Albert S. Fu
@novumsimulacrum.com
#Sociology prof that plays video games & studies the #BuiltEnvironment. Taiwanese American in PA. Irvine + Binghamton alum. Author of Risky Cities: The Physical and Fiscal Nature of Disaster Capitalism https://tinyurl.com/jkvbxcn4 Views are my own
Not coincidentally I clicked on a NY Times article on the ideal age to retire. Who knows what higher Ed will look like in 3, 5, 10, much less 20 years.
“Our aim is to lower tenure density so that we can hire lecturers for classes that students need in high-demand programs.”
December 23, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Not coincidentally I clicked on a NY Times article on the ideal age to retire. Who knows what higher Ed will look like in 3, 5, 10, much less 20 years.
I wish students understood that they might be citing the acquaintance or friend of the professor. So when they include AI hallucinations, it totally stands out.
December 19, 2025 at 12:58 AM
I wish students understood that they might be citing the acquaintance or friend of the professor. So when they include AI hallucinations, it totally stands out.
Honestly, I'm not feeling the first few episodes of new Stranger Things. It feels redundant. I'm ready for all the loose ends to be resolved. Please don't go out like Lost
December 18, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Honestly, I'm not feeling the first few episodes of new Stranger Things. It feels redundant. I'm ready for all the loose ends to be resolved. Please don't go out like Lost
Higher ed is clearly under a disingenuous assault. Yet it long had an accountability problem. Pres & coach salaries, Title IX, Varsity Blues, outsourcing, etc. If we survive, there must be some change. The easiest step is to clarify the mission of R1s and everyone else to the general population.
December 17, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Higher ed is clearly under a disingenuous assault. Yet it long had an accountability problem. Pres & coach salaries, Title IX, Varsity Blues, outsourcing, etc. If we survive, there must be some change. The easiest step is to clarify the mission of R1s and everyone else to the general population.
Reposted by Albert S. Fu
Suddenly thinking about how the battlestar galactica was the only ship to survive the cylon apocalypse because it wasn’t networked.
No reason.
No reason.
Oh nooooooo.......
Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things
December 15, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Suddenly thinking about how the battlestar galactica was the only ship to survive the cylon apocalypse because it wasn’t networked.
No reason.
No reason.
this, from @kevinbaker.bsky.social, is a better analysis of the intersection between LLMs and academic science than 98% of what's out there.
Context Widows
or, of GPUs, LPUs, and Goal Displacement
artificialbureaucracy.substack.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Albert S. Fu
“What I’ve been feeling most is just, like, how dare this country allow this to happen to someone like me twice?” Weissman told the New York Times.
"Weissman was in her dorm room at Brown when a friend called to warn her that a shooting was under way. Her initial feelings of panic soon turned to anger, she told NBC. “I’m angry that I thought I’d never have to deal with this again, and here I am eight years later,” Weissman told NBC News."
Two survivors of Brown University attack escaped other school shootings
Mia Tretta was shot in the abdomen in 2019 at a school near LA and Zoe Weissman witnessed a Florida shooting in 2018
www.theguardian.com
December 14, 2025 at 2:44 PM
“What I’ve been feeling most is just, like, how dare this country allow this to happen to someone like me twice?” Weissman told the New York Times.
Soon some of these fields will only exist at elite institutions
CSU Dominguez Hills on the Verge of Serious Cuts to Major Programs - California Faculty Association
While faculty have not yet received formal layoff notices this semester, CSU Dominguez Hills administrators sent out an e-mail on December 2 sharing they
www.calfac.org
December 13, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Soon some of these fields will only exist at elite institutions
It's finals week. I don't have access to faculty areas of banner eg. grades. This is the state of academic tech. Head over to social media and reddit. You'll see it's not only your institution. Such is tech in ed. We are dependent on systems which extract public monies for mediocre fixes.
December 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM
It's finals week. I don't have access to faculty areas of banner eg. grades. This is the state of academic tech. Head over to social media and reddit. You'll see it's not only your institution. Such is tech in ed. We are dependent on systems which extract public monies for mediocre fixes.
It's complicated, but driving down retention will drive down quality of service. That just furthers the agenda of anti-public transit lobby.
'A strike is imminent': SEPTA's largest workers union poised to hit picket lines
Union leaders say they are seeking modest raises, pension increases, changes to working conditions and health care improvements.
whyy.org
December 8, 2025 at 12:45 AM
It's complicated, but driving down retention will drive down quality of service. That just furthers the agenda of anti-public transit lobby.
People compare AI to a calculator. This is a different animal. Calculators don't generate formulas, at least you need to know which formula to use and its applicability. I know some educators are trying to keep human decision-making important, but the problem is that students are skipping the "why."
December 7, 2025 at 10:09 PM
People compare AI to a calculator. This is a different animal. Calculators don't generate formulas, at least you need to know which formula to use and its applicability. I know some educators are trying to keep human decision-making important, but the problem is that students are skipping the "why."
This is one of the reasons the phrase "shared governance" kind of bothers me. Universities are often gerrymandered. I'd prefer phrasing with words such as participatory or stakeholder.
Something I've been thinking about is how higher ed. isn't a typical hierarchical bureaucracy. Lots of committees with psuedo-decision making power distributes accountability in such a way that it's hard to pinpoint.
December 6, 2025 at 8:30 PM
This is one of the reasons the phrase "shared governance" kind of bothers me. Universities are often gerrymandered. I'd prefer phrasing with words such as participatory or stakeholder.
Reposted by Albert S. Fu
Something I've been thinking about is how higher ed. isn't a typical hierarchical bureaucracy. Lots of committees with psuedo-decision making power distributes accountability in such a way that it's hard to pinpoint.
December 6, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Something I've been thinking about is how higher ed. isn't a typical hierarchical bureaucracy. Lots of committees with psuedo-decision making power distributes accountability in such a way that it's hard to pinpoint.
Something I've been thinking about is how higher ed. isn't a typical hierarchical bureaucracy. Lots of committees with psuedo-decision making power distributes accountability in such a way that it's hard to pinpoint.
December 6, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Something I've been thinking about is how higher ed. isn't a typical hierarchical bureaucracy. Lots of committees with psuedo-decision making power distributes accountability in such a way that it's hard to pinpoint.
Reposted by Albert S. Fu
SoCalGas is using *efficiency funding* collected from ratepayers to push LA wildfire survivors who lost their homes to build back with *gas* rather than all-electric.
Truly bleak stuff. This should not be allowed. Where are our regulators at the CPUC?
insideclimatenews.org/news/0312202...
Truly bleak stuff. This should not be allowed. Where are our regulators at the CPUC?
insideclimatenews.org/news/0312202...
LA Wildfire Survivors Want to Rebuild All-Electric, but a Utility Is Using Customer Funds to Incentivize Gas Appliances - Inside Climate News
California’s utility regulator said it would eliminate ratepayer-funded incentives for gas appliances in new construction, but created an exception that allows rebates for them in wildfire rebuilds.
insideclimatenews.org
December 5, 2025 at 11:22 PM
SoCalGas is using *efficiency funding* collected from ratepayers to push LA wildfire survivors who lost their homes to build back with *gas* rather than all-electric.
Truly bleak stuff. This should not be allowed. Where are our regulators at the CPUC?
insideclimatenews.org/news/0312202...
Truly bleak stuff. This should not be allowed. Where are our regulators at the CPUC?
insideclimatenews.org/news/0312202...
The rich already found ways to get richer despite Mamdani's election. Some are ignoring the fact that capital always finds ways to profit even in social democratic systems.
‘There is no Mamdani effect’: Manhattan luxury home sales surge after mayoral election, undercutting predictions of doom and escape to Florida | Fortune
Signed contracts for Manhattan homes over $4 million skyrocketed 25%; “the idea that people would flee New York was overblown,” said realtor Donna Olshan.
fortune.com
December 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM
The rich already found ways to get richer despite Mamdani's election. Some are ignoring the fact that capital always finds ways to profit even in social democratic systems.
History repeats itself 100 years later: in the 1920s California tried to ban wood shingle roofs after major fires like the one in Berkeley. However, the law was quickly repealed due to the lumber lobby and fans of the craftsman bungalow pushing back.
www.fastcompany.com/91423034/as-...
www.fastcompany.com/91423034/as-...
As Los Angeles rebuilds, a fight is brewing over landscaping rules designed to prevent future fires
Homeowners oppose mandates that would require clearing out a large number of plants and trees—including some that survived the January 2025 blaze.
www.fastcompany.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:28 PM
History repeats itself 100 years later: in the 1920s California tried to ban wood shingle roofs after major fires like the one in Berkeley. However, the law was quickly repealed due to the lumber lobby and fans of the craftsman bungalow pushing back.
www.fastcompany.com/91423034/as-...
www.fastcompany.com/91423034/as-...
Educators who are fully embracing AI without serious skepticism are essentially saying the following things: F- the environment. F- labor/human rights. F- the intellectual property of your colleagues. Readings below 👇
1/4
1/4
December 2, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Educators who are fully embracing AI without serious skepticism are essentially saying the following things: F- the environment. F- labor/human rights. F- the intellectual property of your colleagues. Readings below 👇
1/4
1/4
Watched Freakier Friday with extended family over the Thanksgiving weekend. The immigration scene certainly hit different given recent news.
November 30, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Watched Freakier Friday with extended family over the Thanksgiving weekend. The immigration scene certainly hit different given recent news.
Reposted by Albert S. Fu
A thread of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) that look like record covers... because that's EXACTLY what the world needs
1. Huey Lewis and the News: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
1. Huey Lewis and the News: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
November 28, 2025 at 11:36 AM
A thread of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) that look like record covers... because that's EXACTLY what the world needs
1. Huey Lewis and the News: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
1. Huey Lewis and the News: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
American politics is like a bad TV show that keeps jumping the shark
November 22, 2025 at 10:48 PM
American politics is like a bad TV show that keeps jumping the shark
It's national. It's reading. McLuhan & Postman saw this coming. Long form reading improve writing & analytical skills. They aren't doing it. This is "bear on a treadmill." I fully admit to skimming & reading reviews (written by other academics). But #CheatGPT skips that.
Harvard Students Skip Class and Still Get High Grades, Faculty Say
Many students don’t do the reading and don’t speak up in class, according to a report. Now, professors are trying to change a campus culture they say hurts achievement and stifles speech.
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:03 AM
It's national. It's reading. McLuhan & Postman saw this coming. Long form reading improve writing & analytical skills. They aren't doing it. This is "bear on a treadmill." I fully admit to skimming & reading reviews (written by other academics). But #CheatGPT skips that.
Yet for about a week Android Auto refused to take my voice navigation requests. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/t...
Google Unveils Gemini 3, With Improved Coding and Search Abilities
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Yet for about a week Android Auto refused to take my voice navigation requests. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/t...
The fact that this was published says a lot about our world right now. people.com/depression-e...
Depression-Era Recipes Are Making a Comeback as Food Budgets Tighten
Many of the meals made by American families during the Great Depression initially gained popularity because they were affordable and filling — and some of those dishes are making a comeback on social ...
people.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:20 AM
The fact that this was published says a lot about our world right now. people.com/depression-e...