Floptologist in chief

🧵

Listening to Pulp’s “We Love Life” after learning that Jarvis Cocker is a Booker Award judge! What!?

I said it before, will say it again -- generative AI fetishizes "ideas" while sneering at effort, execution, and education. That, despite Gen-AI being built on and out of other people's effort, execution and education.

you know you elected a good mayor when the NYT does this in a headline

Katie Wilson has been elected Seattle's next mayor www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

It was a hilarious lesson

Good news for once www.cnn.com/2025/11/10/p...

It’s absolutely terrific.

😂

Looking for big scares during the Big Dark? Becky Spratford @raforall.bsky.social shares some of her favorite horror anthologies on our Shelf Talk blog: blog.spl.org/2025/11/03/n... Becky discusses her latest book, "Why I Love Horror," this Thursday (Nov. 6) at the Central Library! Register 👇

*uncontrollable screaming intensifies*

An excellent conversation tonight with Cory Doctorow @edzitron.com & Whitney Beltran @clarionwest.bsky.social on ENSHITTIFICATION and the rot economy.

If you think something doesn't matter, you don't respond to it. He responded. The people have the upper hand.

In the current @uncannymagazine.bsky.social I interview @danielhwilsonpdx.bsky.social about "Whalesong," a gripping tale of communication, family relationships, and whales. Read the story: www.uncannymagazine.com/article/whal... And the interview: www.uncannymagazine.com/article/inte...

My neighbor’s Halloween decor is legit 👌🏼

Excellent conversation last night with @danielhwilsonpdx.bsky.social @nisishawl.bsky.social & Alan Boyle. Wilson’s latest novel HOLE IN THE SKY is a story of first contact that also explores our relationship with the unknown. Indigenous technology & interrelatedness to the unknown also themes.

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

Goodreads asked me to curate some October-Inspired Book Recommendation lists for them, so here they are! www.goodreads.com/blog/show/30... . @caitlinstarling.com @spookypurcell.bsky.social @stejhoward.bsky.social @sgj.bsky.social @tananarivedue.bsky.social @anovelescape.bsky.social and more

STARRED review in Library Journal for WE WILL RISE AGAIN, the speculative activism anthology edited by @drkarenlord.bsky.social, @older.bsky.social and me! Pre-order here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Wil...

EVERYONE STOP EVERYTHING Mychal the Librarian is hosting the Reading Rainbow revival!!! reactormag.com/reading-rain...

Shut it down. Shut it all fucking down. Trump has the losing hand here & he knows it, so he's trying to blame his shitty shutdown on the dolls, hoping spineless dems will sacrifice them on the altar of civility. Fuck anyone who crosses to help him. Fuck them and primary them and hassle them to Hell

🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶 🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈 #FollowTheRainbow

This is my regular reminder to everyone that jstor is open to the general public now; a free account there will give you access to 100 papers a year.

“Leave their church potluck casserole untouched” If you didn’t grow up in evangelical circles, you have no idea how cold this is. I’m just picturing a woman hissing at her husband who works for ICE because“They won’t even touch my tater tot casserole anymore Bob.”

Why are people saying "this is not normal" over and over again, instead of "this is illegal" or "this is unconstitutional" or "this is treason?" Not normal sounds subjective, wishy-washy and neurotic. It communicates nothing of substance.

There is no measured way to say what I am about to say. If the Supreme Court agrees with the Trump administration to end birthright citizenship, we must end this current Supreme Court. I do not say this lightly.

The superintendent they just kidnapped is a former Olympic athlete who runs footraces with the kids from his schools while wearing a maroon suit and a bowtie. This is quite simply about the people in power feeling threatened by Black excellence.

This is EXCELLENT. 1) this is spot-on analysis of the problem & a great immediate 1st thing a city can do to improve outcome. 2) as a 2 min clip? He's giving history, hope & change. Speaking to women, to Jewish & Black NYers, saying "abortion." & also naming eugenics in feminism. 100/10 no notes.

Sometimes a column is about something specific, and sometimes it's just about everything I've been reading and thinking about, and this one is definitely the latter!

WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers in dozens of federal agencies to learn what happened as the Department of Government Efficiency tore through their offices. This is the oral history of DOGE, as told by federal workers:

He launched a more powerful defense of journalism than the vast majority of mainstream journalists have and that's an indictment of them.

One of the most interesting things about Jimmy Kimmel, and what I loved most about his conversation with Bill Burr a few months back, was that they’re both middle-aged white comedians who heard how culture has evolved, took notes, grew up, didn’t get defensive, and became *even more* successful.

🧵

If you're a cis person who wants to be kind to your trans and nonbinary friends right now, please do not forward us links to stories about trans people being abused, having their rights taken away, or living in fear. We already know. A friendly "hey I hope you're OK" is much more helpful. 💖

Thursday!

She's here!

we’ve just capitulated to the nakedly fascist government for purely pecuniary reasons, please enjoy this trailer for an upcoming film about resisting a space tyrant

The leaves are going orange and the air is just chilly enough that being under a blanket is a treat. Autumn, my beloved, it is divine to see you again.

Excellent advice. It's easy to get overwhelmed when the world is on fire. Do what you can to help and try to make a difference day by day. Doing a bit each day can quickly grow into big change.

Tim Walz: "I'll tell you what doesn't make people feel safe -- a tank next to Chipotle. It's stupid and it's for the cameras ... where are the 'don't tread on me' people?"

SO MUCH THIS.

Robert Redford playing a gentle incarnation of death, coming for a frightened old woman in The Twilight Zone episode "Nothing in the Dark" (1962). An extraordinary performance then, terribly bittersweet today

YES please check out my sci-fi duology Exo and Crossfire, I really like them and they are so criminally unread compared to all my other books

“AMPLITUDES: STORIES OF QUEER AND TRANS FUTURITY is an exceptional speculative anthology.” @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social (@QueenOfRats) reviews a new anthology edited by @leemandelo (@leemandelo.bsky.social)

The point of college is not to enter with a set of beliefs and stick to them, defending them in debates. Students learn to question received wisdom, understand multiple perspectives, and value evidence, guided by expertise. In fact, that's what many attacking higher ed actually object to. Thread.

I shouldn't be shocked, but I'm still always brought up short to realize how many people think "civility" means "white people speaking in relatively calm voices" no matter what vile shit they say.

100% this. One of THE most important things you will learn or ought to learn as a bookseller (OR writer OR reviewer OR avid reader) is that all genres are valid, there is groundbreaking work happening right now in Every Single Genre, and to STFU on reductive, condescending takes.

🧵

LLM companies are beta testing experimental products our children, and educators are facilitating it.