Yep. I have access to everything else, just can't view Youtube while signed in.

I disabled my adblock for YT, but I still use privacy badger and occasionally a VPN.

The schools doing okay financially aren't the ones cutting these programs for cost-saving reasons. In bigger state universities eliminating programs, the cuts are largely political. School admins are worried that state legislators will target school budgets in the near future if cuts aren't made to "useless" subjects in the humanities and social science.

In regional state universities and private liberal arts schools, however, the situation really is dire. They're cutting to survive. The US has started to experience a decline in college enrollment. Universities have known it would happen since the late 2000s, but not in the way it has.

Big universities are growing or maintaining class sizes, which is putting tremendous pressure on the regional and liberal arts schools as the available students evaporate. It's pushed the timeline for change up at many universities and it's only going to get worse.

Do I feel sorry for university admins? No, they should've taken action sooner, with real wind-down plans for students. But we're going to continue to see cuts to small programs for decades to come; it's unavoidable.

I see some providers support DANE. Is that different than either DMARC or DKIM? I looked it up, but the description was very technical and didn't clear up the differences for me.

I don't think she planned on getting caught. This was a once in a lifetime case for her. Securing a conviction would elevate her career substantially. It's not unprecedented for prosecutors to engage in this kind of misconduct.

That said, most Brady violations are from incompetence rather than malice. Tons of evidence--not just exculpatory--has been lost by poorly trained or lazy investigators.

So, as someone who has used the Internet since its very earliest days, what would you say about what the Internet is like today versus back then? Was it better? Worse? Any major online events that you can recall from that period?

I grew up at the very tail end of the old forums and certainly after the decline and death of old school chat rooms. Most of them died or went inactive while I was in high school/college. The version of the internet older adults used is almost alien to me.

Hell, today's Internet is on its way to being alien too.

As someone who peer reviewed papers, and got familiar with the process, most reviewers do not take the time to seriously examine papers. I would compare my comments to other reviewers for the same paper, and holy shit they barely read it. I would spot pretty blatant omissions--bad methodology, incomplete sections that make a paper impossible to reproduce, poor quality figures, need for major revisions. The other reviewers would offer minor suggestions and leave it at that. And the chief editor will push it out the door with minor revisions that don't address any issues.

I have seen some truly blatant shit get published. Like figures that have made up data, or that we're straight up copied from the authors' previous publication and presented as new. The for-profit publishing industry doesn't give a fuck. Those issues might get caught 10 years down the road, like in that case, but it's usually a slap on the wrist for tenured faculty unless it gets lots of attention.

Prof in my department when I was a grad student blatantly copied work from another researcher, and the only sanctions he got were a moratorium on taking new grad students.

Thanks. I realize this is something only a professional can help with now. It's up to her if she follows through. As far as support goes, I am going to encourage her to reach out to other trusted friends and family members, and to cut out people who have been causing her so much grief.

I thought you were really insightful and I just wanted to give you an update because, if I was lost before, I'm really fucking lost now.

Last night she attempted suicide. I am reading these from my couch while we sort out what the fuck to do.

She went to the bedroom while I was reading on the couch around 8:30 after she took a shower. Within 5-10 minutes she called my name. I came in and she had a bottle.of her pills in one hand, and enough of them to kill a horse in the other.

She was shaking, but pretty numb when I gently took the bottle and pills out of her hands and held her. It took probably another 15-20 minutes for her to say anything else. Then she started sobbing.

This is the first time I've witnessed a suicide attempt, so I'm shaken up.

Anyway, thank you for the advice. It was thought provoking and I'm going to pick my way through it while I cope.

Yeah, I am starting to wonder if that's the right call. We've had a great relationship for the most part, but while I forgive and move on from her minor mistakes--with the understanding that people fuck up sometimes and a sincere apology and effort to fix it going forward is sufficient--she's far less inclined to do that.

It has gradually resulted in an imbalanced relationship, where she does stuff like this and I don't. I've supported her through some tough stuff, yah know? And I feel like all that sacrifice got discarded because of a 10 second run in with some HVAC guy.

Yeah, I am probably overthinking it. I'll check around and open a trial account or 2 to see how good the places I'm thinking about moving to are.

The term "shakedown" has been used to describe frivolous lawsuits seeking to strong-arm settlements from defendants for decades. Language is descriptive, not prescriptive.

They literally explained why it was a shakedown. I don't know what else needs to be said.

The parents of the victims are suing organizations that have no chance of being held liable in the hopes that they get some form of payout. That's what a shakedown is.

It's tragic and I get their anger, but this isn't going to succeed. Any legal team worth its retainer fee will successfully defend this.