Harvard Bans Flash Photography as... Racist!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

You can surely see why by yourself.

I will voluntarily surrender my Canon 580EX to the authorities, rather than risk a citizen arrest or be surrounded by anti-flash mob and have it confiscated by force. Rumor has it that the Burning Man this year will have a bonfire made of all the confiscated racist flashes.

In a related Harvard news: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/18/house-master-title-change-awaiting-approval/

MBA and MSci titles seem safe (for the time being).

[RSL]

Is anybody actually surprised?

[Colorado David]

Several years ago, when we last owned a car that had drum brakes on the rear, I went to the auto parts store to buy parts to rebuild rear brakes. I went to the counter and told the clerk that I needed a slave cylinder kit for that car. He leaned down onto the counter and looked me in the eye and said, "you mean wheel cylinder don't you?"  I said yeah that's what I meant.

[Rob C]

It's the madness that's called political correctness.

Unfortunately, the time to develop an active resistance seems to have passed: the lunatics have taken control of the asylum, and we can't get out and away from them.

It's like Europe: every single politic¡an knows the answer to the migrant crisis: solve the problem in the middle-east. But they won't say that; it might offend somebody somewhere. I do believe that it will destroy the so-called European Union, as more and more countries pull up the drawbridge they'd forgotten they owned. It's a shame, really, because with sanity it could have been a wonderful way to create and manage trade.

But never mind migrants: when I was an apprentice engineer we worked a 44 hr week and nobody thought anything about it; I even did a few regular stints at night shift. Today, France has a 35 hr week and they still go on strike, block motorways...

[fdisilvestro]

Stupidity knows no bounds

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

You can surely see why by yourself.

I will voluntarily surrender my Canon 580EX to the authorities, rather than risk a citizen arrest or be surrounded by anti-flash mob and have it confiscated by force. Rumor has it that the Burning Man this year will have a bonfire made of all the confiscated racist flashes.

In a related Harvard news: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/18/house-master-title-change-awaiting-approval/

MBA and MSci titles seem safe (for the time being).

Slobo,

I think you can get your flash past the censors if you simply paste two little stickers onto the offending words, each saying "Person."

My solution to the "House-Master" problem would be to rename half of them as "House-Mistresses," and once yearly reverse the designations.

-Eric

P.S. I guess today's Harvard students have too much time on their hands. In my day I did heavy intellectual work for the Harvard Crimson by helping to distribute their parodies of both the Yale and Princeton student newspapers at a Yale-Princeton football game.
And the only riot that my class produced was protesting the change from Latin to English on the diplomas.

I should add that I managed to get through Harvard with out ever taking a required English course. I consider that to be verging on criminal conduct by a "prestigious" college.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... My solution to the "House-Master" problem would be to rename half of them as "House-Mistresses,"...

 

[kencameron]

I thought it was just kinky.

+1. I wonder when that usage started and who thought it up.

[Richowens]

Several years ago, when we last owned a car that had drum brakes on the rear, I went to the auto parts store to buy parts to rebuild rear brakes. I went to the counter and told the clerk that I needed a slave cylinder kit for that car. He leaned down onto the counter and looked me in the eye and said, "you mean wheel cylinder don't you?"  I said yeah that's what I meant.

 David,
 A slave cylinder is used on a vehicle with manual transmission and a hydraulically operated clutch. The clerk wasn't being a wiseass, simply factual.

Rich

[David Anderson]

In protest I shall take my flash into the store and photograph the row of 'Coon' cheese from Kraft and send that to my
brainy friends at Harvard.

[Rob C]

I took down my Rebel flag (which you can't buy on Ebay anymore) and peeled the NRA sticker off the front door.
                 
I disconnected my home alarm system and quit the candy-ass Neighborhood Watch.
                 
I bought the  Pakistan and Afghanistan flags, and put one at each corner of the front yard. Then I purchased the black flag of ISIS (which you CAN buy on Ebay) and put it in the CENTER of the yard.
                 
Now, the local police, sheriff, FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, Secret Service and other agencies are all watching the house 24/7.
                 
I've NEVER felt safer and I'm saving $69.95 a month that ADT charged me.
                 
Plus, I bought burkas for my family when we shop or travel. Everyone moves out of our way and security can't pat us down.
                 
Safe at last – only in USA! 

(But coming soon too, to the Disunited States of Europe!)

;-)

Rob C

P.S.

I wonder what wil happen to the Brits Awards, as they clearly offend everyone...   

         

[John McDermott]

I didn't know that Harvard had it's own version of the Onion.

[GrahamBy]

David,
 A slave cylinder is used on a vehicle with manual transmission and a hydraulically operated clutch. The clerk wasn't being a wiseass, simply factual.

Rich

Bollocks. The cylinder that commands is the master cylinder, whether it be for brakes, clutch or industrial hydraulics. Similar for slave cylinder: a hydraulic clutch is just one more slave cylinder.

[Richowens]

Bollocks? You mean Bullshit don't you?

What exactly, in my post, is bullshit? In the US, in any automotive parts store, independent or dealer, if you ask for a slave cylinder the parts person will think "clutch".

I spent forty years working on the unforgiving beasts and have replaced or rebuilt unknown numbers of cylinders. I therefore believe I am qualified to speak as I did,

to quote "The clerk was not being a wiseass, just factual."

Yes your "statement" is factual, any first semester engineering student learns this. Elementary my dear Watson.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

...The clerk wasn't being a wiseass, simply factual...

Pardon my ignorance, gentlemen, but aren't "wheel cylinder" and "slave cylinder" simply synonyms? If so, there is no way to know if the clerk was a wiseass or factual. However, given the additional description ("He leaned down onto the counter and looked me in the eye"), it is highly probable he was a wiseass.

[Nelsonretreat]

It's the madness that's called political correctness.

But never mind migrants: when I was an apprentice engineer we worked a 44 hr week and nobody thought anything about it; I even did a few regular stints at night shift. Today, France has a 35 hr week and they still go on strike, block motorways...

I just love the way your mind works Mr C. Anyone who can jump from this thread's topic to their apprentice worh hours has a brain to marvel at!

[Richowens]

Pardon my ignorance, gentlemen, but aren't "wheel cylinder" and "slave cylinder" simply synonyms? If so, there is no way to know if the clerk was a wiseass or factual. However, given the additional description ("He leaned down onto the counter and looked me in the eye"), it is highly probable he was a wiseass.

Hi Slobodan,

  Synonyms....yes.....no. A wheel cylinder IS a slave cylinder technically, wheel denotes its position on the vehicle. Therefore if one wanted to get really anal retentive

one could call it a brake slave cylinder. The name "wheel cylinder" derives from the very first hydraulic brakes fitted to automobiles some 70 to 80 years ago. Each

wheel had a cylinder. Wheel cylinders are found in the brakes section of the parts catalogue, clutch slaves are found in the transmission section. Therefore it helps to

know where to look for the correct part. Looking in the eyes is just good manners plus when the customer does not know what they want and you hit on the part, the

eyes are the first to tell you. Most parts people are a model of patience.

  Anyway, this is based on my tenure doing what I loved for forty years, and my opinion.

 Rich

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

I just love the way your mind works Mr C... a brain to marvel at!

No opportunity is too small for you to engage in another personal jab, Mr. O'Neill?

[RSL]

Time for Nelson to retreat.

[Colorado David]

I just told a funny story. That's all. I would happily accept your correction except that I had bought slave cylinder rebuild kits at auto parts stores for a long time. Happily now they're calipers.