Sunday, May 04, 2003
Glad I missed this . . .
I'll need to watch the evening news. I almost went back to town - I would have been right in the middle of this had I gone.
Just had some hail at the farm. I did get in a great 4-wheeler ride just before it hit. Found some more places to wind through in my woody sections. Heard hunter Matt's shotgun this morning at 6am - pretty close to the house - but at least I know he won't aim this way. I hope he got his turkey.
My Starband is back! The tech made that special trip out here to install the new transmitter but it didn't seem to be working when I got here. I called the "tech line" since I am officially certified and it went much faster. They had changed a subcluster on me. The guy wasn't sure I was an installer and asked; my response was that I was and would he like my passcode? I gladly gave it to him. (Remember I spent a few Saturdays ago on the phone with the customer tech people for 5 hours.
--------
Another good item from Tightly Wound:
Refreshing Quote of the Day
From Pay-Per-View only Chronicle, an interesting article by an English professor among physicists, in which he explores the differences in collaboration and collegiality between the disciplines. Reading this explained to me the faith my hard science pals had in peer review versus my scepticism about the process in the humanities. But beyond that, there's this quote:
The story of the Bell Labs physics scandal initially intrigued me because I thought it might turn out to be a scientific version of the culture wars, with scientists coming under attack from groups that help finance them. It didn't turn out that way. ... But humanists have long been embroiled in their own conflicts with the society that finances them--and one of the reasons lies in the way that we raise roadblocks and bar the world from entering our neighborhood. That's the opposite of what we ought to be doing, and it's all the more shameful because humanists are in an unusual and enviable position: The nature of our work makes it easy to open our doors and share that work.
Thank you, professor Cassuto. Part of my extreme disillusionment with the English discipline came from the desperate attempts of faculty to justify its worth by making it more "scientific" and thereby more exclusive. I believe that the worth of humanities education is in teaching subjective versus objective analysis, and in learning how to read, comprehend, ENJOY, and make cogent and accessible arguments about a text. There is value in those skills--the declining quality of debate in this country demonstrates that when the humanities give in to their insecurity and try to add "science" to their field, the students--and by extension, the populace at large--suffer.
posted by Big Arm Woman 5:13 AM
I'll need to watch the evening news. I almost went back to town - I would have been right in the middle of this had I gone.
Just had some hail at the farm. I did get in a great 4-wheeler ride just before it hit. Found some more places to wind through in my woody sections. Heard hunter Matt's shotgun this morning at 6am - pretty close to the house - but at least I know he won't aim this way. I hope he got his turkey.
My Starband is back! The tech made that special trip out here to install the new transmitter but it didn't seem to be working when I got here. I called the "tech line" since I am officially certified and it went much faster. They had changed a subcluster on me. The guy wasn't sure I was an installer and asked; my response was that I was and would he like my passcode? I gladly gave it to him. (Remember I spent a few Saturdays ago on the phone with the customer tech people for 5 hours.
--------
Another good item from Tightly Wound:
Refreshing Quote of the Day
From Pay-Per-View only Chronicle, an interesting article by an English professor among physicists, in which he explores the differences in collaboration and collegiality between the disciplines. Reading this explained to me the faith my hard science pals had in peer review versus my scepticism about the process in the humanities. But beyond that, there's this quote:
The story of the Bell Labs physics scandal initially intrigued me because I thought it might turn out to be a scientific version of the culture wars, with scientists coming under attack from groups that help finance them. It didn't turn out that way. ... But humanists have long been embroiled in their own conflicts with the society that finances them--and one of the reasons lies in the way that we raise roadblocks and bar the world from entering our neighborhood. That's the opposite of what we ought to be doing, and it's all the more shameful because humanists are in an unusual and enviable position: The nature of our work makes it easy to open our doors and share that work.
Thank you, professor Cassuto. Part of my extreme disillusionment with the English discipline came from the desperate attempts of faculty to justify its worth by making it more "scientific" and thereby more exclusive. I believe that the worth of humanities education is in teaching subjective versus objective analysis, and in learning how to read, comprehend, ENJOY, and make cogent and accessible arguments about a text. There is value in those skills--the declining quality of debate in this country demonstrates that when the humanities give in to their insecurity and try to add "science" to their field, the students--and by extension, the populace at large--suffer.
posted by Big Arm Woman 5:13 AM
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]