Spectrophotometers and electron microscope

Regarding the University of Maryland's impending move to the Big 10, Alex Prewitt of the Washington Post writes:
According to one individual privy to internal discussions within the Maryland athletic department, the school is also considering the move because of academics. Big Ten members, along with the University of Chicago, a former member of the conference, comprise the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium in which members collaborate on academic endeavors. Opportunities for expanding research in the agricultural, biotechnological and engineering fields, the individual said, presented an enticing allure for Maryland.
Why the anonymous informant? Wouldn't the school prefer that people perceive this decision to be about academics and not money?

I enjoyed my dad's sarcastic reaction to this part of the story: "I can only imagine athletic directors considering sharing of spectrophotometers and electron microscopes."

Popular posts from this blog

Incumbents didn't stand a chance

Image
Kamala Harris had an advantage in fundraising and campaign mobilization. Yet she got trounced. The lesson is that advertising and organizing doesn't matter in politics, right? Wrong. In the battleground states where she leveraged those resource advantages, Harris underperformed Joe Biden's 2020 results by 1.6 points . In the non-battleground states where she did not meaningfully compete, she underperformed 2020 by 3.9 points . This means that i n the places where the Harris campaign spent money and organized and knocked on doors, she did better.* Duh, it wasn't enough. Yet consider the political environment in 2024 for incumbent parties: across the world this year, each governing party facing election has lost vote share. Every single one. (This is the first time that had ever happened.) No one would suggest that Democrats pat themselves on the back when the result of their efforts is a Donald Trump victory. But look at this chart:**  The red dot is the 2024 Democrats, the ...
Read more

USC goes commando

Image
I've always thought USC cheerleaders were pretty classy (to the extent that such a classification is possible in the cheerleading world). They wear long-sleeved white turtlenecks, rather than the skimpy tops donned by most cheerleading teams. But yesterday I discovered that a USC Song Girl named Megan Ramer doesn't wear underwear. Britney Spears, are you responsible for this?
Read more

Paperweights have become paperweights

Image
When something goes unused or becomes obsolete, it's said to become a paperweight. Is your cellphone slow and out of date? It's become a paperweight. Is your laptop too slow to use? It's become a paperweight. Do you never use your Apple Vision Pro? It's become a paperweight. Weirdly, paper itself has become a paperweight. People do their work on laptops, tablets, and phones. Most homes don't have printers. Not only do we not need paperweights, we barely need paper!
Read more