DM The Book Ex

Paul Jones posted at Facebook a link to this notice from Bull City Rising: "The Book Exchange to shutter in February after 75 years."

The Book Ex (in Durham, North Carolina) wasn't just for Law School students. I was a clueless freshman in the fall of 1985, sent there by Bill Willis (cf. APA Newsletter, 23.4, August 2000, p. 11 sub "Obituaries" [pdf]) to collect a copy of the then already out-of-print Allen's First Year of Greek.

Cluelessness on my part of course is proved by the fact I'd elected to take Greek. As a freshman. At 9:00 a.m. With no prior Latin. From a papyrologist. Some will of course already have guessed that that experience, harrowing as it was, is no small part of why I do what I do professionally today.

So long, Book Ex. And thanks.

Relax-o-matic

So, in the monthly email newsletter on healthy living that I receive gratis from my beneficent employer, I read:

Find Yourself in the Stressed Lane?

When you find you need to take a moment to relax and slow down, contact The Relaxation Phone Line at [...]. This line is a recorded relaxation message that provides you with an opportunity to unwind and renew for a few minutes during your day. The Relaxation Phone Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Huh.

Is there also a Relaxation Blog (with a relax-o-feed)? Or maybe an @relaxifier I can follow on Twitter?

Clearly I need more coffee ...

More on the Zotero lawsuit

Hugh Cayless, who originally tweet-alerted me to the Zotero lawsuit, now has blogged about it (with some encouraging words for Dan Cohen and the GMU team): "Go Zotero!"

Reuters (EndNote) sues George Mason over Zotero

By way of the Courthouse News Service we hear that:

Thomson Reuters demands $10 million and an injunction to stop George Mason University from distributing its new Web browser application, Zotero ... Reuters claims George Mason is violating its license agreement and destroying the EndNote customer base.

"A New Low in the Exploitation of Adjunct Faculty"?

The above quote is attributed to Gwendolyn Bradley, of the American Association of University Professors, in this morning's issue of Inside Higher Education where Scott Jaschik writes about a "New Form of Adjunct Abuse":

At San Antonio College ... adjuncts are being encouraged to take on extra courses, ... [but] the college is asking some part timers ... to agree in writing to pretend that they aren’t teaching 12 credits. ...

Gerald J. Davey, an adjunct at San Antonio College who has served as the adjunct representative on the Faculty Council there, did not sign a waiver, but he has spoken with those who have and is angry about the system being used. Davey said that, in years past, once an adjunct has had a contract for 12 credits, benefits and higher pay scales have kicked in — and that the waivers are an attempt to limit what adjuncts receive from the college.

Aside:

I can't help but draw attention to this most unfortunate of "context-sensitive" advertisements that appeared alongside Jaschik's story: