HeyJaredRavings of an annoyed scientist
Humorous commentary on science, higher education, and anything else that crosses my overly stressed mind.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 28, 2026
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- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
The evaluation obsession (opens the original)
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Part of the business fetish in academia is the obsession with evaluation. The business-ness of the process became apparent when I was asked to generate plans that would align with deficiencies in KPI. I had to look up what KPI meant. I initially thought maybe it was a new Klebsiella pneumoniae substrain. But no. Honestly, I would have preferred getting Klebsiella pneumoniae to doing another evaluation activity.KPI, if you’re not part of the academic-industrial complex, is an abbreviation for Key
The vultures are circling (opens the original)
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The classic example of vulture capitalism is when the retirement home that is operating efficiently and providing excellent care for its inmates is bought by a business entity. The entity then buys the land from the retirement home subsidiary and has the retirement home subsidiary pay the entity rent. This increases operating expenses, so the retirement home needs to cut costs, serving lesser quality food, and cut staff, leaving the inmates struggling to have their basic needs met. As conditions
And now a word from our Sponsors (opens the original)
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Because it’s Labor Day (or Labour Day for our neighbors) I’m taking a break from the raving and sharing some messages from my sponsors. You didn’t know I had sponsors? Well, they’re not monetary sponsors. But they sponsor me in the sense of providing lots of material to rave about. Let’s read what they have to say.Hubris UniversityHubris University (established 2009) is a new concept in higher education. We lean into the idea that we need Deans more than faculty. More than 60% of our staff are D
A hard pillar to swallow (opens the original)
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The term “pillar” is greatly overused. A pillar is strong, upright vertical structure used to support a structure or perhaps be the structure itself. In architecture it is load-bearing. In landforms, a pillar can be a tall spire formed by erosion of surrounding rocks, or as it is more commonly known, the hoodoo. Hoodoo is great word that you don’t hear enough.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZcCB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/h
Study Section Kerfuffle Leaves Reviewers Stunned (opens the original)
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Security was called in to de-escalate an argument that broke out at the latest study section. The atmosphere was tense as the meeting ended. Study section members have grown accustomed to an increasingly antagonistic review process. At one time it was remarkable how three reviewers could review a grant from very different perspectives and come to similar conclusions. When there were disparities in scores, the discussions were civil and often resulted in a consensus that sent a refined message to
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