Tag Archives: university

University of Alabama-Huntsville Shooting Suspect Dr. Amy Bishop: A Politicized, Violent History Emerges

Yesterday afternoon at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, a suspect was detained on a capital murder charge after a shooting that left three dead and three injured: Dr. Amy Bishop . A portrait of her is emerging. Update : Bishop’s violent history. Our J-School Embed, Gawker contributor Hunter Walker, did some digging around, and found the following on Dr. Amy Bishop : Bishop’s a Harvard-educated biologist who’s an assistant professor at UAH. The three dead victims were all working in the Biology department, including the department’s chairman. Via the New York Times , Bishop’s denial of tenure is what supposedly triggered her violent rampage : “She began to talk about her problems getting tenure in a very forceful and animated way, saying it was unfair,” the associate said, referring to a conversation in which she blamed specific colleagues for her problems. “She seemed to be one of these persons who was just very open with her feelings,” he said. “A very smart, intense person who had a variety of opinions on issues.” Her profile on the university’s site shows that she specialized in “Molecular Biology of Oxidative Stress, Neurobiology, Neuroengineering, and Induced Adaptive Resistance.” Her most notable achievement in her field was the invention of InQ, a “cell growth incubator,” which was assisted by her husband, Jim Anderson. She was profiled by the Huntsville Times in 2006, to whom she boasted that her colleagues think the InQ will “change the face of tissue culture.” Whether or not it did is far less notable than the fact, that, as the teacher of “Anatomy and Physiology,” she wasn’t necessarily notable. Walker checked out her Rate My Professors profile, and found the following: RateMyProfessors.com has 34 reviews of Bishop’s class dating back to April, 2004. On a scale of one to five, Bishop received ratings of 2.3 for “average easiness,” 3.7 for “average helpfulness,” 3.4 for “average clarity,” and a “hotness total” of 0. Her “overall quality” was a 3.6. None of the postings describe Bishop as the kind of angry or mean person from whom we might have expected some sort of violent outburst. Several of the online reviews of her class say Bishop was “fair,” however not all of her students seem to have enjoyed her class. Multiple reviewers described Bishop as “brilliant” a smart teacher, who was eager to help out with extra study sessions, and taught an excellent class. There are also several reviews indicating that she is a “boring” teacher who “reads straight from the book” and “highlight[s] the book word for word.” Even more, Walker notes that she might have been a “fish out of water” on the UAH campus given her Ivy-League roots and her fairly liberal ideologies. More from her students: After classes ended last spring, a RateMyProfessors.com user said Bishop “is hot but she tries to hide it.And she is a socalist but she only talks about it after class.” In 2008, someone described her on the site by saying: “she’s a liberal from ‘Hahvahd’ and let’s you know exactly how she feels about particular subjects.” Finally, Walker found that she was a member of the “Clergy Letter Project,” which is devoted to connecting scientists with clergy members who “have questions about the science associated with all aspects of evolution.” For what it’s worth, Walker also recorded her outgoing voicemail message . Meanwhile, over at Media Elites, Steve Huff found that right-wing groups have already jumped on Bishop and her husband—who has also been detained, but not charged—and are using political views as put on display by Rate My Professors to fuel their rhetoric. Huff notes: Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, pointed this RateMyProfessors comment out and it was immediately picked up by other historically conservative bloggers. Because you know all the comments on “Rate My Professor” are true and valid reflections of a teacher’s personality, style and ability to do their job and not student perceptions and biases, right? Huff also dug up a complaint to the FTC by Bishop’s husband, which ends: “By the people … for the people …” not “Buy the people … for the Corporations …” Does a liberal ideology, an Ivy League education, and a husband who writes letters to the FTC make a rage-prone shooter? Not necessarily, but as we’ve learned, ideological extremities almost always definitely do. The extent of Bishop’s politics, ideas behind them, and the lifestyle to which Bishop and her husband inhibited them have yet to be fully fleshed out, but one thing—as each instance of breaking violence of this stripe happens proves without fail—is for sure: the pictures that can come together from aggregated information is hitting people faster and is colored deeper than each time before it, every time, as are the assumptions and projections they yield. Update: Whether or not certain political ideologies are factors in determining any remote possibility of Bishop being a violent person now pale in comparison to the fact that she fatally shot her brother in 1986. Via the Boston Globe : Amy Bishop had shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth M. Bishop, an accomplished violinist who had won a number of science awards. John Polio, chief of police at the time, said Amy Bishop, who was 20 at the time, had asked her mother, Judith, in the presence of her brother how to unload a round from the chamber of a 12-gauge shotgun. Polio told the Globe that while Amy Bishop was handling the weapon, it fired, wounding Seth Bishop in the abdomen. He was pronounced dead at a hospital 46 minutes after the Dec. 6, 1986 shooting. “Every indication at this point in time leads us to believe it was an accidental shooting,” Polio said at the time.

See original here:
University of Alabama-Huntsville Shooting Suspect Dr. Amy Bishop: A Politicized, Violent History Emerges

Michael Lynche: New Father, New Talent

It’s been a good week for Michael Lynche . The American Idol contestant was rumored to have been kicked out of this season’s top 24 because his father leaked his inclusion of that group prior to the air date (February 17) on which Fox will announce the semifinalists. But multiple sources now confirm this was a false report and Lynche is still alive in Hollywood. As if that weren’t enough of a reason to celebrate, Michael learned – on TV, at least, the show was taped a couple weeks ago – on Tuesday night that he’s a new father! His wife went into labor just as he was taking the stage to (successfully) audition. Might this string of good fortunate end with an American Idol title? Quick background information on Lynche: He describes himself as a mixture of Gnarls Barkley, Outcast and R. Kelly. Both Michael’s parents are pastors. He played Division I football at the University of Central Florida. Along with Andrew Garcia and Casey James, Michael has stood out among the men this week. Watch his initial audition below. Michael Lynche Audition

See the rest here:
Michael Lynche: New Father, New Talent

‘Jersey Shore’s’ Vinny: Sorry for Not Going to Yale

Filed under: Jersey Shore Vinny from “Jersey Shore” is really sorry the Northeast blizzard kept him from a charity event at Yale University — but fear not Ivy Leaguers, Vinny is still hell bent on partying with the smart kids. Vinny was supposed to host the “Kiss Away Cancer … Permalink

The rest is here:
‘Jersey Shore’s’ Vinny: Sorry for Not Going to Yale

Secrets of The New York Times’ Most-Emailed List, Revealed

Ever since Andrew Wiles solved Fermat’s Last Theorem, the greatest intellectual puzzle facing humankind has been: How does The New York Times ‘ “Most-emailed” list work? Science has finally given us the answer! A team of sociologists at the University of Pennsylvania undertook an exhaustive study of the New York Times most-emailed list. They first assembled a data set based on the contents of the list over more than six months. Then they dug in to see why stories ended up there. Thus they unlocked the secret of journalism’s holy grail— and perhaps even of virality itself. Their findings, as reported by the Times’ John Tierney , are a mix of the totally obvious and the Slate -y counter-intuitive. The obvious: A prominently-featured article is more likely to make the list, as is one written by a famous person. Slightly more surprising is the fact that longer articles were more e-mail-worthy. But the most fascinating findings are also the most useful for anyone hoping to make it on the only list that matters, journalism-wise. Using complicated math, researchers identified four qualities of an article which resonate with the ’email-this’ part of readers’ brains. Most-emailed articles are: Awe-inspiring: Being ‘awe-inspiring’ was the quality which most improved an item’s odds of making the list. These articles blow readers’ minds by dealing with something physically or intellectually enormous—a natural wonder, a work of art, a big idea, the indomitable human spirit, etc. People like to share awe-inspiring New York Times articles at lunch so they can forget their own puniness long enough to finish the workday. (Example articles: “Fury of Girl’s Fists Lifts Up North Korean Refugee” and “The Promise and Power of RNA.”) Emotional: If you want to convince a reader to hit the ’email this article’ button, try tugging on their heart-strings with a weepy tale of struggle or redemption. Soon, their offspring will be deleting yet another email from Mom with the subject “You HAVE to read this article. SO SAD!”. (Example: “Redefining Depression as Mere Sadness.”) Positive: “If it bleeds it leads”—the old newspaperman’s cliche—did not hold up under our researchers’ critical gaze. People like to share happy things, apparently. (Example: “Wide-Eyed New Arrivals Falling in Love With the City”) Surprising: Unsurprisingly, people like to share articles that are surprising. Think, things that make you go “woah.” (i.e. a story about chickens in Harlem, or a marathon-running restaurateur.) Using these four variables, we have visually dissected the top five most e-mailed Times articles as of 11pm, Feb. 9th, 2010. Study them, for they hold the secret of Internet immortality: 1. America is not Yet Lost 2. Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord 2. The New Math on Campus 4. Have Faith in Love 5. For Students at Risk, Early College Proves a Draw

See more here:
Secrets of The New York Times’ Most-Emailed List, Revealed

How to Get on The New York Times’ Most-Emailed List

In the years since Andrew Wiles solved Fermat’s Last Theorem, the greatest intellectual puzzle facing humankind has been: How does the New York Times “Most-emailed” list work? Social science has finally given us the answer! A team of sociologists at the University of Pennsylvania undertook an exhaustive study of the New York Times most-emailed list. They first assembled a data set based on the contents of the list over more than six months. Then they dug in to see why stories ended up there. Thus they unlocked the secret of journalism’s holy grail— and perhaps even of virality itself! Their findings, as reported by the Times’ John Tierney are a mix of the totally obvious and the Slate -y counter-intuitive. The obvious: A prominently-featured article is more likely to make the list, as is one written by a famous person. Slightly more surprising was the fact that longer articles were more e-mail worthy. (Because they were more interesting?). But the most interesting findings are also the most useful for anyone hoping to make it on the only list that matters: The researchers identified four key qualities of an article’s content which resonates on some psychic level with school-teachers, your grandmother and procrastinating college sophomores alike. The most-emailed articles are: Awe-inspiring: The quality which most helped an article reach the list was inspiring awe in the reader. That is, they blow their mind by making them contemplate something physically or intellectually enormous—a natural wonder, a work of art, a big idea, the indomitable human spirit, etc. People like to share with others their feelings of awe. (Example articles: “Fury of Girl’s Fists Lifts Up North Korean Refugee” and “The Promise and Power of RNA.” Emotional: If you want to be emailed, try tugging on a reader’s heart-strings with a weepy tale of struggle, or of redemption. They will be all “You HAVE to read this. OMG SO SAD/INSPIRING.” (Example: “Redefining Depression as Mere Sadness.”) Positive: The old newspaperman’s cliche of “if it bleeds it leads” did not hold up under our researcher’s critical eye. People like to share happy things, apparently. Surprising: Things that make you go “woah.” (i.e. a story about chickens in Harlem, or a marathon-running restaurateur.) With this science-approved information in hand, we have visually dissected the top five most e-mailed Times articles as of 11pm, Feb. 9th, 2010. Study them, for they hold the secret of “going viral”:

Read more here:
How to Get on The New York Times’ Most-Emailed List

Meet the Plastiki Pirates: David de Rothschild and Jo Royle:

David de Rothschild and Jo Royle dropped by Current HQ's to chat about their daring plans to sail from San Francisco to Sydney in a vessel made from plastic bottles as part of their mission to educate the world of the perils of plastic. In this 3 minute excerpt of the interview, David and Jo describe their mission, and play stat attack on plastics. You can watch more excerpts of the interview and the interview in it's entirety at current.com/green. David de Rothschild authored The Global Warming Survival Handbook, hosts the Sundance Channel's “Eco-Trip: The Real Cost of Living”, where he investigates the life-cycle and ecological impact of everyday consumer products from field to shelf. He was also honored by National Geographic as an 'Emerging Explorer', The World Economic Forum named him a 'Young Global Leader', and in 2008 Clean Up The World made David an 'International Ambassador'. Jo Royle is internationally recognized as one of Europe's leading female ocean yachts skippers. Jo's passion for ocean adventure has launched her into a professional sailing career, her accolades include being one of the few sailors to have circumnavigated South Georgia in the Southern Ocean. She competed in the prestigious two‐handed trans‐ocean race, the Transat Jacques Vabre, skippering the only all female team in the 40‐foot class. She is currently completing an MSc in Environmental Science and Society at the University of Central London. added by: leahl

The Dance-Card Problem: College Girls Outnumber College Guys, Misandrist Chaos Ensues

A trend showing women outnumbering men on some college campuses gave the Sunday Styles an excuse to find the worst people at these schools, and quote them . Women get painted as floozies, but men? We’re painted as seed-spreading, penis-powered primates. The problem is that some of it’s so, so true. Painfully so. An entire thesis can be written about Alex Williams’ piece, headlined ” The New Math on Campus ,” which starts like this: ANOTHER ladies’ night, not by choice. After midnight on a rainy night last week in Chapel Hill, N.C., a large group of sorority women at the University of North Carolina squeezed into the corner booth of a gritty basement bar. Bathed in a neon glow, they splashed beer from pitchers, traded jokes and belted out lyrics to a Taylor Swift heartache anthem thundering overhead. As a night out, it had everything – except guys. “This is so typical, like all nights, 10 out of 10,” said Kate Andrew, a senior from Albemarle, N.C. The experience has grown tiresome: they slip on tight-fitting tops, hair sculpted, makeup just so, all for the benefit of one another, Ms. Andrew said, “because there are no guys.” Forgetting that ” there are no men in this town ” is the “waiter, there’s a fly in my soup” of straight women’s blanket pejoratives— especially in New York, where the women-to-man ratio is also skewed in “favor” of men—when literalized, it apparently creates issues . These issues include: Questions from your parents about why you don’t have friends who are men, or a boyfriend. Fierce competition from other women for the “few men” on campus. Being good enough to get a man to stop “playing the field” and settle down. Which sometime gives way to promiscuous behavior and (this is a quote) “..Girls feel[ing] pressured to do more than they’re comfortable with, to lock it down.” Those things some women feel pressured to do more than they’re comfortable with include “a man’s cheating” as “‘that’s a thing that girls let slide, because you have to,’ said Emily Kennard, a junior at North Carolina. ‘If you don’t let it slide, you don’t have a boyfriend.'” This happens because men are creating a “man’s ideal” of relationships, according to a UGA professor, who claims this ideal to be, quite simply “more partners, more sex.” And then there’s this: “Commitment? A good first step would be his returning a woman’s Facebook message.” Finally, men can essentially show up drooling on themselves after huffing an entire case of Home Depot’s finest primer, and still get laid. “A lot of guys know that they can go out and put minimal effort into their appearance and not treat girls to drinks or flatter them, and girls will still flirt with them,” said Felicite Fallon, a senior at Florida State University, which is 56 percent female. Is the New York Times is trying to start some kind of gender-population war? Or are people really as awful as this article would lead us to believe? Probably a little bit of both. Because—real talk—the truth is: Your parents are old, tell them to STFU. They’re Baby Boomers and tried to fuck everything that moved because the “times were different.” Why are you listening to them now? If College Girls want the kind of man who enjoys this kind of “fierce competition” over him, then they’re inherently welcoming that competition. Why would College Girls want a man who doesn’t want to settle down in favor of putting his penis in as many women as he could? If they want that kind of man, they’re kinda welcoming that kind of behavior. If college girls are dealing with the kind of man who reserves his judgment of you based on what happens on “the first night,” they also welcome him into their lives to come and go as he pleases. Literally. Do women really want to be with a guy who forces them to condone that behavior? Also, does a guy want to be with a woman desperate enough to condone that kind of behavior? Because, really, I don’t. Noting a “man’s ideal” of relationships is “fucking everything that moves” is antiquated, misandrist bullshit. Each man has their own ideal of what a good relationship is. Mine is dating someone with the good sense not to put up with me being an asshole. Lots of men are actually like this! People who read too much into minimal communications—like Facebook messages, or texting—are going to eventually go insane. On the same token, since College Girl took College Guy home and slept with him after meeting him at a bar—presumably drunk—under what social contract does him not returning a Facebook message or a text make him a bad guy? If he used an emotional appeal to get there, it’s one thing. But if he used the appeal of raging, two hour drunksex, it’s just more misandry. Finally, if women lower your standards for men, they’ll probably respond in kind, by either (A) dropping to these new lows or (B) lowering their standards for women. Recently, there was a dust-up online when former Gawker contributor Natasha Vargas-Cooper noted on her blog ” The Evolutionary Difference Between Man and Bro ,” citing an example from author Julie Klausner’s forthcoming book on dating , noting how disenchanting dating some guys can be, and the length to which those experiences are tolerated. Another blogger— New York Press writer Jamie Peck— stepped in with this : It seems disingenuous to me, though, to habitually put up with this kind of treatment and then complain about it, unless of course, you like having something to complain about, in which case you should take up a healthier hobby, like shark hunting or heroin. I’m not saying it’s not shitty when guys behave this way, but you do have the ultimate power to walk. I’d rather not date anyone at all than have a man who makes me wanna kill (note: this does not mean you can’t fuck anyone; it’s that nebulous in-between thing that trips most ladies up). Correct! And there are many men who’d rather date women who don’t put up with this kind of shit. It’s just that none of them exist to—or were quoted by—the Times . Again, though: are we really to believe in 2010 that so many young women—Or at least the ones without blogs, and maybe even some of the ones with them?—are really so genuinely, commonly tolerant of men’s despicable behavior all in the name of love,? Evidence would suggest “no,” for the sheer inanity that the Times used to set their theory up, here. Figure 1: Jayne Dallas, a senior studying advertising who was seated across the table, grumbled that the population of male undergraduates was even smaller when you looked at it as a dating pool. ” Out of that 40 percent, there are maybe 20 percent that we would consider , and out of those 20, 10 have girlfriends, so all the girls are fighting over that other 10 percent,” she said. Congratulations “unconsidered” 20%. You’re apparently less likely to end up getting brain disease through your dick, as that’s easily one of the more despicable quotes delivered to the Styles Section , ever. Figure 2: Thanks to simple laws of supply and demand, it is often the women who must assert themselves romantically or be left alone on Valentine’s Day, staring down a George Clooney movie over a half-empty pizza box. *Throws hands up, tosses laptop on floor* Right, well. We’re done here. New York Times , please go fuck anybody but us, today. Particularly, yourself.

More:
The Dance-Card Problem: College Girls Outnumber College Guys, Misandrist Chaos Ensues

The Dance-Card Problem: College Girls Outnumber College Guys, Misandrist Bullshit Chaos Ensues

A trend showing women outnumbering men on some college campuses gave the Sunday Styles a good excuse to find the worst people at these respective schools, and quote them . Men are painted as seed-spreading primates, women as floozies. Everyone loses. The problem is that some of it’s so, so true. Painfully so. An entire thesis can be written about Alex Williams’ piece, headlined ” The New Math on Campus ,” which starts like this: ANOTHER ladies’ night, not by choice. After midnight on a rainy night last week in Chapel Hill, N.C., a large group of sorority women at the University of North Carolina squeezed into the corner booth of a gritty basement bar. Bathed in a neon glow, they splashed beer from pitchers, traded jokes and belted out lyrics to a Taylor Swift heartache anthem thundering overhead. As a night out, it had everything – except guys. “This is so typical, like all nights, 10 out of 10,” said Kate Andrew, a senior from Albemarle, N.C. The experience has grown tiresome: they slip on tight-fitting tops, hair sculpted, makeup just so, all for the benefit of one another, Ms. Andrew said, “because there are no guys.” Forgetting that ” there are no men in this town ” is the “waiter, there’s a fly in my soup” of straight women’s blanket pejoratives— especially in New York, where the women-to-man ratio is also skewed in “favor” of men—when literalized, it apparently creates issues . These issues include: Questions from your parents about why you don’t have friends who are men, or a boyfriend. Fierce competition from other women for the “few men” on campus. Being good enough to get a man to stop “playing the field” and settle down. Which sometime gives way to promiscuous behavior and (this is a quote) “..Girls feel[ing] pressured to do more than they’re comfortable with, to lock it down.” Those things some women feel pressured to do more than they’re comfortable with include “a man’s cheating” as “‘that’s a thing that girls let slide, because you have to,’ said Emily Kennard, a junior at North Carolina. ‘If you don’t let it slide, you don’t have a boyfriend.'” This happens because men are creating a “man’s ideal” of relationships, according to a UGA professor, who claims this ideal to be, quite simply “more partners, more sex.” And then there’s this: “Commitment? A good first step would be his returning a woman’s Facebook message.” Finally, men can essentially show up drooling on themselves after huffing an entire case of Home Depot’s finest primer, and still get laid. “A lot of guys know that they can go out and put minimal effort into their appearance and not treat girls to drinks or flatter them, and girls will still flirt with them,” said Felicite Fallon, a senior at Florida State University, which is 56 percent female. Is the New York Times is trying to start some kind of gender-population war? Or are people really as awful as this article would lead us to believe? Probably a little bit of both. Because—real talk—the truth is: Your parents are old, tell them to STFU. They’re Baby Boomers and tried to fuck everything that moved because the “times were different.” Why are you listening to them now? If College Girls want the kind of man who enjoys this kind of “fierce competition” over him, then they’re inherently welcoming that competition. Why would College Girls want a man who doesn’t want to settle down in favor of putting his penis in as many women as he could? If they want that kind of man, they’re kinda welcoming that kind of behavior. If college girls are dealing with the kind of man who reserves his judgment of you based on what happens on “the first night,” they also welcome him into their lives to come and go as he pleases. Literally. Do women really want to be with a guy who forces them to condone that behavior? Also, does a guy want to be with a woman desperate enough to condone that kind of behavior? Because, really, I don’t. Noting a “man’s ideal” of relationships is “fucking everything that moves” is antiquated, misandrist bullshit. Each man has their own ideal of what a good relationship is. Mine is dating someone with the good sense not to put up with me being an asshole. Lots of men are actually like this! People who read too much into minimal communications—like Facebook messages, or texting—are going to eventually go insane. On the same token, since College Girl took College Guy home and slept with him after meeting him at a bar—presumably drunk—under what social contract does him not returning a Facebook message or a text make him a bad guy? If he used an emotional appeal to get there, it’s one thing. But if he used the appeal of raging, two hour drunksex, it’s just more misandry. Finally, if women lower your standards for men, they’ll probably respond in kind, by either (A) dropping to these new lows or (B) lowering their standards for women. Again, though: are people really this lame? Evidence would suggest “no,” for the sheer inanity that the Times used to set their theory, here. Figure 1: Jayne Dallas, a senior studying advertising who was seated across the table, grumbled that the population of male undergraduates was even smaller when you looked at it as a dating pool. ” Out of that 40 percent, there are maybe 20 percent that we would consider , and out of those 20, 10 have girlfriends, so all the girls are fighting over that other 10 percent,” she said. Congratulations “unconsidered” 20%. You’re apparently less likely to end up getting brain disease through your dick, as that’s easily one of the most despicable quotes delivered to the Times , ever. Period. But it wonderfully illustrates the oft-ignored fact that women are just as capable of superficial judgment as men. So, either don’t hold it against us when we do it, or stop! Easy. Figure 2: Thanks to simple laws of supply and demand, it is often the women who must assert themselves romantically or be left alone on Valentine’s Day, staring down a George Clooney movie over a half-empty pizza box. *Throws hands up, tosses laptop on floor* Right, well. We’re done here. New York Times , please go fuck anybody but us, today. Particularly, yourself.

Read more here:
The Dance-Card Problem: College Girls Outnumber College Guys, Misandrist Bullshit Chaos Ensues

Scoring Sunday’s Nuptials: Fighting the Law, and The Law’s Hot Ivy League Lawyers

Don’t fight commitment. Don’t fight biological clocks, and don’t fight the NYT’s Weddings & Celebrations , who always win the battle over your inferiority complex.

See the original post:
Scoring Sunday’s Nuptials: Fighting the Law, and The Law’s Hot Ivy League Lawyers

Why Bernanke should have lost his job

Ben Bernanke is one of the country's leading scholars on the Great Depression.

Here is the original post:
Why Bernanke should have lost his job