Sunday Seminar Series: Competition

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Dear Readers,

  This is my weekend Sunday Seminar Series, where I recap a lecture from my introductory undegraduate level class CHRN/AUG 100, the Introduction to Anachronism.

  For this week's installment, I want to talk to you about what else is out there oin the academic world as far as Anachronism.  Time-normal universities, of course, are excepted because they do not have departments of Anachronism.  However, once in awhile I see a publication from the Yale University Press on my desk.  I am unsure if this is because of a printers' error, or because something secret is going on at Yale involving Augury.  I am excited to find out.  It might even turn it into a paper.  If anyone has insight, let me know.

  There are, however, some real contenders in the field.  That's right, other universities, much like the University of Constantinople.  We communicate via advanced Augury technology that gives us nearly 100% communication fidelity, and collaborations are common.  Provost Notaras still suspects that another institution carried out the attack on our school that occurred recently, but I am of the opinion that this is a newer and more dangerous threat.

  The first institution of note is the Institute for Post-Singularity Humanism, which publishes a nice little internal review of their Anachronism Department every once in awhile.  I have, of course, read everything that they have and will publish, and I would say they are one of the strongest contributors to the field.  Their department's Chairman prefers not to use a name, and so I will respect that decision.  He is identified by title only, as "The Integrator of Past and Future."  It's a bit of an odd place.

  Second on the list comes Mid-Atlantean University.  While the University of Atlantis has some good early publications, the later work that it plans to publish does not measure up to its southern cousin, which maintains a constant standard of research across its entire history.  If you are looking for expertise on different trends in agriculture or space travel across Anachronistic literature, I recommend you start with the proceedings of their department, chaired by Pericles.  Resurrected here and currently one of my graduate students, he will be transferred there in about one month and begin his very successful career.

  Third and final (for now), is the National Academy of Laputa, which pushes the limits of Augury and Anachronism through their unique ability to raise the spirits of the dead temporarily.  It does not quite approach the University of Constantinople's ability to create recorporated individuals, but then they have higher memory fidelity than we do, so it's a bit of a wash as to who is better in this regard.  At any rate, they are an excellent institution, if slightly slow at responding to letters.  Dr. John Stuart Mill chairs their Department of Anachronism, and it should be no surprise that their president is Jonathan Swift.

  That will be all for now, and I leave you to your regularly scheduled chronology.  Enjoy.

  Always,

  Dr. John Skylar
  Chairman
  Department of Anachronism
  University of Constantinople