Random Thoughts

Imprisoned Drug-Smuggling Physics Professor Wants A Raise

Physics professor Paul Frampton of UNC Chapel Hill is sitting in an Argentine jail, busted for trying to smuggle out 2 kilos of cocaine, but that hasn’t stopped him from asking for a raise on his $107,000 annual salary- raise as in he wants it doubled. Hey ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 23 2024 - 9:05am

We Need A Million Person March

N early 30 years ago, Minister Louis Farrakhan called for the Million Man March—a gathering of Black men to stand up for the power of Black people in reaffirming vigilance toward our civil rights and societal responsibilities. Now, as a Black transwoman, ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Nov 18 2024 - 10:50pm

An Open Letter to Nancy Mace: Go to Hell—or Propose Single-Stall Bathrooms. Sarah McBride show some backbone.

L et’s get something straight: your obsession with trans people using bathrooms is a distraction from the fact that most Americans can barely afford to put food on the table or pay rent. While you’re wasting time pandering to the most regressive parts of ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Nov 21 2024 - 6:55pm

Weekend Science: Liberals Love Liquor

Sociologists and psychologists know how to get attention- make a crazy claim based on correlations in population data or surveys of college students, use terms like factor analysis and p-value and statistical significance, and it will get into a journal. S ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Dec 11 2024 - 11:02am

Of Momshells And Snowmanning: How Holidays Change Popular Language

I rarely win when it comes to cultural language stuff. Before 1999, an attractive older woman, for example, was to me a "Momshell" and no woman had any objection to a portmanteau of mom and bombshell (if they heard it- but a woman should not hear ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Dec 17 2024 - 1:25pm

Holiday Chess Riddle

During Christmas holidays I tend to indulge in online chess playing a bit too much, wasting several hours a day that could be used to get back on track with the gazillion research projects I am currently trying to keep pushing. But at times it gives me ple ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 6 2025 - 4:49am

Lessons, Advice, And Reflections On Editing A Scholarly Book

In 2023, I bit the bullet by signing a book contract with Springer to work on a difficult compilation of scientific misconduct and problematic science publishing practice. It was planned as an edited book that required expert contributors of the field to ...

Article - Payal Joshi - Feb 5 2025 - 1:26pm

Science Of Sheryl Crow: Cell Phones Cause Cancer But Organic Food Prevents It

Progressives love to get celebrity endorsements for their beliefs, and for good reason; while the right is stuck with Clint Eastwood wandering around unintelligibly- and he disagrees with about half their platform- the other side's famous true believe ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Feb 6 2025 - 10:18am

Are Infectious Diseases A Social Justice Issue? A History Of The World In Six Plagues Has Answers

As we approach the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdowns, there has been ample time to look at what went wrong, and perhaps how we didn't learn much from history. There are many examples and while politicians ignored it, storytellers have not. I ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 20 2025 - 7:38pm

Number Theory In The English Department

(Image by Henry Reich)        One thing, singular. Two or more things, plural. Subjects must agree with verbs in number: It is, they are. ...

Article - Fred Phillips - Mar 10 2025 - 2:23pm