Marshall Sahlins, a leading American anthropologist, resigned last week from the National Academy of Sciences. This may come as a shock to the scientific community and even to students at NYU. Anyone taking an introductory course to anthropology at NYU, for example, is bound to encounter several readings of Sahlins’s work. Among his more influential works are “Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities,” a case study of the murder of Captain Cook in Hawaii and how it was the result of underlying social factors. Normally, when a scientist or scholar resigns from such a prestigious position, one assumes that he probably committed an irrevocable and egregious error that forever taints his credibility as an academic. However, our assumptions sometimes deceive us. If we explore the reasoning and motivations behind Sahlins’s resignation, we may arrive at deeper insights into the issues at play.
posted by infini
on Feb 27, 2013 -
14 comments
"Every single person you meet, look at them like a golden million dollar baby." Last night, internet-famous oddball rapper and human meme
Lil B gave a 90-minute lecture at NYU to a sold-out crowd. Speaking completely off the cuff, he touched upon radical positivity, empathy, how ant colonies are like human communities, and the dangers of hydraulic fracking, among many other things.
Transcript and recording here. Pitchfork.tv will
air the full video tomorrow. Nitsuh Abebe
writes about what makes Lil B so great, and why it's hard to deal with some of his fans.
[more inside]
posted by naju
on Apr 12, 2012 -
51 comments
Drama on the top floor. A pair of redtailed hawks nested on the window of the NYU’s Bobst Library, outside the office of President John Sexton. (
Previously.) The New York Times set up a hawk cam to observe the hatching process. Instead they’ve got a soap opera on their hands, with
miraculous births,
life and death drama,
bungling bureaucracies, and a comments section on the warpath, with some New Yorkers demanding the Governor get involved to mount a rescue mission of the injured mother hawk. As of 12:49 EST, hawk catchers were standing by on the 12th floor to determine whether to attempt to remove and rehabilitate the hawk at the Bronx Zoo (
previously), a
course which could mean the death of her chick. (
Consolidated post with most updates is here, if you want to catch up.)
[more inside]
posted by Diablevert
on May 12, 2011 -
31 comments
When "Proto-Pop" artist
Larry Rivers' died in
2002, he left behind extensive archives of his letters, paperwork, photographs and film documenting the New York artistic and literary scene from the 1940s through the 1980s. They chronicle his friendships and relationships with dozens of artists, musicians and writers, from Willem de Kooning and Andy Warhol to Frank O’Hara. Also included: films and videos of his two adolescent daughters, naked or topless, being interviewed by their father about their developing breasts. Now, one daughter, who says she was pressured to participate beginning when she was 11, is
demanding that material be removed from the archive and returned to her and her sister. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jul 8, 2010 -
74 comments
NYU's Snuff Film. The Village Voice reports on the accidental
death of NYU film student John Hunt Lamensdorf, on a shoot in Georgia.
Besides the inevitable litigation and hush-up, the death has also resulted in a scramble at NYU to change the rules and safety procedures for student productions.
posted by availablelight
on Apr 8, 2010 -
78 comments
Improving the Density of Jammed Disordered Packings using Ellipsoids "We suggest that the higher density is directly related to the higher number of degrees of free- dom per particle and thus the larger number of particle contacts required to mechanically stabilize the packing... Our results have implications for a broad range of scientific disciplines, ranging from the properties of granular media and ceramics to glass formation and discrete geometry."
posted by ShadePlant
on Jul 30, 2009 -
17 comments
NYU recently invited a Law Professor from Singapore, Thio Li-Ann to teach "Human Rights in Asia".
Thio, also a former Member of Parliament, is infamous for having strong views against homosexuality.
As expected, she is
not warmly welcomed by NYU students.
[more inside]
posted by merv
on Jul 15, 2009 -
75 comments
NYU President John Sexton warns striking grad students that they must resume teaching or lose their benefits. After
weeks of
marching outside Bobst library and refusing to teach classes, NYU grad students have been sent a
letter from President John Sexton, warning them that any TA who does not return to work next week will lose their stipends and eligibility to teach next semester.
Until recently, NYU was the only private school that allowed graduate teaching assistants to unionize, following a
2000 NLRB decision, which was subsequently reversed.
NYU claims that it has negotiated in good faith and that the union's demands would limit decision making that should remain in the hands of academics, while the
grad students argue that they cannot trust NYU's admistration to take care of them without unionization (and representation by the
UAW). Meanwhile, many undergrads paying tuition upwards of 50K/year will have to
retake classes or opt for pass/fail. Do you
sympathize with highly educated American grad students who
receive free tuition, health insurance, and stipends in exchange for modest teaching duties (when many other students depend on student loans), especially compared the with
19th century coal miners,
third-world factory workers, and
modern-day wage slaves we normally associate with unions and strikes?
posted by banishedimmortal
on Nov 30, 2005 -
98 comments
Pac-Manhattan is a large-scale urban game that utilizes the New York City grid to recreate the 1980's video game sensation Pac-Man. Oh yes folks, and it's a NYU grad school project.
posted by archimago
on May 3, 2004 -
7 comments
The Bottom Line: Manhattan court rules to evict club. A New York City Greenwich Village landmark,
The Bottom Line Cabaret, which has let the music play from such stars as Bruce Springsteen for close to 30 years, has been
evicted after falling behind by nearly 3 years with is rent and not being able to work out a long-term with it's landlord:
New York University (NYU).
This comes despite the cash contributions from celebrities like Springsteen and Viacom's CEO, last-minute corporate sponsorships from AT&T and others, and the efforts of fans around the world. Even the best efforts of fans at
SaveTheBottomLine.com weren't able to save the club, which says it may consider shopping around for some new digs. But, as of now,
The Bottom Line is homeless.
posted by nyukid
on Dec 4, 2003 -
31 comments
Holy mackerel! Image analogies are an NYU-developed technique for "teaching" the computer an image filter. Their software can do things like fill in the blank in the analogy (photo of a swan):(pastel rendering of a swan)::(photo of a landscape):________. I'm not doing it justice. Their site has some
compelling examples of what they can do. Gee-whiz factor of 8.5!
posted by MonkeyMeat
on Oct 30, 2001 -
17 comments
