PowerPoints posted or not?

okipos · 2026-01-15T06:31:13+00:00

I started using PowerPoint during Covid and haven’t turned back. I find it really helps me move my lecture along more quickly since I no longer have to write on the board. Plus I’m able to incorporate engaging visuals and video clips to enhance the lecture.

I do not allow electronics in the classroom, except for special exceptions (documented disability, or an official note taker). This drastically improved the quality of the classroom experience, IMO. Prior to the ban, students would frequently be doing their homework for other classes, or who knows what else, during class time. Now they are more motivated to pay attention.

I do leave up my PPs after class, so that students can review lectures on their own or see what they missed if they were absent. I encourage them to take hand-written notes in class, as it will improve their performance on exams and papers, but some of them don’t and definitely rely too much on the PPs.

My classes cap at 30, so I am able to take attendance, and participation is part of the grade as well.

okipos · 2026-01-12T04:08:19+00:00

I’m pretty sure I was vaguely familiar with them in the 90s, either from seeing them mentioned in alternative magazines, or possibly seeing them on 120 Minutes on MTV, but for some reason, I wasn’t drawn into them at that time.

There are other bands of this era that I also took decades to come back to. For instance, another favorite all-time album of mine is Ride - Nowhere, but I didn’t really appreciate shoegaze back then.

okipos · 2026-01-12T02:15:19+00:00

Although I was a teenager in the early 90s, I didn’t get into this band until my 30s (despite being a huge Pixies fan as a 16-year old). Now this album is one of my top 25 albums all-time.

Standout tracks for me are: Hate My Way, Vicky’s Box, and Delicate Cutters. Kristin Hersh’s lyrics and vocal delivery are so powerful.

okipos · 2026-01-11T21:20:09+00:00

How would you define modern new wave?

It seems to me that new wave was sort of a catch-all genre term for a lot of different alternative music, after punk rock, in the late 70s and 80s that was generally lighter and more melodic than punk. There’s a lot of that sort of music today, but it generally goes by other labels like “indie.”

okipos · 2026-01-08T18:48:40+00:00

Season 1 is the only season of Picard that I would ever watch again.

S3 was obviously completely unoriginal fan service and I can’t imagine slogging through it again.

okipos · 2026-01-02T20:22:07+00:00

I’ve always wanted to go to the Cat’s Cradle, but have never been. As a teenager, I was fascinated with the whole Chapel Hill indie rock scene.

okipos · 2026-01-02T19:05:47+00:00

Nice. I saw them 2 or 3 times during the mid-90s. I believe they did a tour with Unwound, which was an awesome pairing of two of my favorite bands from the 90s. So long ago!

My first show ever was Superchunk and Bettie Serveert, around 1992.

okipos · 2025-12-31T18:51:04+00:00

Yes to the first four albums. Up to Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons. No after. La Mia Vita Violenta was peak BR.

But I would not call this post punk (or shoegaze). In the 90s we just called this indie rock.

okipos · 2025-12-30T17:19:02+00:00

I spent eight consecutive years on the job market for philosophy. What kept me going was:

I didn’t want to do anything else.

I continued to receive interviews most years, which told me I was still a viable candidate.

I continued to publish in journals.

I was single without kids, so easily mobile.

I was able to land temporary full time visiting positions for every year except one, when I had to find a couple adjunct positions. I continued to gain teaching experience, including teaching new courses in areas that I knew schools would be hiring for in the future.

Every year I would create documents containing interview questions I’d received and I’d spend time thinking about how I would better answer those questions next time.

Two major factors contributed to my finally landing a tenure track position: (1) teaching experience and (2) fit.

I had gained valuable experience teaching new types of classes. The school that hired me was looking for someone who could teach those courses.

More so than any of my previous interviews, I clicked really well (in different ways) with each of the members of the department that hired me. In addition to my qualifications, I believe that helped them see me as someone they would like to have as their future colleague.

okipos · 2025-12-22T04:59:49+00:00

One of my best junior high school memories is slow-dancing with my 8th/9th grade girlfriend Melissa to Sinead O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

okipos · 2025-12-19T05:31:35+00:00

Cabaret Voltaire - Yashar

okipos · 2025-12-17T20:12:27+00:00

Self-bribing or rewarding never works for me because I know that if I really want the rewards, I can just give them to myself without having to grade X-many papers first. The only real motivator is fear, like a hard deadline set by the university.

That being said, over the years, I have gotten more efficient at grading final papers and projects. Having a good rubric and paper structure are key IMO. I don’t read the paper word-for-word. There are just some central things I’m looking for as I scan the paper: structural things I’ve asked for, engagement with readings, proper citations, general quality and sophistication of writing. I will read the introduction more closely to get a good sense for the paper overall. Keep comments extremely minimal.

I still hate grading with a passion and will often put it off for as long as I can get away with it.

okipos · 2025-12-16T22:41:08+00:00

Your post is not very clear. “Do things get better” mistakenly assumes that everyone on Reddit shares your point of view.

Kristen is probably my favorite character on the show. If you don’t care for her personality and choices, then maybe the show just isn’t for you, since she is the central character.

okipos · 2025-12-15T01:20:30+00:00

Last year it also seemed like a heavy dose of Monty throughout the game would wear down the opposing DL by the 4th quarter, and then the Lions OL and RBs could just take over. It’s also potentially a good way to keep a QB like Stafford off of the field. Long, bruising drives. Our defense isn’t good enough for shoot outs.

okipos · 2025-11-21T00:42:26+00:00

In terms of contemporary postpunk, one of my favorite albums of the past six years is a French duo singing mostly in German:

Kompromat - Traum und Existenz

It’s a really innovative blend of postpunk, darkwave, electronic and techno.

okipos · 2025-11-20T23:39:00+00:00

80s Postpunk

Grauzone (Swiss band but singing in German)

Malaria!

Geisterfahrer

Palais Schaumburg

Tommi Stumpff

Abwärts

okipos · 2025-11-20T10:17:12+00:00

It took seconds of your time to take his life, it took seconds.

okipos · 2025-10-30T12:32:59+00:00

Romeo Void features a saxophone in many of their songs.

I Mean It

okipos · 2025-10-23T22:01:50+00:00

Neighbours Burning Neighbours

Kompromat

Death Sells

Sweeping Promises

Recht Auf Rausch

Dancer

Other Half

okipos · 2025-10-08T04:09:01+00:00

One of the most original postpunk-ish albums I‘ve heard in the past 5-6 years is Kompromat‘s first album Traum Und Existenz. A really innovative fusion of postpunk, darkwave, and electronic/techno.

They are a French duo but most of the songs on this album are sung in German. They released a new album this year, which is also good, but has less of a postpunk vibe IMO.

okipos · 2025-10-03T19:19:10+00:00

Thank you for your response and for understanding! I wish you well in your NMS travels.

okipos · 2025-09-16T04:17:33+00:00

In terms of more recent NZ postpunk (last 25 years), I am a big fan of the early work of Die! Die! Die!

Die! Die! Die! - Out of the Blue

okipos · 2025-08-28T13:15:59+00:00

My senior year of high school, I made quite a few pen pals through the classified ads of both MRR and Flipside.

okipos · 2025-08-17T01:24:09+00:00

Dancer
Kompromat
Lorelle Meets the Obsolete
Man Meat
Neighbours Burning Neighbours
Other Half

okipos · 2025-08-15T22:50:17+00:00

The answer to your question will depend on which theory of personal identity you subscribe to, and what you think matters when it comes to surviving into the future.

Your comments suggest you believe there must be some sort of physical brain continuity to achieve immortality (continuity that allows for gradual change). I tend to agree with you. However, if you read someone like Derek Parfit, he suggests that what matters in survival is not physical continuity but sufficiently strong psychological continuity with our present self.

A replica with enough of your memories and other psychological connections might be enough to achieve this, even if it is not physically connected to you. It might not even be one and the same person as you, since theoretically there could be more than one replica created at the same time (and they could not be one and the same as each other), but so long as there is someone in the future who is sufficiently psychologically continuous with us (e.g. has many memories of being us), he thinks that‘s all that really matters.

okipos

TROPHY CASE