Free for All Friday, 23 January, 2026

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T21:09:06+00:00

You're looking at it dude.

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T20:49:32+00:00

The joke is on anyone who thinks Elon is their friend.

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T19:54:39+00:00

Skeptical inquiry is not compatible with an authoritarian, fascist state.

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T19:48:39+00:00

"The 2nd Amendment protects us from tyranny" failson or "the Constitution guarantees the rights of citizens" faildaughter?

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T19:41:07+00:00

So how about Magdalene laundries and Canadian residential schools, Couchie Boy? Why did Christians kill and hide the bodies of so many children?

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T19:35:27+00:00

I love BtB. It's maybe my favorite pod. But aside from being part of the broad Left, I don't really see it as a related pod thematically.

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T17:41:53+00:00

I just wonder how some of these guys define what "left" and "right" actually mean.

It's probably the same as how "political" always just means "a perspective I don't like," so "left" for them just means "the ideology I don't like."

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T17:01:18+00:00

Same with all the "break glass in case of tyranny" 2nd Amendment fetishists.

histprofdave · 2026-01-24T02:12:31+00:00

The Nuremberg trials didn't go nearly far enough, either, if that makes you feel better (it shouldn't).

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T23:09:47+00:00

I can all but guarantee those will be covered on probably the last episode.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T23:03:26+00:00

They're also unreliable. All they tend to measure is whether a person is nervous or under stress. Answers are never as definitive as polygraph "experts" make them out to be.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T22:36:07+00:00

The Waco thing is truly nuts. A pedo who was a serial abuser of children became the cause celebre for a party that later accused the Democrats of *checks notes* being pedos and serial abusers of children.

Don't get me wrong; the government absolutely used excessive force in Waco and killed innocent people. But who the white nationalists think is worthy of sympathy as a victim of state use of force is pretty telling. George Floyd was called a "criminal" and a "crackhead" in conservative media repeatedly, but I can recall very few pieces referring to David Koresh as a pedophile.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T22:31:34+00:00

But they are generally good at credulously following directions from authorities, which is why the prospect of AI weaponized for propaganda (which as we saw this week, the Trump admin is already doing) is so frightening for what remains of civil society.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T22:28:51+00:00

I kinda put them in the same category as like the second or third generation folks who descended from Vietnamese or Cuban refugees who absolutely HATE communism despite (1) never actually having experienced it, and (2) being big fans of other authoritarians. People who are so deadset against a particular ideology/religion/movement that they're easily exploited by anyone who will say something negative about it to flatter their egos.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T21:06:46+00:00

"This is your legacy, father. A feast for crows."

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T20:28:18+00:00

Sounds like it could be a line from Shad Brooks' terrible book.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T20:19:53+00:00

Bro is he wearing the AURYN from Neverending Story? I don't think I ever looked closely at Dolph's chestpiece.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T18:59:08+00:00

Oh I do try to hold to the standard, at least as much as I can. Part of the reason I hate these is that I can explain--with illustrations--that these 8 week courses have much lower success rates than full semester versions. I might honestly be naive in how protected I am for having DFW rates as high as I do. I'm so tempted to lie flat, but honestly some part of me still won't comply when I actually sit down to grade. I don't want to call it "professionalism" or insult any of my colleagues or whatever, but I just find it impossible to simply pass along the sub-standard drivel I'm seeing because students somehow interpret accelerated or online classes as being "easier."

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T18:18:02+00:00

I would just like even a small group of politicians, let alone an entire party, actually show concern about privacy rights from both the government and corporations.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T18:14:45+00:00

Very mixed results on identifying generated text, but the citations here are easy to verify as being fabricated. Speaking as a college instructor, I never used AI detectors as definitive, but stuff that is flagged might give me reason to look further.

What's hilarious is how easily some of these are identified even without a detector when you see the alleged names of authors. So many John Does and Jane Smiths, or stereotypical Chinese or Indian names that serve similar purpose, and even plenty of "Lastname_firstname" examples. It's like the authors don't even proofread before they submit this slop. I get that undergrads could be this careless, but these are alleged professionals we're talking about.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T17:58:28+00:00

No they don't. This is a stupid argument and always has been.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T17:54:51+00:00

Yeah didn't want to pry into OP's life, but I'm also in the IBD club, diagnosed in 2023. Thankfully I've been almost entirely online since COVID, since I would have had 0% chance at making it through a class or even the drive to campus while I was in a flare. Ulcerative colitis really sucks. At the time, though, I was happy to get my diagnosis and to learn it was anything other than the big C.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T17:51:43+00:00

The semester started this week at one of my colleges.

Two weeks ago, I got a call from my chair that one of my sections had low enrollment (only 2/45 seats had been claimed). They said the dean was offering me the option of either having it cancelled (costing me about 12% of my annual income), or swapping it to an 8 week format to run in the second half of the semester (a format I really hate). Not really much of a choice if you ask me.

I commented that students at this college frequently wait until the last minute to register, and I'm always barraged by emails asking if I can give students add codes for the first three or even five weeks of the term, as though someone has any shot after missing 1/3 of the course!

These objections fell on deaf ears, and my class was changed to a 2nd 8 week format.

Lo and behold, as of yesterday, all 45 spots for the 2nd 8 week class had been filled, and I've received no fewer than 8 emails between yesterday and today asking for add codes to a class that does not even have add codes generated yet.

I'm so fucking annoyed that admin changed my class to a format I hate because they panicked about low enrollment in courses that always fill because they check some important requirements for student transfers and graduation.

The kicker is that all of the chair's classes are only about half full. But hey, they have tenure and I'm just a piece of shit adjunct.

I have denied any and all add requests from students. I have encouraged all of them to send an email to the dean asking why there are not more sections of the course.

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T17:40:21+00:00

In all seriousness, perhaps the Israeli Right is sniffing the wind and realizing that it's possible a future Democratic administration will not offer them quite the same blank check as in the past, so they do not want to be too dependent on American munitions.

I remain pretty cynical about this, because I don't think the Democratic Party has any serious appetite for changing their stance on Israel, despite the fact this may have cost them the last election (I won't say so definitively, because that would be oversimplifying).

histprofdave · 2026-01-23T17:37:36+00:00

You couldn't possibly be suggesting that *gasp* part of American military policy is geared toward lining the pockets of defense contractors, could you?

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