Author Archives: Robert Basil

“If you have any tips and tricks for evading censors, please contact us.”

This sentiment, published in The Economist by Gabriel Crossley, has made my Sunday. Crossley notes that in China VPNs (“software which makes it appear as if a computer or mobile phone is located in another country”) have been “getting slower” … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Counter

I have had truly unpleasant interactions with people I’ve known for years – including with those in academia – during these Olympics. Their loathsome disdain for transgenderism made them attack a non-transgendered woman, a boxer from Algeria, in giddy displays … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The speaking body

There has always been an oral-communication component in my upper-level business communications classes. I used to justify this to my students this way: In my own professional life, no matter how beautifully clear and researched the documents my clients pay … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“Time is of the essence.”

This story is from the online news publication “Jolt: The Journal of Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater” [in Washington State]: Starting Monday, June 17, Intercity Transit will cease posting rider alerts on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).  This decision comes in response … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Balance and scale

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

ChatGPT and email

As a university prof, I both teach and, to some extent, accommodate AI platforms in the classroom. This has been a daunting, trying, and humbling experience that requires continual adjustment and correction. But there is no way around it. The … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

West End murder of crows (2010).

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged | Leave a comment

An old-fashioned take-down

Becca Rothfeld’s book review “Lauren Oyler thinks she is better than you” is a thorough evisceration of Oyler’s book No Judgment. You don’t see many reviews like this these days. Critics that attack books typically go after the author’s political … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Learning but slowly

Apropos the use of AI in academia, a student asked me, “We want to work more quickly in the workplace, but do we really want to LEARN more quickly? Is that even possible?” To the latter question, I would say … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Autofilling the Data Gaps

My macroeconomics professor at The University at Buffalo told our class, at semester’s end, that people in his profession “had a lot to be humble about.” I loved that line and have used it hundreds of times since, to describe … Continue reading

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment