Monday, December 16, 2013

Kindred Spirits

It appears that there's a military blog, Duffel Blog, that serves much the same purpose for the military community that CM plays for the higher ed community.  I especially liked the attitude of the Pentagon press secretary, related in a Washington Post article on the blog, and wish that higher ed administrators would follow suit:
The Duffel Blog reached a milestone of sorts when the Pentagon’s main Twitter account began following the site in September. Jennifer D. Elzea, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the step was taken to help the Defense Department “maintain situational awareness.” It probably also had something to do with the fact that the Pentagon press secretary had become a huge fan.
George Little, who stepped down from the post last month, said the blog had become a “must read,” and he counseled public affairs colleagues to monitor it closely to spot what narratives were taking hold and which messages were falling flat.
“It helps put many things in healthy perspective, even when it’s a little over the top or overly satirical,” Little said. “In the very serious world we live in at the Pentagon, a bit of levity can actually help advance the mission.”
Also, as a blog post in the Crampicle network today points out, Duffel Blog occasionally tackles education-related topics.  

And in completely unrelated news, Harvard had a bomb scare today.  Maybe somebody was worried the grading on this semester's batch of exams might be a bit stricter than usual?


9 comments:

  1. I just tried the link, and it was down. Has CM become the new Slashdot?

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    1. Yes, I noticed that (and added a note, but couldn't figure out how to postpone the post, after it was already published). I swear it was up when I was adding the links, and no, I can't believe either we or the Crampicle blog network can generate enough traffic to cause a problem, especially a few weeks after a Washington Post article. Presumably it's either coincidence, or the zombie apocalypse has begun wherever their servers are located, but we haven't noticed it yet.

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    2. Its up again. Had a read of a couple of things. Looks pretty hilarious, akin to The Onion.

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  2. Down => the government pigs who are spying on us got pissed off enough to take it down.

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  3. I like that site. Time for a new bookmark to waste time on!

    The fake response to the first-grader's letter is great. Though, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a bit of an ass.

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  4. From "Outgoing Company Commander: ‘I Hate You All’" -

    "But for fuck’s sake don’t come back for at least 30 days so I can drop you off my books and let someone else deal with the meatsack of failure that is your existence."

    So going on my syllabus.

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  5. Love this!

    Except I couldn't deal with the graphics; those photos are just way too symmetrical and true-to-life for my taste; it scared me.

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