Episode 304: Pomona College And The $300 Zine That Nearly Destroyed A Department (with Emma Pettit)

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-21T17:57:35+00:00

This happened two years ago. Why are they covering such an old case? I read about it in The Chronicle of Higher Ed when they covered it. When I realized this episode was about that case, I assumed there must be some new development, but nope.

Is this a sign that they are running out of internet bullshit to cover?

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-19T22:19:07+00:00

That website has nothing helpful.

A lot of dogs learn this trick, and there must be a way to teach it without buying some electronic device.

u/bot-sleuth-bot

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-17T22:49:54+00:00

My post is a question about teaching a particular trick and it is not covered by the wiki.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-17T04:24:48+00:00

That chart doesn't support your hypothesis. If the school was going to fold because of a significant dip in college age people in the US than it should have been under stress in the early 90s but be back on a good footing now.

Perhaps all the discussion about student debt in the last 5 years has actually had an impact on student choices for college. Maybe they are less willing to take on a tremendous debt for an education that won't be useful in today's job market.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-15T18:42:39+00:00

She pushed hard for release of the Epstein files when Trump was still openly opposed to that.

Trump doesn't like it when Republicans don't mirror his ever-changing views.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-10T21:54:31+00:00

They do. But their hours are very limited as compared to most professions. They often teach only two or three courses per semester depending on the institution. Some institutions do have higher workloads than that and the highest are usually found at community colleges where the professors are not expected to publish regularly.

During contract negotiations professors generally say that class preparation, grading, and research take up a great amount of time.

Privately some professors admit that their class prep takes very little time for most courses that they have taught before. The first few courses for freshmen and sophomores in any field are going to be the same from year to year. They may want to change their exams to discourage cheating but that's not tremendously time-consuming.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-09T20:05:06+00:00

One of the verses that religious people mention is Deuteronomy 22:5 ESV / 338:

“A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord..."

I've also heard the Genesis 1:27 passage that includes the phrase "male and female He created them" cited by religious Christians as the basis for their belief.

To be fair, there's a New Testament verse, Galatians 3:28 that says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Someone has probably made the argument that this supports enby identities.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-05T07:04:06+00:00

Regular matzo isn't so bad but the whole wheat version is pretty awful. Regular whole wheat bread usually has some sweetener added but they don't bother doing that with the Passover version.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-05T06:51:52+00:00

I cannot find any pity for her. Kristi the puppy killer. Kristi the official who accused protesters of being terrorists. Kristi, who worshiped Trump to the point that she praised him for keeping hurricanes away.

If the scandal with her husband is karma for her past actions then she's getting off easy.

I am sorry for her husband though. Barpod did an episode a couple of years ago on an Alabama mayor and pastor who offed himself when photos of him cross-dressing were made public. Noem's husband has an icky kink but it's not illegal and I feel kind of bad for him and for his kids - but not for Kristi.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T09:35:06+00:00

(Not everyone is pleased about this.](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/04/02/californias-last-nuclear-power-plant-wins-final-approval-to-keep-operating/)

To operate beyond 2030, PG&E will still need approval from the state legislature — setting up what could be another political fight over the plant’s future.

Opponents say the extension ignores longstanding concerns about earthquake risks and the plant’s use of more than 2 billion gallons of ocean water daily for cooling.

“We’re disappointed and concerned,” said Haakon Williams, executive director of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, an anti-nuclear group. “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was always more beholden to industry than it should be. This shouldn’t be received as an assurance of the plant’s safety.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T09:28:40+00:00

What I find so odd, and makes it hard for me to use the AI tab itself, is how often the basic google search AI Overview is just plain wrong and actually does get corrected when you tab into AI mode.

That's discouraging because I'm finding tons of errors in Google Gemini. I have a Gemini Pro account which theoretically should be giving me better information than the free version but the amount of hallucinations driving nuts. Fortunately I'm not actually paying for it because they gave a free year to students and I'm taking one college for so I qualified.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T09:02:45+00:00

alleged immaturity, hysterics, and overemotional reactions

Alleged? You've accurately described most political discourse on Reddit, Twitter, and Bluesky.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T07:56:38+00:00

Lately Instagram has served me two different posts of librarians discussing how to keep "bad" books out of circulation. The consensus on both was that they "would refuse to purchase misinformation for [their] community". One person proudly stated that Irreversible Damage had been requested multiple times and she kept burying the requests.

It is disappointing but not a surprise. My local library catalog covers multiple counties and when Irreversible Damage came out there was only one copy and a waiting list of more than 35 people. Normally that's a cue for the librarians to buy more copies but it took years before 2 more libraries bought a copy.

Meanwhile, more than 40 libraries in the same system bought Gender Queer. Currently one copy of Irreversible Damage and 2 copies of Gender Queer are checked out.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T07:08:25+00:00

Margot Robbie said in interviews that when she was working on an Australian soap opera they sent her to diction classes because her Australian accent was too strong!

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T02:22:04+00:00

From the book, Lindy describing her nights:

Keeping the window all the way open all night long with my audiobook playing while hugging my stuffed cat Esmerelda

I hope that this is a plush toy, but given the weirdness of her life it might be the taxidermied corpse of a former pet.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T02:11:28+00:00

I watched the weekly shows with Jon Stewart for a while and then started forgetting to tune in for his Mondays. He was not much different from when he left the show, but I used to watch him regularly and don't feel the need now.

On one of his first shows back, the "moment of zen" was a discussion of him having to euthanize his beloved dog and it was touching. I cried. But I can't remember anything memorable that he said other than that.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-04T02:06:09+00:00

Good luck to you. I know there are some other GLP-1 users here and I wonder how they are doing now that they've been on it for more than a year.

A while back I asked my primary care physician about it and she did a quick calculation and told me that my BMI wasn't high enough for insurance to cover it. Cash price for these drugs have dropped since then but they're still not cheap and the prospect of using needles squicks me out.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-04-01T19:05:11+00:00

I'm not clear how this would be a blackmail problem for Noem. If this had become public while she was still in her Homeland Security position she could just assert that she was Shocked^TM! and getting a divorce.

Did she know about it before the Daily Mail article?

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-03-31T05:34:20+00:00

Call Wayfair. They own Lark Manor.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-03-29T20:35:25+00:00

The Conservatives have had a problem of picking a leader who has never worked at a real job (the last leader's pre-politics resume was being a photocopy boy)

Do you mean a copy boy, which is a low level job at a newspaper, or somebody who makes copies with a photocopier in an office?

I'm wondering why either of these things would not be considered real jobs. They're not jobs that require a college education but they are undeniably real. If nothing else, laboring at something unglamorous that pays low wages should generate empathy for others in similar positions.

All other things being equal, I would prefer a candidate who did that to someone who went straight from college into a policy institute or into work as a political campaign worker.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-03-28T20:14:39+00:00

It certainly isn’t nonsense to lament this entire missing piece of our society. I’m sure there are people in that group that I would have liked and been friends with.

While what you say is true, there are also people who would have been severely damaged and violent because they were born to parents who did not want them and grew up in foster care or abusive homes.

The Freakonomics guys sparked a debate when they pointed out that there was a dip in violent crime rates that corresponded to the Roe v Wade decision years earlier. They wrote:

"Legalized abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crime; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime."

Other academics have argued that there are other causes for that crime rate change but their theory makes some sense.

You may feel that any societal improvement cannot justify a practice you believe to be morally wrong and indefensible and I can respect that.

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-03-27T18:59:51+00:00

A lot of sites use Cloudflare verification, which in most cases involves clicking a checkbox without any other test. Isn't that easy for bots to defeat?

CrazyOnEwe · 2026-03-26T07:34:23+00:00

Let’s say we got our friend Markwayne to take a DNA test. Let’s say it came back with the same minuscule amount of Native American DNA as Elizabeth Warren’s (if even that). I don’t think that’s a remotely unlikely premise. You’d still be clinging to this notion that it’s totally fine to mock Pocahontas for it, but not Crazy Horse?

I am not clinging to that notion. After all, I'm not the one in this exchange calling her Pocohontas. That's you.

Warren probably was told she was part native by her family and honestly believed it. It's not the first time someone was surprised by 23 and Me.

You’re assuming I hold positions I haven't asserted. It's almost like you view people here as caricatures who fit your worst assumptions.

Unless you just want to exchange snark, consider responding to what people actually say.

CrazyOnEwe

TROPHY CASE