November 12, 2009 – 8:19 am
If you’re going to SSHA too, say hi!
November 10, 2009 – 8:00 am
I’m scheduled to teach intro to sociology next term for the first time in 30 years. It will be a small (15-20 students) honors section (targeting freshmen), so I’m thinking of centering the course around sociology’s most important ideas (rather than the “little bit of everything” approach) and the reading on 4-6 good books interspersed [...]
November 9, 2009 – 10:55 am
The APSA sent out an email today bringing our attention to the Coburn amendment to strike the NSF budget for political science because, well, who needs them anyway? It turns out that the amendment was defeated on November 5, by a vote of 36-62.
November 8, 2009 – 11:10 pm
Shakha posted the other day about how he hates the Yankees. I hate them too. And today I see Ari Fleischer’s op-ed in the NYT lamenting (since he’s a Republican) that the Yankees haven’t won under a Republican since Eisenhower. In fact, going back to the depression, they’ve got 3 “World” (aka the US) Series wins under [...]
November 7, 2009 – 2:53 pm
A while ago I noted that I had not read many of the “famous” articles in sociology. I knew what was in them; many I had skimmed. But I hadn’t actually taken the time to seriously read them myself (you know, taking notes on them, thinking about them, etc.). So I decided to correct this. [...]
November 5, 2009 – 9:44 am
NYU sociologist Judith Stacey is McMaster’s 2009 H. L. Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor, a position locally referred to as “The Hooker.” Every year, The Hooker delivers two lectures and meets with graduate students in relevant departments. We are very honoured to have Dr. Stacey here this week, and yesterday’s lecture on the alternative family structure [...]
November 5, 2009 – 1:26 am
I’m irrationally partisan. Red Sox fan here. I love living in NYC. But tonight… well… ugh. I’d rather be anywhere else.
November 3, 2009 – 1:13 pm
Obituary here. This is going to make me sound like a terrible person. But I didn’t know he was still alive. So the hugeness of the news is somewhat lost on me.
October 30, 2009 – 8:29 am
So a while back I submitted an article to a journal, which we shall call the Drekistan Journal of Sociology.* In the meantime, as the months have gone by with the wheels of publication grinding inexorably onward at their usual glacial pace, I was tagged for two reviews by the same journal. I completed both [...]
October 30, 2009 – 8:24 am
H1N1 is stressing me out. A wave of it is going through the local schools. Four kids in Hamilton are in the ICU (that’s half the pediatric ICU beds in the city), and one healthy young boy died recently in a neighbouring town.
At the same time, the vaccine is tantalizingly close to being available. The [...]
October 27, 2009 – 8:19 am
So, I got sick at the ASA this year. It was the worst timing possible. I started feeling sick on the airplane to San Francisco, a flight that carried about 12 sociologists on it, one of whom was seated right behind me across the aisle. I spent the 5-hour flight contemplating barfing in front of [...]
October 23, 2009 – 12:45 pm
On my way to Toledo, OH (presently writing from the Westin Hotel in the Detroit Airport — they have free wifi, fyi). The plane here was packed. I wondered, as I checked in, “why? We’re leaving at 9AM from NYC to Detroit. I can’t imagine it’s that busy a route…” My answer arrived as I [...]
October 22, 2009 – 5:48 pm
I do mostly think about things besides Freakonomics (my first two posts notwithstanding). But since I got this bee in my bonnet about the climate chapter I’ve been watching their blog to how they would respond to the avalanche of criticism. And I came across a gem today that shows why you should never trust [...]
October 21, 2009 – 4:19 pm
Since this hasn’t been said (at least not directly) here yet:
What I find disturbing about this whole recent spasm regarding the public relevance of political science is that the “hard” sciences are automatically assumed to have relevance and therefore are immune to critiques about exotic questions and lacking “obvious public benefits.” I spent about [...]
