Salaries and Work Enjoyment

I found this chart.  This calls for more empirical research, but it seems intuitive.

Young Duckbutt Learns About Being a College Professor

I was hired by an institution in another state.  Back then, I was in my mid-20's, and had some ideas of what kinds of lofty thoughts and clever sayings were expected of me as a newly minted assistant professor with my recent Ph. D. from the University of Alabama.  I thought I was well-read, kept abreast of current affairs (Hey, I subscribed to Time, had a smattering of philosophy, a limited knowledge of arts, and a lot of brass.)  Yes, I drove a 1967 Volkswagen and had broad tastes in rock music.

My first task on the job, other than filling out a lot of paperwork, was to stand by a door and let students through only if their I.B.M. card had a green stripe on the top where the name was typed.  If they lacked the green stripe, I was to send them down the hall.  I was never told what happened to the green stripers nor the others; the greenies could have been admitted to a wild party or damned from here to eternity, for all I knew.  Oh well, I learned about need to know when I worked for a radiopositioning company.

I guess assistant professors are regarded as in the same category as second lieutenants.

The next day, I went early before classes into the snack bar, met a few fellow faculty members, and thought, "Wow, my first intellectual conversation as a junior college professor!  I hope I can hold my own."

Only it didn't work that way.  The sage elders (pretty nice guys, by the way) were talking about something I knew nothing about.

Cyd Charisse's legs!

Of course!  College professors talk about some of the things that others do.  Actually, they talk a lot of shop, sports, and politics.  Politics?  Up one's wazoo!  Yes, and actresses from before my time.

Anyway, when I took my next teaching job, I was then knowledgeable about Cyd Charisse's legs! Darn it, I was never asked about them.

Parody Painting

I found this on the cruise ship Celebrity Silhouette.  It's a great parody of Leonardo da Vinci's La Belle Ferronnière. The artist was Dorothee Golz.  She makes a nice iron maker's daughter.

The Experimental Archeology of Hairdressing

The concept 'experimental archaeology' conceptually sits uneasily; but the Wall Street Journal reported that a beautician in Baltimore did, through trial and error, determine a possible way in which ancient Roman women could have gotten those elaborate coiffures seen in murals and statues.

No, they did not use wigs; they sewed them together.

Her findings were published in an archaeological journal.  I'm pleased that the editor accepted an article from a nonprofessional archaeologist.  Also, I'm glad that an occasional person is enterprising enough to contribute to the sum total of knowledge.

Now maybe one of her customers will ask her to give her an ancient Roman 'do.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324900204578286272195339456

Creationism

Baby, Still One More Time!

I felt that a take-off on Britney Spears' 1999 song applied here.

Kalmykia a country within the Russian Federation, issued a pane of stamps featuring eight female rockers.  I assume the 5.00 refers to five Rubles; but it can be five sweet potatoes, five Bud Lights, or whatever.

For those who prefer, there's the Mariah Carey stamp.  And some others.

The world of postage stamps is an odd one.  First, there are some places that get a lot of revenue from postage stamp collectors, like Pitcairn Island.  (Or the island's 50-60 residents have really humonguous letter writing  habits.)

Then there are some out-and-out fake places issuing postage stamps, like the notorious ones issued by the National Socialist Croatian government in exile:

But these are totally fake, so you need not look for them in your mail.

But Kalmykia is a real place; the only part of European Russia that is largely Buddhist.  These may be locally issued stamps, or they might be fakes.

It's nice to know that other places have their priorities set right.

Troy Abbott Art

 More art from the Celebrity Silhouette.  These images of birds in cages spares the real thing from confinement..