Wednesday, 6 August 2008

QotD, blow-off-the-panels-and-go-surfing edition

Orin Kerr on boycotting-but-attending academic conferences:

Whoever thought up a boycott that requires you to be in San Diego in January but forbids you to attend the panels has a keen sense of how to appeal to the academic mind.

Like this is some sort of innovation. By this standard, I’ve been boycotting conferences (at least the panels I’m not supposed to be participating in) for years.

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Yeah, that’s right, boycotting….ummm…I guess I’ve been boycotting for years.

 

I guess I’ve been sort of boycotting….but our version is named after a fellow political scientist. To protect the guilty, we’ll call him “Tom de Soto” (if there really is a political scientist named Tom de Soto, I deeply apologize).

To “de Soto” a conference was to propose a paper, get accepted, but not attend the entire conference.

A “Full de Soto” was to propose a paper, get accepted, attend the conference, but skip the panel.

A “Full de Soto With a Twist” was to propose a paper, get accepted, attend the conference, but get drunk in the lobby bar during your panel

….good times…

God speed, “Tom de Soto.”

 

Shockingly, “Tom de Soto” didn’t get tenure. Whether or not this practice was part of the problem is unclear.

There is an economist named Hernando de Soto, which confuses people (at least those who know their conquistadores) to no end.

 
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