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The Random Texan

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Dilletante * Raconteur

therandomtexan

  • The Inside Scoop on Women’s Studies

    Toni Airaksinen, a rising junior at Barnard College in Manhattan, gives us all the skinny on what women’s studies is all about.  It’s all WLB-iness.* So, if you’re not finding oppression: look harder.  The unfortunate consequence of this theory is that oppression will be found everywhere — even where it doesn’t exist. Ashe Schow takes Read more

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  • Well, this is depressing

    Ouch.  My university has been identified as a “dropout factory,” ranking 474 of 535 US universities in 6-year completion rates for undergraduate degrees. I anticipate a wave of new reporting requirements, teaching workshops, exhortations from management, major investments in non-academic resources, and most importantly, creation of new administrative offices and positions.  All of this will Read more

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  • An Unasked Question, Answered

    I’d never really thought about it before, but it’s true: my backyard swimming pool* doesn’t have a strong chlorine smell, and the water doesn’t sting my eyes.  Turns out that’s because folks at my house don’t pee in the pool. Tip from Sara Hoyt writing at the Instapundit.  Lots of links there about too many Read more

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  • Blinded Me with “Science”

    Writing in The New Atlantis, Daniel Sarewitz says “Science, pride of modernity, our one source of objective knowledge, is in deep trouble.”  The public has swallowed the myth of scientism and Vannevar Bush’s self-serving rationalization for federally-funded Big Science: Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of free intellects, working on Read more

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  • Oh, and stay off my lawn!

    Social justice scolds are beginning to sound like my cranky old grandmother.  They’re calling it “life hacks” (No more wasting food now…) was once just annoying common sense (…think of all the  starving people in China/India/Africa).   What kind of Slow Pony are you that you need to be told “Turn off the lights when leaving Read more

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  • Why I STILL Don’t Play the Lottery

    Not only is it a bad bet, but it’s a regressive tax on the poor.  Shame on us for allowing our states to perpetuate this. Tip from the Geek Press. Read more

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  • Gettin’ Old? Better have a Beer’s

    Getting old is a pain in the butt, with aches, pains, and ailments unknown to younger folks.  I prefer not to aggravate the situation with unnecessary or antagonistic medications, so I’m thrilled to learn about Beer’s List, freely available from the American Geriatric Society. Tip from the Washington Post, by way of Drudge (who is Read more

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  • Behold the Power of Stupid

    This one’s a classic, but bears periodic re-reading. Tip from American Digest, who tries valiantly to keep up. Read more

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  • When everybody’s special, nobody’s special

    Same holds for “college educated.” Tip from Jesse Saffron at National Review. Read more

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  • Uh-oh. More Art that actually looks like something.

    David Clemens interviews and reviews post-modern, neo-classic artist David Ligare in “Art that Thinks and the Gravity of Our Own Time.” I believe that much if not most of [modern and contemporary art] is now academic and because all things shocking and transgressional have become clichés, I believe that going `in’ is the answer. By Read more

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