The Underemployed Academic

snarkeet: newworldorganization: kosmonaunt: newworldorganization: kosmonaunt: newworldorganizati...

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:24:04 -0400

newworldorganization:

kosmonaunt:

newworldorganization:

kosmonaunt:

newworldorganization:

why are all black dudes muscular omg

idk? :c

i mean im not complaining but shit

it’s like they were bred to be that way

Well that is a possibility I mean when you take history into account. And well, Blacks went through selective breeding and all back in the slave days.

good point

I’m a black dude. Why am I not muscular? :(

Snythol it up bro.

The Underemployed Academic: Tumblr is turning me into a cranky person.

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:03:38 -0400

The Underemployed Academic: Tumblr is turning me into a cranky person.:

thatpretentioustwit:

a-wind-temple-in-appalachia:

aondeug:

unemployedacademic:

The fandoms here, the fandom wars, the obsessions the freak outs the ridiculous devotion to mediocre shows, all of it is wearing me out and making me hate shows I was okay with or even liked.

I’m not sure what it is about this community, but unless I was a really hard core fan going in this place…

This is why I try not to follow too many people really. And most of those I do follow haven’t really flooded my dash too terribly with things like that. Though I might have a higher threshold for this shit than you do as well. That’s another factor to keep into mind.

And it damn sure is why I never go around the tags for media I like save once in a blue moon to look for very specific things.

If I do go tag hunting its for things like “Feminism” and “Misandry” because I find so much shit that just makes me shake my head. Then I show it to a friend and laugh because it is the only defense I have against the suffering I subjected myself to willingly.

this is one of a number of reasons that fandoms are the actual stupidest thing.

While I guess obsessing over mediocre works can be annoying, I think overall fandoms are a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about what you like.

Just to be clear I’m not saying you shouldn’t openly love the stuff you love, it’s just something about the way it gets expressed on Tumblr wears on my patience.

I’m not proud of this mind you.

Tumblr is turning me into a cranky person.

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:43:00 -0400

The fandoms here, the fandom wars, the obsessions the freak outs the ridiculous devotion to mediocre shows, all of it is wearing me out and making me hate shows I was okay with or even liked.

I’m not sure what it is about this community, but unless I was a really hard core fan going in this place has made me hate it. I think the only reason it hasn’t turned me on Firefly is just that the saturation of Firefly stuff is lesser (due to there not being much new Firefly content) than for other shows. It’s not even individual people, I think it’s just that my dash gets filled up with people proclaiming shows I thought were ‘okay’ the best thing ever that I now reactively hate those shows.

Why Obama Is Suddenly Under Siege

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:43:00 -0400

Why Obama Is Suddenly Under Siege:

Slate returns to cheerleader mode.

Remember with a scandal before you reject, or embrace it imagine the sides were flipped and how you would react.

Here’s what drives me nuts about Slate/MSNBC, they’re party people not ideology people. I don’t watch much FNC so it could be exactly the same, but I remember some of the conservatives under Bush were ripping him apart on spending and other issues he failed at as a conservative (see Jonah Goldberg) whereas Slate doesn’t care about the progressive/liberal movement, only the democratic party, so when their guy fails their side’s goals they brush it off like it doesn’t matter, and refuse to take their guys to task.

So lets be honest here.

Benghazi was a cluster-fuck but it’s the sort of cluster-fuck that would happen no matter who was in office. It was horrible, but rather predictable horribleness borne of agencies and politicians covering their asses.

IRS: This might not have gone to the top, it might not touch Obama but this story stinks worse than rotten fish and that needs to be admitted. The incompetence of the IRS people shouldn’t be ignored nor should the political gamesmanship, we don’t know where this went, but the chief executive always bares some burden.

the AP Scandals, both of them are pretty shitty, the entirely redacted document makes the most transparent administration line a sick, sad joke, and the hack and pull of phone records is shady and the sort of shit the left (rightfully) complained about under Bush.

So do we know that any of these scandals were directly the fault of Obama? nope, in fact they likely weren’t under his direction, however, that’s not how Presidential politics works. When this shit happens under your watch you end up taking heat for it, and having to clean up after it.

These are real scandals even if they weren’t directly manipulated by the President and they should see the light of day. Let’s not brush this shit off to help “our guy” we shouldn’t have “guys” anyway.

What do you care which party holds power? what matters is which ideas direct our governance, not the party label. If you’re a liberal and the Democrats are failing you don’t defend them just because they’re democrats. If you’re a conservative don’t stand up for republicans who fail, be honest and hold your people accountable.

winstonwolfe: nationalpostsports: Is this the best way to...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:58:58 -0400

winstonwolfe:

nationalpostsports:

Is this the best way to share your feelings? Yes. Yes, it is.

Philadelphia Eagles guard Evan Mathis responds to the recent IRS scandal by urinating (or fake urinating) on an IRS sign. This is how you change the world, people.

That’s going to result in an audit. Just a guess.

At this point it looks like anything will result in an audit.

Reading List

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:35:37 -0400

Because you asked for it!

Well at least I assume some of you meant to ask for it but forgot…

Anyway, a quick recap of what I’ve read lately and some recommendations therein.

The Righteous Mind

This book by Jonathan Haidt (PhD) explores and explains much of the underlying psychology of morality and moral decisions. It differs from much of the research in the area by casting a wider net than just the US or the US and Europe, thus it helps discover many of the differences that are unique to the west. The book and authors should also be commended for having gone to great lengths to not be that politically biased. Many people (it’s even reported in the book) start their research having clinically problematized the opposition. So they don’t research why Republicans and Democrats are different, but why republicans or democrats are wrong and stupid.

I strongly recommend this bok to anyone interested in like, people or the world.

The Wisdom of Crowds

I found this book less interesting and insightful but I was kinda the wrong audience for it. I went into it having already read/researched a lot of its thesis. The basic thesis is that information and knowledge is spread more horizontally than vertically, if you have a bunch of moderately informed interested people they’ll perform better than a few deeply informed experts. If you’ve followed my blog for a while you would know that my first real work here was an experiment applying this to the NFL draft.

If you’re not schooled in economics and related fields that this draws upon a lot then you’ll probably find it more interesting.

Road to Serfdom

I’ve read this book a couple times, this time I read through it to take notes for my girlfriend who’s started a journey into libertarianism but is unaccustomed to reading economics. The book is mostly philosophical, and it is a classic for a reason, the points made are salient and important, and Hayek is capable of turning some powerful phrases.

Fat Politics

This book was relatively fascinating, it’s basically about the politics behind the “obesity epidemic” and how we came to the point where we consider ‘weight gain’ to be an epidemic disease. I think it’s a good read for anyone particularly interested in understanding a lot of the BS behind obesity and the like.

The Rational Optimist

I’m not finished with this book, not even half way through, but seriously, buy it.

Obama Is Making the Case for Conservatism Better Than Mitt Romney Ever Did

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:27:14 -0400

Obama Is Making the Case for Conservatism Better Than Mitt Romney Ever Did:

It must get confusing in the IT department at the Associated Press: Are you talking about the hackers who hacked our Twitter account or the Justice Department hackers who hacked our phones? Monday, the Associated Press reported that the Justice Department had secretly obtained two months of records of phone conversations by its…

Rare bit of insightful honesty from Slate, they used to have more of this but lately have just been cheerleaders for their own party.

Photo

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:47:57 -0400

cloudforhire: So much why This is pretty standard for New...

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:38:55 -0400

cloudforhire:

So much why

This is pretty standard for New England once you get out in the country, though the lawns are too well taken care of.

How the IRS Targeted Tea Party Groups for Abuse

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:20:14 -0400

How the IRS Targeted Tea Party Groups for Abuse:

The government agency apologizes, says “mistakes were made.”

I’m tempted to just repeat a lot of what Jon Stewart said about this story, but lets break this down.

We had the IRS one of the most feared governmental institutions targeting political groups based on their orientation covering it up and then offering a limp wristed apology.

I just want that to sink in, the level of bullshit it takes to have this sort of thing happen. This is not acceptable behavior from the IRS, it should not be a partisan institution and it should be a fair one. It’s already feared because no one knows what the tax code actually is. Everyone’s a little afraid they’re going to fuck up somewhere with our ridiculous Byzantine process. If you have our IRS with our tax code picking on groups based on their ideology they’re going to catch people who made small honest mistakes of no real consequence and do damage to them. This is an accepted evil of our terrible taxation system, but when you aim it politically?

That’s fucking bull shit.

Daily Kos: Top 10 Jobs in Libertarian Paradise

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:33:43 -0400

Daily Kos: Top 10 Jobs in Libertarian Paradise:

Tired of Big Gubmint getting in the way of your entrepreneurial ambition? Ready to Go Galt and shrug all the welfare queens off your shoulders so you can have the riches you deserve? Well, I have …

What we’re fighting against:

So I’m tempted to go point by point and refute this, but I’ll keep it short. This writer is first off a bit of an idiot and I’m feeling generous. Now we can accept that this is humor, so depictions don’t need to be accurate, but this person seems to have “libertarians” confused with “red neck conservatives” which makes for some weird moments. Mostly it’s that Libertarians tend to be nerdy and asocial, not chest thumping and deep south.

However the fundamental misunderstanding of what libertarianism means and is about is actually rather frustrating. I take these things as a reaction against the fact that libertarians are getting some attention right now, but in all honesty.

This is asinine.

Substitute Teaching and why my children will be going to private school.

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:16:00 -0400

So I substitute teach, it is one of my many infrequent part time jobs that fills me with self loathing and despair. I’m being dramatic, I actually enjoy it most of the time, I especially like when I get to teach, but there are things I run across that annoy me, and a lot of it comes back to my horrible experiences in public education.

I like to think that academically I am a moderate success, I graduated undergrad in 4.5 years after transferring and changing majors (I went from history to a double major in Economics and Political Science) from one of the better schools in the region. From there I went to Northeastern and got a Masters degree in Comparative politics with a fantastic GPA. I did get into University of Florida, but since it was an unfunded offer I refused it.

While I would ideally like to continue my education to the PhD level I am choosing to forgo it since I haven’t had luck in my applications, and it’s time to get on with my life and look to earn money.

I tell you that so you know where I’m coming from when I say if I’d stayed in my public school system (one of the top ones in the state, and I do live in an affluent state) I would be a failure right now. I have always had a stubborn streak, I’m clever and I don’t like wasting my time. Before I had developed discipline I was awful at getting my school work done, I was an only child and a nerd so I was socially weird and I had bad hand writing.

My school’s solution? test my IQ look for a problem, and they ‘found’ one. There was a sufficient gap between my top score and my bottom score, mind you my lowest score was 115, but that was enough to get me branded as special needs. Now my scores on things didn’t count against them and they got extra funding to deal with me. And they used this funding on other things because all I got was put in a room with legitimate problem kids and pulled out of proper education.

When I see things like that happen when I’m subbing it drives me nuts, when I see the financial waste at the schools it drives me nuts. I also have discovered I have no patience for the people who administrated me at that level.

If you want a personal argument in favor of changing the school system from our current one, this is mine. When I went to the state funded school that is separate from the competitive system I was shunted aside, what mattered most was the funding I provided not my education. After middle school I left for a private Catholic school and was challenged and forced to learn and deal. I made Honor Roll, and every semester and year my grades improved to the point that I got an academic scholarship offer for college. That’s because the private school needed my parents to want me to go there to get the money, the public school got the same amount.

People talk about how the market breeds greed? That’s not bad, that means they need a good product, where I was “protected” from the market I was used to pad someone else’s pocketbook with no regards for my own education.

Remember competition means you can only survive if you provide a mutually beneficial arrangement.

WHEN MY SECOND THOUGHT AFTER SEEING A BABY DEER IS WONDERING WHAT IT WOULD TASTE LIKE

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:15:40 -0400

whatshouldwecallpaleolife:

I can tell you the sound one makes when someone’s dog kills it is horrifying.

weepinglesbian: dance-tunes-to-fail-to: atticussfinch: this...

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:48:10 -0400

weepinglesbian:

dance-tunes-to-fail-to:

atticussfinch:

this was my final test in art today

i’m glad students aren’t the only ones who give up at the end of the year

JESUS CHrist,

“Draw a conclusion”

Guessing from the PER at the top it’s for highschool, because if I was paying tuition I would be fuckin’ pissed off tbh.

General Trend

Sun, 12 May 2013 01:08:00 -0400

No science here, no research nothing, but hopefully a few people can contribute.

One thing I’ve observed about life is that people love to over-estimate their own virtue, and see excessive vice in others.

The rich are always completely self made, and the poor are obviously dumb and don’t work hard enough.

Thin people are thin because they have perfect self control, the fat are fat because they lack said control.

Sane (neurotypical I guess would be more accurate) people can keep their head in a situation because they’re more level headed, issues be damned.

Can anyone else think of other situations where people tend to dismiss the other factors that could predispose or even guarantee certain outcomes for people but are treated as if they were completely under conscious direction of the righteous and the fallen?

For the foreseeable future

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:27:10 -0400

Expect to see some sort of original content from me everyday, or at least every weekday. I have no artistic skill so it will be text. I hope my few followers do enjoy, but realize that you can expect some wandering of topics since I have so few followers and this is mostly an attempt to keep myself busy.

Changing Media

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:25:00 -0400

This will be short, but one of the new developments that has a lot of potential to bring new types of television shows and movies to light is the increase in the amount of firms and places producing television. We now have Amazon Prime and Netflix Original and I believe Hulu is producing and publishing it’s own television as well.

When you have a change in the production of a good or service you have a change in what’s available. We’ve been stuck with old methods of production for quite some time, the major television networks are beholden to models that are going on 50 years old (at least most shows are live broadcast to the east coast anymore) and worse these old models are extraordinarily expensive.

With great expense comes a higher degree of risk aversion, if you wonder why so much of TV especially on the prime channels is so samey, it’s because with predictably mediocre TV they can expect certain returns. There are exceptions of course, but it isn’t surprising that a lot of the best TV shows have been off of the prime channels.

Places like FX and USA have had great shows, Sci-Fi back in the day had fantastic TV, and the hope is that these new studios with lower costs and less entrenchment in ‘old ways’ can bring new and interesting things to bear.

witchofpea-chan: man-of-clay: they’re like mini-island turtles...

Sat, 11 May 2013 16:13:21 -0400

witchofpea-chan:

man-of-clay:

they’re like mini-island turtles holy shit

I want it

I need four very small turtles.

As an addendum to my last post, I am a big guy, but I’m...

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:09:13 -0400

As an addendum to my last post, I am a big guy, but I’m not freakishly huge where I’m an obvious outlier to ideal weight schemes, the point is that any conception of ideal weight should be individualistic. I have a friend, exact same height who if he weighed what my 0% BF weight is would look like a balloon, assuming the two of us should be the same weight is ridiculous.

Hubris

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:51:00 -0400

I may be a bit odd when it comes to weight things, I’ve been heavy my whole life and I’m currently approaching the leanest I’ve ever been (excluding pre-schooling years) at 6’1” 280lbs 26%BF.

I have a lean body mass over 200 lbs, so when I see things like “ideal weight calculators” I like to play a game. I look at what their max allowed weight is and figure out how much lean mass I would have to lose to get down to the “healthy range”

First lets take the BMI this is the current standard of measurement that drives much of our medical debate about weight and the “obesity epidemic” (we can later discuss the inanity of naming weight gain an epidemic disease) for my height and age (26 years old) my maximum allowable weight would be 189lbs.

So if I got to 0% body fat, I would be about 204lbs. I’d also be dead, but I would be 15lbs over weight, my doctor would tell me to lose weight to get down to the healthy range.

However, the BMI is actually a bit more forgiving than other measures.

According to the Miller formula I would have to be 164lbs to be at my ideal weight.

Now before we discuss the insanity of how much lean mass I would have to lose to get down to there lets address the hubris of this all.

There are statisticians and numerical manipulators who believe they can construct a 1 size fits all formula for the ideal weight of all people based on very few variables.

Height

Age

Gender

Some don’t even use all three, the Met Life Tables which are the most forgiving to me at least account for the size of your frame (barely) and would permit me to be 197lbs.

Most of these are based on correlations and observations, many of them old, and many of them don’t scale up well for height. There is an inherent hubris to think you can tell someone their ideal weight based on a simple formula like:

D. R. Miller Formula (1983)

There’s no accounting for muscle mass, bone structure, varying bone densities, life style etc. We can later address the issues of conflating weight with health, but first let’s consider a better formula.

First of all we should do away with an “ideal” and present something along the lines of “healthy weight range” similar to how the BMI and Met Life tables do.

Second of all we should base it around body fat percentage, as the villain in most of these stories is adipose tissue, not muscle or a large frame.

Essentially a better approach would be more individualistic and not create a good looking chart you’d have something along the lines of:

Current weight

Current Body fat percentage

Age

Gender

From that you find lean tissue and prescribe the healthy range based on what the weight would be for that percentage of body fat.

In my case:

Current Weight: 286 lbs

Current BF%: 26 (I use a handheld detector so not the most accurate thing ever)

Age: 26

Gender: Male

Lean Mass is 204lbs

Healthy range is 222 lbs (8% body fat) - 253lbs (19% body fat)

As I said this wouldn’t fit on a simple chart that you can put up to give people something to starve themselves to. On the other hand it’s also a more realistic appraisal of your healthy weight range, there are no doubt faults, we can pick different ranges etc and the healthy fat range for people is individualistic, but it gives us a better idea than a simple linear relationship between height and ideal weight.

P.S. just to give some reference I added a few pics, point is I’m big but I’m not some hulking behemoth or power lifter who would make up an obvious outlier.

http://unemployedacademic.tumblr.com/post/50112151508/as-an-addendum-to-my-last-post-i-am-a-big-guy

Look at my legs, I’ve only been weight lifting for 7-8 weeks now, I’ve weight lifted before but not with any regularity for 2-3 years. I have big strong legs though because they used to carry around what was recently a 350lb frame, by being heavy for a long time I will have a higher lean weight than other people.