Affirmative Action at CUNY

Italians are making CUNY an offer they can't refuse.

They claim the university discriminates against them. The evidence: A judge ruled that there was discrimination in the past and the lack of progress has been "unconscionable." The university acknowledged a "need" to recruit more Italian-Americans. And the Equal Opportunity Employment Comission of New York ruled their case has merit and yet . . .

the New York Times thinks it's a farce because Italians are white.


My thoughts: I don't know what definition of white they are using but those wops and guineas are pretty much half-way to being "the blackest specimen of the wilds."

I'd know. I'm pretty much a full-blooded Italian.

And don't Italian's comprise more than 8% of the city population? So why are "Italian-Americans represented [by] about 7 percent of the full-time instructional staff[?]"

Probably the same reason white people make up about 65% of the U.S. population and no more than 50% of the MIT undergraduate study body.

Dean Reloaded

This is a great video.

Ignorance is Bliss

A story from The Onion.

They should poll people when they finish the story and ask if they felt more like "that's funny because some people are like that" or "it's funny but sometimes I'm like that!"

I wrote about the Muslim community center earlier.

The Snob Test

Yesterday I asked whether J. K. Rowling should get the next Nobel Prize in Literature.

The answer, obviously, is yes. No author is more widely read and enjoyed than Rowling. She also uses her books to promote human rights causes (see: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) which, some say, figures into the discussion.

But something that trivial isn't the point. The point is that that question is one part of my patented "Quick Check, Self-diagnostic Snob Test." If you answered "no" you might be a pretentious fuck, or you could just be under the influence of one.

I'm not sure when I'll publish the full list. I'm actually not even done with it, and I feel it needs to be calibrated with a set of people who refer to soccer as "football" or "futbol" by which they mean "I'm a refined cosmopolitan" which is code for "I'm better than you."

Great Speech

This is great.

More from Japan

A good story from Japan. (HT: Marginal Revolution)

Is Sarah Palin an idiot?

Everybody knows Sarah Palin is a dumbass.

But is she?

She does pronounce nuclear like half the country does. And if someone pronounces words differently from your they're obviously an idiot. I was shocked when I came to MIT found out everyone was an idiot. They were hyped about "eye-ern man" since Tony Stark was an MIT grad. Don't know they it's pronounced eye-ren? I guess it's true that science people can't read.

So maybe judging someone on a proxy for their ethnicity/culture is stupid. Maybe it's even wrong.

Still, everyone knows Palin is an idiot based on those interviews with Katie Couric. She gave nonsense answers to basic questions about foreign policy while Joe Biden hit Couric's barrage of curveballs out of the park.

See for yourself: Biden and Palin

Palin contradicted herself. Everyone knows that the constitution guarantees a right to privacy which implies a right to kill your fetus. It's the same principle behind why you can have gay sex in the privacy of your own bedroom, or slaughter your 5 year old and hid the body in your walk-in closet. Er, sometimes states have a legitimate interest in restricting privacy like to save the life of a child. But she still bit a bullet . . . (no explanation of how)

Even if you don't buy that, you have to admit she did have her with the the next question. What Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with? By name, please.

Couric did hammer Biden on that negative advertising question. Isn't it obvious Obama had no idea they were running negative ads? Joe must have been telling the truth. And isn't he great with the fans?

So there you have it, rock solid evidence that Sarah Palin is a complete moron compared to the rest of the politicians who tend have such a great grasp of the issues.

Quote of the Day: Facebook Edition

I did my nightly Facebook log-in and this was the second thing in the news feed:

A: You play ultimate? That's awesome. I gotta hook up with the ultimate team some time . . .

B: Nice man, you should come out and play with us. . . . chances are I know your hookup.

This is only funny is that is a misunderstanding about the word "hookup."

It's Kind of a Funny Story

I don't know how I missed hearing about it.

Zach Galifianakis is in another movie and it looks like the best of the bunch. I like most feel good comedies, but they tend to come up a bit short compared to screwball comedies. They're either too long (The 40 Year Old Virgin, She's Out of My League) or need more comedy (Knocked Up). Maybe this one will have the right touch.

Star Wars Comedy

failbook is pretty funny. This is the best one I've seen.



More comedy: this is funny. But numbers 3, 5, 15, 16, and 19 are painful truths.

Quote of the Day

Schuster opens the door.

Schuster: Oh, it's you. . . . I'm waiting for a package.

Steve: I got your package right here.

Fill in the stage directions.

Ghosbusters 3

It's never going to happen, via Bill Murray.

He also comments on Los Angeles:

It's like the first day you check into a hotel in L.A. there's a message under your door. The second day, there's eleven messages under your door. The third day, there's thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy messages. And I realized that they just want fresh blood. They. Just. Want. Fresh. Blood. You gotta get the hell out of there.

Stories

This is tragic. But it shows how powerful stories can be when our priors are weak, even for rational, objective people.

Colleges have a lot of programs that try to inculcate a very expansive definition of rape to students because, lets face it, rape and bike theft are part of college life. I always thought those programs were a waste. If you get raped you'd know it, but you could easily be traumatized and in denial. In that case, I don't think the programs would help. If you're a friend she confides in though, it should be easy to reassure her she's right, right?

Wrong. A true story someone posted on a forum:

My friend went over this guy's house just to see him. She knew him all through high school and she was just going to visit just to see him. So she gets to his house and they are the only two there. She just wants to chill downstairs and talk but he clearly wants to take things up to his bedroom. She suggests that they stay downstairs and just watch T.V. So, after awhile of going back and forth about this, he pulls her off the couch and forces her go upstairs. He tries to get her to have sex but she keeps saying no and trying to get back downstairs. Then at one point and he leaves the room and shuts the door and tell her when he gets back, she should have her clothes off. When he comes back, she still has her clothes on and she didn't undress. So he takes them off of her and then it happens. She got him off her and got dressed and started crying. Was that date rape?

Now just one moron wrote that--that is as small of a sample size as it gets. But in this case my prior was so weak that the story completely changed my mind about those freshmen orientation programs.

Your Mom

I got a cheap iPod touch thanks to a supply shift that drove down prices. And they say classical economics is dead.

I use it to make notes, like this gem:

Tax: Do you usually sleep on your back?

Steve: ...

Tax: I usually sleep on my side.

Steve: I usually sleep with your mom.

True story.

Back to the Future

I read that yesterday was the day the Doc and Marty arrived in the future in Back to the Future 2.

My first reaction was that that's bullshit. Everyone knows they go to 2015, not 2010. My second reaction was to feel like I was kind of a geek, at least a few fleeting seconds.

The whole story is here.

Markets in Everything

This is the strangest job opportunity I've ever heard of.

This one is more my style. (HT: Marginal Revolution)

John Fitzgerald

This "8.9 on Hot or Not, Ivy League grad, Mensa member, can bench . . . over 1200 lbs." single-handily killed the notion that nice guys finish last with his epic display of class on Match.com. No one, it appears, can finish behind John Fitzgerald, former (self proclaimed) star of "Male Egos: Out of Control."

Now he's back in action, running a scam modeling agency and trying to extort money from some 19 year old girls.

Are you gay?

The best airplane comedy since Snakes on a Plane.

No comment

No comment:

Darrell Bess . . .  likes to be around good books, has an appreciation for international foods and music, and believes in cleanliness. By most accounts, he seems like a man of refinement.

Yet . . . police say that on Wednesday Bess . . . was found bathing naked in a library restroom sink while in possession of four pounds of parmesan cheese and two stolen CD's.

Hipsters

“Is that haircut intentional?” I asked.

Aubrey rolled his eyes. “It’s ironic.”

“Do you mean sideways?”

“I hope that question is ironic.”

“It is,” I lied. He was so cool.

from an investigation of hipsters.