Relaxed section for discussion and debate that doesn't fit anywhere else. Whether it's advice, how your week is going, a link that's at the back of your mind, or something like that, it can likely go here.
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I stayed up all night long setting up my new (refurbished) phone: a Pixel 8 Pro. I put GrapheneOS which I am thoroughly enjoying. I find the lack of RCS support a small price to pay for warding off the nagging "AI features".
I also got into the Niagara Launcher which makes my brain happy to look at. Imported some old Vampire the Masquerade TTFs and played graphic designer. Wish you could make the text red!
Bat!! Niagra Launcher is very nice but I like my silly widgets too much
This is my "once I get a job" project. I recently finished my own home box and it actually works. My next step was how to turn a Samsung pushing AI all over me into my own phone again. GrapheneOS and an old Pixel looks phenomenonal.
I’m glad Monday is over. Too much organizing to do, plus work, plus a stomach bug. Not a fan.
Next up, my second arch-nemesis: Tuesday.
Enjoy seeing the snow covering everything, with no melting expected for a while.
I gave up on Academia after waffling around for a few weeks (and posts if you see my history). Despite not having my university job anymore, I lead a research project and helped organize a large network of scholars. In these roles, I finally witnessed the hubris and narcissism so many warned me about. It came to a head this week. People not offering meaningful collaboration, had my work stolen and used in a massive survey without credit, hierarchy suppressing knowledge, and exploitation. Two items really stand out as the nail in the coffin:
A scholar joining a panel I'm forming had really wonderful contributions to make. Now, they are trying to change its direction and want to present their own work. Caustic. I'm kicking them off. Before I could boot them, they signed me up to be a reviewer in their journal without my permission, and assiged me to review their work. What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. People. Violates every ethical checklist I can think of. Hard pass.
A great chat with a person who met in person with me to tell me why they didn't give me a job. Yes, you read that right. In person feedback. But they explained why the decision was made, redirected me to contacts, and said I was an immensely accomplished person. It was validating and empowering. Best job rejection ever. The possibilities on the outside are there I just didn't see them because I didn't know about them.
Welcome, new academia dropout! Trust me, it's better this way. I'm sorry to hear you had to deal with hubris and narcissism. Not surprisingly also my least favourite part about it and indirectly the reason I ended up quitting my PhD.
My supervisors were a married couple and all my work was rated facing a team of 2 people who would always take each other's side and were never open to hearing my perspective on my own work. The graduate school later informed me they never should have been my only supervisors. Yay for paying it forward I guess.
Anyway, it might still be a little fresh but when applying for positions outside of academia, start thinking about how to phrase your challenges or hangups there as avenues for personal growth. Corporate loves that shit.
Good luck out there!
Much love and thanks!
Wishing you the very best going forward.
Always enjoy getting these simple words in this forum. Truly.
I have spent almost two months investigating and documenting targeted racial abuse of black children on one of the biggest social networking sites in the world. There is zero news or YouTube coverage about this problem, and I am currently the only one actively documenting it. I don't have a huge platform, so it is hard for me to get engagement. I didn't succeed spreading the word on other places, so Substack is my last resort.
Other than that, my week is fine. Gonna take a break from all the horrors.
If you've got data, reach out the either ProPublica or The Guardian. Sucks to lose the single byline, but they have far more resources.
Every day of my life is ruled by mob mentality. All the bullshit people tell you is a lie about "you are responsible for you own personal emotions". Billionaires run my nation minds, everyone around me where I live is programmed by Rupert Murdoch billionaire... Fox News HDTV. You can't escape the Fox News thinking patterns. The ability of the richest people in the world to hire graphic artists and hire sports athletes to run around in rectangles and create square blockhead thinking exceeds anyone's ability to escape the Television Fox News programming. Every day of my life is worse since June 16, 2015 - Bloomsday year 2015 - because people around me can not think freely and want a violent weapon revolution as programmed by Rupert Murdoch's hired commercial artists. You can see the stone-heart soul in their eyes, the Charlie Brown blockhead sports-rectangle-field logic of programmed billionaire thinking.
"what Putin will do next — that he’s unpredictable and thus dangerous. We’re rendered stunned, spun, and flummoxed by the Kremlin’s weaponization of absurdity and unreality.” - year 2014
September 9, 2014
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/russia-putin-revolutionizing-information-warfare/379880/
Revolution is needed against this, with people not afraid to take the propagandists offline, strip their wealth to rebuild, and toss them and their supporters into confinement in a humane prison (you can't be liberated only to become the oppressor and retain your freedom, see Freire) but with no connection to the outside world and no possibility of parole. Their crimes are so huge, its too dangerous to even consider. But no one seems to have the stomach to do what needs to be done, the real hard work of meeting violence head on with collective and organized action.
Until that happens, they'll continue to win. And winning they are.
Keep writing and keep speaking. Those, though small acts, are acts against oppression. Every word typed or written, even if you're the only audience, is an act of resistance.