Laura Linney is a national treasure. I will not be taking questions at this time.

Steve Martin had a bit in the 70's about speaking English with a French accent when he visited France. The difference is that he made the absurdity the point.

Suggesting that "If [bots] can do the things that we used to pay smart people to do, what's the economic value of smart people?" isn't quite the right question... www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

There are bugs, and then there are bugs.

Listen...these dudes changed the locks on her mailbox They marked her mail undeliverable and returned it to the sender They blocked her & her tenants from receiving doctor’s bills, medications, credit card statements, car titles, property tax statements, & more ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/posta...

"Of course, anything can become controversial simply by virtue of someone objecting." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Why attack Iran now? What’s the US goal? Regime change? Damage? Coerced agreement? How will the US achieve it by force? With what follow through? How will any achievement last? What will others in the region do? I’ve never seen so few answers to those ahead of potentially launching major combat.

We're all about second chances... triblive.com/sports/youre...

Tonight at 9: "When Actuaries Attack!"

It’s easy to think writing is mainly the transcription of ideas you already have—that is, until you try to write something worthwhile, and you find what you thought were saying transform into something far more interesting in the process. This skips that last step, and that is *not* an improvement.

Don't utilize "utilize". Use "use".

alt: “Thinking about how lucky some of us were to have so much education woven into our childhoods. Like I remember watching THE Itzhak Perlman play the violin on Mr. Rogers. I know a non-zero amount of classical music from Looney Tunes. Reading Rainbow, Mr. Wizard, Wishbone, Carmen Sandiego,…”

Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.

@deandad.bsky.social's latest @insidehighered.com column is delightful and should be read. It makes me think about a game I regularly played with World Politics students that, if the name of it were shared in isolation, could get me fired today. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Some admin-to-admin advice for my counterparts at UNC: "Lacking the capacity—whether technical or legal—to monitor everything gets you off the hook for monitoring everything. This is not to be taken lightly." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Picking up on @drkevinrmcclure.com 's thoughts on compensation absurdities in higher Ed www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Idea for Winter Olympics event: drive a front-wheel-drive sedan up a steep and twisty residential street with a fresh coat of wet snow. “All season” tires are a dirty, dirty lie.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

A bit of good news... triblive.com/local/westmo...

"It's a fine line between degrowth and death spiral." Thoughts on @edufuturist.bsky.social 's latest. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

It was rather startling as an adult to learn that P.G. Wodehouse had in fact only slightly exaggerated the characters he saw around him.

My weather app says it’s negative zero degrees (Fahrenheit) outside. Math folks — is negative zero a thing?

Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center Philip Glass Philip Glass Philip Glass Philip Glass Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center

After being held in two of them as a boy, I fought for decades urging America to never again build concentration camps and put human beings in them. It breaks my heart to watch this happen twice now in my own lifetime.

Sesame Street has uploaded a bunch of classic episodes to YouTube that are free to watch, including the very first episode from 1969, the one where Mister Rogers visits, and the episode where Mr. Snuffulupagus is finally revealed. [kottke.org]

It's not about the money

"The shortfalls have happened over decades, under governors of both parties...They’ve become so normalized that it’s easy to forget that they’re technically illegal. Oddly, though, expectations for control don’t diminish when funding does." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

One of the best things I’ve read in a while:

I did not expect that. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

A bit of unapologetic parental cheering... www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Good morning

The commissioner can’t fine me so I’ll say it: The officials blew two calls in OT and gave that game to Denver. The Bills deserved to win.

Where are my manners? Forgot to tag @bakerdphd.bsky.social for her terrific new column.

It would appear I am now a columnist at Inside Higher Ed. My first piece focuses on McCarthyism, censorship, and our current moment in higher education. This is an essay I started nearly 6 months ago so I'm glad to finally share it with y'all. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Excellent piece by my new IHE colleague Dominique J. Baker on the Red Scare in higher education. Worth the read. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Another thoughtful column by @deandad.bsky.social . When he observes "...that many policymakers see community colleges as workforce training centers and nothing else," we should note that many officials see all of higher ed this way. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

I think this is what Gen Z has in mind when they complain that the economy is rigged. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Conversely, there are ppl who were right all along and were completely ignored.

Even if you think the odds of this happening have risen from 1% to say 20%, this is *insane* on a level that's hard to process.

I was actually kind of impressed that Sabrina Carpenter used part of Pat Metheny's "Phase Dance" as the intro to "Juno." If you're gonna steal, steal from the best.

On Cory Doctorow's book Enshittification: "He doesn't frame it as such, but the book is an excellent example of the liberal arts in action." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

In the grand scheme of a creative career of any kind, the whole “being a decent human” part and the “do the work” part are more important than all the talent/skill in the world. Those are the things that lead to not only career longevity, but a decent shot at yanno, possibly feeling some happiness.

Penny, in the holiday spirit

So you’re telling me that when your country welcomes talented people from around the globe, and brings them together in world-class universities, they make discoveries that save lives? Interesting. UM researchers make breakthrough to treat form of leukemia www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l...

Matt Reed describes one accreditor meeting reacting to a hard year for higher ed: www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Random thoughts on a muzzy headed sick day: Ppl by and large resent folks with cultural capital (“coastal elites”/“professors” etc) a lot more than they do ppl with actual capital, in part bc

Eric Foner, in Second Founding (2019), notes that the only exclusions discussed in the congressional debates on the 14th Amendment citizenship language were newborns in independent Indian nations and those of foreign diplomats, exactly consistent with the traditional understanding of the Amendment

"Somehow, after work, I never quite feel like curling up with some Adorno. Can't imagine why." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...