Interesting Links for 25-01-2012

[andrewducker]

• The Pirate Bay now lets you download physical objects
  Yes, I would totally download a car.
  (tags: copyright 3dprinting )
• McDonalds Twitter campaign goes terribly wrong (for some value of "got them lots of publicity")
  (tags: mcdonalds food twitter marketing )
• Forth Ports sells Ocean Terminal shopping centre - looks like we'll be getting some more

Comments

[cartesiandaemon]

I don't think so. But her statement (full text: http://sassywire.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/statement-by-sarah-grunfeld-re-york-university-incident/) says:
he failed to qualify the statement clearly as an unacceptable opinion held by others
andI have since been grossly misquoted and ridiculed by the media, and attempts have been made to assign blame to me with the false claim that I simply “misheard” or “half heard” what was said
andI understand that there may have been a miscommunication, but any miscommunication was on the part of the professor, not me. The media has been complicit in allowing a false interpretation of my actions to be circulated widely, which can only have a chilling effect on the ability of students to have any kind of a voice on campus.
That to me looks like it probably means "he didn't mean and most people would have guessed that but I didn't and now I want to get out with the minimum level of embarrassment possible". But it might mean "He really did endorse, or sound like he was endorsing, that point of view, but in a way I can't clearly explain for some reason, please stop assuming I'm an idiot". It may be clear if you read more articles, I was just reflecting to myself that sometimes the apparently stupid side wasn't really wrong, and even if I think they were in this case, I should continue to be careful not to perpetrate the "get carried away being outraged at something I heard thirdhand" mistake myself :)

[andrewducker]

It's possible. I'd expect her classmates to come forward in that case and support her case.

And blaming all miscommunication on the part of the professor, rather than accepting that she might have misheard, and clear it up, indicates to me that she's the kind of person who goes from nowhere to nuclear option, and thus I just don't trust her opinion.

[cartesiandaemon]

"I'd expect her classmates to come forward in that case and support her case."

Yeah, likewise. I had a quick google, and found lots of second hand sources saying "why haven't her classmates come forward and supported [her/the professor]", but look further to see if there was anything definitive. I agree, I hope if the current story is insufficient, more will come out.

"And blaming all miscommunication on the part of the professor, rather than accepting that she might have misheard, and clear it up, indicates to me that she's the kind of person who goes from nowhere to nuclear option"

And yeah, I agree -- I'm not certain, but I agree.

FWIW, when I googled, I found some really depressing discussions on other aspects of the issue. For instance, in a terminal fit of irony and logic failure, some people were saying that "some opinions are unacceptable to have" was an opinion unacceptable to have. I think they assumed that when the professor said "unnacceptable", he meant "should be arrested" not "shouldn't be accepted with equal validity into academic discourse". (I mean, I don't know for sure what the professor meant, but the interpretation that makes sense, rather than the ridiculous one, seems more likely :))

[andrewducker]

She certainly seemed to think that it was a phrase that he shouldn't have spoken, but there's a difference between phrases that are unsuitable for a working/education environment (where I would object to bigotry of any kind) and the idea that some phrases should never be spoken, which I object to on a basic level.