[M]any witches she knew were talking about the degree program, announced last week, and were thinking about enrolling

Bad times in several fronts:

Christina Oakley Harrington, a retired academic of medieval history and the founder of Treadwell’s, a London bookstore specializing in literature on magic and spiritualism, said that many witches she knew were talking about the degree program, announced last week, and were thinking about enrolling.

This gal tries to deflect criticism:

“Not because they’re idiots and think it’s going to teach them how to wave a magic wand and do a spell,” Dr. Oakley Harrington said. “They’re people who have just a huge curiosity about the world and the way we perceive the seen and the unseen worlds.”

, but she doesn't succeed, IMHO.

Also, this guy adds:

Magic is sometimes thrown around as a synonym for false thinking, said Prof. Jeffrey J. Kripal, who helped to create the Rice University certificate program. “People have been practicing magical rituals and thinking about the world in magical terms much longer and deeper than the world religions,” Dr. Kripal said.

The pirates at Exeter Univ. even promise careers, "The recent surge in interest around topics pertaining to magic and occultism means that many of these professions have experienced a similar surge in demand for this expertise.":

In:

The New York Times, Oct 13 2023: A U.K. University Will Confer a New Title: A Master’s Degree in the Occult.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/world/europe/exeter-university-magic-degree.html

The postgraduate degree, to be offered at the University of Exeter starting next year, will focus on the history of magic, folklore and rituals.

The Washington Post & Gavin Schmidt on Sept 2023 temps

1  Honesty at the WaPo...: A sudden spike in global warmth is so extreme, it’s mysterious, Oct 13 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/10/13/explaining-record-september-global-extreme-heat.

2  but, as expected because of our constitutional glitches, Gavin Schmidt, on this summer's "extreme" (we don't know!!!) temps breaks things with the hind legs:

'“It is indeed hard to give a good and informed answer to why this is happening — possibly for the first time.'

FIRST TIME? You are so good that you didn't have until now a hard time giving a good why? This guy went to the lawmaker for decades, it seems, saying he has good and informed answers to the whys he was working on...

Reminds me of Paul Krugman:

On election night 2016, I gave in temporarily to a temptation I warn others about: I let my political feelings distort my economic judgment. A very bad man had just won the Electoral College; and my first thought was that this would translate quickly into a bad economy. I quickly retracted the claim, and issued a mea culpa. (Being an old-fashioned guy, I try to admit and learn from my mistakes.) [Can the Economy Keep Calm and Carry On? Paul Krugman. The New York Times, Jan 01 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/opinion/can-the-economy-keep-calm-and-carry-on.html]

Check other amusing comments at https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2018/01/this-man-is-superhuman-and-very-rarely.html.

Until election night 2016, an economist's record was flawless :-) :-) :-). Amazing.

Gavin, honey, the tenor f your remarks is totally expected, but nauseating the same, n'kay?

Update: as of Oct 16 2023, he didn't update his X/Twitter account with his own contribution to the WaPo.