employees: $6,200,000,000

This evening I watched the final episode of the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary The Vietnam War. The ten-episode film is one of the most poignant and powerful documentaries I've ever watched. When they talked about the Vietnam Memorial tonight, I choked up and then started crying. 

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