TIL that before private jets were a thing you could get a private rail car and have it towed around by passenger trains, and that apparently this is still a thing one can do! Which made me wonder—we have semester at sea, why no semester on the rails? (Or maybe this exists and I just don’t know?)

Suburban kids are actually humans, not fashion accessories (or generators of elite college bumper stickers).

One of my favorite dnd family moments 💜

We got to meet one of our heroes at a local AVP tournament. Not only is Kelly Cheng an amazing volleyball player and human, but her character Dorrin (sp?) Hellfire might inspire 7yo to try playing a barbarian 💜 We had a lovely discussion about volleyball strategy and great axes on the ride home😊

Trump threatened to nuke Iran during the same press event where he called a woman reporter "baby" and a "bitch" and we'll all just supposed to continue on tomorrow as though any of this insanity is normal or acceptable

I am going to be more or less intolerable if @katieporterca.bsky.social isn’t our next governor.

CA dems: we need big ambitious policy goals Also CA dems: let’s elect another empty suit who takes $$$ from corporations that don’t want things to change And we wonder why nothing ever changes smh

Inspired by @ttrpgkids.com we just finished a #ttrpgkids session where everyone took sidewalk chalk and designed part of the dungeon we were exploring! A highlight was battling magic-infused mud (mephit stats) while we harvested potatoes from the garden (which we of course cooked and consumed)!

An unintended benefit of masking in meetings is that it helps hide my rbf and my looks of incredulity when senior leadership disingenuously makes straw men out of the faculty’s reasonable concerns in response to leadership’s suggestion that we offload teaching in our university to LLMs🫠

But I find comfort thinking of even grey dawn, of Hell broken open to free those left there too goddamn long, of new laws, led first by a commandment to love one another. I tell my students after they play to take with them what serves them, leave the rest behind. Somehow this too is my theology.

TIL that hairspray is absolute magic for getting kid’s bike handbar grips to go on easily (and stay on)….

Am running a game for 7yo and a friend with a *much* shorter attention span. Last session we took breaks to compose poem prophecies, make maps, and go on a walk to meet a druid friend. I have never LARPed and was wondering if there’s a guide/ideas/best practices for LARPing with @ttrpgkids.com?

We’re in the middle of @claribelortega.com’s Witchlings (book 4) and 7yo asks me unprompted: Dad is <BBEG who gaslights & manipulates to consolidate power> kind of like Trump? Such a powerful #kidslit moment 💜 Thank you for these books and making it easier to raise kids in these challenging times!

I love this so much💜 I know it’s not just universities that struggle with this, but I think this basically sums up the role of #AssDeans

Intelligent Life on Earth - existentialcomics.com/comic/644

How many people have to die (both in the US and abroad) as Trump tries to distract us from the Epstein files?

It was never about the paper, folks. That was never the goal. A brilliant paper is a symptom of the learning that has happened. It’s the learning that is the heart of it.

I think that for many public universities it’s possible to calculate something like this from publicly posted data (historic salary & course schedules). And at public universities this should be obtainable via public records request, right? Am curious if anyone’s working on this (pls lmk if so)!

So excited to start reading @jamesponti.bsky.social’s latest City Spies book with my kiddo! We can’t wait to dive in, but also it was such a great way for kiddo to learn patience while we waited 😊

Srsly #Olympics? What could be more political than a flag? So tonight we watched skeleton reruns in honor of Vladylsav Heraskevych.

Today I introduced kiddo to #beastmode and we had a lovely convo re the NFL exploiting athletes.

Great—now we can outsource our thoughts and prayers when there’s a completely avoidable tragedy 😡

I watch the bulk of ashleythebaroness videos, despite rarely sharing them. But this one hit today. And she's right! We're not dealing with some foreign ideology. We're dealing with a uniquely American phenomenon. fascism wrapped in our own flag

They use "civility" as a weapon against us. Because they'll say stuff like, "while what happened was a clearly tragedy, there's no call for that kind of language about it." An elected official saying "fuck" is not worthy of equal debate with a murder by "law" enforcement. That's oppressor shit.

Recently had a a chance to play @nickferris.bsky.social’s Wizardologist Most Hexasperated, and had an absolute blast! It was 7yo’s first time playing a social deduction game and it was delightful to have them glare at me and repeatedly tell everyone that I was lying 🥰

Such a great resource!

TFW someone complains at length about people who bring kids who are sick into daycare (perhaps unwittingly) while coughing all over you at a holiday party….

another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls

Well, now I have something new to shout when startled.

Saw the power of #kidlit in action today when a #CitySpies character got kiddo to try a new ice cream flavor (stracciatella; hazelnut was a bridge too far😁)! Here’s hoping that @jamesponti.bsky.social talks about all of Rio’s favorite vegetable preparations in the next book!

Seeing Venice #CitySpies style. We retraced Cairo & Paris’ steps, looked at lots of beautiful masks, bought a small (carryon compatible) snowglobe, and enjoyed Kat’s view😊 Thanks to @jamesponti.bsky.social for books that give us an extra incentive to see some sights!

Traveling to Venice and Rome and excited to visit some of the locations featured in the #CitySpies books w/ kiddo! @jamesponti.bsky.social let us know if you have recommendations for spots not featured in the first six books fans should be sure to check out 😊

Special shout out to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for giving us an opportunity to talk with our 1st grader about the social construction of gender and gender norms 🫠😡🤬 We had a lovely conversation about the best way to answer question #6….

Kiddo rolled up a new character for an upcoming adventure; rolled 15, 11, 14, 13, 10, 18. Kiddo then rolled for my new character; rolled 9, 8, 9, 13, 9, 15. Kiddo was SO apologetic, but I was just tickled!

TIL the history of thanksgiving!

According to a recent survey, 100% of the power rangers in our neighborhood want more bike infrastructure and a less car centered culture 🥰

I need everyone on Normal People internet to know that American Girl Doll Instagram is doing doll protests today. There are tiny t-shirts and signs. AND THEN I realized it's a joint protest with the Barbie ppl, where there are EVEN TINIER SIGNS.

Just introduced 6yo to @dndbeyond.bsky.social’s Roll in the Family, w/ @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social @kelly-knox.com @bdavewalters.bsky.social @badeye.bsky.social & their amazing kids 😍 Kiddo was absolutely smitten, and wanted more. Any chance you might make/have more amazing #ttrpgkids content?

TIL (from a kids book) that Ben Franklin wanted the wild turkey as the US national symbol instead of a bald eagle, and that it took six years to settle the debate. Apparently Franklin thought wild turkeys were more “respectable.” I am not sure about more respectable, but certainly more apt of late!

The number of Tesla’s pulling into the JCC continues to surprise me. Somehow their “we stand with Israel” signage is consistent with driving swasticars?

If Trump sends Elon to fix things in space, do you think Elon could take Mark, Jeff, Sam, and Peter along? Because I feel like that would fix a lot of things down here too….

This has got to be my favorite use of AI, by a substantial margin. But I wonder how long we have before the whole system is just AI on both sides talking to itself 🤔

New super power unlocked! I put a friend to sleep while GM’ing a #ttrpg for our kids! So if you have trouble sleeping…. (They were apologetic, but I took it as a compliment that they felt comfortable crashing on the couch while kids played at the table nearby.)

Just ran a #ttrpgkids game with hexbots in a magnatile maze the kids built 😍 Will definitely be incorporating hexbots into more of my games!

We were bummed that Kelly and Sara lost today, but we had fun playing for the gold metal anyways💜

Scariest ttrpg session I have read about in a while. Let’s go team coconuts!🌴🌴

This weekend I GM'ed the #lego #dnd adventure, 5yo’s first adventure. When 3 of 5 PC’s crit failed a perception check, they heard the owlbear ask them to jump on for a ride. All three made the check to get on (two w/ nat 20's). We were dying, especially when the wizard riding it cast levitate 💀

Am so excited about seeing how this narrative arc of @faeforgeacademy.bsky.social wraps up, and where the story goes next🍿 player.captivate.fm/episode/cc9c...

Thing #327 I love about TTRPGs: when your 5yo comes home with off the wall hypothetical questions, you can suggest rolling some dice :) Who would win in a fight between an elephant and a lion? What about five elephants against two lions, a tiger, a cheetah, a jaguar, and a rhino? #trrpgkids