Something I learned today: Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list this information. In the fediverse (i.e. apps like Mastodon or Pixelfed) users can (privately) block other accounts See joinfediverse.wiki for more info

It has Turtle McConnell as Lucy because I first made this meme a previous time that Chuck Schumer caved under the promise of getting a future vote on some important issue. He's certainly consistent and predictable in his cowardice

It is 72° F (~22° C) and sunny in Richmond, VA. I'm doing yardwork and wearing shorts because of how warm it is out. Today is November 9, 2025 Yes, this is a milder region than where I've lived previously (Wisconsin, Colorado). But this is still way […] [Original post on mastodon.benpettis.ninja]

RE: https://mastodon.benpettis.ninja/@objectionodon/115510427689074168 I made this silly bot because I remember really enjoying an equivalent version on Twitter. Something about shifting stupid online arguments to over-the-top Phoenix Wright animations just helped to highlight the absurdity of […]

Hell of an advertisement for SanDisk, though: what's more crushing than losing your cherished photos and memories? https://www.techspot.com/news/109921-oceangate-titan-sub-camera-found-mostly-intact-sandisk.html "OceanGate Titan sub's camera found mostly intact with SanDisk SD card still […]

I just learned, Thomas Alter, tenured professor, has been terminated effective immediately. Shame on Texas State! We mst build support for Tom. spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-tex...

Texas State upholds the firing of associate history professor Thomas Alter

Alter’s termination occurred on Sept. 10, stemming from his remarks at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference on Sept. 7.

spectrumlocalnews.com

I think that the president calling for a governor and a mayor to be jailed is a Very Bad Thing™

This was the automatically generated alt-text (from trying to read text in the image) “And this life activity [the worker] sells to another person in “You wanna live fancy? Live in a big mansion? Party in order to secure the necessary means of life. ... He works France? You better work, bitch […]

on my way to talk about influencers and @sophiebishop's algorithmic gossip piece with my students and/or (depending on who you ask because I teach in America) brainwash students with a bunch of "woke" radical ideologies about labor and precarity

My statement on the two year anniversary of October 7, 2023.

Truly decentralized social media is an amazing an amazing system. Follow me at @bpettis@benpettis.ninja But if you're not hosting, joining a server is easy and there are tons to choose from. AoIR members can all sign up on aoir.social. And you can transfer your profile to other servers if you wish

Mastodon

The Association of Internet Researchers is sponsoring this Mastodon server for its members. Members in good standing are welcome to join and have a home on the fediverse!

aoir.social

Aram Sinnreich@aramsinn.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Seems like a good time to remind all the wonderful people of Bluesky that there is a genuinely decentralized microblogging platform called Mastodon and it's right over there 👉 You can choose your own community, and only the people you want to block will be blocked. Find me there @aram@aoir.social

I'm writing an Ace Attorney bot over on Mastodon (mastodon.benpettis.ninja/@objectionodon) Earlier, I needed to find a thread to test it out on - and I gotta say, I think I found a really fitting example of the Very Healthy Discourse that exists surrounding a person's chosen social media platforms

Say NO to Trump’s loyalty oaths and extortion of our universities! We will NOT throw our students, faculty, and staff under the bus to comply with undemocratic and partisan ideological agendas.

This is apropos of a thread about what publications lose when they lose older culture writers and only have young ones. All I'll say about that is that learning about cultural history is a lifetime's work, and if you do this for a living, there's no shame in not knowing, only in not trying to learn.

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

Nick Fleisher@nickfleisher.bsky.social · 10mo ago

30% drop year over year!

because of this move, eggs are down more than anyone imagined. 1000% and some even 1500%. The other day a big grocery (this is a new word that I came up with) shopper came up to me with tears in his eyes and said "Sir, thank you for making the eggs affordable again!" www.reuters.com/business/med...

US to impose 100% tariff on movies made outside the country

The United States will impose a 100% tariff on all movies made outside the country, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday.

reuters.com

“Liberals can accuse this agency of constitutional violations all they want. But we both know that seeing a man in tactical gear is far better than seeing a man without a face, staring deep into that empty chasm, and instantly going mad.”

The Onion@theonion.com · 10mo ago

ICE Confirms Agents Do Not Have Faces Beneath Masks

I’m studying what communication and media scholars think about Twitter/X and its recent whirlwind of changes. If this sounds like you (and you've ever used twitter), please take this survey and share your thoughts. sl.richmond.edu/Ee And please share/circulate to help this reach the right people!

ME: Men will literally make up imaginary interviews with Isaac Chotiner instead of going to therapy CHOTINER: What a great point. And when was the last time you went to therapy? ME: Well, now, hold on a second

3/ Tech fascism in a nutshell: “Computers are so much more rule-based, controllable, fixable, and comprehensible than any human will ever be. As many political schools of thought do, these technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect.“ She wrote this in 2000!

Truly magical stuff here

This App Turns Your Photos into Music If You Want to Do That For Some Reason

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

American Psychiatrist Association Statement on White House Announcement on Autism

Tylenol doesn't cause autism. Vaccines don't cause autism. Also, autism isn't something that needs to be "cured" or removed. Fuck everyone who wants to divide and designate a group as "other" Fuck bigots. Fuck Nazis.

I have taken the Tylenol that was in the medicine cabinet and which they think probably is the reason you like trains forgive me but that’s bullshit you got autism from your dad