So what, Skype is dead? It’s all Google Hangouts now?

I did notice that Skype was barely functioning but I don’t use it often enough to care. How do people find out that it’s time to move on? 

After George W. Bush’s first term, Democrats decided to counter his militaristic rhetoric with with a candidate who was also militarized. John Kerry started his acceptance speech at the DNC with a military salute and “blah blah reporting for service.” In the end, it was his military record that was used to sink him. 

You never take the battle to the territory your opponent had chosen. Instead, you need to stake your own territory. A fight that is fought on somebody else’s terms is likely to be lost. 

This is why I hope that the Democrats will not repeat this mistake and won’t run an entertainment figure in 2020. Especially since they seem inclined to run a woman. A female clown will always lose to a male clown. 

Harassment is not when a guy makes a romantic advance. It’s when he hears a no and refuses to accept it. 

There’s nothing evil, immoral, or wrong about approaching a person and expressing admiration and / or interest. What is immoral and wrong is insisting after a person makes it clear she is not interested. 

It’s normal for people to want to meet other people, including for romantic purposes. It’s normal to find somebody attractive and want to express your admiration. What’s not normal is failing to understand and accept that the interest might not be mutual. It’s the ones who keep insisting, moaning, begging, and droning on like broken robots that I hate. 

The edited volume I wrote an article for over the summer fell through because most contributors still haven’t submitted their pieces and haven’t indicated when or if they will. The due date was August 1. I don’t mind it for myself because the article is good and I’ll simply send it out to a journal today. But I remembered the names of the organizers and the participants and guess how likely I am to collaborate with any of them in the future. 

I always plan to finish everything at least two weeks (and usually a month) before a deadline in case I have an emergency or a major obligation pops up. To fail to submit a piece I committed myself for and not even get in touch with the editors to explain what happened is behavior I will never comprehend. 

I wonder how these colleagues respond to students who do this kind of thing in class.