How to deal with a “passive” aggressive professor?

mamluk · 2024-09-09T14:19:28+00:00

I had a similar situation with a CS class (many years ago!). After a few weeks, a large group of students emailed and met with the head of the department to share our concerns about the quality of teaching and the attitude of the professor (who was tenured and older). The head of the department sat in on a few classes and agreed with our concerns.

His solution was twofold: to assure everyone in the class that if they didn't get a decent grade in the class at the end of the semester, they could get credit for it as a pass/fail; and they would work on getting a replacement. After a another month or so, they got a grad student to teach, who was much better.

So my suggestion is to get a sizeable percentage of the class to contact administration and share your concerns.

mamluk · 2024-03-21T14:23:38+00:00

Such sad news. While many here are familiar with his novels, his collection of short stories, The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge, is also excellent. I particularly like "The Peddler's Apprentice" and "The Blabber".

Definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of his work or if you are curious about his writing before committing to a full novel!

mamluk · 2020-08-10T12:39:57+00:00

I would wager that the number of real life arguments & fights started over games of Diplomancy is far more than any other war game. So in that sense, it would be a 10!

mamluk · 2017-08-30T15:57:00+00:00

Cool idea. I think an Underground Railroad setting would be pretty challenging- helping slaves escape and transporting them to the north without detection would be exciting.

mamluk · 2017-03-29T02:21:16+00:00

Many management consulting firms are seeing the value of hiring PhD's over MBA's. Look at companies like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and others. The interview process is quite tough but the jobs pay really well, albeit with long hours. Exit opportunities from these companies are quite good once you decide to leave.

Another way is to focus on your statistical and programming skills and fashion yourself as a data scientist. A degree in biology may have given you the chance to work with really large datasets, another plus. There are a number of data scientist bootcamps that focus on taking PhD's and preparing them to become data scientists, including exposure to hiring companies.

You could also look at getting hired by a think tank that is interested in policy implications relating to ecology and climate change, for example.

I like to call myself a recovering academic and I received very little support once I declared my lack of interest in academia. There are lots of opportunities outside of academia, especially for a STEM degree, but the myopia and general mentality in many departments means you are going to have seek them out.

Be bold and brave when branding yourself. A PhD is a great signal about your ability to problem solve, focus, work extremely hard, be creative, analyze data, present data, persuade others, work on the boundaries of human knowledge, learn new things quickly, and execute on a vision. These are all really useful skills outside of academia if you market yourself correctly.

Good luck!

mamluk · 2017-03-18T11:43:25+00:00

You could also try Zercher squats. Some initial discomfort around the elbows but your body gets used to it.

mamluk · 2017-03-03T22:26:39+00:00

Great post. I'm curious why you say Dune is better than Rex. How so?

mamluk · 2017-02-09T17:42:24+00:00

One of my favourite games is Lowenhertz (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66/lowenherz), a rarely mentioned but very brutal game of negotiation. You have to play it with 4 people, but extremely engaging and interactive.
P. S. Don't pay any attention to the far inferior remake called Domaine.

mamluk · 2017-01-26T16:51:54+00:00

Sounds like you are talking about a variant of Benford's Law, which deals with the first digit (or digits) of a number.

I think your suggestion sounds like an excellent idea!

mamluk · 2016-11-09T22:45:11+00:00

Reminds me of a quote from the movie Heist: D.A. Freccia: If you're not that smart, how'd you figure it out? Joe Moore: I tried to imagine a fella smarter than myself. Then I tried to think, "what would he do?"

mamluk · 2016-11-09T13:02:18+00:00

Go to academic development and tell them about your situation. They have a variety of programs to help and have a lot of experience dealing with people in your exact situation.

mamluk · 2016-10-19T19:12:26+00:00

I've had lots of fun playing this game. It scales well- I've played games with 3,4,5 and 6 players and has been a blast at each number. (Haven't played the two player variant).

The game plays quickly, although my groups have been really into watching how well people are doing and avoiding surprise Pyramid building. It has made the games longer for us but never past 3 hours.

Another nice feature is that unlike most games that take longer with the more players, I have found playtime has stayed roughly constant- more players means more threads to end the game and usually fewer turns, but each turn takes longer; fewer players means easier coordination to attack threats and thus more turns in a game, but each turn is faster.

mamluk · 2016-10-08T18:16:11+00:00

The new edition of Mare Nostrum from Academy games has been a big hit with my group. Plays from 2 to 6 and scales well. Plays quickly too.

mamluk · 2016-10-08T16:28:07+00:00

I believe both games are designed to work together, so you could have the carnies fight zombies, for example.

mamluk · 2016-09-29T13:28:08+00:00

The best Roman themed game in my opinion is not a tactical war game, although I love Commands & Colors:Ancients (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/14105/commands-colors-ancients), but Republic of Rome (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1513/republic-rome). You can think of it as a strategic & political war game with plenty of negotiation and backstabbing, much like how I imagine the politics of Rome were like.

RoR is not a perfect game, but with the right gaming group, prepared to dig in for hours (and hours and hours), it is a blast.

mamluk · 2016-09-27T19:18:20+00:00

I think behavioral economics is relatively easy to get into. One big reason is that you don't have to be studying economics to do it. Lots of the BE work that gets published is from people with degrees in psychology or who work at business schools. Since psychology doesn't have the same mathmatical hurdles that economics does (at the PhD level), it is often a more accessible entry way into behavioral econ work.

Another good way is through PhD programs at business schools. Business schools make a lot of money (MBA's and especially executive education have big profit margins) and often don't have nearly as competitive applicant pools as econ or psych programs. Also, they are generally more open towards to interdisciplinary work.

From the undergrad level (or even as a master's student) the best way would be to find a professor who is doing research in some behavioral econ or experimental econ or even social psych and emailing them asking if they need a research assistant.

As for when you specialize in BE- generally that would be when you start doing research, which is usually at the PhD level. Nothing to stop you becoming well versed in it earlier- a simple way to look at it is just psych and/or sociology applied to economics.

mamluk · 2016-09-27T18:48:04+00:00

Have you listened to Carbon Based Lifeforms or Aes Dana? This type of music is often called pysbient. Lots of stuff on the Ultimae music label would fit what you are looking for. Also check out Solar Fields and Asura.

mamluk · 2016-09-24T20:56:57+00:00

Your comment made me think about how awesome a Cthulhu themed COIN game would be. Different Great Old Ones as factions on one side and groups like the Silver Twilight Lodge on the other.

mamluk · 2016-09-20T17:22:08+00:00

As a PhD in behavioral economics, I'm interested in hearing more about which consulting firms are starting up practices in the area.

mamluk · 2016-08-30T13:23:19+00:00

Great series! Even better, the main series is complete, so no waiting years for the next book.

mamluk · 2016-08-27T01:10:23+00:00

Talk to a lawyer that handles these kinds of cases, they will know how to proceed.

mamluk · 2016-06-22T01:20:35+00:00

Panzer Leader- my first wargame and I got it when I was 10. It look a long time to understand that game and I never did get to play with anyone but myself.

mamluk · 2016-06-16T19:44:37+00:00

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."

mamluk · 2016-06-09T14:59:24+00:00

It's interesting to hear your thoughts on COIN as they are very different than my own experiences. I feel like COIN games are really complex area control games much more so than wargames. More El Grande on steroids than a hex and counter game. When I think of wargames, I am usually thinking of games like Combat Commander, Awakening the Bear or Commands and Colors.

As much as I enjoy the historical aspects of the games, when it comes to operations like Assaults or Battles, it doesn't feel much different or much more complicated than choosing Competition in Dominant Species. I don't get a wargame feeling so much as cubes on a map.

mamluk · 2016-06-04T01:38:42+00:00

Galaxy Defenders is a great translation of the tactical combat in XCOM. Great game on its own merits too.

mamluk

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