404 Alicia Not Found's avatar

404 Alicia Not Found

@astroknitter.bsky.social

137 followers 115 following 505 posts

Not the Alicia you’re looking for. Knitting and spinning star stuff. Soon to be fired physics & astronomy prof at UNCG.
Post of gathered threads related to budget farce: bsky.app/profile/astroknitter.bsky.social/post/3kkpkvlzg7s2b

404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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that's what i said :\

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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So after all the cuts, the demoralizing, deciding to keep 4/6 physics faculty… they just emailed department chairs saying after looking at numbers of retirees and faculty who accepted buyouts and left, we’re invited to apply for 1-2 tenure track lines. Uncg has passed joke territory, this is sick

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Janet D. Stemwedel 's avatar Janet D. Stemwedel @docfreeride.bsky.social
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There are too many dystopias to manage right now.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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bought a bunch of fruit after a massive craving hit ate a bunch of fruit current status: ...my esophagus itches? benadryl and chill it is 🙃

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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me, trying to leverage my family history LEMME IN LEMME INNNNN (I did look into it. unfortunately, I’d basically have to immigrate like anyone else; 5-year work history, prove I know the language, etc)

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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I guess this was a good morning for our power and internet to be out.. I’m gonna go back to sleep

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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(from inbox) what in the absolute fuck is this A) i'm a college professor B) what the fuck is this C) yeah school safety is non-negotiable, let's pass some fucking laws instead of using horror to try to sell shit D) what the fucking fuck, capitalism E) fuck (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

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Marisa Kabas's avatar Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social
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how does living in this world not radicalize you

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Microplastics Sommelier's avatar Microplastics Sommelier @leastactionhero.bsky.social
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einstein sent this to curie in 1911 when she was being harassed by tabloids. it contains everything you’d want in such a letter: (1) your haters are trash (2) you’re a baller, a true queen (3) i have determined the statistical law of motion of the diatomic molecule in planck’s radiation field 🧪⚛️

37 replies 1466 reposts 3936 likes

404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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oh, no, did they vote on it? did it pass? the horrors are too many these days for me to keep up with

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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i had that tv until 2009ish bc i am a pack rat. the power cord became the victim of one ravenous rabbit, Dusty. he claimed many electronics in his lifetime, but that tv was probably the biggest. RIP, you magnificent fuzzbeast (shown behind bars for naughtiness)

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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I'm so old, my 11" projection tv had a built-in VCR and you could tune each channel (2-13, flipped through with up/down buttons) individually with a little dial. I set them ALL to UPN once just to piss my brother off. (the TV network also places how old i am, lol)

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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but will gpt-5 be able to throw rotten tomatoes at hype people this is what the people really want

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Yell In a War's avatar Yell In a War @jelenawoehr.bsky.social
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the planet is on fire and people can’t afford air conditioning, surely this is the time to come up with a technology nobody asked for and nobody wants then dedicate all the electricity to maintaining it

33 replies 901 reposts 1885 likes

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Spencer Beswick's avatar Spencer Beswick @spencerbeswick.bsky.social
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Mainstream coverage of academia this year was all about "wokeness," AI, and accusations of anti-semitism re: Palestine protests, but this is the real story underlying all else. Most people outside of academia have no idea the extent to which higher ed is contracting and crumbling.

5 replies 154 reposts 313 likes

404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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maybe they could invest in new clean energy sourc-lmao just kidding definitely hype time

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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'some creative jobs maybe will go away' says person whose main life accomplishment is being in charge of TheftScraperWebGrabber Regurge Pro that profits from wholesale stealing the work of said creatives

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Mara Wilson's avatar Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social
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Everyone you know and love knows and loves some other person who fucking sucks

50 replies 192 reposts 1263 likes

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emily 🩷's avatar emily 🩷 @bbghost.bsky.social
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still bouncing between exhaustion, sadness, and pure rage :)

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Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️ @shoshana.bsky.social
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We banned CFCs to protect and heal the ozone and now satellite constellations might burn it up again. Starlink will be burning up 2,000 satellites per year in perpetuity for its service.

26 replies 280 reposts 527 likes

404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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dunno, i'm not a lawyer and don't have money to seek advice. So. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it works as intended.
www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
"A provision of the law also allows state institutions to “bring a civic action” against individuals who make false statements to accreditors"

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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there are gag laws in NC... can't bring it up to accreditors unless you want to get sued :|

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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but we aren't educational institutions, we exist only to protect the endowment they're profiting on and be whatever our current capricious leaders think we should be based on their own whimsy

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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my colleague at a peer institution where physics was threatened and academic programs are up for closure, checking the numbers: "Wait, HOW MUCH of an athletics deficit are we in??!!" lmao. our athletics deficit would cleanly take care of the supposed budget issues they cut 21 academic programs over

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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A spinning wheel is not a loom, and the yarn doesn’t wrap around the drive wheel

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Le Cagle's avatar Le Cagle @lecagle.bsky.social
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Today the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, being led by the nose by President Eli Capilouto, finalized the dissolution of the University Senate, putting the final nail in the coffin of shared governance.

29 replies 192 reposts 279 likes

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Black In Astro's avatar Black In Astro @blackinastro.bsky.social
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We're opening #BlackSpaceWeek 2024 THIS SUNDAY with a virtual mixer where everyone is welcome to come and kiki with us!

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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thank you :( the worst part is that my husband is also in the same department- we’d actually managed to solve the 2 body problem. he’s 3 years behind me on the tenure track so I still get to go up for tenure (right now) but by the time he’d be up dept will be “sundowned”

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Janet D. Stemwedel 's avatar Janet D. Stemwedel @docfreeride.bsky.social
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This is not to say that universities shouldn’t figure out how to do this while also properly compensating their faculty and staff. But that’s probably easier if you don’t waste money on consultants who misunderstand what universities are for.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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(I’ll remove the annoying bullet-by-bullet animations once I’m not on a plane 😂)

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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If you’re curious how 21 program closures were forced through here in spite of much faculty and student protest as well as votes of censure and no confidence in our leadership, I put together a painfully detailed timeline here: bit.ly/ast_phy_APR
We presented this yesterday at AAS 244.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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for those just joining me since my pained UNCA post, I’m a physics professor at UNCG, which announced Feb 1 that my program will be eliminated. NC is not a great place to be right now (understatement)

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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afaik, our program closure paperwork is will be sent to SACS later this month, if it isn’t there already. I think board of govs has to review/approve first which may happen in the next week.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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AAS friends, budget a little extra time at the airport if you don’t have tsa pre check- it’s taken my travel companion at least 30 mins longer to get through general security at the other end of the airport

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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I am charmed and delighted there’s a refrigerated cheese case in the Madison airport xchange shop 🧀

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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at uncg, they recently told us our students change majors an *average* of 8 times. so they introduced a new "exploratory major" so students wouldn't have to declare anything, at first.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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Today’s splinter session on academic program cuts was cathartic, and hopefully eye-opening for anyone surprised this is happening. There were lots of tears and hugs at the end of the session 💔 I hate how many people’s life work and joy are at risk right now.

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Stephen Wolf's avatar Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social
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Gutting democracy let the GOP gut North Carolina's university system. Gerrymandering ensures GOP control over the Board of Governors & state budget. The GOP also usurped Dem Gov. Cooper's power to appoint college trustee boards after he beat GOP Gov. McCrory in 2016 but before Cooper took office

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Ada Palmer's avatar Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social
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A new study says that due to an increase of around 55% in wind and solar generation between 2019 and 2022, air quality in the United States shot up and asthma risk fell. #ShareGoodNewsToo buff.ly/3Rh9C9Z

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Dr. Damien P. Williams: Magus, Werewolf, Cyborg, Bi's avatar Dr. Damien P. Williams: Magus, Werewolf, Cyborg, Bi @wolvendamien.bsky.social
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Generative "AI," as presently construed, is not worth the cost. Learn to do this shit different— more sustainable, all renewables, low water use— or we're all gonna die for shirpost-fodder-as-a-service.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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further, many admin hold faculty+students in contempt. to our Chancellor, eliminating physics and math programs "only impacts 10 people, tops." "Students don't come here for physics and math", "we're not producing Einsteins, here." this contempt doesn't invalidate us as scholars.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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we close w/action items, ideas, things to look out for. last bullet point most important: take care of yourself if unfortunate enough to be targeted. we're more than our jobs, none of this is our fault. we can put together amazing arguments, but facts aren't invited to an APR

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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note, i hated even asking student to join us. this is not what they should have to be thinking about. they shouldn't have had to go through this. ultimately, students suffer the most from these processes.

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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i'll share a bitlink to our slides after the session, they include the overwhelming rush/deluge of a timeline at uncg, the tactics deployed by administration to force cuts through, ways to prepare/defend your program, and an amazing student has joined to share their experiences

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404 Alicia Not Found's avatar 404 Alicia Not Found @astroknitter.bsky.social
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2pm in Hall of Ideas J: astronomers and physicists from UNCG and UNCA will discuss 'portfolio review' and the express danger program eliminations (especially at regional institutions, whose purpose is to bring opportunity to underserved communities) pose to our field #AAS244

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Kevin Gannon 's avatar Kevin Gannon @thetattooedprof.bsky.social
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Like, if your university hires the rpk Group, you know cuts and layoffs are coming. They have the same set of recommendations for every higher-ed client, and just cut and paste specific institutions' names. They're the embodiment of "if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail"

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