Yes but not because of pareidolia

“I’d like to report a murder.”

As a child, I crossed paths with Bill Walton briefly. We were both on the cashier's line in a sports store. He was taller than me.

What @juliametraux.bsky.social wrote, absolutely. If I were more talented, and had time, I'd grit my teeth, listen to the damned thing, and then come up with 100 one-liners in response that are actually funny. So, if you are reading this and have time and talent...

Eternal wisdom.

Side note about the history of emotions: when Princeton U Press published Viviana Zelizer's "Pricing the Priceless Child," a bunch of us grad students (as we were then) said, "This is brilliant, and also not straight-up about sentimentality."

We're already getting spoilers for the 2027 season.

Proposal: the past tense of "weed" should be "wed." Reasons: 1) It would promote the resurgence of madcap comedies, which we need more of. 2) After weeding, I'm too damned tired to use two syllables to describe what I just did. 3) I drafted another 78 reasons, but after reflection I wed 76 of them.

Pupdate, post-walk

Side note: my daughter and I watched @joshjohnsoncomedy.bsky.social's video on the Vanity Fair photos and had to stop to (pick) a) make sure we didn't laugh so hard we cramped up b) go find the photos and look at them I am both mad and not surprised that his Phoenix shows sold out (too) quickly

Simon just asked me to go for a walk as I was finishing a moka pot's worth of coffee. It'll be a few minutes, pup!

@jessicacalarco.com (QPing @kevinmkruse.bsky.social) is correct. Plus: A little less than two years ago, I planned a little study that I never ended up having time for because life. (My wife got very sick.) But it gave me a chance to think through the issues with using LLMs for qualitative coding.

OMG (ht @bakerdphd.bsky.social). This is me, ordering another cup at WhereUBean to start this.

The great writer Douglas Adams once said, "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sounds they make as they fly by." Substantively, the failure to come to an agreement is the most recent sign that 7 state authorities never read Elinor Ostrom on how to work together in water cooperatives.

Woke up in the middle of the night to my brain’s mashup of “Here Comes Santa Claus” and the Notre Dame fight song. You’re welcome 🤣🤣🤣

Hypothetically -- if I were a grifter who had ginned up a Substack and found myself the head of CBS News, and -- again, entirely hypothetically, suppose I were self-aware enough to guess I'd be out within the year, this is what I'd do: CBS News's failure would be FP's coup. Entirely hypothetical

Current view, a few minutes before the solstice.

Early this morning, I committed my first over-the-transom op-ed pitch in a few years, thanks to @lollardfish.bsky.social's encouragement of us all and a few specific nudges from him and my daughter. I look forward to "The Public Scholar," out in April 2026.

Brilliance on the level of Paul Conrad

As someone who competed at the national level in h.s. policy debate, I'll just say it's one of the most arcane art forms humans have come up with and rivals curling in its suspense and 20th c figure skating in the objectivity of its judging.

Apparently we each have a posse in Bluesky. From: www.madebyolof.com/bluesky-wrap...

It warms my heart that so many people are going to hold my grudges against my former senator long after I’m gone. I shall bequeath all my Sinemaschadenfreude to Dominique

I'm exhausted just reading this headline. Replace "AI" with "battery-powered drill" or "asbestos," and see if it makes any sense: "Profile of a Battery-Powered Drill Ready Graduate" "Profile of an Asbestos Ready Graduate"

Happy @kjzz.org kept in my mentions of @eveewing.bsky.social's "Ghosts in the Schoolyard" in the segment on closures today. I don't remember if I did not clearly enough mention the racial dynamics of closures in the original studio interview or if that was edited out. I'm guessing it's mea culpa.

Keeping in mind that Bouie was talking about Xitter vs. video-focused social media, I'll add this epicycle: getting attention isn't the same as influence. I've been on TV and radio (on separate issues) in the last week in AZ. Friends noticed, which is nice! Not sure if that's influence.

My EdD advisees this morning at ASU. There is good news every day, though sometimes it’s helpful to have it scheduled

Stealing the phrase “authoritarian internationale.”

Stealing the phrase “authoritarian internationale.”

“I’m sorry, Grandma, but I’m not writing you letters any more; you can find me on TikTok.”

Dick Van Dyke is 100 years old today. Excuse me while I fall over an ottoman 100 times in his honor.

Hey @repgregstanton.bsky.social @captmarkkelly.bsky.social @gallego.senate.gov -- if you co-sponsor or vote for repealing Section 230, you're supporting Trump

Shanahan is technically correct and also unprofessional. When "stronger reader" excludes evidence about the ability to analyze novels, plays, etc., you are being a fool by saying this. How much of "The Invisible Man" do you need to read to understand the viewpoint character's arc?

I missed Jesse Welles on @colbertlateshow.bsky.social when broadcast a few weeks ago.

"10 biggest mistakes of the Doctor Who Disney era" is a banger of criticism by @elittlechild.bsky.social on @whoculture.bsky.social -- fair, clear, and I learned quite a bit.

Update, now that the WWDTM show is out: Shantira Jackson used and explained PWI on the stage, but it didn't end up in the show.

I am resigned from my never-legally-appointed position as the US Attorney for the state of New Jersey!

When others channel the Borg, look for the bagmen and the Borgias shermandorn.com?p=9781

Surprised Blad didn't look to either the policy literature (e.g., after Arkansas's last set of consolidations) or to the history, such as @scribnerumcp.bsky.social's The Fight for Local Control

My view last night as part of the tote bag* of WWDTM audience members. Shantira Jackson absolutely used a higher-ed acronym on the stage, and explained it. Hope that makes it into the show! * I believe that is the correct collective noun for public radio listeners.

The politics of the graduate loan limits is continuing -- here's the ASU student newspaper's article from this week.

The Atlantic is your problematic fave, #127

Yesterday, I showed a pre-midterm-review colleague the (new) language in our T&P standards that described EXACTLY how they could claim impact for their pattern of pubs. Sometimes I am the right person for a specific mentoring job. Also, friends, remember: many mentors. Yoda & the Jedi were wrong

I am very lucky to have migraines. Wait, I should explain: my migraines consist of a visual aura for an hour and the possibility of a regular headache that can be headed off by NSAIDS. OTOH, I think I have to be in puttering mode for the rest of the day. Don't tempt me to think big thoughts!

“Economists are famous for not believing what people say, but what they do,” [@joshua-goodman.com said], and “people are not behaving as if they’ve lost belief in the value of a degree.”

I am so looking forward to "Power to the People Y'All."

Adding this @mzahneis.bsky.social story of the long-term strategic missteps of UTulsa to my virtual tsundoku. This 🧵 is a preview.

Metareverse?

Noted for all of us

Gift link to the NYT column on Waymo safety data. And below, a small thread I wrote in response to @dhfeldman.bsky.social Also, there's a link in the thread to a @nerd4cities.bsky.social Youtube about Phoenix

David is right about the exclusivist & segregationist politics around the "rigor" higher-ed discourse. Here to point out a practice issue tied into how faculty have imbibed that: it's HARD to get folks to disentangle what we want to accomplish educationally in assignments from the "rigor" discourse