A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women 🧵

Someone who just got laid off asks whether to make a major career change. (Their sign-off is "I Dream of Running a Bed and Breakfast Somewhere") Here's how to approach that decision. Plus advice for getting respect and using paid time off. slate.com/advice/2025/...

"How does one get respect at work?" That's the first question in my GOOD JOB column this week. In this case, I advise an "unfailingly polite" VP to politely make some colleagues squirm. slate.com/advice/2025/...

One big reason to support @wonkettemedia.bsky.social is their Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead obituaries. open.substack.com/pub/wonkette...

After Dick Cheney shot a man, Eugene Robinson wrote one of my favorite opening lines: "I told you people Dick Cheney was dangerous." www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opin...

So many people were detained extrajudicially, were tortured, or died because of Dick Cheney. You can't get to the danger we're in now without everything he did. The weapons he helped forge are ones we need to take away from U.S. presidents forever.

Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter. He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.

Me self-justifying my carbon footprint: But @andrewhickey.500songs.com just dropped a new episode so I need to go on a drive long enough to listen to the whole thing

The first weekday after Halloween is the only time of year when it's better to work in an office than at home. Enjoy all the leftover fun-size snacks, everybody!

On this day 225 years ago, John Adams moved into the still-not-quite-complete White House, becoming the first president to occupy it. His blessing was carved into the State Dining Room mantel in 1945: "May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof.”

One fun thing about talking to parks department staff is you can say, “could anybody identify this scat” and they all come over to you all excited. (Even better is when they confirm it’s a bear)

Just saw these humongous new flags in person and they make the White House look like a shady car dealership overcompensating for selling foreign cars www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.

You can define the start of autumn as the equinox, the first of September, Labor Day, or Hey the Juncos Are Back.

The end of the year is a stressful time at work, what with holiday events, annual reviews, erratic schedules, year-end budget decisions, etc. You can ask for any type of work advice from me & @doreeshafrir.bsky.social in our GOOD JOB column: slate.com/advice/2025/...

Instead of a kids' table and an adults' table (especially after the kids are grown), big family gatherings should have a loud people's table and a quiet people's table.

What can people do if they're at a restaurant for a big group event and everybody's meal comes except for one person's? Here's some advice on how to improve service and use humor to bond over awkward situations. (2nd Q in this week's GOOD JOB column) slate.com/advice/2025/...

Make more city

When he's finally gone, there is going to be this flood of books and tell all interviews from Republicans about how hard it was to be a Republican in Washington during this time and I am going to be galatically furious about it.

So if you're mad about the WaPo, yes, Lewis matters, not just Bezos. It's not just the owners tearing legacy media apart - it's right-wing media figures like Lewis and Weiss who are being handed the keys to US legacy news outlets. And those outlets matter because there are some things...

Crime is now at its lowest levels in 3 generations, so why are Americans worried about crime? Who do Americans identify as likely to commit crimes? Where is the scary crime located? What solutions do they see for crime? Crime is just sparkling racism, buddy.

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

❗Reminder: The application deadline for the @theopennotebook.bsky.social early-career fellowship is this Friday, October 31. This fellowship is: ✅ Paid ($6,600) ✅ Part-time ✅ Remote ✅ Mentored ✅ Open to applicants anywhere in the world Learn more here: www.theopennotebook.com/early-career...

The name of the firm that “designed” this fascist dancehall is McCrery Architects, Washington DC. Hitler had his Albert Speer, and apparently the pedo-prez has his James McCrery. Well done sir. You’ll forever be remembered as architect to the pedo-fascist regime which destroyed the White House

Who today is influencing science a la Big Tobacco or Oil and Gas? In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced

Happy 15th anniversary to The Open Notebook! If this ridiculously generous project has helped you over the years, this is a great time to donate. Thread from @siricarpenter.bsky.social at @theopennotebook.bsky.social

The DC ACLU is suing on behalf of a man who was arrested by a National Guardsman and MPD officers for playing the Imperial March (from Star Wars) as an act of protest. www.acludc.org/app/uploads/...

This is driving me crazy. The New York Times calling this madness an “anti-drug operation” is one of the worst forms of propaganda: accepting stated motivations of powerful people as the truth.

Editorial: The fact that more than 30,000 #Florida residents were upset enough about this bear hunt to pay $5 to attempt to win a permit and thus save a bear should say a lot to Florida’s elected officials. www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/22/e... via @orlandosentinel.com

They're arming a goon squad.

When are you being kind by helping a co-worker who's bad at their job, and when are you being exploited? Plus advice about handling the stress of a new job & co-workers who are trying to get you fired, in this week's GOOD JOB advice column: slate.com/advice/2025/...

The New England Journal of Medicine and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy will be publishing regular public health alerts to replace the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which has been paused due to the federal government shutdown.

What are the best and worst pasta shapes, in your opinion? I am through with orzo. By the time the center isn't crunchy, the edges are too soft. And the pieces are so small that you don't get that satisfying pasta chew experience.

About this time last year, the Biden administration dispensed $250 billion to develop 30,000 affordable housing units.

A job-seeker with alopecia asks whether to mention it in her job interviews. Nope! Here's how to think about appearance before and after a job offer. slate.com/advice/2025/...

What are your favorite science-related vacations? Here are some of mine. (Every vacation can be a science vacation if you interpret "science" broadly, which we should, and look at it right.) www.lastwordonnothing.com/2025/10/20/s...

Because they're facist 😭 i think people keep thinking I'm exaggerating when I say that but I'm not. And it's not new. A newspaper that would knowingly employ a nazi sympathizer as Berlin bureau chief because he got them access to Hitler is not a paper that will help uphold democracy.

Has anyone questioned Lupin?

Films: We need to hack a keycard, obtained by seducing one of the guards. We then need to drop in from the skylight after jumping from a plane, and dodge all of the lasers and traps, carefully switching the jewels for fakes that weigh the same to avoid tripping the alarm. Real life:

A+ playground

As an online MAGA discussion continues, the probability of a laudatory reference or comparison to Hitler or to Nazis all-too-briskly approaches 1.

What are your favorite ways to break up sedentary time at work? A letter writer in this week's work advice column has a new sit-in-an-office job and is already stiff slate.com/advice/2025/...

Apparently Bluesky is seeing an influx of new users. Welcome! If you're interested in science, journalism, and/or science writing, here are a bunch of folks worth following. go.bsky.app/7Z8u31b

So many things can go wrong at work. In this week's column, someone's former fling turned out to be a creep and got chased out of the company for bad behavior... and now somehow got hired back. slate.com/advice/2025/...

This book is delightful! Funny and practical life lessons for adults & kids, from the point of view of sea creatures.

Yes, of course, take the dream job. Here's why and how to do so, plus some warnings about the concept of a "dream job."

Someone wrote in to ask whether they should quit a job they started a few months ago to take a dream job. slate.com/advice/2025/...