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(I recently “unstuck” the 1965 Project Index so that it no longer appears at the top of this blog. I have been sidetracked by several other things, and I haven’t had time to post on this topic for a good while. But I continued my explorations into 1965 — especially on the musical side and eventually will return to posting about it. The sad fact about writing is that often long stretches go by when you are unable to write about the things you want to write about. This is one of such times).
The doorman fallacy. Coined by Rory Sutherland to refer to conspicuous jobs in a company which seemingly provide no value, but which “strips away the true complexity of what a doorman provides.” :
If that’s the entirety of the job, a technological solution can easily replace the doorman, reducing costs. However, this strips away the true complexity of what a doorman provides.
The role is multifaceted, with intangible functions that extend beyond just handling the door. Doormen help guests feel welcome, hail taxis, enhance security, discourage unwelcome behaviour, and offer personalised attention to regulars. Even the mere presence of a doorman elevates the prestige of a hotel or residence, boosting guests’ perception of quality.
When you ignore all these intangible benefits, it’s easy to argue the role can be automated. This is the doorman fallacy – removing a human role because technology can imitate its simplest function, while ignoring the layers of nuance, service and human presence that give the role its true value.
I have been shocked and outraged at how the state education board is adopting an anti-Islamic social studies curriculum. The article includes many statements by protesters:
“Slavery existed for thousands of years before Islam,” said Sarah, an 11-year-old softball player who did not provide her last name. “It is unfair to label slavery as Islamic without also discussing the Christian role in the slave trade to the Americas.”
Equally shocking is the extent to which the State of Texas has undermined academic freedom at Texas state universities. Professors are fired for ideological reasons, leadership is micromanaging curriculum decisions and a lot of courses are removed from GenEd classes simply because they have mentioned some topic that Texas politicians disagree with.
Political entanglements in universities is hardly new. When I taught in Albania, I saw how universities were undermined by politicians. And states have regularly tried to reign in departments that were too out there. But academic freedom used to be cherished in the Texas university system. In the 1980s and 1990s these ideological skirmishes were rare even in Texas. The flagship state universities (University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M) were regarded as mainstream universities — especially UT Austin.
What undermined this bedrock of higher education? First, the increasing use of adjunct professors has undermined the tenure system. It’s harder to achieve full time teaching status, much less have tenure. Second, the state in general has been strangled by reactionary thinking. In 2024 alone, Trump beat Kamala Harris by almost 14 percent. Greg Abbott has successfully implemented an ideological agenda, and Ted Cruz has managed to fend off challenges for his Senate seat. You can get away with lots of things in Texas that would be practically impossible anywhere else.
For the moment private universities in Texas (like Trinity, Rice, SMU and Southwestern) have preserved their academic integrity, but then again, you become dependent on your funders. I often wonder what choices I would have made if I were entering the university today as a student. My National Merit scholarship probably wouldn’t have been enough to pay for my tuition, and my parents would have had trouble affording to send me even to state universities.
Over time I have come to appreciate that low-cost universities offer good alternatives to elite universities; instructors are often just as dedicated and competent. That is simply the result of the oversupply of PhDs. That said, when everybody is struggling to get full time hours and when you can’t do research to produce knowledge and your department is setting controls on what you can teach, how effective can a teacher be? And how conducive to learning can a community college class be?
Here’s NPR’s look at the new TV season. I am most looking forward to the Different World reboot (loved the original show) & Cupertino (made by Robert and Michelle King of the “Good Wife/Good Fight”). Also, looking forward to HBO’s Gilded Age (due next year) and wish some streamer would stream Canada’s “Son of a Critch” (the funniest show I watched last year). When I get a moment, I can’t wait to watch PT 2 of Netflix’s “100 Years of Solitude”(also outstanding).
Here’s Slick (YT), a promising satirical web series about PR companies helping fossil fuel companies. I watched the first episode which was hilarious.
RobWords does a deep dive (YT) into the logic of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet (W). Let’s see if I remember it: Romeo Oscar Bravo Echo Romeo Tango – Juliet Alpha Mike Echo Sierra — November Alpha Golf Lima Echo. Wow, even though I tried memorizing it, I tripped several times — and I was writing, not speaking. Also, I see they have code words for numbers and punctuation marks. I guess I should also remember my email address: India Delta India Oscar Tango Papa Romeo Oscar Golf Romeo Alfa Mike Mike Echo Romeo AT Golf Mike Alpha India Lima Stop Charlie Oscar Mike.
HARTMAN REPORT: Trump:
— announced that he’d taken the oil,
— then that he’d taken the money from the sale of the oil and put it in a bank with the country that had given him a free 747 jet,
— hired traders with bribery records,
— refused to publish the contracts,
— put his own hand-picked cabinet members in charge of both the disbursements and oversight, and
— then sent Bessent to Congress to say, “No” when asked if we could please, please know where it’s all gone.
He quotes Elizabeth Warren:
“There is no basis in law for a president to set up an offshore account that he controls so that he can sell assets seized by the American military. That is precisely a move that a corrupt politician would be attracted to.”
To my amazement, I’ve just learned that the milestone Up Series British documentary recently released 70 Up. I have blogged about the series several times already, and my anticipation for 63 Up could not be matched. Even though it was released in 2019 in UK, it did not reach the US except at limited screenings at city museums. I bought my ticket well in advance in 2020, and I know the precise date of it: Friday March 13, 2020.
Maybe that date doesn’t ring a bell, but it definitely was historic. That was the week when most corporations and governments decided to close their doors because of the uncertainties surrounding the COVID epidemic. I had bought tickets for 63 Up well in advance. That same week, my office closed, and so did schools, sporting events and international travel was halted. As luck would have it, the museum announced that it was closing on Saturday March 14, leaving the March 13 movie date untouched.
I drove into the city to go to the museum. Maybe 20 people were there, and as far as I could tell, few of them were steeped in the lore of the movie as I was.
I first watched the Up Series after I signed up for Netflix’s DVD service. (7 Up was one of the first movies I rented!). Immediately after that I rented 7+7Up, 21 Up, 28 Up, 35 Up, 42 Up and 49 Up. One of the most amazing things about the 42 Up movie is that it included a running commentary by the director himself. one of the movies ( 42 Up) is that the DVD included DVD commentary from the director — both about techniques, details about the filming and the ethical questions posed by the documentary itself.
I was aware that the birth dates for many of the participants was 7 years ahead of mine (actually it was 8; they were mostly born in 1957). While watching the documentary, I found myself marveling at the similarity of sentiments being expressed by the younger versions of these participants. But of course, these people were older than me, and so 56 Up was the first movie that I watched when the participants were older than I was.
That event was memorable for me. I brought along my friend Dora (who had not seen any of the other series, but I had told her about). At the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the movie hall was packed; there was not an empty seat, and I could not control my excitement. When the movie finally started, there were all sorts of surprises and updates. When one of the participants who had dropped out of the series reappeared, the crowd erupted into spontaneous applause. I realized then that this was not an ordinary movie audience, but a large number of people were people like me who had stumbled upon the series and enthusiastically savored each revelation. These were my people, I remember thinking.
Probably by now people have forgotten about 70 Up or the rest of the series. But for me it is a milestone and an omen or even a warning about what the future holds in store for me and the rest of humanity.
LIAR IN CHIEF: When T accuses CNN/MSNOW/POLITICO of “Fake News,” it’s important to remember that T said that Obama was not born in USA — and continued repeating essentially the same falsehood for 5 years even after T’s lie was quickly exposed. T’s political career was essentially launched by lying, and it’s obvious that T will do everything to try to vilify those who try to report events accurately.
QUOTE:…(I)t’s not a coincidence that the last 5 recessions, and 7 of the last 8, have happened under Republican presidents. Look ’em up: December 1969, November 1973, January 1980, July 1981, July 1990, March 2001, December 2007, February 2020. Only the 1980 one happened under a Democrat (Jimmy Carter). In fact, you can go back to 1953 and add 4 more recessions, all of which happened during GOP presidencies. That’s 10 out of 11 in the postwar era. Trump is responsible for one of them, and admittedly it was not entirely his fault. It was pandemic-driven. But if Leon Cooperman and Gary Shilling are right and he presides over another one, it will be entirely on him. He may have driven the country into the ditch, but at least he will have exploded the “we need a businessman” myth with a force no liberal Democrat could ever hope to. (MIchael Tomasky on the upcoming Trump recession).
John Oliver does a deep dive into the Brazilian election (YT) which happened last weekend. Son of right-wing leader Bolsonaro apparently did very well, leading to a likely resurgence of right-wing nationalism in Brazil (and continued deforestation of the Amazon rainforests).
Study: Using AI reduces your ability to persist at hard things.
Last night I had a crazy dream that I was sleeping outside and several snakes were slithering around me. One was really close, and I realized that I was stuck and defenseless. Upon waking, I went to YouTube to see if anyone had talked about depicting yourself from snakes. Wes Kingfisher did a 15 minute talk about the topic and put my mind to rest. (YT) It turns out that Wes is actually an AI creation designed to sell books (which I’m guessing are also AI-generated). Oh, well.
Trump and company are adept at doing things so outrageous and amoral that ordinary people are stunned into silence. In the past 24 hours, Trump’s secretary of defense has announced that they will livestream video of a public execution, Trump will allow the purchase of Russian-produced diesel fuel and Trump threatens more punishments against the International Criminal Court.
Laura Miller on the sweater detective TV genre.
I remember eating at this Kyiv MacDonalds in January 1998 — about 1 or 2 months after it opened. Lines were absolutely mobbed at Ukraine’s first McD, and it was close to the city’s center — right across from the city’s main metro stop. At the time, many Ukrainians didn’t view it as anything special (they still preferred their Varenyky) , but over time this restaurant has survived multiple Russian attacks and become another symbol of Ukrainian resilience.
WHY TRUMP HELPS PUTIN. “Trump’s craving to stride the world side by side with Putin has been evident for many years. But Putin’s criminality and barbarity were obstacles. Now Trump has decided to move past that. Vlad is his man. Abandoning Ukraine is not a bothersome price for Trump to pay. He and Putin have been like lovers kept apart for too long. With just over two years left in his reign of madness and facing a likely drubbing in the midterms, Trump has resolved to make his dream a reality. They can be together. That was always the plan. That was always the destiny. Trump has gotten what he wanted. So, too, has Putin.” (DAVID CORN)
Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed responds to a hostile question about his Muslim faith and turns it into a teachable moment. (YT) He reminds us that JFK faced similar hostility about his Catholic faith… Frankly I am stunned by the extent of anti-Muslim attitudes in my own state of Texas — mainly emanating from the Republican side.
Globe Trekker Nostalgia
I have always been a fan of this crazy travel show called Globe Trekker (W), this long-running show (200+ one hour episodes) which usually was on PBS at random hours. Eventually I got the hint and started reserving the DVDs from the public library. Each episode was delightful and revelatory and fun as hell. I could never travel to all these places, but the DVD adventures offered a vicarious and educational thrill like no other.
The show had about 20 presenters, with 4 or 5 primary ones. From the start Ian Wright and Justine Shapiro did the most of the shows — (Wright was the zany comedian while Justine Shapiro was the scholarly type). Later they had the beautiful and funny Megan McCormick and several others who were all as fun to watch.
The best thing about the show is that the tourist spots and adventures were so random and unexpected. It started out as a practical show about tourism, but over time it just involved adventures and meeting interesting people. It’s easy to compare it to the equally interesting Rick Steves adventures, but Steves was modest, affable and well-informed. In contrast, the Globe Trekker shows were about serendipity and experiencing the thrilling adventures as young adults and the people you met along the way.
This YouTube playlist provides about 9 or 10 full episodes — enough to give you a taste of the show. It’s worth seeking out the DVDs for the higher video and sound quality –although I should warn you, most of these episodes came from the 1990s and 2000s which were still just getting the hang of high definition.
I am thrilled to learn that some of the main people behind the show are hosting a video podcast, Our Looney Planet with Ian & Justine which goes behind the scenes. I can’t wait to watch the episodes starting with the first episode with special guest Megan McCormick!
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