@existentialcomics.com boy, that escalated quickly

The train restaurant accepts only cash. Yes, I’m #backingermany

German feed! In what must be as rare as seeing Bigfoot in the US or the Loch Ness monster in Scotland, I today took a 7-hour train (Heidelberg-Innsbruck) and it LEFT AND ARRIVED *EXACTLY (!) ON (!) THE (!) MINUTE (!!!)* 🤯

Disrupting German #Halloween 🎃 Kids come up to the house saying "Süßes oder Saures"* and I answer "Salziges!" offering them popcorn. And it's a hit! * Literally: "sweet or sour," the 🇩🇪 version of trick or treat

חמותי סיכמה את עצמה הכי טוב שאפשר: ״שכל מה שתרצה לעצמך יתגשם. אבל הכי חשוב שמה שאני רוצה יתגשם״ היא רוצה שנחזור לארץ. אמרנו לה כבר שאנחנו לא רוצים. אבל הנה, רואים מה הכי חשוב…

בוקר יום הולדת. איך דמיינתי: אני ישן בכיף, קם מאוחר לשירים ומתנות ועוגה. איך הולך בפועל: כבר חצי שעה אסור לי לצאת מהמיטה כי השאר עוד לא מוכנים, ומתחיל לשעמם לי 😕 אבל המתנות והעוגה עוד לפניי, אז יש למה לצפות 🥳

Good stuff right here by @dannychau.bsky.social

My 2🪙 on #nba gambling scandal(s): there’s a connecting line b/w legalizing gambling; Pharma pushing opioids; oil & car companies perpetuating big, lethal, polluting cars; the guns issue; & how lobbies distort US politics. Surrendering to money & exploiting human weaknesses run thru US society.

🆕 Formateur expectations & #VotingBehaviour Looking at #CSES and German 🇩🇪 pre-election surveys Reut Itzkovitch-Malka, @liranharsgor.bsky.social & @ortuttnauer.com discuss "formateur optimization" – when voters back parties likely to lead. 📖

Your car may be fast, but is it “the time it takes my mother-in-law from coming to visit till asking about when will I look for a job back home” fast?

I’ll do 4 words in one (German): Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (Look it up)

My doctor: if you feel hungry, perhaps try drinking water first, see if that fills the urge. Me: I feel hungry, let’s try chocolate first

🚨New #polisky publication 🚨 In @ejprjournal.bsky.social, Reut Itzkovitch-Malka, @liranharsgor.bsky.social and I ask: when do voters back a party that's not their top pick, but has a real shot at being the the next PM's party? The answer is a mix of preferences, expectations, and uncertainty 1/4

Do voters strategically attempt to affect the identity of the next prime minister? In a new paper at @ejprjournal.bsky.social, we show they do! Using @cses.bsky.social and German surveys, we find when and how "formateur optimization" is more likely to occur @ortuttnauer.com doi.org/10.1017/S147...

#academicsky woes Me: working my ass off on a paper Reviewer 1: but why did you use [a model I never considered using] and not the better option of [the model I specifically said I used]? Reviewer 2: it makes no sense to control for [a variable I never use or mention in the text] 😡

This is one of the most depressing hype-posts I’ve seen in a while

Came back to 🇩🇪 from a 3-week vacation. Already couldn’t pay in card in two places, and the trains today don’t work. Classic welcome home 👎

מישהו צריך ללכת לבית שלו בלילה ולצייר לו על הראש עם משחת שיניים. אותה רמת בגרות www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/202...

מה הקשר בין המיזוג ברכבות בגרמניה והדג נחש? youtu.be/cpyPi8_RQs0?...

The Israeli #polisci association just issued a statement opposing the government's plan to continue the conquest of Gaza, calling for an immediate negotiation for a permanent ceasefire. Main points (my summary):

EPSA have announced that they will hold a conference in July 2026. 😵‍💫 We understand that there might be some confusion about EPSS and EPSA. 👉🏽 So we thought we would clarify some things. A short 🧵

Feels like a good time to share this call for papers. Can't wait for EPSS 2026!

Couldn't have put it better myself. But I think I'll have to put my (research grant) money where my mouth is and travel all the way to Northern Ireland...

So, we're having a #polisky civil war between @epssnet.bsky.social and @epsanet.bsky.social, huh?! Can't wait to see how it goes.

עוד יום שלשמוע שירי הדג נחש מלפני 10-15 שנה גורם לי לדמוע. איך הכל רק נהיה יותר גרוע בזמן הזה

@dfg.de can anyone tell me what it means that my application is in “processing” stage? Does that mean that it hasn’t gone to reviewers yet, or not necessarily? 🙏

Made myself finish watching #marvel ‘s Ironeheart. Ugh. They really just put Sasha Baron-Cohen there to make people like me finish watching didn’t they?

Oh hey, that’s where I get my electricity from!

⏰ Timing is crucial: @marcdebus.bsky.social and @ortuttnauer.com show that voters tend to reward parties for attacking coalition partners, provided it comes at the right time. (1/6)

אני כבר לא מאוד גאה במדינה שלי בזמן האחרון, אבל היום אני לפחות יכול להתגאות קצת במערכת האקדמית שגידלה אותי

5 Israeli universit heads in a letter to PM Netanyahu calling him to ״to instruct the IDF [...] to intensify their efforts [...] to resolve the terrible famine in Gaza, which is causing immense suffering to innocent people, including children and infants.״ Full translated text in Alt

00s children should not take it for granted, in the same way we 80s should not have taken the polio vaccine for granted (just an example). Vaccines are great, health science is great, and this work has to go on and continue to be supported. Lives depend on it, even (especially) future ones.

I actually don’t know if it’s the most important story in the world. It’s the one most troubling *to me*. As an Israeli, as a Jew, as a descendant of Holocaust survivors and victims. We vowed “never again”, not “never again to us.”

The most important story in the world right now.

בעולם מדווחים.

עזבו הקשר

Is anyone here looking to sell their #uefa #weuro2025 finale tickets? if so, let me know. My daughter who turns 10 exactly on the match day will be very thankful...

Don't know Football (either of them) and haven't seen 90% of these movies, but a fictional QB ranking that doesn't include Al Bundy (4 touchdowns in a game!)? what are we even doing here?! www.theringer.com/2025/07/21/p...

Calling all parliaments experts! Say there's a debate in parliament, and a related vote. How frequently would these be on different days? different weeks? I don't mean different readings of bills, because these will also have different debates. @sgparliaments.bsky.social #polisky #parlisky

אז נניח שאני רוצה לתרום לאיזה ארגון שעושה משהו לטובת סיום המלחמה בעזה, או משהו בסגנון. עדיף ישראלי, לא חובה. למי כדאי לתרום?

You also never see essays asking “is it time to stop calling your left-wing family traitors”

Guess it’s one of those “bring your sunglasses AND your raincoat to work” days 🤷🏻‍♂️

“My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” writes Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. “I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one.”

📣 Postdoc (75 %, 3 yrs) at @unigreifswald.bsky.social — start autumn 2025 on perhaps Germany’s most beautiful campus. Know someone with a PhD (or nearly done) in Political Science? ⬇️ #PolSci #Postdoc

Umm how does one “anonymously discuss” anything on Facebook?

I missed something. Why do we hate substack now?

for what it's worth, das statement von @dgsoziologie.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Das statement ist IMHO gut & richtig, es hätte aber m.E. völlig gereicht, sich dem ISS Statement anzuschließen. soziologie.de/aktuell/news... @isa-sociology.org

Should give everyone comfort knowing that the people they elected are crippling weather forecasting in exchange for a gestapo and when disaster hits they're like lol sorry can't help you out, our plan was tax cuts and secret police and this doesn't fall into either one

Best case scenario: Musk draws votes from republicans while also draining his own money, only to lead to better D electoral results. Worst case scenario?… don’t know. He steadily wins and US gets a younger, smarter Trump?