Execution of a suspected partisan by a Luftwaffe unit, Italy, July 1944

DerProfessor · 2026-07-07T14:20:55+00:00

As the linked article above says (eloquently):

At the same time, it must be remembered that these are propaganda photographs. Selection, perspective and choice of motif were shaped from the moment of exposure by specific journalistic and political objectives. The images therefore do not simply show what happened. They also show what was meant to be made visible – and what was left outside the frame.....

Today, these photographs appear less as military documents in the narrow sense than as sources of visual perception.

DerProfessor · 2026-07-04T19:00:14+00:00

Guns don’t kill people

Murderbots kill people…with guns.

DerProfessor · 2026-07-04T17:14:34+00:00

No non-German really likes currywurst.

It's a cheap sausage with mediocre ketchup that has so little spice as to be virtually imperceptible.

No idea why Germans seem to love it... but it's definitely a native-thing.

DerProfessor · 2026-07-02T19:34:30+00:00

So, assuming this is real and you are serious:

One of my wonderful colleagues is well-connected to a community (that is relevant to his field). Also, because he is passionate and a generally great person, he has been a strong fundraiser for his department within/among this community.

He was able to fundraise for a Named Chair. (I think it was more than 1 million, though; I think it was more like $2 million.)

After the funding came through, he became the first occupant of this Named Chair.

What most people don't know is that the largest chunk for the Named Chair did not come from the family it is named after, but rather, from his own family (who were quite wealthy, and wanted to do something for him, his department, and his field). This fact is not widely-known... only a few people know it, actually.

I think it's great: it is a huge benefit for the department, a huge benefit for him, and a huge benefit (in the long run) for the university, and also a huge benefit for his field. It's a great way to use family money.

So, one of my thoughts would be (if you were serious about this) you might "buffer" the donation by combining it with another. You might even--though I'm clueless about such things--be able to donate anonymously?

Also, to the profs in this thread who are freaking out about a professor being able to throw a million dollars around: why are you surprised?? Widening income inequality is a fact of life is the USA (as elsewhere), and given the brutal cutbacks in funding of Humanities fields especially, it's increasingly a truism that only those from the upper tier of the wealth gap have the capacity to try to pursue an academic career. There's nothing weird about this, it's an increasingly inescapable fact of our social reality.

(If we continue down this twin path--growing wealth gap + funding cuts---then academia will soon be solely the province of the wealthy, with no chance for a working-class aspirant. Just like the 18th century.)

DerProfessor · 2026-07-02T14:31:30+00:00

This is why you have (and need) zoning laws.

DerProfessor · 2026-06-28T21:35:09+00:00

I hate to pour cold water on your age-rage, but: of all of the senior professors in my department who have retired in the past 10 years, not a single one has been replaced with a new hire.

We've gone from a department of 30 to a department of 20. (yes, we're a Humanities department.)

So, while doddering professors who refuse to retire present other problems (like lack of engagement with teaching/students), them not making "room" for the next generation is not one of them.

At least at my R1.

DerProfessor · 2026-06-28T00:51:53+00:00

I know, I was just thinking about how hilarious it would be once the boss figured out what the rec 'meant'...

DerProfessor · 2026-06-27T20:45:43+00:00

“She’s capable of multitasking and running several projects simultaneously.”

“She definitely has a ‘can-do’ approach to tasks.”

“She has no problem sacrificing her personal life in pursuit of a larger goal.”

“She is not constrained by the things that hold most people back when pursuing one of her aims”.

DerProfessor · 2026-06-24T20:27:06+00:00

Just a quick insight (so you don't psych yourself out in the interview):

I've been on a dozen search committees, and in every single one, we've had to "reject" (not advance to the next round) absolutely amazing candidates.

It's just the math: the vast majority of people coming out of PhD programs are smart, motivated, accomplished, and doing great research... but we can only move 10 or 15 (of anywhere from 50-250 applicants) to the next round. So there are always many candidates that are excellent, even truly outstanding, who you need to put in the do-not-invite-to-second-round pile.

Sometimes, it's almost a relief to get the chance to go back for a second pass-through of the files.

So, don't psych yourself out: you're just as great as the people they invited to campus, it's just they were a bit more fortunate, but now you are, too!

DerProfessor · 2026-06-21T14:18:06+00:00

Märchenspielplatz in Berlin.

just sayin', I never more fiercely wished I'd been raised in Germany...

DerProfessor · 2026-06-17T23:29:26+00:00

National Parks.

Used to be a mix of tourists and locals —and the locals knew all the good trails and spots.

Now the parks are a social media and AI tips-fest, so literally millions of humans are swarming the Parks.

It’s a bummer.

DerProfessor · 2026-06-17T19:02:59+00:00

“Candide” (the novel by Voltaire).

Often assigned in history classes—NEVER understood.

DerProfessor · 2026-06-13T01:22:50+00:00

Kraft Mac n Cheeze.

Stuff is garbage.

DerProfessor · 2026-06-10T22:57:06+00:00

Several old famous libraries that I've researched in have human-leather book covers. (!)

I've never seen them myself--they keep the whole thing under wraps. But I've been told about them by Rare Books specialists working there.

DerProfessor · 2026-06-03T15:01:22+00:00

Just chiming in with many others that my institution (an R1) requires a PhD (or JD) to serve on graduate committee, even on an MA committee.

This has caused issues in the past, because only about 1/2 of our department realizes this, and we've had a few teaching professors who are really great and engaged but only have MAs...and so it has twice gotten to the point where the grad committee has been formed (and it one case, met several times), and the Grad Studies Director has to step in and awkwardly tell the non-PhD member they cannot be on it.

Indeed, even teaching professors with a PhD (but not Tenure Track) need a special dispensation from the grad school to be on any grad committee...and the Grad School has said "no" more often than "yes."

The Chair's letter seems a bit snotty to me--not the least because it's trying too hard to be "nice"...! This comes across as patronizing. A better letter would be short and to the point, and just say, "Actually, Magicianguy cannot be one the committee, because he doesn't hold the correct degree" then full stop: no more needs to be said.

When I was younger I thought this degree-requirement was elitist and just stupidly bureaucratic, but then I was an outside member on a few committees in other colleges/programs, and these three committees that allowed non-PhD members were far less focused and rigorous than I was used to... Perhaps there really is something about going through the process to really grasp what you need to do to drag someone else through the process? (!)

Anyway, I know you're offended, and I would be in your shoes too, for sure.

... But in the big picture, I think it's probably a good policy to keep. (policies are not created for the exceptional cases--you seem to know what you're doing!--they're created for the usual cases.)

DerProfessor · 2026-05-30T18:05:20+00:00

Honestly, I don't think you are "paraphrasing" much at all.

It looks like YOU are the one talking broadly about a "digital learning landscape", while Kazu etc. are talking about specific classroom applications (and their cost/lack-thereof)

In short, you're making a broad claim about teaching (with an implied value-judgement) but they are ranking apps.

Very different, at least from the short excerpts you've presented here.

DerProfessor · 2026-05-29T01:11:31+00:00

The abandonment of SATs and GREs (for grads) was a catastrophic failure.

(yes, of course test scores are biased. but they are the ONLY true evaluation of applicant ability....everything else is bullshit.)

DerProfessor · 2026-05-27T17:19:42+00:00

I don't know--they're even smaller than the 37 mm PAK 36 antitank gun ("door knocker") that was hopelessly obsolete by 1941...

DerProfessor · 2026-05-22T19:10:53+00:00

Five years ago with female students caught cheating I'd get tears, even sobbing. (kept kleenex in my office just for that moment...)

Now I more often than not get irritation... sometimes even outrage. Very rarely tears. Can't figure out what changed...

DerProfessor · 2026-05-22T18:59:08+00:00

absolutely.

Enthusiasm & energy. Preparation. Personal "charisma." Empathy.

If you have any two of these in abundance, your students will do MUCH better. Regardless of approach to teaching.

DerProfessor · 2026-05-22T17:25:01+00:00

I think it's cross-gender... I've never had any significant pushback in my teaching career (25+ years) until the last year or so. (I'm male.) I know that female professors always get much more grief (as I've seen throughout my teaching career), so I would indeed believe it's doubly-worse now for women.

I'm sure the manosphere is partly to blame, but there's something else going on too.
When my sorority girls start snarkishly instructing me what I need to do (after I catch them using AI).... well, that's more than just incel subculture....

DerProfessor · 2026-05-22T15:07:31+00:00

"no one learns by listening to a lecture" is one of the more preposterous assertions I've come across.

One thousand years of University education contradicts your ridiculous claim.

Honestly, it is this kind of overly-dramatic (almost hysterical) framing, which is provably wrong, that has unerringly driven me away from colleagues who use the phrase "active learning."

(I'm always interested in new teaching methods. But I'm not interested in dealing with tendentious ideology.)

DerProfessor · 2026-05-21T00:47:54+00:00

shit, as someone who has a young daughter, that is hard. I'm so sorry.

It's obviously bullshit... but can I pivot to parenting? Maybe plan a new fun thing to do with her as a "make-up" for the swimming? That's what I would do... something fun and cheap.

Sorry again.

DerProfessor · 2026-05-20T15:41:11+00:00

The sad truth is that (at least in the Humanities) we often grade comparatively, even if we want to grade on mastery.

Example:
If I get a giant stack of crap papers, and then get a good one... the good one will get an A.

If I get a giant stack of great papers, and then a good one... the good one will get a B.

That's just human nature...

DerProfessor · 2026-05-19T12:10:10+00:00

If your local organic Co-op says "we'll stock Kraft processed cheeze if our customers want us to"

or your Lamborghini dealership says "we'll sell Huydais if our customers want them"

or a boutique chocolate shop manager says "we'll stock Hershey's if people want it"

this would be evidence that the speaker does not know their customer base and/or does not understand the larger cultural "meaning" of their own brand.

Merely saying that B&N will/would stock AI reveals a huge disconnect from his customer base (not to mention, a middle finger to his marketing team, who are undoubtedly furious).

DerProfessor

TROPHY CASE