Durp Snark 166: Starting Fresh

[Someone]

I definitely smell trock with this thread. This is not the voice of a naive young girl - it's the voice of someone trying to sound like a naive young girl. Too much of what they post sounds like someone older.

[Someone]

I agree. Trying to sound like what they think a naive young girl would sound like, while having no idea what one actually sounds like.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

Some idjit on the Durp posted a stupid joke:

"Ukraine has no Walmarts.

They only have Targets"

I can't find the post again, because of the brain-fog of whatever disease I have now, but my first thought was: "And they all speak Russian."

It was in Professor Pepperwinkle's "More Jokes" thread. Agreed that it wasn't funny and was in extremely poor taste.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

I agree. Trying to sound like what they think a naive young girl would sound like, while having no idea what one actually sounds like.

Derps don't care. They're too busy trying to sound like totally not a bunch of dirty old geezers who dream of a chance to lead a naive young girl astray.

[Someone]

And they're not very good at it, either.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

I definitely smell trock with this thread. This is not the voice of a naive young girl - it's the voice of someone trying to sound like a naive young girl. Too much of what they post sounds like someone older.

Hey @JakartaJane, I want to ask you a question about something you posted on the Durp, but it would be a hijack of your thread, so I'll ask here instead. Why are you ashamed of having a Harvard degree? Has the institution done something particularly shameful or embarrassing? Otherwise I don't get it. My bachelor's degree is from another Ivy (Dartmouth*), and while I don't think that it is anything to be proud of necessarily, I am certainly not embarrassed about the fact that I graduated from a school that is held in some esteem by others.

*Of course we always said "Harvard Sucks" at Dartmouth, but that was just a school rivalry.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

Hey @JakartaJane, I want to ask you a question about something you posted on the Durp, but it would be a hijack of your thread, so I'll ask here instead. Why are you ashamed of having a Harvard degree? Has the institution done something particularly shameful or embarrassing? Otherwise I don't get it. My bachelor's degree is from another Ivy (Dartmouth*), and while I don't think that it is anything to be proud of necessarily, I am certainly not embarrassed about the fact that I graduated from a school that is held in some esteem by others.

*Of course we always said "Harvard Sucks" at Dartmouth, but that was just a school rivalry.

I also went to Dartmouth. When were you there? I was in the third class of women. Tough time and place to be female.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

I also went to Dartmouth. When were you there? I was in the third class of women. Tough time and place to be female.

I was in the class of 1982, so I started in '78. It was still a tough time and place to be female, outnumbered 3-1. It was also not the greatest place to be black and female. Probably still isn't, now that I think about it. But I got a great education, and that is nothing to be ashamed of, which is why I am perplexed by JakartaJane/CairoCarol.

[Someone]

Well, I probably laid it on a little thick in my OP (what can I say, it was late at night and I had knocked back a couple of glasses of wine). "Ashamed" is probably not the right word. "Embarrassed" might be more accurate.

As to why:

- I travel in pretty diverse circles. Three of my close friends, all quite smart, don't have college degrees, two of them because they couldn't afford it and didn't have access to guidance about scholarships. Mentioning my education, especially when it's Harvard, feels like showing off.

- I really dislike the automatic adulation that tends to follow upon the revelation of the H word. "Oh wow, really? You must be SO SMART." It's not that I won't cop to having a couple of working brain cells (probably only 1.5 these days) but the world is full of so many smart people who didn't go to Harvard. It seems incredibly unfair to be assigned credit for brilliance when plenty of non-H people are just as smart or smarter.

- When I was at Harvard (1980-82 for a two-year graduate degree program) it was really sexist. My class of 80 had 17 women. Unlike the men, who came from a variety of undergraduate majors, all but two of us women were STEM majors. That was because the dean who directed admissions did not believe women could handle the math (our first year consisted of required microeconomics, statistics, econometrics, and operations research courses, and yes, you had to have had a year of calculus in order to be admitted). I guess men were assumed to have the quantitative chops, but we women had to prove we had the math skills.

I'm pretty certain this is the correct interpretation, because I had a mole in the admissions office, who reported hearing the dean say he didn't think most women could handle the quantitative stuff.

Although I recognize that times have changed and Harvard is more open-minded now, "my" Harvard was full of that sexism. I have no desire to associate myself with that.

- A probably related phenomenon was that a fair number of the males in my class - absolutely NOT all of them, some were gems - were arrogant as fuck. Again, I have no desire to associate myself with that.

- Harvard still thinks quite well of itself. A few years ago, we visited with my son when he was choosing where to apply to college. The admissions folks did not even try to entice people (unlike other highly selective schools we visited, for example Stanford). They assumed "of COURSE you want to go to Harvard. Everyone does. We're so special." They showed an absolutely cringe-making video featuring minorities, poor kids, and women who had ended up attending Harvard. Classic remark (paraphrased of course) from one of the impoverished Latinas: "I never thought I could go to Harvard; it's only for really smart people. I'm so grateful they allowed me in." The thought that maybe Harvard was lucky to have her didn't seem to have crossed anyone's mind.

Shortly thereafter, we went to Yale. They had a hilarious video that didn't take themselves too seriously and actually worked to convince kids that Yale had something to offer them. (It might have been this one - it's been a while and I'm not sure. I think there are a couple versions out there.)

- Finally, a story that to me beautifully encapsulates the Harvard mentality as I experienced it: I once had a simply fantastic calculus instructor who told his story of choosing a college. It was way back in the 1950s, long before easy long-distance communications. He was spending the summer in Switzerland when he received not one, but TWO acceptance letters: Harvard, and Yale.

He had to decide - but how? He didn't have much access to information to help him choose. So, he re-read both of the acceptance letters, looking for clues.

"I scrutinized the Harvard letter, and noted that it began with you will be happy to know we have admitted you. Then I took another look at the Yale letter. It began with We are happy to admit you. There's a big difference there. So I chose Yale and never looked back."

[Someone]

I respect Harvard for its posture in defiance of the corrupt Washington bureaucracy. Kudos to the institution and the students who stand in defiance of the political blackmail Trump is trying to employ against them. It’s time for everyone to demonstrate that Harvard degree of courage.

My 2 cents. For those wondering WTF. trumpy won’t release a few billion in aid due Harvard unless they capitulate to his demands and kiss his ass. Harvard says no. The students say the same.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

I respect Harvard for its posture in defiance of the corrupt Washington bureaucracy. Kudos to the institution and the students who stand in defiance of the political blackmail Trump is trying to employ against them. It’s time for everyone to demonstrate that Harvard degree of courage.

My 2 cents. For those wondering WTF. trumpy won’t release a few billion in aid due Harvard unless they capitulate to his demands and kiss his ass. Harvard says no. The students say the same.

It's easy to be brave when you're threatened with a pittance.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

"I scrutinized the Harvard letter, and noted that it began with you will be happy to know we have admitted you. Then I took another look at the Yale letter. It began with We are happy to admit you. There's a big difference there. So I chose Yale and never looked back."

That pretty well sums up what I've heard of the Harvard 'tude compared to other Ivy Leagues. Plus one of my favorite college professors was a Yalie who was both a great teacher (organic chemistry) and had lots of... interesting... stories to tell about his own college days.

I should add that I'm talking about the attitude of the institution itself (Harvard: High on Our Own Farts since 1636) but I don't have a negative opinion of anyone who went or teaches there unless they're a total dillweed. Which JJ certainly isn't.

[Someone]

But didn’t Stewart Rhodes also go to Yale? Me, I’m a Ted K kid. Go blue!

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

It's easy to be brave when you're threatened with a pittance.

Yeah, according to Wikipedia, Harvard has the largest academic endowment in the world, valued at $53.2 billion with a B. A parveneu like Cheeto Hitler is of less consequence than a blob of seagull shit on their impeccable yachting blazers.

[Someone]

Thanks for the answer JJ. As I recall from the acceptance process, 47 years ago, Harvard was pretty full of itself. That was one of the reasons I chose Dartmouth instead.

I still don't quite get where you are coming from with the embarrassment, though. I get not wanting to brag. But women and minorities do not have the luxury of hiding our light under a bushel if we want respect. If Harvard deserves its reputation for academic excellence, (I don't know whether it does or doesn't) despite all the flaws that you mentioned, succeeding there is not something I would be embarrassed about. While some people's reactions to where you studied can be cringeworthy, their reactions are not your responsibility.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

Thanks for the answer JJ. As I recall from the acceptance process, 47 years ago, Harvard was pretty full of itself. That was one of the reasons I chose Dartmouth instead.

I still don't quite get where you are coming from with the embarrassment, though. I get not wanting to brag. But women and minorities do not have the luxury of hiding our light under a bushel if we want respect. If Harvard deserves its reputation for academic excellence, (I don't know whether it does or doesn't) despite all the flaws that you mentioned, succeeding there is not something I would be embarrassed about. While some people's reactions to where you studied can be cringeworthy, their reactions are not your responsibility.

Harvard is a school where you can earn an excellent education, but so many of the worst businessmen and lawyers have come from that institution in the last century that it is a fairly evil institution and probably where her embarrassment comes from. Their business school missed the point of Wall Street and basically taught "Greed is Good".

It is also the ultimate Rich Boys club, another hit.

On the other hand, I understand their Medical School is top notch and not a place of instilling corruption.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

Thanks for the answer JJ. As I recall from the acceptance process, 47 years ago, Harvard was pretty full of itself. That was one of the reasons I chose Dartmouth instead.

I still don't quite get where you are coming from with the embarrassment, though. I get not wanting to brag. But women and minorities do not have the luxury of hiding our light under a bushel if we want respect. If Harvard deserves its reputation for academic excellence, (I don't know whether it does or doesn't) despite all the flaws that you mentioned, succeeding there is not something I would be embarrassed about. While some people's reactions to where you studied can be cringeworthy, their reactions are not your responsibility.

That's a very balanced approach, and I don't disagree. I guess it all comes down to limiting mentions of Harvard to times when it is relevant - which, outside of job-hunting, is pretty rare.

[Someone]

Well, that beats my pair of aces.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

It's easy to be brave when you're threatened with a pittance.

I don't believe that's the case. Harvard can't just say "oh well, we'll dip into our endowment to make up for the loss." If you read about the likely impact, should Harvard lose in the courts, it is actually quite severe.

Nonetheless, Harvard is doubtless better positioned than a lot of institutions to take up this fight. If they'd rolled over and capitulated, I think I'd be about ready to give up on humanity entirely.

[Someone]

I’ve always respected MIT more than any other school for STEM studies. Also Caltech & JPL rank up there too. State institutions vs private ones I guess.

[Someone]

I don't think of JPL as a school in the way we are discussing here. They're more like an internship lab or postdoc lab

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

I was in the class of 1982, so I started in '78. It was still a tough time and place to be female, outnumbered 3-1. It was also not the greatest place to be black and female. Probably still isn't, now that I think about it. But I got a great education, and that is nothing to be ashamed of, which is why I am perplexed by JakartaJane/CairoCarol.

I can only imagine what it was like to be black and female. We overlapped for a couple of years.

[Someone]

Anyway… Velocipede would like to remind you all that he really is a sociopath.

[Someone]

NM

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

... They had a hilarious video that didn't take themselves too seriously and actually worked to convince kids that Yale had something to offer them. (It might have been this one ..."

That WAS hilarious. They just missed the semi-famous joke, though.

Interviewer: Where did you get your education?
Interviewee: Yale
Interviewer: And what was your name, again?
Interviewee: Yonny Yonson...

[Someone]

.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

It was still a tough time and place to be female, outnumbered 3-1. It was also not the greatest place to be black and female. Probably still isn't, now that I think about it. ]

My undergraduate degree is from Wellesley, class of 1980. I can safely say that for that class, our experience of Dartmouth was utterly terrifying. In Spring 1977, there was some annual event, I forget what, during which busloads (fratloads?) of Dartmouth men boys descended upon our campus ... without any advance arrangements for places to stay. Which seems odd, given that they had obviously taken great pains to acquire enough alcohol to ensure a state of alarming drunkenness for the entire weekend.

Much mayhem ensued. A statue that graced our library was beheaded. Many revelers barged into the common rooms of the dormitories to sleep; in my dorm, they ripped down the curtains that graced our floor-to-ceiling windows. One had to step carefully around the campus for several days afterward to avoid drying vomit puddles.

Of course, that was only a limited slice of Dartmouth and hopefully not representative. But after that bacchanal, the annual event was formally canceled. Thus, that one weekend was my main experience of Dartmouth males.

Women of Dartmouth from that era, you have my great admiration for surviving all that. Moreso for women of color. Yikes.

[Someone]

😬

One time at the chemistry club's Christmas party we made spiced wine with cheap Burgundy and we all got sloshed and wound up in one guy's dorm room and watched South Park until like 11. Then my friend drove me home and I went to bed.

My wildest college memory right there. And I'm cool with that.

[Someone]

I went to Dartmouth in 1981. We played them in rugby (I went to a state college ) The campus was beautiful.

Say, has anyone joined the durp in the past year or so and become a regularly contributing member? It's like we've all been shoved into an old-folks home way out in the boonies and ain't nobody coming to visit.

[Someone]

The Durp has got to be a better place than the Geeb. IIRC, the Geeb aims to be the third-worst place to hang out on the Internet, above only 4chan and its trash bin 8chan. So why would the Durp be perhaps crawling its way down the rankings?

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

😬

One time at the chemistry club's Christmas party we made spiced wine with cheap Burgundy and we all got sloshed and wound up in one guy's dorm room and watched South Park until like 11. Then my friend drove me home and I went to bed.

My wildest college memory right there. And I'm cool with that.

I remember my chemistry class. That place with stone counter tops in the lab that were totally incompatible with that very expensive glassware that I was responsible for. And, of course, the exams. The professors would go over the material until we all understood it then give a test like; Bill and Tom bought a car to drive across country. How many times will they stop to pee if they drink only in even hours? Show all work.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

The Durp has got to be a better place than the Geeb. IIRC, the Geeb aims to be the third-worst place to hang out on the Internet, above only 4chan and its trash bin 8chan. So why would the Durp be perhaps crawling its way down the rankings?

Race to the bottom, dude. Race to the bottom.

[Someone]

Yeah, I was the poster child for "clumsy people shouldn't handle fragile things" myself. If Dr Pedersen was out of the room and something went *CRASHtinkle* he'd yell "HOW EXPENSIVE WAS IT?" I think I had my year's record for most expensive thing.

[Someone]

Ratty, you should have taken the "breaking things" lab; aka stress-strain limits. It's in materials science.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

My undergraduate degree is from Wellesley, class of 1980. I can safely say that for that class, our experience of Dartmouth was utterly terrifying. In Spring 1977, there was some annual event, I forget what, during which busloads (fratloads?) of Dartmouth men boys descended upon our campus ... without any advance arrangements for places to stay. Which seems odd, given that they had obviously taken great pains to acquire enough alcohol to ensure a state of alarming drunkenness for the entire weekend.

Much mayhem ensued. A statue that graced our library was beheaded. Many revelers barged into the common rooms of the dormitories to sleep; in my dorm, they ripped down the curtains that graced our floor-to-ceiling windows. One had to step carefully around the campus for several days afterward to avoid drying vomit puddles.

Of course, that was only a limited slice of Dartmouth and hopefully not representative. But after that bacchanal, the annual event was formally canceled. Thus, that one weekend was my main experience of Dartmouth males.

Women of Dartmouth from that era, you have my great admiration for surviving all that. Moreso for women of color. Yikes.

Well that sort of thing was part of the culture for a certain type of male. Dartmouth men (at least the jock/frat types) had a long-standing reputation as "animals" among the other Ivies and the Seven Sisters. A not insignificant number of jerks seemed to feel the need to uphold that reputation.

Fortunately, that was not the only type of man there. Things weren't sunshine and roses as far as sexual and racial dynamics were concerned, but I don't look back on my time at Dartmouth as some sort of ordeal I survived.

Speaking of leaning on one's college's reputation--the only person I ever saw invoke their alma mater as a sign of superiority wasn't a Harvard man. Almost 20 years ago, I was an election judge (fancy name for poll-worker) in Illinois. One of my fellow workers couldn't find a record of a woman's voter registration. There was some back and forth between the two, then the woman, who was probably in her early 70s, elegantly coiffed and very tall, squared her shoulders, pulled herself up to her full height, and announced "I am a graduate of Wellesley College!"

[Someone]

i didn't go to college but i once rode in the back of a pickup filled with drunk USF kids while we attempted to order taco bell

[Someone]

I didn't go to college but a friend attended Concordia College in PDX in 1981. I went with him to open tryouts for the basketball team and made the first cut before someone discovered I wasn't a student. That's my college story.

[Someone]

I went surfing and smoked a lot of weed and worked my ass off and fell asleep over my books almost every night. About starved and lived like a hobo and would do it all over again in a flash.

[Someone]

I worked at the campus radio station and smoked a lot of weed and tripped on LSD many dozens of times and saw a lot of Dead shows and ended up with a MS in Mechanical Engineering and every bit of it served me well.

[Someone]

Hey, it only took me seven tries to pass my GED exam! Can any of y'all beat that?

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

Ratty, you should have taken the "breaking things" lab; aka stress-strain limits. It's in materials science.

I used to do that to make my living, when I was a CET (Civil Engineering Technician). Breaking concrete in a heavy-duty press was fun. Especially when I was killing 10k PSI samples. Those would positively EXPLODE!!!

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

Hey, it only took me seven tries to pass my GED exam! Can any of y'all beat that?

By 'beat that', do you mean 'did better', or 'did worse'?

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

By 'beat that', do you mean 'did better', or 'did worse'?

Either

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

Ratty, you should have taken the "breaking things" lab; aka stress-strain limits. It's in materials science.

We got to make things, including welding and then destroy them.

Much more interesting than chemistry. The lab highlight o the year is the student who laid his fraternity hoodie on the bench and destroyed the hoodie. Because he had spilled acid on the bench and didn't clean it up.

No wonder that fraternity got kicked off campus - their members were not the brightest.

[Someone]

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wh...7?u=iiandyiiii

Rather amusing fight - Czarcasm calls out Johanna for offering bread to a homeless person! How dare she?

[Someone]

Also intruding on her victim's space by ruthlessly sitting in her own car, minding her own damn business, eating lunch, and having the gall to keep on sitting there eating lunch after being rightly rebuked by her victim.

Anyway, the thread is one of two started by a new poster, and each sure to provoke controversy, so I’m not getting involved because it’s a pretty obvious troll move (that has succeeded, evidently).

Anyway, the link to the "offending" post (and the ensuing reaction really is as wild as iiandyiiii says):

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gi.../66?u=asl_v2.0

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

I used to do that to make my living, when I was a CET (Civil Engineering Technician). Breaking concrete in a heavy-duty press was fun. Especially when I was killing 10k PSI samples. Those would positively EXPLODE!!!

Any engineer can break things. But to do so in a methodical manner while documenting how it breaks -- that is a skill unto itself!

ETA: In a nutshell, what was Czarcasm's problem? Or am I better off not knowing?

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

If you disrespect bread, which is central to my ancestral culture, I consider you lower than a snake’s belly. Jagoff.

Pretentious? Moi?

[Someone]

Czarcasm doubles down and calls the offer of bread an assault of the homeless person.

Oops, attack not assault. Still.

[Someone]

Originally Posted by Someone

ETA: In a nutshell, what was Czarcasm's problem? Or am I better off not knowing?

he thinks it was mean to offer bread to someone asking for money, apparently. doesn't make a lot of sense to me - I thought it was rude of him, frankly.

ETA I posted, like an idiot.

OK, Imma get the fuck off the internet.