Wasteland Wrap-up #7

Is the summer over? Almost, almost...

In about a week I start teaching again. Womp womp.

Lyndon has been enjoying the early fall weather we’ve been having — not nearly as hot, great for long walks and soaking up a little sun, as he enjoys doing.

As far as teaching goes, it’s intentionally pretty straightforward fare: two lecture courses that I have taught many times before, one an introduction to the history of science and technology (10,000 years of history in just 13 weeks, as I like to call it, emphasizing the absurdity of trying to be comprehensive), the other my course on nuclear history. I also am teaching a 1-credit honors’ seminar for freshmen, exact topic TBA, but it will probably be tied into the Oregon Road ‘83 game in some way (world-building, or something like that). So I’m hoping that easing back into teaching will be smooth. Because I was on sabbatical last year, it has been a while! I am sure you feel very, very sorry for me.

On the up side, I will have another section to post about for these weekly wrap-ups — “What I’ve been teaching about.” Which should be fun.

I have heard it suggested at times that the spotted lanternfly — an invasive species that has been wrecking a lot of havoc on the East Coast the last couple of years, that everyone in NYC and NJ has been instructed to stomp on sight — is a “pretty” insect.

Aside from the fact that they are horrible and invasive and bad for plants and you wouldn’t think they were pretty if you saw 50 of them clumped in a doorway (it happens, for some reason), I submit this photograph as part of my own counter-claim that they in fact have evil-looking faces. They have penchant for jumping on people, as this one did, allowing me to photograph its malevolent idiocy prior to dispatching it from this world. Ugh.

Perhaps the photo above doesn’t capture their best side, but I maintain that the bug itself posed for it, so if it doesn't look good, whose fault is that? But this is what they actually look like. They’re about one step above the creatures from Starship Troopers.