Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy

Talking to one of these types at a con who asked how I 'got in' with so many 'famous writers' who I'd been talking to and I said "we made friends before anyone knew who we were decades ago by striking up interesting conversations and enjoying each other's company" and he kept re-asking the question.

In a writer networking workshop I run, I ask attendees to think about the coolest person they want to meet. Then I ask what they’d offer them as a peer (this could be anything!). If there’s no answer, it isn’t time to network in that room. …a specific type of attendee rarely has an answer.

The Lord of The Rings movies were rated PG-13. By current rules that means that each film could contain one use of the word "Fuck". Which line are you altering to insert the most useful swear word? "All we have to decide is what the fuck to do with the time that is given us."

@ajhasocial.bsky.social Please spread the word about the Charles R. Eisendrath Fellowship at the Clements Library. The fellowship supports research on the relation of journalism to US history before 1900 in both pictorial and written reportage and commentary. See clements.umich.edu/research/fel...

I’m nobody special and I’ve had right wing extremists try to ruin every aspect of my personal and professional life, including showing up in person and leaving written death threats at my work and home. This “problem” is an inherent part of right wing extremism; it’s a feature not a bug.

When you’re chronically ill, the holidays hit different. They’re exhausting, isolating and lonely. It’s important to set and hold boundaries. Make your own traditions and find ways to cultivate joy. Here’s to another Chronic Illness Christmas: www.disabledginger.com/p/another-ch...

"This doesn't affect you because you animate, so you are fine." No. This sucks and this is really dangerous. In solidarity with all artists, Please be cautious. I know many will remain on Twitter because they have mostly everything here but be aware this time it's worse than the other times.

Surprise! 100 community copies are now available for ARC, Magus, Marvelous Children of Inang-Uri, and What Dust Remains! 🔥 Download these games for free—for a limited time only. momatoes.itch.io/arc momatoes.itch.io/the-magus-or... momatoes.itch.io/inang-uri momatoes.itch.io/what-dust-re...

The largest provider of "mental health services" in the US is the injustice system, and many "mental health facilties" ostensibly focused on patient care are actually carceral.

A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty: My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media. Huh? When did I say that?!

"Even after accounting for the upfront costs and delayed benefits, enrolling marginal applicants to public universities generates substantial net returns for society, the marginal students themselves, and the government budget." Public Universities FTW!

The message that someone takes away from sci-fi tells you who they are. It's a Rorschach test.

As an actual Religious Studies scholar, it is an insult to our field to describe anything this student wrote about gender as "Bible-based."

“How can you suddenly dislike art when you find out it’s made by AI?” For the same reason I can dislike art when I find out the employees were overworked and underpaid. Because I care about people. You dipshit.

Writing up my conclusions on a great discussion-based class: they are congruent with the principles Lara Hope Schwartz suggests in the useful conversation and book below. 1. We are not here to say what we already know (adapting @kwazana.bsky.social's classic essay) megaphone.link/NBNK5789069827

"What's that about death?" says the historian of health and medicine.

I don't want to go back to blue books. It's an accessibility issue. I don't want to make problems for students. I lack better ideas, though, because students won't read, and too many think chatGPT is ok. Oral exams are the same kind of problem.

If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career

The New School was founded as an institution dedicated to critical inquiry and the free exchange of ideas. The current austerity measures at the university are dismantling the radical democratic aspirations it once represented.

This book, which I learned abt via @crystaljluo.bsky.social, details the faculty strikes of 1968-1969 by American Federation of Teachers Local 1352 (AFT 1352) that led to the creation of those programs at SFSU. Collective action is what changed the academy from the inside; it can do that again.

There's a phenomenon I've noticed where I think some people think other people's chronic illnesses have cures just because there's treatments approved...when in fact people with the other chronic illnesses rarely go into remission, let alone be cured.

Another year comes to a close but there is still time for one last Ironsworn Guyz pod for 2025. In January, we picked 12 games that we simply had to play this year. How did we do? Did I win, having lost out to @errantadventurespod.com in 2024? youtu.be/Cv_2NpgH3SA

Oh, hey, I’m making my @giantbomb.bsky.social debut with my Top 10 games of the year! From Blue Prince to Clair Obscur, Cast n Chill, Consume Me, and Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, I cover a LOT of ground. (But, of course, you already know my top pick for Game of the Year.)

On quick read, this is a well-reasoned decision that gets the First Amendment law right and protects academic freedom

Should the spikes continue into January, the U.S. will lose its "measles-free" designation from the World Health Organization - a label achieved in 2000. How is "Make America Healthy Again" going? apple.news/A2lwHU43FSB6...

So students at OU will never get an F if the penalty is you lose your job

Not just a national asset but an international asset. Trashed, ignored, diminished.

My other top two favorite books of 2025.

Delighted to see William Godwin's superb novel, Caleb Williams, trending. #18C #CalebWilliams #Godwin

For your pleasure I wrote up the news that apparently the University of Austin is not a great place to work: www.chron.com/culture/arti...

It's truly remarkable how there will be news organizations and journalists who correctly identify that RFK is a menace and that HHS can't e trusted when he pushes stuff about vaccines or Tylenol causing autism... but cover the anti-trans stuff like "Well, HHS says so, and we should trust HHS!"

It's backup day! 📂🎉 Back up your art, your writing... everything! Repost to remind a friend!

Finally finished grading and done with this semester that's left me with an exhaustion that feels bone deep. I think I'm only now realizing how significant my ADHD burnout and dysregulation have been and how much it's going to take to recover from it.

suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research: they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.

@design-law.bsky.social is circulating a great explainer on “who owns the syllabus” in copyright law. I would note that there is an additional problem from an academic freedom standpoint from UNC’s policy which also states that the system retains instructional control over the syllabus.

They've been draining talent from academic research and teaching for decades. This is just their final push Built a system where scientists like me joined industry for the financial security and health insurance. I couldn't afford to teach as an adjunct even though that was my dream

Fully agree with 'only cite stuff you've actually read' re: AI in academia, but it needs to be paired with 'give folk proper time to read & reflect'. The pressure to read/write/produce can drive shortcuts. Primarily thinking students here, but also academics, who need proper (paid) research leave.

I'm very excited to announce the launch of the #18thC Ecologies Network! Co-convened by myself & @calsutherland.bsky.social at @cecs-york.bsky.social , ECEN is a hub for researchers interested in the many diverse ecologies of the period 🌱 Find out more: hzj520.wixsite.com/eighteenth-c...

GenAI slop is *infecting* the system, reproducing and multiplying itself.

I was nearly crushed by the disappointment that there is a football-playing Caleb Williams in America but managed to escape - because Liberty will prevail!

Am I the only one who gets a real kick out of citation chains? Reading people's writing and footnotes, and making assessments and notes, finding the sources in the footnotes and reading them yourself, and making more notes? I...love it?

A forgotten Tennessee Williams horror play, written for radio as part of his University of Iowa coursework and performed on air perhaps only once, has been published in the Strand Magazine. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

I just got served an ad for this type of AI product with the tagline “PhD students, your professors don’t want to you know about this.” We do actually want you to know about it and to not use it. Do the reading, that’s why you’re in graduate school.

Citation is easy. It's a couple of lines on your credits page. Citation is encouragement. Every time somebody else acknowledges me this way, I feel like the work is worthwhile. Citation is introspection. You are marking your trajectory, the ports you have called at, as a maker. 1/

This, for the record, is what goes into a footnote. It’s the key part of the research process where I examine the practical, methodological, ethical implications of my sources before I join the stream of interpretation. It cannot be outsourced to an LLM.

Rich people: yeah, that fatal car accident was terrible, but I needed a new ass

This week in eugenics

Officials in Tennessee aren't just banning books, they're now demanding information on who checked out contested (largely LGBTQ+) books, including names, addresses, and "household composition." A librarian who was given the directive has come forward asking for whistleblower protections.