Monthly Archives: March 2006

Oblivion!

Posted on March 30, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I’ve got to do a better job of breaking up the “Grandpa Burke Tells the Rest of the World What To Do, Dammit” posts with more fun stuff. I mean, these days, the best blogs I’m reading are several great … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming | 11 Comments

Your Assignment: Turd in the Punchbowl

Posted on March 30, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I had a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Historical Analysis at Rutgers that was one of the more satisfying professional experiences I have ever had. The topic for the year was the history of consumption and commodities, and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 4 Comments

Kenyon’s Confession

Posted on March 28, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I have been a bit surprised at how surprised some observers are about Jennifer Delahunty Britz’ op-ed piece in the New York Times regarding the role of gender in the admissions process at many selective private colleges and universities. Britz … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 29 Comments

School Ties

Posted on March 21, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Margaret Soltan has been doing a fantastic job lately of tracking stories about the poisoned, hopelessly corrupt relationship between higher education and athletics. Here we are in the middle of March Madness again. This year, as every year, brings to … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 8 Comments

Battlestar Galactica Season Ender

Posted on March 14, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Avert your eyes if you haven’t seen it yet! Reading over some of the fan sites, especially the official forum, it’s amazing to see the stark division of opinion on the episode, with about half loving it and half really, … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture | 4 Comments

The Parasite Within

Posted on March 14, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I’ve been telling critics of the war in Iraq for three years that they have to take the neoconservative argument about American foreign policy seriously when it’s made by serious people like Paul Berman, Paul Wolfowitz and a smattering of … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 26 Comments

Dungeons & Dragons Online

Posted on March 8, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Boy, isn’t it always the way: you get to spring break with a long list of things to do and then you get sick. So while I’m trying to get over this sore throat, I’ve been looking into the current … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming | 5 Comments

Lines, Grids, Legibility: A Follow-Up on Summers

Posted on March 2, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Richard Posner and Gary Becker have been arguing in the wake of the Summers resignation that what universities need is far stronger structures of centralized leadership and control, with a relative removal of faculty from governance. I find myself tempted … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 6 Comments

Same As It Ever Was

Posted on March 2, 2006 by Timothy Burke

The Kenyan government has launched what amounts to a brazen assault on press freedom, sending hooded police into the offices of a major newspaper and burning an entire print run. The minister of Internal Security was ready with a depressingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | 7 Comments

Full of Dis-passionate Intensity?

Posted on March 1, 2006 by Timothy Burke

During Monday night’s program on Open Source, which I really enjoyed participating in, there was a brief moment where the studio I was in dropped its connection, just as I was about to say something mildly critical about Swarthmore. (Everything … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 5 Comments