Some years, the Xmas village doesn’t keep up with its tribute to Milo the cat, and there are causalities.

I am reading The Fellowship of the Ring to my sons at night. This go-around (I’ve read it 5 or 6 times before) I am struck by two things: how all the hobbits call anything not hobbit-like “queer,” and the leisure & slow pace. The four are just getting into the Old Forest on page 150.

aaup-texas.org/blog/f/aaup-... The AAUP chapter at the University of Houston has sent the following letter to their administration concerning the wave of censorship unleashed on instructors for spring courses

The three campuses of the University of Houston system - Main, Downtown, and Clear Lake - have requested a university-wide course audit for compliance with SB 37. This is a few weeks after they all made a show of supporting academic freedom.

Introduce yourself with four spaceships.

David Clayton. NC-05 Watch him. The breed of Democrat that is entering the political arena.

So apparently people act better when Batman is around. The question for me is would they act better if they knew Batman was somewhere nearby but they couldn’t quite see him…

DM: The orange fascist lurks in his lair, hunched behind his massive desk, revelling in his stolen power. His acolytes hiss at you as you approach. What does your human bard do -- MAMDANI: Active perception check. DM: ...that's a natural 20 MAMDANI: Let's fucking go. <FLUTE TRILL>

Another HOI4 DLC, and one I’ve wanted for awhile, with a path for Japan to go democratic. And I have figure out coal now. Not sure how I’m ever going to commit to a actual EU5 start at this rate.

Just to review, in the last week the President of the United States: - Refused to condemn the rise of Neo-Nazis in his party - Tried to block the release of further evidence he sexually abused children - Encouraged the execution of Congressional Democrats Those are just factual statements.

I have another scifi short story that hasn’t landed, but I’m not sure where to send it next. Most of the time when I check out a possible venue it’s either defunct or has a very tiny reading window that I have missed by 7 minutes.

Every time I see someone touted as a sure presidential candidate, I think about how big of a number 340,000,000 is, and how, surely, somewhere in that number, there are at least 10,000 better choices.

“It fades up quickly and begins with 55 seconds of tape hiss… concluding with a slow and poignant fadeout.” If only humanity can see fit to acquit itself as well as that.

🚨”Today it’s Texas A&M. Tomorrow it will be every public university in a red state. The day after that, it will be private universities bowing to billionaire donors who want to reshape campuses in their own image. And after that, it will be K–12.” drstaceypatton1865.substack.com/p/leaked-tex...

Jim Ryan wrote a letter to UVA detailing his "resignation" and I'm gonna get some fresh tea before I read it because I feel pretty certain I'm gonna be filled with righteous anger by the end I'll do a thread but here's the full letter provided by the chronicle www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

A companion paper written by Dr. Leonard McCoy was published along side it with the title, “Vulcans. The f*** is wrong with them?” Among its conclusions was a recommendation to schedule sexual intercourse at shorter intervals rather than the standard 7 years

One of my earliest moments of radicalization was in 2005 when Larry Summers said that women biologically have less aptitude for science than men. Following that, scores of equally unimpressive people wrote pieces trying to explain or justify his remarks, when they should have called for his removal.

In middle of late-semester chaos, I’ve been having a lot of fun with The Last Caretaker. Turns out I needed some time as a robot with questionable battery life and a trusty garbage scow.

Faculty panel determined Dr. Melissa MCoul’s firing was based on the content of her course and a violation of her academic freedom. Administration ignored the finding. Another violation of due process in this egregious case.

OSCAR ISAAC, on whether he'd return to "Star Wars": ".. Yeah. I mean, I’d be open to it, although right now I’m not so open to working with Disney. But if they can kinda figure it out and, you know, not succumb to fascism, that would be great." @variety.com $DIS variety.com/2025/film/ne...

🔔 NEW: “The Texas State University chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP-TXST) has issued a formal appeal urging the Texas State University System Board Regents to abide by its own rules and reverse the summary dismissal of tenured history professor Dr. Thomas Alter.”

🚨🚨 Texas A&M Board of Regents is meeting next week and set to approve a new policy requiring pre-approval of courses on race and gender. This is a blatant violation of academic freedom.

Extra Life is rocking along so far. Helps if you get some sleep before a 24-hour charity gaming marathon…

I’m not prepared to say I have bounced off of EU5’s interface. Not yet. I’ll give it a longer try tomorrow during Extra Life. But I find it visually off-putting so far. EU4 and CK3 and HOI4 are gorgeous buffets.

Mandani’s victory speech was pretty damn good. I’ve never lived in New York so I don’t fully grok the importance of the mayorship. To me it’s just a expensive city that George Washington left to the British in favor of Pennsylvania. Let’s see if he can make something of it.

"Bury him face down." This barn burner of an obit might feel hyperbolic to people who entered the world in the wake of 9/11; it's not. Cheney was one of the architects of today's American Christian conservatism. He was directly responsible for millions of deaths. Salt the earth where he's buried.

Another supposed defense of academic freedom that foregrounds professor responsibilities, but nothing about the responsibilities of university administrators and the bad things that happen when they look the other way. That’s the real problem we’re facing.

Me: I think the title of your study begs the question and you should rethink your methodology. JJJ: I really don’t see the problem. Me: Your title is SPIDERMAN: THREAT OR MENACE. JJJ: I don’t think you’re a good fit for my advisor. Parker! Get me another professor!

I’d like the world to be better off tomorrow than it was today. I don’t think this has actually happened since I was born, or before, but I keep the sentiment regardless.

This is from Autocracy, Inc, about how modern autocratic propaganda works. I consider this every time I decide what to share and how to frame it.

It’s #extralife time. November 8, I’m gaming for 24 hours on Twitch for Extra Life, a community of gamers and affiliated children’s hospitals. I’m playing for Texas Children’s. It’s my fifth year. For the stream and how to donate, www.extra-life.org/participants...

The anti-vaccine movement has the same talking points now as it did in the 1800’s. It’s always been a rejection of science, scientists, and progress, with a soupçon of paranoia. Below is a slide for a talk I’m preparing that illustrates the identical strategies. I have more examples, too.

Questing for Glory will be out soon. Included within the book is a writeup on the homebrew pinball game I made that recreates the entirety of QFG1 in pinball form - thank you for the inclusion @qfgbook.bsky.social! Ever played a pinball machine with a maximum number of puzzle points?

Wait, they’re making another Underrail? Why yes, I have approximately 100 hours of life I don’t feel attached to. store.steampowered.com/app/694320/U...

Everytime I read the latest news I think the next story is gotta be that Xmas is cancelled.

Pointing my kids at a house and saying, “That one’s got candy” before they descend upon it feels both decadent and appropriate.

I had a dream the other night where Bob Costas and John Madden were calling the Battle of Endor. Madden thought the Empire’s defense was solid. But, y’ know, you give this Wedge guy an X-wing and things are gonna happen.

One of the things they didn’t tell me about being a professor is that sometimes you’re going to work the entire weekend flat-out. And it’s not because your chair told you to. It’s because you made the call yourself.

Today is very Houston. Power went out at 3 am after a minuscule storm. My little generator wouldn’t start at 7. Took until 1:30 to figure out the problem, it cranks… and the street’s power is restored immediately.

The Democratic party should not run Nazis or white supremacists as candidates. This is not a difficult concept to understand, save for the aforementioned groups.

⭐️⭐️ New statement from the AAUP chapter at Texas State on professor Tom Alter’s case: “The laws of Texas have robbed our profession of its ‘primary responsibility’ over ‘faculty status.’ We ask the Board to step in where we have been forbidden to stand + make a finding in favor of Dr. Alter.”

@uh.edu Cancels ‘Confronting Oppression & Injustice’ Course The course’s axing is yet another example of curricular censorship at Texas public universities. https://bit.ly/4748W06 #EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd

In case this wasn’t bad enough

My seven-year-old son handed me scrambled Rubik’s cube without explanation last night. I’d never solved one, and I sure couldn’t figure it on the spot. But I have Dad reputation to maintain. Studied methods, looked at the clock when I solved it. 1:30 am is a bedtime somewhere.

…and Vanderbilt punts on first down.

The Independence Day aliens would have done it better and for free, but America First, y’all.

Oh wow

The scholar of presidential rhetoric who chooses to analyze the AI poop shower video will employ Burke’s pentad. Talking about it directly would be like the professor in Community who attempts to conclusively answer Who’s the Boss.

It occurs to me that the market for inflatable animal costumes must be extremely favorable for the foreseeable future.