I am not certain how I feel about TikTok, but I find it frustrating that legislation to ban the site is confounded with support for Ukraine. I would prefer that decisions by informed legislators be clearly communicated and not clouded by what seems a form of bargaining. Who is trading what for what? https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-congress-bill-1c48466df82f3684bd6eb21e61ebcb8d

 This is a situation I did not anticipate. We have been spending the winter in Kauai. A few days ago I started getting notifications from our security camera. The notifications were frequent. My first thought was that there had been a snowstorm and the guys who clear our driveway were doing their job. They shovel off the deck. Examining the video this was not the case. There was nothing to see.

It took me a while to figure out what was going on. The light/camera has a microphone built in so I listened for a while. Eventually, I figured out what was going on. Birds were building a nest on top of the light fixture. There is also a speaker and a siren built in. I tried yelling at the birds which seemed to have no impact. I decided not to try the siren because I was concerned about freaking out the neighbors.

I removed the nest when we returned home. No eggs were in the nest so I moved the entire thing to a nearby tree assuming the birds were watching me.

I have titled this post a complaint and it is. The Curmuedgeonspeaks seems the appropriate location for complaints. The problem with this complaint is that it is difficult to identify a specific target. It seems more like a situation in which someone within a group should take responsibility, but everyone blames someone else.

I believe in owning my own content and this is why I rent server space to host several blogs and other content I have written. Some of this content appears elsewhere, but I want to control the original material I offer to others.

When I began putting my content online, I did this from a server that sat on my desk. For those of you who post to Facebook, X, Instagram, or some other location, this may seem surprising. How did you do that? Well, anyone can run a server and it used to be easy. I used to do a lot of workshops for educators and I would demonstrate how I could turn any Macintosh into a server in 10 minutes. This used to be easy and it is still possible. The problem is how others will find you. Most situations now make use of what is called dynamic IPs. The address (your URL) is a name that actually is useful only for being connected to an IP number (a dotted quad). At this moment I happen to connected from 166.196.68.84. The problem with dynamic IPs is that this number if assigned when you connect and it changes. So, to get my classroom demos to work, I had to distribute the dotted quad I happened to be using so the teachers do use it instead of words to connect to my temporary server. Anyway, because I worked at a University and did research with my server I was assigned a permanent IP that allowed my “address” to be worth sharing.

At some point, I began creating free content to be posted in association with textbooks I wrote and received money based on sales. So, even while free, I considered this material might be considered a conflict of interest with my university duties and I began to purchase server space from a company that provided this capability.

One thing about running your own server, you learn a lot about how things work and must take responsibility for many things. I wanted to do things beyond just posting web pages and had to develop the skills necessary to install and maintain server software, database software, and application software. This was something I had to do anyway because I wrote the applications I used in my research from scratch (sometimes with the assistance of graduate students) and taking advantage of application software is not that difficult if you already write applications. Still, there was always something to address. Any update to any of the components of the system (server, database, application) had to be applied as a change in one component may impact whether another component worked.

At some point, the hosting company I used began to make use of scripts that would take care of these installs and updates automatically. I took advantage of these scripts and that ended up being a tremendous time saver, but also the beginning of my present problems. Once you give up control and responsibility, it becomes difficult to go back. You are not exactly certain what the script has done and what you have to do to take care of your own maintenance.

So, here are some specifics. Among them is the culprit.

My server host – Bluehost

The scripting company – Softaculous 

The application company – Concrete 

As I explain above, I had created a lot of free content to provide interested educators related to our textbooks, but available to anyone. This material was originally developed with a sophisticated web authoring environment (Dreamweaver). Things worked great. At some point, Dreamweaver (now owned by Adobe) decides it was going to a subscription model rather than just selling me the software and the price for access to professional tools was far more than I would really justify paying. So, I decided to switch to a content management tool (Concrete) that was open source and I could install it with a script. With a content management system, I can use a browser to work online rather than creating content on my own equipment and then uploading it. All of this kind of makes sense, but you can probably predict where this is going.

Last week, I noticed that the link to my Concrete system was no longer responding and no one could see the content. I contact Bluehost and after an hour or so, the tech person decides he cannot help me. Bluehost has always been great with support and has helped me address some issues with my blogs (WordPress applications). I was surprised there was nothing Bluehost could do after my previous experiences, but it now seems they have decided to focus mostly on WordPress installs and while the scripts are available, the script company is who you need to contact. The script company which is not who I remember being responsible for the initial install indicates that users need to contact the application developer for any assistance that is required (not something I knew was the case before). The application I am using is open source so they have a community help system which indicates the problem may be an incompatibility between the php or mysql version being run by the host and the version of the application I have installed. OK, updates are often accomplished easily with a functioning app and there is an update, but my app does not let me in so I cannot update. One suggestion the help group suggested was that I roll back the version of PHP I on the server. I am not certain I can do this and I am uncertain how it would impact the other installs I have that are working.

Lessons learned I guess. Hundreds of hours of content writing time were lost because I made the wrong assumptions. I run backups on my other apps, but I was not doing this with Concrete and I am not certain such a possibility exists. The Wayback Machine has saved some, but not all of this content. I can locate some of the content by exploring the database associated with Concrete, but the database is very complicated and getting text out is not that easy.

At least, I am left with an idea for a Curmudgeon blog post. 😉

Save your content locally.

Trump makes the argument that a President needs total immunity to do his or her job. He uses this same phrase over and over. It is important to consider this claim carefully. Just what behaviors are covered by the phrase “his job” and importantly what behaviors are being justified based on this claim? The examples his behavior has presented is that the job of a President can involve efforts to overturn the will of the people in electing a President by way of an insurrection and by lies about what the outcome of the election determined. Next time you hear Trump’s claim try substituting different actions the term “job” supposedly allows.

Curmudgeon Speaks has received little of my attention lately. We have been spending time in Kauai and my personal blogging has been focused on my travel blog. Feel free to take a look if you miss the type of thing I would post here. I try to add some interesting information to the photos of the places we visit.

Surf warnings are part of weather shows here and everyone was put on notice to beware today and tomorrow. I have yet to figure out exactly what conditions create huge waves but this knowledge must be part of what you learn here to qualify as a meteorologist. You could tell that a front went through last night as it was colder and very windy. Wind must be part of what is predictive, but it is no longer windy today and the waves arrived as predicted. We drove to several different places to get some photos.

I have recently encountered several articles in prominent sources explaining that many have begun to question the value of a college education. While the data continue to show a significant financial advantage – the average college grad will earn 2.3 million more over their lifetime than a high school grad – an increasing number are looking for options. 

Here are some key points I gleaned from a recent Wall Street Journal article “Why Americans have lost faith in the value of college.”

• Since 2011, the number of campus-based college students has declined by 3 million. About 60% of those who enroll will graduate by the end of 6 years.
• Parents are also less committed with 50% of parents saying they are less interested in sending their kids to a four-year school right out of high school even if finances were not an issue.
• Two-thirds of high school grads believe they would be fine without a college degree.
• Compared to Europe, the U.S. invests far more heavily in higher education in comparison to vocational institutions and apprenticeship programs.
• The processes by which institutions of higher education adapt react slowly with multiple levels of decision-making. Technology-focuses businesses change very quickly.
• – Courses and majors such as computer science are oversubscribed and students are unable to enroll while fewer students are interested in humanities majors such as history.
• Many students are unprepared for demanding college majors and institutions are unprepared to provide assistance. This said, students report spending half as much time studying and attend class more sporadically than was the case when compared to students in the early 1960s. Still, grades awarded are radically inflated. Students are now 3 times more likely to earn an A.
• Cost of a degree has increased dramatically – 180% between 1980 and 2020. Increases appear due to a combination of state support, administrative bloat, and amenities students expect institutions to provide. The cost per year at a public institution is now estimated to be $36,000. Note: I looked up the present tuition at the state institution where I last worked and it was $10,951. Just to be clear, expenses such as room and board also play a large role in what are regarded as college costs.

The WSJ generated enough attention that other bloggers responded. Bryan Alexander in the Future of Education suggests the WSJ article offers an important perspective, and adds some additional comments. For example, this writer notes regarding University STEM, health, and business enrollments that actual enrollment has soared. Some are concerned that the enrollments are an overreaction and may surpass hiring opportunities. In summarizing recent criticism of higher education, He also notes that frequent criticisms seem focused on vocational skills and the lack of attention afforded such skills in so many majors. Why not get kids into the workplace more quickly?

I have fairly traditional beliefs related to student education partly because my career-long vocation was in higher education. I keep wondering what has changed that would negate society’s commitment to learning beyond high school. Are the work skills critics imagine all that citizens need to prepare them for life? Are most high school graduates prepared to function as citizens, parents, and employees? Do they have the social skills, general knowledge, and basic maturity we want adults to have? 

Yes, many 18-year-olds would probably benefit from a gap year traveling or living on their own working a low-income job. Not every learner is prepared to take advantage of higher education. The idea of apprenticeship programs appeals to many. Just what vocations want to support 18-year-olds as apprentices? Is an apprenticeship right out of high school rather than vocational school what employers would prefer? 

From personal experience, many beginning college students have limited skills as independent learners. Colleges indeed struggle with how to serve these students, but assuming the students are prepared to take on challenging work is ridiculous.  A surprising number are poor readers and writers. It takes more time to develop sophisticated critical thinking, creativity, and social sophistication all of which come with exposure to challenging learning experiences in multiple content areas. 

I have another traditional reaction to the vocational orientation argument. The response to this perspective used to refer to data on how many different jobs the average adult had in a lifetime and question whether specific training prepared individuals for this range of work. When is more general preparation suited to a variety of occupations? Programming/coding is a good example. While we are obviously in the age of digital, is the preparation as a coder a golden ticket to a lucrative career? Consider the massive recent layoffs at the big tech firms. Also, recognize that AI now threatens to drastically reduce the number of low-level code monkey jobs. 

One other insight is important. Universities are about more than teaching. Those of us who have held these positions typically had contracts that identified responsibilities in the areas of teaching, research, and service. These areas are not as isolated as some might imagine when they advance a stereotype of the pure researcher indifferent to teaching and undergraduate students. First, like any stereotype, there are likely some instances in which the stereotype holds. However, the correlation between research productivity and student instructor ratings is positive and not negative. On average, students evaluate more prolific researchers as slightly better teachers. Research is just a different type of experience and it makes sense that those with actual experience doing something have more to draw on when teaching what they do. Why it is assumed that individuals would be indifferent when describing what they know and do? 

If there is what I would consider a legitimate issue, it is that research comes with the time to do research. Hence the 60, 30, 10 contract that is typical of tenure-track faculty members. By the way, the 60% is teaching and the 30% is research. Universities are indeed hiring more adjuncts to do teaching, but here is the irony in what so many critics contend. You can’t both complain about teaching time and also complain about adjuncts who frequently function as full-time teachers. 

One final comment regarding the overlap of these areas and the investment in teaching. We spend a great deal of our time doing research with our students. Much of this time is 1:1. Should working directly with students in this capacity be considered research or teaching? Research is very rarely a solitary endeavor and working with students in this way is a form of apprenticeship.

Regarding complaints about publication pressure and the resulting focus of academics. Yes, the pressure is real. So, by the way, is the pressure to generate positive student teaching evaluations.  The pressure to publish is related to the pressure to generate grant applications and grant applications bring in a good proportion of the money needed to fund research and the infrastructure of universities. Grant funds are available for most disciplines, but it is far easier to generate big money in some disciplines than others. The cost of research is also very different across disciplines. My point is that money explains a lot when it comes to how faculty members spend their time. The money states and students pay is not sufficient to support the multiple missions of higher education.

What about the research itself? What would happen if universities were downsized to trade teaching time for research time? Who would decide which research efforts were worthwhile? It is certainly the case that corporations and other areas of the economy (e.g., medical institutions) engage in research. However, this research is likely applied rather than basic and is focused on immediate rather than long-term goals. Advances would grind to a halt without being constantly stimulated by advances in basic knowledge. There is also the significant challenge of who trains the researchers. Basic research skills take time and experience to develop and this simply does not happen without universities providing the experience to develop the necessary skills.

Conclusion: I have no idea where all of this is going. Some experimentation will certainly be involved and people have very different ideas about what alternatives should be explored. My intent here was simply to expand how the issue is presented.

We have left the snow and cold of Minnesota to spend some time in Kauai. As always I share some image and impressions on my travel blog. I try to make the posts informative and we have been lucky enough to travel to many parts of the world so you may find the post archives of interest. Aloha.

I want to offer some observations on the plagiarism charges brought against Harvard President Claudine Gay that resulted in her resignation. Obviously, this resignation was part of a broader political context related to statements made by Gay and two other Presidents while being questioned by politicians. The claims of plagiarism were a completely separate issue in Gay’s situation, but part of a general argument claiming she was not suited to lead a major university.

I have no interest in defending Gay, but I was personally interested in the plagiarism issue as I am a retired professor and have experience with the scholarship we are expected to pursue. I can offer a couple of things. First, I was interested in reviewing examples of the plagiarism Gay was accused of committing. Copy the work of others without attribution can be purposeful or accidental and it can be extensive or limited. I found a source with examples. 

Second, I wanted to comment on a NY Times opinion piece by Charles Seife that suggests plagiarism is but a sign of broader misconduct or lack of sound values in higher education. 

Aaron Sibarium is the author of “This is definitely plagiarism” which appears in the Free Beacon. I had not heard of this publication, but I found descriptions describing it as a conservative source with a mixed record for accurate reporting. I had trouble locating examples showing plagiarism and prefer a source I and others know more about, but this source did provide the type of data I wanted. What was the original source and what did Gay write without clear attribution? 

I would encourage your own review of the examples keeping in mind my claim that plagiarism can be purposeful or accidental and it be extensive or limited. I found the examples to be minor and limited. 

If you have not been through the process of generating lengthy formal academic documents, allow me to speculate about how such errors of sloppiness or laziness happen. It is my guess that the type of plagiarism Guy is accused of is more common than people would expect. For example, someone checked the dissertation of Bill Ackman’s wife Neri Oxman who received her PhD from MIT and found she also had plagiarized several small segments of her dissertation. Ackman is a conservative Harvard donor largely responsible for the scrutiny of Gay. A dissertation can easily run a hundred and fifty pages or more. If you do a research-focused dissertation that involves the collection of data, your writing contains a lengthy introduction describing the existing work on the topic and then identifying the purpose of your extension. You also describe the method you are taking to describe the way you are going about collecting the information to support or reject your proposed extension. So, let’s say you have 50 or so pages of content to write for the Introduction. Typically, you go about this using the notes you have taken from many existing studies and position papers. When you take these notes, you sometimes copy down segments or arguments of descriptions from these other studies. If you then recopy parts of these notes verbatim to your own paper, this is technically plagiarism. You are expected to accurately summarize or paraphrase what the other studies said, but sometimes you overlook the difference between when your notes were already summaries and when they were straight copies of other material. By the way, this problem is getting more frequent now that most of us read the original material in a digital format and export our own notes and highlighted material to a document we save to refer to for later writing activities. The highlighted content would be a copy of the original and if pasted into new content would represent plagiarism. 

I cannot be certain and I am not approving of this type of sloppy scholarship, but what I describe seems consistent with the examples I read attributed to Dr. Gay. The impression that large sections were simply moved from one document to another without attribution does not seem to be the case here. The examples also do not seem to me like someone was trying to take credit for significant insights or new discoveries, but perhaps was lazy in generating original text to summarize generic material from another source. 

Like I said. Take the time to read the examples and decide for yourself.

In the second article “Plagiarism in Academia,” Charles Seife argues that institutions are partly to blame for the high rates of plagiarism in academia. Seife argues that institutions often have lax review practices and that they do not do enough to educate students about plagiarism. Seife describes the review practices for both dissertations and scholarly publications as lacking in care and skill. With manuscripts being reviewed for publication, Seife speculates that faculty members often pass on the manuscripts to graduate students rather than do the work of carefully going through the review process themselves. Seife is correct in that journals do not compensate reviewers. We make the effort as a professional responsibility expected by our institutions and typically counted as part of the service portion of our contracts. 

I can say from having received possibly a hundred or more journal manuscripts that Seife has extremely unrealistic expectations. I would say that for the average manuscript, I would have read only about 50% of the articles cited by the author. Just starting with this situation, recognizing word by word copying would be impossible. With student work that concerned me, I would copy a paragraph of work I found suspect and search for this content using Google. I required access to a digital copy of writing assignments because it was easiest for me to comment on documents in this form. I have found a few examples of plagiarism. There are now digital tools available for doing more sophisticated searches. Modern course management systems (e.g., Blackboard) make such tools available to both students and faculty members. If similar tools would be used with manuscripts submitted for publication, it would seem reasonable to require manuscripts that be examined by the journal staff before being sent out for review. I have not reviewed manuscripts in a few years now, so it is possible this approach is already in place.

Sometimes I feel academics are targets for one reason or another. We do work many do not understand and are sometimes considered out of touch with real issues. While there are certainly examples that fit such perceptions, to stereotype intelligent and hard working people in this way is also typically due to a lack of experience on the part of those circulating such claims. 

The end of any year seems a time to focus on the past year and to set an agenda for the year to come. I have this feeling that 2024 will be pivotal. My feeling is one of foreboding. It is the sense that if things go wrong, things will go very, very wrong. Recent times have certainly been trying times, with COVID, the danger of climate change, and threats of war on a massive scale. I cannot escape this sense that we will not respond to these dangerous issues until we take care of something more basic. How will we get past the deep and hateful political divide that seemingly limits our collective ability to address problems that threaten all of humanity? When it comes to solving world-altering problems, political disagreements seem relatively trivial. Big challenges are supposed to unite people, but we have big problems and we remain divided and hateful. 

Let’s be honest, 2023 wasn’t exactly a banner year for unity. The political landscape remained a tempestuous battleground, where compromise felt like a relic of a bygone era. From social issues like abortion and gun control to economic policies and foreign entanglements, our elected officials seemed more adept at stoking division than forging common ground. This perpetual state of partisan warfare has left us paralyzed, unable to effectively address even the most pressing issues.

Compromise on most issues would be relatively easy for me. I have the advantages of being a healthy, retired, white male. I likely have sufficient funds to live out my days having to make few sacrifices. How many recognize they are in a similar position, but many others are not? I understand the notion of compromise, but what are the issues on which I feel it would be ethical and moral to do so. Choice for women is not an issue I feel I have a right to decide. Climate change is a danger to the survival of my grandkids. Should addressing this problem be something I can ignore. There are so many inequities and government seems the only means by which these can be addressed. How do you allow others to be as selfish as they are willing to be?

Civility is a different matter. Try spending a little time on TruthSocial if you need a dose of extremism and hate. Without backing down from core values, it would seem possible to argue for an issue without violating norms of decency. I have the time and the motivation so making my position known is what I must do. 

Here is hoping for the best in 2024.

We have been receiving cards from a few holiday diehards still committed to the use of the mail. It makes me feel guilty. I write enough stuff I should generate something to celebrate the season and share a little news.

It looks like a brown Christmas here in the upper Midwest. A couple of our kids will bring their families to the lake and Lynn is on the road to spend time with Josh’s extended family.

Health status – we are presently doing well. Cindy did have a pacemaker installed to keep her heart rate up. I am wearing a monitor because I passed out and nothing obvious can be identified as a cause. The big money is on dehydration as I am not one of those who walks around with a giant jug of water. I had oral surgery and no water the day of the incident and then took a narcotic to ease the pain. Not a good combination. Cindy said she was trying to remember how to do CPR and thought she would not be able to move me out of my chair anyway so it gave her a bit of a scare. Aside from this info, health is good

Note: Health report seems mandatory for we senior citizens. I turned 75 this year and Cindy is not far behind.

Cindy and I took an expedition ship to Patagonia in the Fall. It was a great trip and our first adventure in South America. Pretty amazing experience. We head to Kauai in a couple of weeks and the families will be joining us for their Spring breaks this year. Our annual Hawaiian winter break allows us to avoid the dull part of winters and to be able to get out without worrying about falling on the ice.

The kids and families are doing well. We have a wide assortment of activities to watch – volleyball softball, and basketball, plays, and even circus. The great thing about our location in a suburb of Minneapolis/St Paul is our proximity to all of this. Our lake place gives us the opposite of the urban experience and provides swimming, boating, biking, and skiing for those so inclined. I can find a coffee shop to escape the excitement, read and write.

Lynn finished her PhD and just graduated. She splits her time between directing physical therapy research and her new med tech startup. The world of venture capital is new to all of us. Josh no longer sees clients but not has worked for a few years in medical administration. Kim works with concussion patients and took on Todd who had a serious mountain bike crash. She has a great reputation for work in her special niche and she was able to direct Todd’s rehab. Jim and Jess both continue as educators.

I tried to find some seasonal photos I could add. We do have our tree with the blue lights. We started the blue tree during the pandemic as a gift to our neighborhood and continue to have it lit since. No, I am not responsible for stringing the lights. I had hoped to have picture of a Cardinal in the snow as several continue to populate our backyard, but there is no snow. This device is called a Bird Buddy and combines a motion-triggered digital camera with a bird feeder. The entire thing runs on solar power and is accessible from my phone. Interesting video, images, and sound. Tech nerds forever.

A tradition at the lake is to take any kids who want to go along on the trip to the dump and then get ice cream on the way home. This trip near the holidays sometimes results in a worker or two dressed in holiday gear. This was the case this year.

I was moved to write a poem (AI added the final verse).

It was the day before Christmas

And all cross the lot.

The boxes were flattened

And stacked in one spot

Workers dressed In red flannels

Not their typical attire

Smiles on cold faces

Warmed by a fire

In this kingdom of castoffs,

Under a sky so vast,

The spirit of Christmas

Found a home at last.

Happy Holidays