Ok pocket friends, tell me about your favorite pre-made gnocchi that isn't Wegners (I think I react to their new reformulation). The only one my Wegners now carries is a local pasta place for $6 a pound for frozen (no, I don't want to make my own).

I'm tired of reading book chapters that literally accept "some guy said this and I thought it sounded good" as evidence while I get told that no one cares about big long research papers; I'm tired of simultaneously being told I've never proven anything enough or collected enough data

This weather is wild, so I guess I should run errands before the temp drops like a rock and we get snow dumped on us (not as much as south Buffalo, 18" over there).

In better news, I started my new 2026 work planner. It's so nice and clean.

Husband has made the final appointment for our kitty with cancer. She's getting very skinny and her tumor seems to grow daily. She spends much of her time sleeping and being grumpy.

Starting a tech company, BOMBADIL, which is immensely powerful but not nearly as helpful as it could be

I purchased something for a few hundred dollars back in November. I knew it would be delayed because it was pre-ordered. I got a shipping link on Dec 22nd. UPS still hasn't receive the item. I just got a notification asking for my review. This is terrifying.

This morning I have the unpleasant job of emailing students to let them know that they need to go through an academic appeals process. This is one of my least favorite parts of my role - but! sometimes these experiences are ways for students to reimagine their futures.

The last house we helped clean out literally had bags and bins of new sheets and towels - high quality 100% cotton. Most with tags and receipts. Never used. Beautiful ceramic plate sets, still new. Use the nice things!

Did you get something really *nice* for Christmas? Are you saving it? STOP Eat it. Slather yourself in it. Spray it on a random wfh Tuesday. Use it next time you have a meal. Make up an occasion and use it. Whatever it is don't hoard it until it's near its use by date or too precious.

“All of the top 10 books on Libby were by women. 3 of the top 10 titles for the country's biggest public library system were by Rebecca Yarros. Other female authors on most-borrowed lists across the country included Freida McFadden, Holly Jackson and Emily Henry.” www.npr.org/2025/12/29/n...

So as you all (maybe) know, I run a nonprofit that focused on accessibility in journalism/news. What I'm trying to figure out is if any journalism funders have ever made grants specifically related to accessibility. This is something I can't seem to find evidence of... 1/

At my father’s funeral my immunocompromised husband and I were masking. A friend of the family came up and asked us why, trying to stay an argument about it. At my father’s funeral! I don’t mind people asking in good faith but it is not unusual for random strangers to harass us about it.

Husband has tried to have civil, thoughtful conversations about Thanksgiving. Today we learned that she thought we took on all of the responsibility because we *wanted* to and she left the kitchen in my hands because she thought I wanted that.

After watching multiple people host holiday events this month, I believe if anyone wants to even consider hosting an event involving food they should have to take a good safety course

The temperature wall cruising east across the US right now makes for some really stunning air temp maps

God, this house is just so chaotic. I'm reminded every gathering why my house is full of comfortable furniture and pillows and blankets and is as open as we can get it.

I agree with this (not arguing!) but also think that women specifically might need different messaging, because I know a lot of women who do a whole lot of cardio but aren't building the strength they need to keep them stable & sound into old age. There's a big "strength training = masculine" thing.

In New York, the maximum temporary disability payment is $170 per week. Yet the NY max unemployment benefit is $869/week. Needing more time to recover from heart surgery, it would be *far* better for me to lose my job for a month. BTW, California's disability is $1620/week. Better is possible!

much of fitness culture in the US was developed by people who literally entered sports and physical education instead of going to therapy and the attitudes around intensity and effort kinda reflect that. the smiling Jazzercise folks were right and your football coach / PE teacher was wrong

In conclusion, any of us with PhDs or policy jobs working on college affordability can basically treat this classic xkcd comic as gospel. Students & parents have no idea how much college will cost them, they're terrified, and our haggling over "price" vs "cost" is for journals and reports only (5/X)

When my father-in-law made another comment about $100k tuition, I made him look up tuition at his undergrad institution, Indiana State Evansville (~$15k before aid if you live at home like he did). And then told him that, like him, most college-goers attend within an hour of home.

I think most researchers and policymakers underestimate how much people really do not understand the difference between college sticker and net price. And the way high prices at a select few influences feelings about all.

I have to make lots of bread today because it's my family's Christmas today! I'll share as we go...

Husband is still sleeping and I have 3 minutes before the alarm goes off. That Sam PhD guy writes consistently in long, wordy sentences. There are few grammatical or spelling errors. I'm thinking it's a bot.

This is absolutely wild, and super important. There are zillions of studies claiming that fMRI signals indicate increased brain activity, and it looks like that's often just wrong. If confirmed, this means we've misinterpreted a lot of research.

The NHL highlights for the lightning and panthers game is total shit, no fights, no review of the wild penalty minutes. Ugh.

I guess I don't get why someone like Disney doesn't step in and just fund this. They do a ton of horticulture research and the PR would only be good (to offset the horrors, I know). The research already happening in The Land greenhouses is pretty amazing.

There is a woman flight attendant on insta who posts videos of herself saying she's wearing something (I'm not smart though to know what the emoji stands for) and I just don't get it. Someone must be recording her? Like she can't just set up her phone in the airport while riding the escalator.

Also, because I enjoy subtweeting tonight, there is *extensive* research and best practices around mentoring and tutoring - if we're going to suggest students/learners use market-available LLMs for those services, we should be aware they lack training to do those things.

trying to make one of those toddler alphabet books like "A is for apple" but with all of the most obnoxiously long genus names I can possibly find, spread as evenly as I can between plants, animals, fungi, and other thingies. K is for Kimmeridgebrachypteraeschnidium

No, old dude, I will not be giving up my leg space.

Also, because I enjoy subtweeting tonight, there is *extensive* research and best practices around mentoring and tutoring - if we're going to suggest students/learners use market-available LLMs for those services, we should be aware they lack training to do those things.

Gonna stream on twitch in a couple hours after I house a bunch of tacos (I'm starving rn). Tonight we're doing lightning bugs doing showgirl poses. It's going to be asinine, I highly recommend joining if you like that kind of thing. You can follow along here: www.twitch.tv/sarahmackatt...

I think John Dewey would have a lot of thoughts about asking learners (not just students) to increase cognition with generative AI. Along with other educational theorists. We need to interact with people to help our brains learn! A machine (in whatever form) is not people.

In light of the article I shared earlier this morning, here is a rather bleak look at the future of podcasts through a "board meeting" of a (fairly) independent podcast looking for a new home. The future of podcasts, it seems, is the same as insta, YouTube, and tiktok.

C'mon fountain pen blue sky!

Looking especially for what you're excited to read! I love esp epic fantasy/2ndary world fantasy and supernatural horror. 💙📚

I love this thread. One thing I’ve been focusing on with my group this last year - and my biggest initiative for 2026 - is trying to get everyone, especially junior people, to feel comfortable proposing new analyses, asking questions, investigating the “oh, that’s weird” in the data we handle.

Argh, one of the Christmas gatherings we skipped due to a busy day has had an attendee test positive for COVID.

In light of the article I shared earlier this morning, here is a rather bleak look at the future of podcasts through a "board meeting" of a (fairly) independent podcast looking for a new home. The future of podcasts, it seems, is the same as insta, YouTube, and tiktok.

This afternoon we're headed to the Sabres game but tomorrow is my family's Christmas. So that means today is a lot of prep. There is also a Democrat social function I should go to (I'm a terrible committee leader and just don't want to).

The consumer that yes, this vest is made of water bottles! It plants the idea that it’s okay, _this_ polyester isn’t the problem, it’s that _other_ polyester. Plant leather has a similar problem — projects that were almost all plant never made it to viability, the rest use 50%+ unreclaimable plastic

But that’s under 1% of all of the textiles produced, and maybe is under .01%. In Theory (a lovely place to live if you find it), we could easily recycle pure polyester (PET, fleece) almost continually, but the cost would be color. We could have maybe 5, because the dye would HAVE to be at spinning.

And when all of our fabrics were biodegradable, open loop was FINE. Because a dress was passed around, then became a skirt and was passed, then became a little girl’s dress, then became rags and quilt scraps and bean pole ties and toys and pot-holders and eventually disintegrated. That was fine.

Psst: if you’re someone who likes vintage stuff, or is looking for more obscure stuff from 20-40 years ago… Estate sale season starts in about March, because what’s happened this week is families went home, realized that Gran is Not Okay, and REALLY needs a level of care. And it must be paid for.

will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other

This is quite the thread.

The death of the middlebrow dramedy/procedural/etc is one of the greatest losses of the streaming era