Department of biology professor at Alabama university murders chairman of the biological sciences department and two associated professors. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/13/alabama.university.shooting/?hpt=T1)
FUCK.
FUCK!
I heard about this just now, and I really have no words.
More here: http://membracid.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/tragedy-at-uah/ if you want it.
For gods sakes though, at least look here: http://membracid.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/academia-is-a-cult/
Bug Girl says it much better than I could. Right now I'm just reeling.
Wow, that is seriously fucked-up.
God damn.
My disillusionment with academia is progressing nicely, at least.
Quote from: Horrendous Foreign Love Stoat on February 14, 2010, 04:41:08 AM
wow. he must have completely bugged out.
She, in this case, which is worth noting only because it is much rarer for women to go on psychotic murderous shooting sprees.
AND she shot her brother to death in 1986 but was never charged for it? :? Weirder and weirder.
I'LL TEACH THOSE FUCKERS TO HORN IN ON MY LAB TIME. THE CUNTS.
That 1986 incident is very odd. Expect the conspiratards to be all over that, if they're not already.
As for the current shooting, it'll be interesting to see what relationships she had with her victims. The Head of Department suggests there may have been work related problems, but associate and assistant professors are pretty low down on the food chain, so unless something else was going on, them being targeted doesn't make sense. Unless I'm reading this all wrong and it wasn't a work related shooting but a psychotic break, in which case all of the above should be disregarded.
Quote from: Cain on February 14, 2010, 01:36:11 PM
That 1986 incident is very odd. Expect the conspiratards to be all over that, if they're not already.
As for the current shooting, it'll be interesting to see what relationships she had with her victims. The Head of Department suggests there may have been work related problems, but associate and assistant professors are pretty low down on the food chain, so unless something else was going on, them being targeted doesn't make sense. Unless I'm reading this all wrong and it wasn't a work related shooting but a psychotic break, in which case all of the above should be disregarded.
She also injured three other professors. It seems like she was trying to all out destroy the department in one blow. Maybe a psychotic work-related breakdown...
A university biology department has essentially been destroyed.
I don't care what my adviser says. Academia is a toxic status cult.
Damn, my bad, I conflated the names of the wounded with those killed. I need another coffee.
According to the BBC, she was denied tenure by the department. So wiping the whole department out makes sense, as a thesis. I've read about the tenure process in the US and it sounds absolutely hellish (we don't do it over here). Given how many years it takes just to be considered for it, I can understand being pissed off at being denied it and wanting to whack someone. Of course, wanting to and actually doing it are two distinct things, and should not be confused.
Again, I am going to recommend Going Postal by Mark Ames. I'm surprised he hasn't already got an article out on this.
Heh, tenure is about the worst idea ever.
UAH is one of the three campuses in the University of Alabama system- I'm a Biology major at UAB, one of the other two. This is pretty close to home for me.
:x
Yeah the Going Postal book came to my mind instantly on reading that. Americans have little left to live for than their jobs, apparently. So when that feels fucked, you just blow away everything and everyone you see as part of the problem? Ugh. Although, seems she's a bit mentally "off" no matter what, but still...the Ivory Tower is not so tower-ish when it comes to company politicking.
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 03:19:13 PM
Americans have little left to live for than their jobs, apparently.
Obviously. They're conditioned since birth to think that way.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 04:05:30 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 03:19:13 PM
Americans have little left to live for than their jobs, apparently.
Obviously. They're conditioned since birth to think that way.
Despite growing up with the Nike ads, I totally agree.
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 04:17:12 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 04:05:30 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 03:19:13 PM
Americans have little left to live for than their jobs, apparently.
Obviously. They're conditioned since birth to think that way.
Despite growing up with the Nike ads, I totally agree.
"Wear our shoes and pretend you aren't a fat ass."
That's just to make people feel like they're okay, so they can continue being productive.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 04:28:23 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 04:17:12 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 04:05:30 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 03:19:13 PM
Americans have little left to live for than their jobs, apparently.
Obviously. They're conditioned since birth to think that way.
Despite growing up with the Nike ads, I totally agree.
"Wear our shoes and pretend you aren't a fat ass."
That's just to make people feel like they're okay, so they can continue being productive.
:lulz: I meant "If it feels good, do it."
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 04:38:55 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 04:28:23 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 04:17:12 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 04:05:30 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 03:19:13 PM
Americans have little left to live for than their jobs, apparently.
Obviously. They're conditioned since birth to think that way.
Despite growing up with the Nike ads, I totally agree.
"Wear our shoes and pretend you aren't a fat ass."
That's just to make people feel like they're okay, so they can continue being productive.
:lulz: I meant "If it feels good, do it."
Ah.
Looking around, it feels good to stuff Big Macs down our pie holes and waddle from place to place, worrying that our jobs will be in Maylasia by this time next year.
COMFORT FOOD + PARANOIA BOUT XENOPHOBIC SHIT = AMURRICAN WAY OF LIFE
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 06:21:34 PM
COMFORT FOOD + PARANOIA BOUT XENOPHOBIC SHIT = AMURRICAN WAY OF LIFE
Also,
Comfort cars that you can't afford (Those payments sure are comfy!).
Comfort homes on nice comfy mortgages (For two years, then comfy reality sets in.).
Comfort politics that are spoon fed to you (To save you the discomfort of thinking.).
Comfort Television that lets you be comfortably outraged.
I'm sure I've missed thing or three, but you get the point.
You're not trying to...comfort...me, are you, Rog? :(
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 06:31:43 PM
You're not trying to...comfort...me, are you, Rog? :(
Everything will be okay.
Until it isn't.
But tomorrow never comes.
Until it does.
Heh, it hasn't been explicitly hashed out very much, but there is definitely an implied assumption in all of our comforts and conveniences- that we somehow merit them.
Quote from: Sigmatic on February 15, 2010, 06:46:48 PM
Heh, it hasn't been explicitly hashed out very much, but there is definitely an implied assumption in all of our comforts and conveniences- that we somehow merit them.
Get the <insert luxury item> you
deserve.
How many times have you heard THAT on the radio/TV/pop-up ad? Why DO I deserve a Lexus? What did I do to merit that? My favorite one is for computers..."Even if your credit is bad, you can still get the computer you
deserve." If my credit is shitty, then I obviously don't deserve a damn thing, I'd think.
But it's damned effective advertising, in a nation full of people that honestly DO believe that they
deserve any impulse item they see.
America does deserve something, though, and they're going to get it. Hell, some people already ARE getting it. You can tell who they are, too, by the "For Sale" signs stained in arterial blood out front of the McMansion they just HAD to have (because, one presumes, they
deserved it.).
For 30 years, we've confused "want" with "deserve", and now it's time to pay the piper what HE deserves.
AMERICA: FUCK YEAH, WE ARE THE ENTITLEMENT COMPLEX!
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 06:55:22 PM
AMERICA: FUCK YEAH, WE ARE THE ENTITLEMENT COMPLEX!
I feel a rant coming on.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 06:56:41 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 06:55:22 PM
AMERICA: FUCK YEAH, WE ARE THE ENTITLEMENT COMPLEX!
I feel a rant coming on.
Blow hard, blow well, when those chunks fly, Heir Doktor. I await the stream!
I do remember my mom and dad talking about the younger generations wanting their houses before they earned the $ to pay for them, and the cell phones and cars before they were paid off...but guess who bought their kids their 1st cars and gave my brothers cell phones before they were 16?
Uh huh.
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 06:59:21 PM
I do remember my mom and dad talking about the younger generations wanting their houses before they earned the $ to pay for them, and the cell phones and cars before they were paid off...but guess who bought their kids their 1st cars and gave my brothers cell phones before they were 16?
Uh huh.
Cell phones, I can see. They actually serve a purpose. The cable will be cut before my kids' phones are, as it DOESN'T serve a need.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 07:00:29 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 06:59:21 PM
I do remember my mom and dad talking about the younger generations wanting their houses before they earned the $ to pay for them, and the cell phones and cars before they were paid off...but guess who bought their kids their 1st cars and gave my brothers cell phones before they were 16?
Uh huh.
Cell phones, I can see. They actually serve a purpose. The cable will be cut before my kids' phones are, as it DOESN'T serve a need.
Nah, they didn't need them--my mom didn't work, she was available a large part of the time if they needed her. It was laziness on my parents' part, and it was a way of checking out of their own responsibility in keeping up my brothers'.
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 07:03:08 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 15, 2010, 07:00:29 PM
Quote from: Jenne on February 15, 2010, 06:59:21 PM
I do remember my mom and dad talking about the younger generations wanting their houses before they earned the $ to pay for them, and the cell phones and cars before they were paid off...but guess who bought their kids their 1st cars and gave my brothers cell phones before they were 16?
Uh huh.
Cell phones, I can see. They actually serve a purpose. The cable will be cut before my kids' phones are, as it DOESN'T serve a need.
Nah, they didn't need them--my mom didn't work, she was available a large part of the time if they needed her. It was laziness on my parents' part, and it was a way of checking out of their own responsibility in keeping up my brothers'.
The kids have the phones because I need them to have phones, due to:
1. Everything here is too far to walk (4-9 miles in 117F temperatures is too far), and they don't have licenses yet. So I can either revolve my life around their social schedule, or I can go get them when they call.
2. I work weird hours. I need to be able to contact them. I don't, often, but the capability is a must for me.
Yeah, for a single parent, they're the bomb. But my brothers had my dad who made his own hours and my mom who yeah did shopping for a living the last 5 or so years they were home/in h.s. They used them for entertainments. Just fed into the whole "gimme" complex they had all throughout my dad's short tenure as a rising mogul. Crashed and burned within 6 mos of his jailing, though.