In case of emergency, how to move the solar system. (h/t, Elephants Gerald) || Little wooden woods. || Gardening gloves of note. || Grounds for divorce, a possible series. || Augmented reality for dogs. || I’m sensing doubt. || Just a few weeks, they said. || Awkward. || Kicking option. || Hokum pays. || Nippy. || “Possibly a chess piece.” || Our betters hate capitalism. || Angry bird. || Critical Drinker reviews The Boys season two. || One bedroom, one bathroom, outstanding view of airport. || About bloody time. || Not untrue. || That’s exactly how I would have done it. || Not as easy as it looks. || The thrill of Marks & Spencer’s Food Hall. || Furnishings of note. || And finally, madam, you must choose quickly.

FIRE report on the fallout of a class on global trade: 

As it has in earlier years, [adjunct professor Richard] Taylor’s instruction focused on early global trade, including trade in silver and potatoes. As part of the class, he also covered the more pernicious aspects of early trade, such as slavery, the abuse of indigenous populations, and the spreading of disease. On his final slide was a discussion prompt: “Do the positives outweigh the negatives?” A lively discussion ensued. One student said slavery could never be justified. According to Taylor, he clarified that no one is justifying slavery and asked students to consider global trade as a whole, including lives lost to disease and lives saved from famine.

None of which proved sufficient to prevent Professor Taylor being removed from his classroom and found guilty of “bias” – without appeal, without reference to any specific violations of policy, and without seeing any evidence of misconduct. Activist students, who seemingly prioritised activism over learning, accused the professor of committing a “heinous crime,” and of posing a “threat to the safety of our BIPOC [black, indigenous and people of colour] community.” For which, they insist, he should be “terminated fully.”

At which point, readers may wish to consider the possibility that “social justice” activism – in this case, waging a spiteful, nakedly dishonest smear campaign in order to destroy a man’s livelihood and thereby feel powerful – is much more exciting than studying, especially if you’re not particularly equipped for academic activity – a demographic from which such activists are very often drawn – and much more likely to gratify any malevolent inclinations.

That left-leaning educators and campus administrators generally pretend that these aren’t the kind of variables to consider when weighing accusations of “bias” – and a somewhat improbable “threat to the safety of our BIPOC community” – says quite a lot about the kind of people they are too, and the kind of environment they inhabit.*

Thom Nickels notes a scandalous development: 

Philadelphia Weekly, one of the city’s most venerable leftist “alternative” newsweeklies, has rocked the local journalism scene with its announcement that, starting next year, it will provide Philly readers with a different kind of alternative: it will change its editorial outlook from hard-liberal to conservative.

And Craig Frisby on what isn’t racism:

Headpool. || Cranky when peckish. || From King Kong to Fleischer’s Superman, animated scenes. || “Pull on string” and other things seen by car mechanics. || The unspanked, a possible series. || Inconvenience of note. || Biometric security using veins. || Brøndby Garden City. || Launching satellites with a giant gun. || Seating solution of note. || The spirit of innovation. || Nommy nommy nom. || Always remove the nails. || Choices have consequences. (h/t, Perry) || Kagoshima. || The creatures who teach your children. || Somewhat related. || This is one of these. || Always remember, someone’s day was worse than yours. || Six dancers, one spinning platform. || And finally, musically, some daddy-daughter time.

Time for an open thread, I think. In which to share links and bicker.

Oh, and over on the shopping channel QVC, the conversation turns to higher matters. 

Time for another visit to the pages of Scary Mommy, a publication for progressive mothers, and where Ms Christine Organ has a problem:

For years, I’ve known that I have trouble sitting still, that I find projects and things to fret over. I need to literally schedule time to binge watch TV, and I multitask like a freaking boss. What I don’t know is how to let my mind and body rest.

You see, leisurely uses of time, including “lounging about on a rainy Saturday afternoon,” are fraught with mental hazards:

When I do something enjoyable – with no other “productive” purpose – I feel guilty… I’ve always thought that this is just how I’m wired (and maybe it is), but there’s something else at play too,

Happily, Ms Organ has fathomed the cause of her agitation and sorrow:

I suffer from internalised capitalism – and you probably do too.

Ms Organ, an “author and storyteller,” and user of Xanax, hints, almost coyly, at her own political leanings:

I’m on the democratic socialist end of the spectrum.

Then teases us some more: