this was a weekend of unrelenting horrors, but if you had a small nice thing happen I would like to hear about it maybe you read a great book or saw a cute dog walking down the street or your soup turned out really good? please share

GenAI truly is the asbestos poisoning our collectively shared resources and infrastructure.

One of the things I love best about Reiner is he always presented romantic love as something that required effort. Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride. Love takes time, love takes care, love doesn’t solve all your problems but it can make your problems bearable.

Have you been naughty or nice this year? Either way, in you are in Philly, come to my talk on Thursday night, where you'll learn about Krampus, the Iceland Christmas trolls, LA Befana and other winter season beasties! #Christmas #Krampus #LaBefana #YuleCat #AskAFolklorist #FolkloreThursday

It's so fucked up to have been a kid during the D&D is the devil freakout and the Tipper Gore dirty lyrics freakout and live to see the teen suicide machine get such a pass.

#FolkloreThursday 🎄 Starting December 11, one mischievous Yule Lad arrives each evening for 13 magical nights. 🌙✨ These jolly visitors sneak into homes to leave treats in children’s shoes — fluffy pancakes, creamy yogurt, meat or surprises… but beware! Naughty kids might get a potato 🥔 instead!

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gonna need one clarification before hitting that rsvp

This cross-pollination IS how new ideas happen. EVERY field needs humanistic thinking, that's why they call PhDs "Doctors of Philosophy"

I would like a version of this chart noting the point when childhood vaccinations became widely available.

Side effects of Childhood Vaccination include Adulthood. 👍

I named my fists Pride and Prejudice, because it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of two fists must be in want of whupping ass

Over on Whatever, I'm doing a series on movies I consider "Comfort Watches" - not the greatest movies of all time, necessarily, but some of the most rewatchable. I'm starting the series with easily the most rewatchable movie of 2025: K-Pop Demon Hunters! whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/01/t...

Hey Philly folks! Want to learn more about Krampus and Icelandic Christmas trolls and other supernatural beasties of the winter season? Come to my talk on December 18th! #Christmas #Krampus #LaBefana #YuleCat #AskAFolklorist

Read my🧵about our new #AIstories publication, by @annesigrid.bsky.social - read on for floating motifs, cannibalism and more! And honestly just to understand more about what actually characterises LLM-generated storytelling.

New #AIstories publication by @annesigrid.bsky.social! I love this one: it compares human-told variants of a folktale with LLM-generated variants, finding 1) the implicit is made explicit 2) floatif motifs (fascinating new concept) 3) sex is censored, cannibalism augmented doi.org/10.3390/h141...

Tied elections in Pennsylvania: a delightful survey from @votebeat.org. cc: @the-downballot.com (These were mostly one-vote ties in write-in races in 2025; I've had local races with ties at 517, 1043, and 3035 votes.)

Tonight is the Night We Drink Port! And also make Port Cinnamon Cranberry Sauce.

DAD: Babe, I think the kid has Ovid MOM: What? Covid? CHILD: Rose darke and full of foggye mist. And now they were within A kenning of the upper earth, when Orphye did begin DAD: To dowt him lest shee followed not, and through an eager love Desyrous for to see her, he his eyes did backward move.

And they might've have mentored younger progressive leaders. Also worth noting is that there's - so I've been told - a cohort of lesbians/bi women who got their starts in activism, social work, etc. when they stepped up for gay/bi men in the worst of the AIDS years. When many other people didn't.

A few weeks ago I was talking politics with a local, highly straight, bartender. All the sudden he said: “Well, I think a big part of the problem is that so many of the people who would’ve been our progressive leaders died of AIDS & can’t help us now.” And I’ve thought about that every day since.

100% said this and feel free to quote me on it. Also @jackiekashian.bsky.social is a fantastic comedian and you should see her when she comes to your town.

Because cruelty is the point, after all. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...

Thank you for the spotlight @goodgoodgoodco.bsky.social 🙏 Who wants to run with us??? www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/can...

Whoops I meant to link to the tiktok but my dog distracted me. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMpPNmNu/

I've seen this go by a few times on TikTok now and I have to say, I love this idea. We need a way to convince people to keep running even if they don't win, maybe building the loss into it as a troll move is the secret.

Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis has just taken the bench to rule on federal agents actions' during a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs. Background, for @wttw.bsky.social from @bymattmasterson.bsky.social

The trope in an IP revival where the beloved couple are now estranged but get back together in the end is so overdone. And I DEMAND they do it again anyway here. I will fall for it like a cartoon coyote.

And just like that a whole new generation of bisexuals were born

Rounding error

Speaker Johnson: Federal employees aren’t being paid. Nutrition cuts may cause children to go hungry. Millions are seeing their health premiums soar. End the 6 week paid vacation you’ve taken. Join your Democratic colleagues and negotiate an end to this shutdown.

happy "the car clock is finally correct" day to all who celebrate

open.substack.com/pub/kellysca... The fact of the matter is that helping people costs money and that is just not popular with corporations that, for all practical purposes, own a vast number of congresspersons. Get money out of politics and we can move onward and upward #EndCitizensUnited

Rabbit rabbit 🐇🐇

Amazing talk tonight by Folklorist Linda Jean Lee @ the very cool nonprofit art venue Black Squirrel Gallery in Philly.

Hey Philly folks! What are you doing Sunday? Come learn about some of my favorite witches from fairy tales and legends! #witches #Halloween #FolkloreThursday #AskAFolklorist

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY SORRY FOR OUR DELAY WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THIS WAS A REAL DAY.

I'm not sure which world these people (the person Derek is clowning on, not Derek) want to live in, but a world in which working class people cannot occasionally spend $200 on a nice night out (and this was his birthday!) is a world in which every business suffers except Walmart.

Every time there is a major announcement of cuts to PhD programs at a major institution, it reactivates my own deep worry: to reduce or shutter doctoral programs endangers whole fields, and yet to bring young people into those fields, with no ability to provide jobs for their future, seems wrong.

Good

I can only conclude everyone who thought Leverage didn't go woke in the pilot has been in a coma

it is ALWAYS worth pointing out who gets to be just a helpless little innocent precious baby boy at the age of 34, vs. who is framed by the cops as a big scary dangerous man whose candy bar might be a gun when he's barely in middle school, or described as a "13-year-old woman" by her predator

Oh, look, a rare book librarian Halloweeen costume!

'Relief feels like happiness if you don't know the difference' An absolute blinder of a quote from @tkingfisher.com in Paladin's Grace. #booksky

It's #FolkloreThursday, and I'm doing a #folklore thing in a few weeks! If you're near Philly, come and learn about some of my favorite #witches from fairy tales and legends! #AskAFolklorist

Philly friends! @richardmcgovern.bsky.social, possibly handy for you & yours.

Sunday in Sterling, Va.! Details and tickets at www.ticketleap.events/tickets/prof... @appfolklorepod.bsky.social @folklorethursday.bsky.social @folkhorrorrevival.bsky.social @folkloresociety.bsky.social @folklorepod.bsky.social @loudounnow.org @washingtonian.com

Hey Philly folks! Want some pre-Halloween fun? Come hear me talk about #witches on October 26! 🧹🧙🎃

I feel like Smaug and this post is the black arrow.