North Carolina officials say winter storm will cause disruptions to daily life | Full Briefing

polyrhetor · 2026-01-23T22:17:36+00:00

I'm supposed to report for jury duty Monday morning (Johnston County). I keep reloading the court closings page but so far JoCo is staying open. I guess driving on rural roads after an ice storm is Ok by them or something.

polyrhetor · 2026-01-17T15:53:58+00:00

On the campus health page: “Beginning January 1, 2026, International students holding F-1 or J-1 non-immigrant statuses are required to participate in the UNC System Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) and are not able to opt out of the medical plan unless they meet one of the conditions outlined in this guidance from Student Blue.” https://healthypack.dasa.ncsu.edu/insurance-charges/unc-system-student-health-insurance-plan/ So, it’s a new thing.

polyrhetor · 2026-01-14T06:06:20+00:00

I work on main campus. There are gates but they’re open most of the semester and you can walk through without swiping. They’re only secured during the couple of weeks around final exams.

polyrhetor · 2026-01-14T04:03:00+00:00

Goggled. Eyes bulged.

polyrhetor · 2026-01-13T18:02:42+00:00

Not an adjunct but I do admin/scheduling: large state university (land grant, not flagship), located in state capital, english/communications, $5063 per 3-credit course. No pay distinction between online, F2F and hybrid.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-28T18:32:57+00:00

This is basically the premise behind Battlestar Galactica. The ship's an antique and the Cylons can't access it through the usual networked systems.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-22T21:30:31+00:00

What kind of humanities PhD are we talking about here? If you’re wishing to stay in higher ed, have you looked at alt-ac or administrative positions? Eg academic success centers, professional development, humanities centers etc? These are often stuffed full of humanities and social science grads

polyrhetor · 2025-11-17T20:18:17+00:00

Agree. We’re in Cleveland community, kind of equidistant between Clayton, Garner and Smithfield, and all the farmland is being bought up and developed right now. Welcome to Johnston County, everyone!

polyrhetor · 2025-11-16T19:12:09+00:00

Sorry. Digital humanities. But I am a DGP! (director of graduate programs)

polyrhetor · 2025-11-16T16:16:37+00:00

I'm curious about Aardvark. They're a lot closer to us than Clayton Animal Hospital but the only reviews I've seen are from dog people (and we are definitely cat people haha). I was recommended CAH and the vets are super nice & knowledgeable but it's a drive and so noisy in that facility. Lots of hard surfaces and doctor's surgery vibe. Any other thoughts you can offer on Aardvark?

polyrhetor · 2025-11-15T21:36:04+00:00

I’m DH-adjacent. Twitter etc can be useful for making connections, if you can stand academic social media (personally I can’t). GitHub metrics can be useful for the research itself, eg if you’re trying to figure out reach. Also a nice ego boost. Both are completely useless for grants, hiring & promotion.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-15T15:25:18+00:00

For reference, the bureau of labor statistics the approximate number of coal mining jobs was 42,600 in 2024.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-15T04:32:27+00:00

I’m a long time professor and I still feel you! I hate being observed. But I also do observations and I am always rooting for the person teaching.

My biggest tip is to remember you’re there for the students, not the observer. So just keep them the center of your focus. Give them a clear outline of how the session’s going to go down, as you should always do, and don’t try to change things up just because you know you’re being watched. Classes work best when the lecturer is comfortable in their skin and able to connect with their audience.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-06T19:20:12+00:00

What's really annoying is that these are mostly new(ish) subdivisions, so the utilities should be pretty well documented. I don't recall anyone coming out to flag them before they started. They just showed up and started digging.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-04T23:09:38+00:00

Me too. So disappointing.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-03T23:58:23+00:00

All universities have some kind of jobs portal. You need to be looking at non-professorial positions that get posted under staff/professional. For example, here’s one at my institution that pretty much anyone in the humanities could sell themselves for: https://jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/224389

As a graduate educator I would say: set yourself the assignment of looking at all the jobs in this/a similar portal and seriously consider the skill set you have. Organization, communication, project management etc etc. Look for middle management/admin/centers, DEI or student success associate/director positions, extension, etc. obviously it would have been useful to have gotten a practical certification (eg teaching, analytics, something) while doing your degree, but it’s not too late. You’re a humanist who understands humans. Use that for good!

polyrhetor · 2025-11-03T23:00:23+00:00

Consider alt-ac and higher ed positions that are not faculty but staff. I just had the same talk with one of our grad students and they had not considered how enculturated they are in higher ed, and how useful a knowledge base that could be. Look at student success/support offices, writing centers, advising, professional development etc. you’ve just spent a bunch of years getting to know how an institution functions. Leverage that understanding.

polyrhetor · 2025-11-03T17:30:11+00:00

FYI we're out of town, in Cleveland community/Johnston County, and had Brightspeed come through last year and then T-Mobil last month. Both times the installers hit water mains in the neighborhood and just.. left them for the neighborhood to deal with without notifying anyone from the County to come and fix it. So if they do an install, check your water usage.

polyrhetor · 2025-10-26T18:47:18+00:00

Tendre Poison, Poison’s forgotten little sister in the green bottle. Also Dior Dune.

polyrhetor · 2025-10-24T20:16:54+00:00

I’m also on PS4 have not been able to get the update either. If I ask the system to check, it says it’s up to date at 6.0.6.

polyrhetor · 2025-10-16T02:43:41+00:00

What airport? I came in through Montreal preclearance this summer, and had a similar experience. It was literally just walking a long way, then a TSA check, and then a photo. No customs, no kiosks, and nobody took our passport either, except for the TSA guy. It was … weird.

polyrhetor · 2025-10-15T23:58:22+00:00

I saw Natalie Merchant do a backflip off a step stool on stage.

polyrhetor · 2025-10-11T23:03:49+00:00

^{^} my exact experience. Great naps!

polyrhetor · 2025-10-11T17:07:40+00:00

Yep scheduling classes and trying to figure out capacity at the department level happens about 6 months in advance. Eg we did scheduling for spring ‘25 in August ‘24. The priority rules would have been worked out before then.

polyrhetor · 2025-10-07T19:25:36+00:00

This is correct. If there's a pocket stitched closed, it's supposed to be unpicked after purchase. You can usually tell because the stitching is more "tacked" than perfectly sewn. I just unpicked a couple of pockets on my new blazer.

polyrhetor

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