I understand that some people believe in the power of faith, but don't take your picture IN the hospital and then talk about Jesus healing you. That would be like someone taking a selfie in my classroom and thanking the Flying Spaghetti Monster for teaching them so much about Shakespeare.

Anyone else noticing the tonal difference in NPR now that the federal funding is gone?

Had a live roach crawl out into my office and onto my desk while I was interviewing a student for a letter of rec. How is your day going. [[Should note, seen other bugs, but never a roach here before. I keep my office very clean of food. Also, she reacted a LOT less dramatically than I did.]]

We Want Vandy!

At the kiddos soccer game, and for the hundredth time noticing how the parents bitch and moan about missed calls ten times as much when the ref is not white (particularly if they are Hispanic).

Well don't I feel stupid

I turn on a Mets game for a minute and the commentators are making Rocky IV references. @brianoliu.bsky.social are you all like this?

Just for the record, I am Autistic and I am a fucking delight.

Speaking just for myself, one reason I keep putting off retirement is the fact that, although I can't physically do much in the way of Resistance activities, I CAN help a couple hundred young folks per year practice critical thinking skills, and that's not nothing.

A grim reminder: these people will never be satisfied. There’s no point at which they will say “we’ve won, let’s enjoy life.” They will always be looking for someone else to punish, to revile, to dehumanize. They’re empty without that.

If reporting is right, the remarks weren’t even abt Charlie Kirk per se, but abt the hagiography & lies in M*G* world. Even more horrific than first appears. The FCC (the govt) threatened to pull ABC’s license because Kimmel criticized the govt. LITERALLY THE GOVT INTERFERING WITH POLITICAL SPEECH

Imagine my disappointment that my kid was talking about doing “the Griddy” and not “the Gritty”.

In these dark times, it is lovely to have something pure and perfect to celebrate.

Been grading all day with the TV on in the background and I have to say, this has been a good football day (Tennessee choking nonwithstanding).

Please don't forget, and don't let anyone else forget, they did this openly.

Jim Henson is a major influence on me and one qoute that always stuck with me was something like "My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there". I like to think that isnt a unique or rare desire to have, but this week reminds me how it isn't something everyone wishes or does.

This is a great thread for those who aren’t Terminally Online like the rest of us

Kiddo is having his 12th birthday party and chose a sleepover with 3 other kids, 10-12. Quite frankly, right now, I would like to die. They are both loud AND planning to stay up all night.

First committee meeting of the year.

Shakespeare class insisted we listen to “No Scrubs” before we commenced talking about “Taming of the Shrew” today. The kids are alright.

I know this is not news for other, more marginalized groups, but it really irks the shit out of me how all these "X leads to Autism" wackjobs imply, with their very argument, that such a fate is terrible and one to be avoided at all cost. You could not pay me enough to think allistically.

Read this short thread. It will make your Wednesday morning.

You may not like it, but this is what peak masculinity looks like.

I cannot write tonight because I left my project open in another computer elsewhere I cannot get to tonight and therefore cannot edit it lest I corrupt both copies. Makes me feel just like Woolf and Hemingway who faced similar hardships.

Been locked out of Bluesky for two days because my internet provider is based in Mississippi (even though I live in Alabama).

Just rewatched Pump up the Volume, and for all its delights and its flaws, more than anything, it really makes me so pissed off at my dumb-ass generation for pivoting so hard to the right.

Day one of back to back to back to back classes as an autistic introvert = Slamming the gas pedal to the floor and emerging 4 hours later from a fugue state where mental muscle memory guided you through, all while feeling like you have been beaten with hammers.

My job as a professor is not to create a serviceable worker. My job is to help foster thoughtful citizens or community members. If that sounds fanciful it’s bc corporate interests have spent decades framing how we talk about education so they don’t take the heat for immiserating labor conditions.

As a true lover of running jokes and pushing punchlines beyond their breaking point, this LONG sequence of comics is seared into my mind.

I love the Star Trek Strange New Worlds episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” because it definitively answers the question of “would you go back in time and kill Hitler as a kid” with the only proper response: “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

AUGUST 16, 2025

Shakespeare folks! I am teaching Shakes for undergrads this semester, and am thinking of assigning each student a one time slot where they get us started with a short informal presentation. I'll put examples below (in order to not make this a wall of text), but I would love other suggestions.

Just got my first eye exam this morning, and holy shit, I was not ready for how terrifyingly bright the world is after the dilation drops. I feel like a vampire or a mole that just stepped unawares into the sunlight.

Calling it for the summer as it is time to shift to class prep. 87,692 words (from 59,444 at the start of the summer). On the one hand, less than 30k is a somewhat disappointing number. On the positive side, I did feel progress was steady if slow, and I think I have only about 20k more to go.

Rewatching Strange New Worlds 1.6 (“The Ones Who Warp Away From Omelas”). Honestly, the Federation’s first move should have been offering membership to Prospect 7.

Owen's Science teacher has been teaching 6th grade for 23 years. The way I audibly gasped.

One of my favorite bits of autism is the way friendships do not fade even the slightest over time / disuse. A friend visited for the first time in years this weekend, and we picked up exactly where we left off last time.

Got to the mercado an hour later than normal as guests just arrived and there are no more tamales. Truly an inauspicious start to the weekend.

Setting aside the appalling racism and fetishization of wealth disparity from the OP (which, I grant, is a LOT to set aside), YES! Absolutely! Ethiopian food is absolutely that good. There are a million wonderful things about living in a country of immigrants, and the food is one!

At 85,809 this morning which means I managed just under 4k in the last two weeks. Considering the second half of summer was always going to be more complicated to carve out any time at all, I think that is a reasonable number.

Watched this tonight. A lot of fun. Technical comments aside (the writers thought this was going to be an anime with no budget constraints?) I will give it an 8 out of 10. Knows what it is, has some fun clever jokes, and legit chemistry with the buddy pairing. BUT! 1/2.

Early Modern Peeps. Does anyone know of a good breakdown / discussion of the famous Mary Frith / Moll Cutpurse woodcut?

A boy in his natural habitat: roller skating to Hot to Go. (Picture taken from the sidelines for safety as I am not as agile as I once was).

Happy book birthday to MATCHMAKING FOR PSYCHOPATHS! Writing a second novel is a known boogeyman in the publishing world, but I can honestly say I had a lot of fun writing this book and I hope you have fun reading it.

Day after my birthday so watched this with my kid and sobbed my eyes out as the gods intended.

On my birthday today, I post this, the most perfect picture ever taken of me. Honestly, looking at this now with what I know, it is a wonder it took this kid another 4 decades to realize he was autistic.

"Those Old Scientists" is one of the most clever episodes of TV. I love it more every time, particularly because both shows are such a love letter to what Star Trek really means.