Flagrant Gender Discrimination!

[SydneyBlake]

By the time I went to UVa, they were being called cheerleaders there (and they did more drinking than cheering). A century before that, though, they were being called something like the cheer squad. Our cheerleaders for UVa now are about half and half male and female.

They don't cheer at my alma mater. They yell. (And don't tell anybody I said this, but they sound really stupid.) (I'm not a very good alumnus.)

 

[sr71plt]

Why is the slug misnamed? It is certainly about gender discrimination.

Ah, no, the slug isn't misnamed. Your post is misrepresenting. You call it a football team issue. The article isn't about a football team; it's about a cheerleader squad. One of your "not all there" evenings, is it?

You can certainly consider cheerleading a sport if that gives you comfort. But the article you cite isn't about a football team.

 

[sr71plt]

They don't cheer at my alma mater. They yell. (And don't tell anybody I said this, but they sound really stupid.) (I'm not a very good alumnus.)

When I went to THE Unversity, we held our football victory parties the night before--because we knew we weren't going to win the next day. (And since the football players went to the parties, this was a self-fulfilling prophecy.)

(And, yes, Swiftboater, I was on the football team.)

 

[SydneyBlake]

Reality is worse than that. Those at UVa still call it The Unversity (like it's the only one). That's the school sticker I have on the back wind shield of my car--but I do it as a joke.

And this area IS quite British. For a couple of centuries, Central Virginians went to England for their mates and vice versa. Lady Astor (first woman in the British parliament), for instance, was a Charlottesville girl.

I have a drawer full of school stickers. I'm supposed to put them on my back windshield?

So they don't recognize that little school in Blacksburg? Beautiful campus, btw.

Interesting stuff. I have ancestors who lived in Virginia. Been a while since I looked at the family tree stuff, but Virginia came up a lot.

Don't ask me what that has to do with cheerleaders. I can never stay on topic.

 

[sr71plt]

So they don't recognize that little school in Blacksburg? Beautiful campus, btw.

Until Virginia Tech put big bucks into a football team, it was just thought of as an AG school in a cow pasture (where everyone--again, mostly men, had to be in ROTC and play silly war games as well as learn how to milk a cow). It gets respect these days for its football. The only other respect it gets in Virginia is where you might want to send your children to college if you want to get them shot at. Academically, the only university in Virginia that rivals UVa would be William and Mary--and their football team is in a lot lower league.

And as far as beautiful campuses, Va Tech doesn't rank anywhere close to the Thomas Jefferson designed and built grounds (we can't call them a campus) at UVa.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have a drawer full of school stickers. I'm supposed to put them on my back windshield?

So they don't recognize that little school in Blacksburg? Beautiful campus, btw.

Interesting stuff. I have ancestors who lived in Virginia. Been a while since I looked at the family tree stuff, but Virginia came up a lot.

Don't ask me what that has to do with cheerleaders. I can never stay on topic.

A lot of schools do that. When you listen to NFL players introduce themselves it's "The University of Ohio" or sometimes "The U"

What I never understood is years after people graduate when they follow the sports and say "we" won. Are you playing? Did you teach these guys to play?

I think that's clinging to the glory days a bit too much.

Next time my daughter clocks some kid in a tournament I'm going to say "we" won.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Until Virginia Tech put big bucks into a football team, it was just thought of as an AG school in a cow pasture (where everyone--again, mostly men, had to be in ROTC and play silly war games as well as learn how to milk a cow). It gets respect these days for its football. The only other respect it gets in Virginia is where you might want to send your children to college if you want to get them shot at.

... or if you want them in the better engineering programs.

I don't have much love for either school, but the in-state engineers I know from Tech are brilliant. The ones from UVa? Hmmm.

I'd imagine it's like UNC-NC State, except that UNC doesn't even have engineering.

Don't ask me what that has to do with cheerleaders. I can never stay on topic.

there was a topic?

 

[SydneyBlake]

Until Virginia Tech put big bucks into a football team, it was just thought of as an AG school in a cow pasture (where everyone--again, mostly men, had to be in ROTC and play silly war games as well as learn how to milk a cow). It gets respect these days for its football. The only other respect it gets in Virginia is where you might want to send your children to college if you want to get them shot at. Academically, the only university in Virginia that rivals UVa would be William and Mary--and their football team is in a lot lower league.

And as far as beautiful campuses, Va Tech doesn't rank anywhere close to the Thomas Jefferson designed and built grounds (we can't call them a campus) at UVa.

I haven't seen UVa, so I can't say whether you're biased or not.

VT's earned that unfortunate rep in recent years, for sure. But since my company paid for me to attend a technical course at VT years ago, I can say that they can do more than milk cows.

As for W&M, they're busy making high dollar lawyers. I know one of them. But that's the extent of my knowledge there.

Virginia, at least the drive from the airport to Blacksburg, felt like a Norman Rockwell painting.

 

[SydneyBlake]

I think that's clinging to the glory days a bit too much.

That's just the way it is down here. My family has some of the biggest UT (U of Texas) fans, but not a one of them have a degree from there. Only one of them even attended. It's pretty stupid.

 

[sr71plt]

... or if you want them in the better engineering programs.

Um, no, not really. My son graduated in engineering at UVa. Studied under Randy Pausch (of "The Last Lecture" fame). Majored in virtual reality, which Tech didn't even offer. Went on to a doctorate and a professorship of his own. Tech's for the lower end (building bridges), not the higher end of engineering. But if you want to build a bridge rather than a new universe . . .

 

[sr71plt]

I haven't seen UVa, so I can't say whether you're biased or not.

Google it; you'll be amazed at how famous the original Thomas Jefferson grounds are. (And you need to take a ride around the antebellum plantation environs of UVa nudging up to the Blue Ridge--which, again, make southwest Virginia look like a cow pasture.)

And as for lawyers, if the lawyer wants to stay in Virginia and get paid big bucks (and/or go into politics), his/her degree needs to be from UVa., not William and Mary. William and Mary is mostly for those whose famlies already have their money and position and don't plan on working.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Um, no, not really. My son graduated in engineering at UVa. Studied under Randy Pausch (of "The Last Lecture" fame). Majored in virtual reality, which Tech didn't even offer. Went on to a doctorate and a professorship of his own. Tech's for the lower end (building bridges), not the higher end of engineering. But if you want to build a bridge rather than a new universe . . .

Funny you mention bridges. I only know bridge-builders from UVa. The Techies I know are in change-the-world jobs.

 

[lovecraft68]

Um, no, not really. My son graduated in engineering at UVa. Studied under Randy Pausch (of "The Last Lecture" fame). Majored in virtual reality, which Tech didn't even offer. Went on to a doctorate and a professorship of his own. Tech's for the lower end (building bridges), not the higher end of engineering. But if you want to build a bridge rather than a new universe . . .

Oh, for the love of Christ, could you be more pompous? Hope you didn't pass your better than bullshit onto your son.

Building a new universe

Wonder what some of your neighbors whom I'm sure have kids who went to that other pathetic school would think of your opinion. Never mind if they live near you they already know you're a tool.

 

[sr71plt]

Funny you mention bridges. I only know bridge-builders from UVa. The Techies I know are in change-the-world jobs.

Guess we know different people then. Of course U.S. News & World Report seems to know more of your friends than mine. They rank Va Tech #24 nationally and UVa #39.

As an experiment, you might ask how many of the Techie friends also applied to UVa--and didn't get in.

 

[lovecraft68]

Funny you mention bridges. I only know bridge-builders from UVa. The Techies I know are in change-the-world jobs.

Give it up tat, the guys not conceited he's convinced. his friends are better than yours. His kids are better than yours and his shit doesn't stink.

If your kid ate a turd in the back yard his kid ate a bigger one and it smelled worse.

I'd like people to review his last few posts. Arrogance at its purist. And if you want to see it get worse keep disagreeing with him.

 

[sr71plt]

It's sort of fun to see you squirming around the edge of this playful discussion, Swiftboater--trying to play way out of your league and bait me at the same time. Where (if anywhere) did you go to college? Where do they have a good school of warehouse maintenance?

 

[SydneyBlake]

Um, no, not really. My son graduated in engineering at UVa. Studied under Randy Pausch (of "The Last Lecture" fame). Majored in virtual reality, which Tech didn't even offer. Went on to a doctorate and a professorship of his own. Tech's for the lower end (building bridges), not the higher end of engineering. But if you want to build a bridge rather than a new universe . . .

Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. You can't say one school is better than another simply because one offers a program that another doesn't. Example: Boast about Harvard medical school all you want. They do have a superior research program. But if you want to practice clinical medicine, then your school is university of Washington in Seattle.

Pausch was brilliant, of course.

And good luck enjoying virtual reality without a real reality. Building a bridge is not as easy as you seem to suppose.

Edited to add: Yes, Pausch taught at UVa, too, earlier in his career.

Editied to add: I don't mean to exclude other med school's in that example; those are just the top ranked schools, at least the last time I looked.

 

[sr71plt]

Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. You can't say one school is better than another simply because one offers a program that another doesn't. Example: Boast about Harvard medical school all you want. They do have a superior research program. But if you want to practice clinical medicine, then your school is university of Washington in Seattle.

Pausch was brilliant, of course.

And good luck enjoying virtual reality without a real reality. Building a bridge is not as easy as you seem to suppose.

Edited to add: Yes, Pausch taught at UVa, too.

Yes, he taught at UVa for nine years--1988-1997. My son was his teaching assistant for two of those years (and went on to Georgia Tech for his doctorate--which wins over both Tech and UVa hands down on the top lists. And my son had to learn how to build those bridges before going on to higher uses of engineering).

On the beautiful campus question, UVa does quite well. For instance, #17 in the top 50 from this source (William and Mary being #8)

http://www.thebestcolleges.org/most-beautiful-campuses/

So sue me for liking where I went to university and where I chose to retire.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

And good luck enjoying virtual reality without a real reality. Building a bridge is not as easy as you seem to suppose.

Perhaps. But--and I'm guessing this is in part where sr is coming from--making fun of structural engineers is a time-honored tradition for all other engineers. Lord knows it's a common way to pass awkward time during our family get-togethers.

It's good fun.

Give it up tat, the guys not conceited he's convinced. his friends are better than yours. His kids are better than yours and his shit doesn't stink.

If your kid ate a turd in the back yard his kid ate a bigger one and it smelled worse.

Proud papas are proud papas. Doesn't matter if they're talking about their kid the engineering professor, or their kid the karate student (?? shit, I think that's what your daughter does, right?). It's all good.

And thankfully, my daughter has yet to try and eat her turds. My mother apparently did, though.

Guess we know different people then. Of course U.S. News & World Report seems to know more of your friends than mine. They rank Va Tech #24 nationally and UVa #39.

As an experiment, you might ask how many of the Techie friends also applied to UVa--and didn't get in.

They didn't.

Interesting list. Even though it confirms what I thought, I don't usually trust US News.

I spent my college days hanging out with some apparently top-ranked guys, and they measured things in smoots and thought it fun to take me to see an infinately-long corridor. In retrospect, I have my doubts about their intelligence.

 

[estragon]

They don't cheer at my alma mater. They yell. (And don't tell anybody I said this, but they sound really stupid.) (I'm not a very good alumnus.)

Serenissima, A&M, obviously. Wasn't Rick Perry a yell leader at A&M? Hullaballoo kaneck kaneck, hullaballoo, kaneck!

 

[SydneyBlake]

Yes, he taught at UVa for nine years--1988-1997. My son was his teaching assistant for two of those years (and went on to Georgia Tech for his doctorate--which wins over both Tech and UVa hands down on the top lists. And my son had to learn how to build those bridges before going on to higher uses of engineering).

On the beautiful campus question, UVa does quite well. For instance, #17 in the top 50 from this source (William and Mary being #8)

http://www.thebestcolleges.org/most-beautiful-campuses/

So sue me for liking where I went to university and where I chose to retire.

There you go again. "To yoo-nuh-vuh-sity."

Don't misunderstand me. Virginia's beautiful. My problem is the issue you have with the white powder that falls from the sky. Until you get that worked out, I'll have to limit my visits to August.

 

[sr71plt]

Perhaps. But--and I'm guessing this is in part where sr is coming from--making fun of structural engineers is a time-honored tradition for all other engineers. Lord knows it's a common way to pass awkward time during our family get-togethers.

It's good fun.

Yes, in fact this section of the thread was all meant in good fun (Swiftboater's attempts to make it ugly notwithstanding). Those from UVa did look down their patrician long noses at VaTech for lots of decades until the Beamer squad started constantly beating our asses in football. When I first lived in Charlottesville, anyone who had gone to Tech certainly wouldn't acknowledge it within the Charlotesville city/Albemarle county confines. These days they strut around town waving their school banners.

(And I'll stick by my statement that it's a lot harder to get into UVa than into VaTech.)

To push the envelope, Forbes' list of top 100 public universities in the United States (UVa #6; VaTech #44, preceded by a few other Virginia universities)

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/06/best-public-colleges-opinions-colleges-09-top.html

 

[SydneyBlake]

Serenissima, A&M, obviously. Wasn't Rick Perry a yell leader at A&M? Hullaballoo kaneck kaneck, hullaballoo, kaneck!

That was a low blow, GQ, and entirely uncalled for. And don't you fucking say "Oops" either.



Tat, for the record, my side of the aisle makes fun of ALL engineers.

We don't make fun of martial arts experts, though. We just sit back and say "watch this shit."

Edited to add: More like "hullaballoo disconnect"

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Tat, for the record, my side of the aisle makes fun of ALL engineers.

I get the best of both worlds. I spend my days making fun of engineers, and then I come home to one.

And then he fixes my macros.

 

[SydneyBlake]

I get the best of both worlds. I spend my days making fun of engineers, and then I come home to one.

And then he fixes my macros.

OMG, I just felt a tingle!