In Nara, Japan, sika deer roam freely among cherry blossoms, creating a breathtaking scene each spring. These sacred creatures enjoy the beauty of hanami season too.

The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...

Wow wow wow huge win Trump MAGA lawyer John Eastman who pushed the 2020 election conspiracy claim has been disbarred in California. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTk2sbGG2/

right now the astronauts are calling houston because the computer on the spaceship is running two instances of microsoft outlook and they can't figure out why. nasa is about to remote into the computer

Cornel West has identified me.

They’re going to the moon? With these fuel prices?

The royal visit to the US should not go ahead inews.co.uk/opinion/king...

It’s the eighteenth anniversary of my green card. It was fun to have an April 1 green card for a while.

Once again, this site has a significant problem with people who cannot distinguish between "here is what the law is"/"here is what happened" and "I endorse that law/what happened."

Pretty compelling essay from Daniel Biss in The Nation, in which he reiterates his support for -The Block The Bombs Act (strongest arms embargo on Israel legislation ever unveiled in Congress). -Unilateral recognition of the State of Palestine. -Naming and shaming AIPAC intervention in elections.

Me on social media vs me in the classroom

#AcademicSky This might shock you, if you assume that animals are empty vessels. (spoiler alert: they ain't) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A viral dog rescue from 2016 is now immortalized with a statue in Kazakhstan. When a dog fell into the Sayran reservoir, bystanders formed a human chain to pull him to safety. The statue is a reminder of the value of unity, solidarity and collective action. 14/10 for all

Oh nothing, just a peer reviewed paper my colleagues found... doi.org/10.1016/j.ma... "1 mL of the mass killing of an ethnic group was opposed to 20 mL of the skin sample and unprotected to light for 7 min." Even AI knows what's wrong here, but @elsevierconnect.bsky.social doesn't.

"Almost two‑thirds said the social climate had improved, and around a third saw better academic performance. Other surveys suggest less bullying when devices are taken out of the school day." www.bbc.com/news/article...

This is a post for etymologists. The first work in the Hindi version is Narangi, which has a Sanskrit root. This became naranj in Persian. Then it became norange in English. “A norange” evolved into “an orange” over time. #India

Among the many strange twists--this didn't happen in Florida. www.bbc.com/news/article...

He got a job as a mousepad.

A normal Congress would simply pass the bill, have the President veto it, and then override the veto

"Gooning Towards the Führer" as policy coordination www.programmablemutter.com/p/gooning-to...

We’ve told all the casting agents that the Weird Al biopic sequel is currently on hold, but they just keep sending in headshots.

I just signed a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social petition: Demand the BOR Revoke the Posting of Public Syllabi and Curriculum Vitae Policy. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/de...

Secret tricks to get much better results out of the very dreadful 'Google search' these days, plus other search engines for specific things. Statospherically useful for researchers. open.substack.com/pub/cardcata...

The moment Israel targeted British journalist Steve Sweeney in southern Lebanon.

Remarkable story from Denmark's nat'l broadcaster. "When Danish soldiers were flown to Greenland in January...they brought explosives so they could destroy, among other things, the runways in Nuuk & Kangerlussuaq [to] prevent US mil aircraft from landing" www.dr.dk/nyheder/indl...

I would like to personally award Afroman the Bluesky Medal of Valor for Exemplary Service in Bringing Back Shame

thousands of allied troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis, Afghans, and Kurds died on our behalf following 9/11 and this depraved freak has the audacity to call their sacrifice "moderately helpful" or "mostly symbolic"

"Oxford University Press’s blurb promises that the book engages 'a wide range of gender-critical feminist philosophers’ arguments,' which is a welcome change, but this is spoiled by persistent misreadings, miscitations, and omitted citations."

I'm really enjoying The Pitt, but it's really heartbreaking to watch the characters who are DOA and then consider the actors who were cast to play them.

More evidence that happiness is about taking while meaningfulness is about giving. "Happiness is closely linked to career achievements and personal stability, meaning is driven by cultural and artistic contributions, and a good life balances both elements." journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

The second best Irish phrase I’ve heard, used to describe someone who’s always engaging in one-upmanship, is “if you’ve been to Tenerife, he’s been to Elevenerife.” My number one favourite Irish phrase, and one of the most crushing burns you’ll ever hear, is “he looks like his mammy knitted him.”

NSF Update through March 13, 2026 1/2

If two singers stand close enough to each other…

You root for Sinners. I’ll root for Sinner.

This has also been the problem with seizing the superyachts of sanctioned Russian oligarchs: you can't sell something you don't own, so without title to the yachts, the governments who seized them are stuck with million-$ maintenance bills & costly multi-year court battles about ownership transfer.

Narratively having Ever Given getting stuck in 2021 to set up Hormuz in 2026 is great foreshadowing. You want your audience to understand the basics of international shipping in a lower stakes context so you drop the real plot without a lot of saggy exposition about the minutiae of cargo logistics.

Good news here

If we could just raise sea levels by 150 meters we get a backup Strait of Hormuz

New study. We had adults place historical figures on the left-right ideological spectrum. Folks most often place history's villains (Hitler, Stalin, etc) as extreme examples of their opponents. But they place heroes (Jesus, MLK, Lincoln) are on their own team. 1/4 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Political scientists in election years: No. Presidents can't really affect gas prices. It's a silly way to judge a president. Political scientists in 2026: So, actually...

Five-byline alert: 🚨 “.. An ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/u...

My reaction when a reviewer tells your paper has a null result and thus makes no contribution to the field. Reply with yours.

hmm

Most people rejected his message. They hated Freud because he told them the truth.

Sure sounds like somebody at DOGE took the Social Security numbers and personal information of every American on record, and put it on a thumb drive to bring home to Elon Musk’s AI company.

Much as Soviet propaganda accurately depicted the United States as a racially tiered society, Iranian propaganda has accurately depicted the Trump administration as entirely run by pedophiles.

A few people have asked for the syllabus from my grad seminar on Generative AI for social science -- just posted it here: statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/03/10/n...

We're thrilled to announce the Ctrl-Z Award, a US$2,500 prize for researchers “who discover substantial errors in their published work and take meaningful steps to correct the scientific record." Covered by @nature.com today; read more here: centerforscientificintegrity.org/2026/03/10/a...

The Pentagon calculated it was spending $1 billion a day on Trump and Netanyahu’s war. The truth? It was $3 billion…and that’s just for munitions. Plus they’ve alarmed everyone by burning through scarce munitions in a matter of days.