University faculty moving towards the middle, away from radical 60’s

In a survey of academics across the nation, a majority of university professors are now over 50 years old.  With looming retirement, many of these professors, who started in academia as children of the 1960’s, are consistently seeing new hires 20-30 years younger than them.  The new professors are self professedly more moderate.

Among professors:

“Self-described liberals are most common within the ranks of those professors aged 50-64, who were teenagers or young adults in the 1960s,” ….. making up just under 50 percent. At the same time, the youngest group, ages 26 to 35, contains the highest percentage of moderates, some 60 percent, and the lowest percentage of liberals, just under a third.

story

Summer Latin study

With all the contributions the Romans gave to Western culture, I am a little disappointed that when people hear me say I am taking “Latin Literature”, they think of Latin American culture first- i.e. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, et al.  Foundations of law, architecture, philosophy, politics -albeit from the Greeks have you- have come to us from the Romans.

Today I begin my first upper division Latin literature class.  I do not know what material we will be going over, but I have a preference for translating a lot of shorter pieces from many authors than a long work from a single author.  No Cicero- he is too sophisticated for my comprehension level as yet.

Why English stripped naked for me

With a few quarters of Greek and Latin completed, but more owing to Latin, I have been uncovering the previously assumed definitions of an assortment of English words.  I am guessing the average person would think that such activity is excessive; etymology is for scholars who write dictionaries, whoever they are.

However, English words are often made from compounds of Latin words, or corrupted Latin.  And an understanding of that derivation actually helps one’s vocabulary and comprehension of one’s own language.  Take the word Lieutenant.  This word is French, comprised of Lieu and tenant.  Lieu means place and tenant means holding.  This French construction follows from the Latin original:  Locus tenans, with the same meaning.  Now instead of a strange word, Lieutenant, we understand it to be a compound, meaning essentially, one who holds or acts in the place [of another].

Isn’t this understanding much more satisfying than saying merely- lieutenant: substitute acting for a superior- which is the dictionary definition?

Homer’s return calculated via astronomical cues in Odyssey

A couple of Scientists believe they may have pinpointed the day Homer came back after wandering for 19 years.  Among other signs, they used a solar eclipse to date the homecoming at April 16, 1178 B.C.  Such exactness!

The practical implication:  we can now establish an official Homer-coming day by proclamation of the President.

story

Discovered: The most practical job for a philosophy major

While reading Truehoop, a blog on ESPN.com about the NBA, I came across a post getting a professional gambler’s take on the NBA referee scandal.  In case you don’t follow sports, an NBA referee was indicted last summer in connection with betting on games, some of which he presided over.  Anyway, Mr. Haralabos Voulgaris (ironically appropriate last name) makes a living exclusively from betting on NBA games.  According to the interview he watches thousands of hours of tape, analyzing matchups for his statistical models.  Whence did he get these analytical skills which he has turned into crass and lucrative wagering?  He was a philosophy major.

I was in the process of getting a degree in Philosophy at the University of Manitoba and I began to wonder what I was going to do with myself, the prospect of continuing my education and going on to grad school wasn’t too exciting.

So he did the next logical thing- he bet on professional athletes who jump around and throw a piece of inflated animal hide into a metal loop suspended ten feet above the ground.  

I think the NBA has gone through a successful slogan transitionary period.  Once it was, “The NBA…….its faaaaaantastic.”  Now its, “Where amazing happens.”  But I think we have uncovered the next wave, “The NBA……more exciting than a philosophy degree.”

 

full interview