@MCS retweeted
Academia is filled with people who constantly talk about how busy they are, but never seem to complete anything
@MCS retweeted
We have to run a national search for all administrative appointments even though we’ve picked out our internal candidate. So, since you’re not the inside candidate, I need you to serve on the search committee.
@MCS retweeted
Restore the historic American Chemical Society logo - Sign the Petition! c.org/sV2ybbCf8f via @Change
@MCS retweeted
De longe é o discursinho falso de que favorecem a Argentina, sendo que na realidade, é a seleção que mais sofreu com assaltos de arbitragem na história do futebol.
Ser absurdamente roubada em 4 finais de copa é ridículo. Mas não conseguem derrotar a Argentina sem ajuda externa.
Because the format was changed and World Cup was expanded to 32 teams, a new rule was added to the Euros and a new friendly tournament introduced.
Using the same format his predecessors use when the World Cup was 16 teams, Ronaldo’s portugal wouldn’t have made it to the World Cup in 2010, 2014 and 2022.
In 2016, the Euros introduced a 3rd place play off and stopped it after 2016. If we use same rules as the predecessors, he wouldn’t have made it out of the group stages.
UNL was introduced in 2018 so his predecessors never played it.
@MCS retweeted
Regardless of the reactions after the final whistle, anyone who has watched more than a handful of football matches knows that Argentina’s performance was neither unusually violent nor free from punishment: we finished the match with ten players! Finals have seen far worse: Zidane’s headbutt, Neuer’s flying knee, or De Jong’s kick to Xabi Alonso’s chest. This narrative is yet another expression of the colonial mindset some still cannot escape, unable to recognize violence when it comes from their own side.
I believe my post has been misinterpreted, and this tweet is one example of such an unfortunate misinterpretation.
There’s no criticism in the post about Argentinian people. I don’t see how anybody could read that into it, and any such reading would make me very unhappy.
I found the theory I retweeted intriguing. The theory was: the reason why the Argentine soccer team started making harder fouls and also becoming more aggressive in the post-game was because earlier more minor transgressions went unpunished, and this changed norms and perceived rules, enabling further transgressions. This was entirely about the Argentine squad.
I prefaced my comments saying that I’m not sure this is the right mechanism or explanation, but it is intriguing.
I still think so.
I found it intriguing because it has a parallel to how political leaders and influential people (including businesspeople) start misbehaving if rules and norms are not enforced toward them.
Here there was no reference to Argentine leaders or people at all. As my comment made it clear, the main case I had in mind was Trump in the United States.
Let me also add one thing. One important distinction between patriotism and nationalism is that patriots are proud of their country and its achievements, but also happy to criticize its mistakes and be critical of people who represent their country if they are behaving in ways that don’t meet the highest standards. I fully support patriotism and the pride that Argentines and many other nations feel of their national soccer team.
Nationalism supports one’s nation regardless of its misdeeds and potential misbehavior of its leaders. Perhaps I am an old-fashioned liberal in that I still think nationalism is something that is destabilizing and dangerous for the whole world.
@MCS retweeted
There is a double standard, a decontextualization and a clear bias against Argentina, compared to behavior of other players from other countries in this WC, in the same match, in previous WCs.
Examples:
1) Neither Croatia nor France stayed on the pitch to see Argentina pick the trophy; Argentina did in both occasions
2) Argentina didn't give their back to Spain, they faced their crowd
3) Bellingham reacted like Molina but no one created a whole thesis on English behavior and social issues
4) Rodri celebrated to Molina's (and Silva vs Portugal) face but no one said anything about being a bad winner
5) Gavi hit Paredes from behind but you kept looking at Paredes' reaction
6) Looking back: a Dutch player hit a player on the chest and no one wrote an analysis on Dutch violence; Zidane (still my idol) hit Materazzi on the chest with his head after the latter made a comment about his sister, and no one wrote a full analysis on violence in France or sexism in Italy.
All our players, coaches, journalists, fans congratulated Spain for a very good win, and so do I. All other comments are out of bounds
@MCS retweeted
"Pelé jogou mais que o messi, vai procurar no YouTube para vc ver"
O primeiro video que vejo:
@MCS retweeted
El mito de Cristiano Ronaldo se desmorona por completo en este Mundial, donde queda expuesto que sin la ayuda del punto penal su presencia en el ataque es nula. Esta dependencia absoluta de las penas máximas para maquillar sus estadísticas no es una novedad, sino el fiel reflejo de una carrera inflada por el marketing y los números fáciles. Verlo arrastrarse por la cancha esperando un regalo arbitral para poder festejar es la confirmación de que su trayectoria carece de la magia y el juego real de los verdaderos genios del fútbol.
@MCS retweeted
I learned in academia that attempts to enforce standards, accountability, or merit risk accusations of bullying, mistreatment, lack of compassion, or creating an “unsafe environment.”
Anyone who wanted to remain in good standing learned the unwritten rules: everyone is brilliant, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, conflict must be avoided, and standards are flexible when politically inconvenient.
The absence of standards is pervasive throughout academia.
The main reason I quit academia and gave up a tenured faculty position at @EastCarolina was because I caught a student red-handed plagiarism a term paper. Failed them.
But administration forced me to change their grade and I was threatened with a lawsuit by the parents 1/2
@MCS retweeted
i think 9/10 problems with airline satisfaction could be resolved if they charged for carryons instead of checked bags.
@MCS retweeted
Replying to @GMAlexColovic
The important thing to know that among the field of top chess players where the collective skill level is so similar, that "bit" better is actually a lot.
@MCS retweeted
As a graduate student, his research doesn’t show much promise. It isn’t especially innovative, methodologically rigorous, or theoretically compelling. His willingness to throw his co-authors & professors under bus when he underachieves though shows real administrative potential!





































