"Lighten up, we're just having a little fun." --The least fun people in America

My favorite singer is releasing new music tomorrow. She missed my birthday by one day - but it’s worth the wait.

Here's my most recent birding blog - the first of a two-part series documenting my August trip to the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival. www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...

Dua Lipa, on a school night. . .because I’m a good husband.

Growing up in Tucson, a common bumper sticker was “my two favorite teams are Arizona and whoever is playing ASU.” That’s never been truer than tonight, as my Horned Frogs play the Sun Devils.

Wanna feel old? The remake that replaced "Deadhead" with "Black Flag" is 22 years old.

One of the smartest things I've read in a while. We must thread the needle carefully, though, between shame and humiliation. The latter -- as Jessica Stern and other scholars have documented thoroughly -- is a leading catalyst for violence.

Wow, the car dealership really really really really really really really really really really wanted me to buy the warranty.

RIP. Also, I’m never gonna stop ranting about this stupid obit format (also heard frequently on NPR). Just say he died and then put the bio info below.

Are you freakin' kidding me?

Why isn’t a lack of understanding called “overstanding”?

If Friends ever does a reboot, they should use the second verse of I'll Be There for You as the theme song.

I frequently make fun of this lede style (“[name], [long bio sentence], has died”] - but this is the worst yet. “Let’s just throw ‘died’ between 2 commas in the middle of a long sentence and see if anyone notices.”

Less than a month before our deadline. Come work in a collegial department at a fast-growing university in a nice city!

The viewing audience would have no way of knowing this, but TCU also has a head coach.

I was 29 when I started. I had about 2 years of learning every professor's preferred style of telling me that I wasn't allowed to park in the faculty lot.

A random post came across my "discover" feed featuring inaccurate Billboard chart data from the '80s. I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for not replying.

I wonder if people think I’m dead when I take a weekend off?

When hate and innumeracy work together. . . Nearly every RW influencer posted this graphic yesterday as evidence of a transgender violence epidemic. No idea if the # are real - but, using the haters’ *own data*, fewer than 1 in a million trans folks are mass shooters.

Happy International Dog Day from our psychotic but snuggly Boston twins, Captain and Gizmo.

Now finish your compliance training and submit that overdue manuscript review!

Reading dozens of profs' AI policies. Most seem to be, "AI is an exciting tool, and I encourage you to use it for brainstorming, idea generation, outlining, revisions, spell check, etc. But please don't use it to write your paper." What the f*ck do y'all think writing is?

Equal to Ezra Duran

Musical Chronology Consultant for Hollywood. You know, the guy who says "whoa, stop!" when the show tries to use Careless Whisper in a scene set in 1983.

The new TX map is not in any way a dummymander. The "bluest" GOP-held district still voted for Trump last year by 15 points, #TX23. To put that in context, the reddest Dem-held district is #ME02, at Trump+9. Republicans know exactly what they're doing.

Environmental Science. Permanently rewired my brain to understand ecology and its fragility and interconnectedness.

Suffering from fatigue and depression during a tough surgery recovery, I've caught myself sliding into political doomerism. Sadly, it has dramatically improved the accuracy of my predictions 😂😢 Anyhow, here are some European birds from the happy part of my summer. (ID in alt text)

The way I'll explain it is there are 2 reasons weights get lifted: 1) building strength, 2) stocking shelves at sporting goods store. They'll easily understand that automation is a godsend for #2 but defeats the purpose of #1. The hard but critical part is explaining why essay writing is #1.

I see the influencers here are enjoying a manic moment. Don't make me tap the sign.

This was the only way to hear a specific song at will if you couldn’t afford records.

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Painted Buntings - the jewels of the Texas summer.

🚨TENURE TRACK POLI SCI JOBS🚨 Yes, "jobs" plural. TCU is hiring two assistant professors, to begin in Fall of 2026. 1) American Politics, with a preference for Gender and Politics. jobs.tcu.edu/jobs/assista... 2) Public Law and/or Judicial Politics. jobs.tcu.edu/jobs/assista...

Developer: "We want to help your students cheat so thoroughly that it renders your entire pedagogy obsolete." Educator: "I don't want that." Developer: "Oh wow, we're just talking past each other."

I’m in this post and I don’t like it. In fairness, my surgery recovery has been more cognitively taxing than I anticipated. But there’s no allowance for that in our widget-production accounting.

My most vigorous workout since last month’s surgery has been blocking all the assholes gloating about the ongoing Texas tragedy.

Can someone explain why I'm supposed to be impressed that Dems are "forcing Republicans to read the whole bill on the floor." ???

Huh I wonder what virus it gives you

Useful new feature on YouTube TV (at least if you’re a masochist or scholar of cable news).

Every time I see Netanyahu on TV, I'm reminded of the annoying guy from Hillel or AZA who prattled on about how Israel can do no wrong and had a canned, clever-sounding response for anyone who took the bait.

I do appreciate that these guys are marketing liberal arts degrees more effectively than I ever could. (From today's WSJ)

New on SSRN: “Laboratory of Autocracy,” draft paper with @amykristinsanders.bsky.social on Texas’ assault on the First Amendment over the past decade. We reviewed & coded 400+ incidents in the Abbott/Patrick/Paxton era, not all of which reached the courts. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A family friend took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark when I was 8. He remembered to cover my eyes for the helicopter scene, but not for the ark scene. That left a mark.

Who the heck is still buying my first book? Sales have actually accelerated, and at this pace, I’m only 32 years away from earning my first penny on it.

Not the most important takeaway - but I love stacked bar graphs that show composition. Descriptive reports that say "88% of black voters are Democrats" vastly outnumber those that say "black voters are 18% of Democrats." But the latter is arguably more important for understanding the electorate.

I just came across this bit of advice from my last book. I stand by it more than ever. But damn, it's been heeded to the same degree that my Boston Terriers heed my "don't eat that!" command. In fact, the need to define "bias" has all but disappeared if your N is big and your math is fancy 🤷‍♂️

Profs: do NOT use GPT-detection software. No amount of true detection can undo the damage of acting on even a single false positive. Of course it's unfair that our already-full docket now includes being a robot detector. But the solution is never to hurt innocent students (and your reputation).

The “Acknowledge any university beyond the super-elites challenge” . . .not accepted.

I hate this argument. Go look up who receives fed spending in red states and tell me if you still think it’s unfair/unwise 🙄

😡😡😡

These graphs are bleak. But labeling the three most recent economic crises as "Global financial crisis," Covid pandemic," and "Trump" hits that sweet spot of being hilarious and also totally accurate.