The Service Weapon in Control is a great concept. I like the mixture of ambiguity and outright lamp-shading. Still, as fictional weapons go, it’s always been Dyrnwyn for me. Prophecy, worth-judgment, a beginning, a middle, and an end, without becoming a swiss army knife for the plot.

Intellect devourers and Colin Robinson, take notes.

Never thought about how the NES version is a port full of code compromises. I thought of the lag more as a hardware limitation. It did make the boss fights easier.

Been replaying Control. I think I had a 1440 when it came out, and I could just barely run it. Now, with a 4070, it’s more akin to a religious experience.

There are always men like you.

“Now listen carefully, 007. This looks only like a dictionary. But turn to this page and it will explode if anyone doesn’t use an Oxford comma.” “Q, I generally get a gun, a car and a watc…”

Novel draft hit 40k words. Holy shit, I’m actually going to finish this.

There’s a clothing store called Plato’s Closet and I’d just observe I’ve never seen anyone walk out of one.

The intellectualism of racism - attempting to turn inhumanity into something respectable - is a never-ending force that must always be opposed.

Auburn was, once, a place I applied to work, back in ‘09. Another gutted shell.

Came in the mail today. Another +1 to Nerd level.

I wonder why an Apache was anywhere near Hormuz. They were designed for a very specific job: destroying Russian tanks in Germany with laser-guided missiles. In most any other role they’re just a target.

Walked around a Dollar Tree while waiting on car repair. They need to rename it Indeterminate Price Tree. Nothing is a dollar.

Almost all of my first-year writing college students last year were taking 5 classes for “full-time” funding support, and had never written a paper longer than 2-3 pages.

‘dear rax, my middle class parents are ashamed that i clean houses for a living’ www.patreon.com/posts/160262...

Today, the AAUP released the Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2025–26. It is sobering. Full-time faculty salaries are down about 0.4% in real, inflation-adjusted terms. Average full-time faculty salaries remain 9.5% below fall 2019 & about 5.8% below fall 2008. 1/

Trying to identify this missile type of Iran’s. Many similar photos, same fins and structure, but no identification. Rocketry experts, assemble.

Some years ago, a reference book used one of my abstracts as an example of how to write an scholarly abstract. That abstract was a goddamn pain in the ass to write, so I really felt seen.

El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This is an extraordinary book. I wonder what my first-year students will think of it in the fall.

I once drove my grandfather’s pickup from Mississippi to Arkansas. In an hour or so, I watched the fuel gauge slide from right to left. Fast enough to see it move. Some days I can see my values shifting likewise. I thought I was pretty far left but turns out there’s more room.

everyone, I have produced a report on how to remedy the decline of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. here it is: Executive Summary: Fund the Humanities and Social Sciences. Body: Fund the Humanities and Social Sciences a hell of a lot more. Please cite this as the Carroll report.

God of War: Laufey looks awesome. That will be all.

Remember in Blade when some cops burst in while he’s working and shoot him a few times, and he’s just like, really, WTF? That’s me in ARC Raiders. I am always too indignant to retaliate. I was WORKING here, killing evil robots, and you… what were you doing with your life?

I read up on ‘Dark Enlightenment’ today, and boy, there ain’t a functional brain cell within a thousand kilometers of that shit, but somehow it has a Wikipedia page. I mean, roadkill has a place in the ecosystem and all, but really?

Been rereading Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen. Still slaps. Chup is a quality antihero. Zelazny’s foreword is worth reading, too - a great paean to writing-for-writing.

Massive novel progress. Prologue and beginning set. Ending written. All major scenes drafted. Multiple cross-referenced glossaries of names, locations, and events. Plot discrepancies resolved. The science keeps lining up. I’m getting optimistic. I will finish the draft this summer.

At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Trump admin had a secret goal to violate every amendment at least once. 3, 16, and 21 will be a bit challenging but this is a creative stupidity we have on our hands.

this article is full of views so alien to my own it might as well be from medieval times

I could sell either my PS5 or my Steam Deck today for more than I bought them for. This is not a good sign.

I hope that GAI use acquires the respectability of smoking, drinking, and gambling, where it can be diminished by taxation and cultural disapproval.

Borchetta: “You can hear me now or pay me later… then do something about it. It’s a tool. Make it work for you.” The only tool in that hall was the speaker.

I find it jarring that while he apologizes for slavery, he calls for more AI regulation. Perhaps he means well, but that thinking enabled slavery - control and oversight of exploited labor in the name of ‘humanity’. When real AGI, not just chatbots, appear, will the church call for regulation?

Mando and Grogu was good. Too intense for a small kid, though. Several of the fights were dialed up over the TV show. I think most of it was the aliens are way more realistic-looking than the Rancor or the Sarlacc from ROTJ, which was also PG-13, but a cakewalk in comparison.

Bought tickets for Mando for the fam. Damn. I could have just bought a used Razor Crest.

With assistance, I was able to present remotely at RSA today. Yay! #RSA26

I am Andrew Ryan, and I’m here to ask you a question: is a man not entitled to the sweat of… oh, I’m sorry. Is this a bad time? It’s a bad time, isn’t it. I’ll come back later.

We used to have something called standards around here.

Did we get closer or further from the future of Blade Runner today? Been awhile since I thought ‘further’.

Dammit, why didn’t I think of this? Arkham, but Lego.

Finally, journalism.

I’m due to present at the Rhetoric Society of America on Sunday: “A Slaver’s Rhetoric: A Close Analysis of the Arguments Surrounding AI Use and Development.” I have to deliver by Zoom due to travel complications, but we’re gonna make it work.

Acknowledge the end user agreement! ACKNOWLEDGE!

I didn’t need another reason to dislike the place, but don’t mind if I do.

50% correct is an F, Lego.

When Johnny DuPree won his Mississippi Senate seat in November 2025, it marked the first time Hattiesburg residents would have a Black senator representing them in Jackson, even though 51% of the city’s population is Black. The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the ruling that made that possible.

Perhaps I picked a bad time to finish a novel. I feel like I’m prepping a buggy whip factory for large-scale production.

Tell your sister… the Luddites were right. They were right all along.

It’s almost as if citations are not meant to be performative decor, but a professional and functional way to check what they reference. This is fundamental, first principles stuff.