This sort of thing is a really serious worry to me even in a best-case scenario of Democrats managing to control authoritarian drift for two years and then winning the Presidency and substantial majorities. The policy problem fallout they'll have to face are almost as daunting or worse than in 2008.

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 6h ago

It seems really clear that by 2028, we're going to have an empty SPR, substantial munitions shortages, greater strategic challenges, a larger national debt and substantially higher bond rates which will massively constrain future administrations.

Hyping myself up for the start of the year, here are the books I’ll be reading with my students in History of US Popular Culture, We The People: Constitutional Studies, AP Government, and Political Philosophy (actually, Pol Phil is next year)! Shorter readings and packets are not pictured.

Five books by Bad People I genuinely enjoy either reading or teaching: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, DISCOURSES ON INEQUALITY ; Roald Dahl, BOY/GOING SOLO; Raymond Chandler, THE LONG GOODBYE ; Dashiell Hammett, RED HARVEST ; RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA, Arthur C Clarke.

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · yesterday

alright let's do real discourse: five books *by bad people* that are still good or great books V.S. Naipaul, A BEND IN THE RIVER Allison Pearson, I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT Kevin Myers, WATCHING THE DOOR Yukio Mishima, CONFESSIONS OF A MASK Neil Gaiman, BRIEF LIVES.

IT’S SLUGGO’S TUESDAY

Interesting ethics question- today is primary day for federal offices here in Virginia, and there are no competitive Democratic primaries where I live. There is a competitive primary in the Republican senate race to run against Mark Warner. Do I go vote in the GOP primary to not miss an election?

I have resisted paying for Apple TV for many years, but having an adaptation of Neuromancer finally - after all these years - will probably be what finally breaks me. I long thought about the ways it was un-adaptable and am desperately curious to see how they did it and what they changed in process.

Syllabi updated, mandatory digital training modules completed, what other not-actually-demanding tasks can I use to distract myself from the asteroid of doom that is another year bearing down on me and actual serious research books and docs staring at me balefully from across my desk?

"What those woke Quakers seem to forget is that we live in a free country. If I can no longer decapitate whales to harvest their cranial fluid for candle wax, then democracy is dead."

I’m Captain Ahab and I Say We Must Never Transition Away from a Whale-Based Energy Industry

“What those woke Quakers seem to forget is that we live in a free country. If I can no longer decapitate whales to harvest their cranial fluid for candle wax...

buff.ly

The mantra of anyone frustrated by our contemporary information environment!

William Adler@williamadler78.bsky.social · 6d ago

Monocausal explanations for complex social phenomena are bad

@kangaroopete.bsky.social hmmm maybe worth patronizing a small artist?

dynamoe.bsky.social@dynamoe.bsky.social · 6d ago

$75 for a drawing of any cat (YOUR cat, friend's cat, imaginary cat) reading any book (YOUR book, their book, a favorite read) You get a digital illustration file you can use to make stickers, bookmarks, posters, etc. — DM for info see previously drawn reading cats: www.behance.net/gallery/2291...

Which author or authors do you own the most physical books by? I was doing some cleaning and organizing when I realized that Harry Turtledove, David Weber, James SA Corey, Alan Taylor, Akhil Reed Amar, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett lead the pack by a fair margin over anyone else.

Finally had a chance to watch the first episode of Season 4 of Strange New Worlds. There are a few stylistic concerns, no one gets everything right, nit it seems, like lots of SNW, to be an honest + fun attempt to tell a single compact serial sci-fi adventure story, and that’s all I want out of it!

I continue to be flabbergasted at the amount of ostensible liberal/left ppl on this site that think that a deep red senate seat staying vacant for the foreseeable future—& depriving Rs of a much needed vote before midterms—is a failure on Dems part.

ArgellaStone@argellastone.bsky.social · last wk.

Mitch McConnell isn't dead, but he is dying, and the best possible situation for Democrats is the one we have now, where he's too sick to leave the hospital but too stubborn to resign, and you should be extremely suspicious of people demanding Democrats rescue the GOP from this situation.

Striking that strong teaching of basic information about American chattel slavery in the late 18th/19th centuries is considered revelatory (sometimes enraging) by a surprisingly large number of people. Because we failed at such things for so long, even if new generations get it, there's a backlog.

Reading a couple of issues of 50s-60s sci fi pulps for fun, and it’s really interesting how clear the DNA of Star Trek TOS is in these stories, like the “one planet = one culture/society/biome = one adventure” norm that Trek follows so often.

I really like and support the National Constitution Center in general, which makes it more annoying when they do something like invite Ilan Wurman for a book promotion talk that promises to be pretty positive and uncritical. It's tonight, so maybe they'll provide context and pushback, but...sigh.

Came upon an author-signed copy of "Herb Block's State of the Union" yesterday in a used bookstore, but didn't get it. I already have a copy of the book (it's so good! he's a priceless look into midcentury political life!) but am wrestling with whether $40 is worth it to have an inscribed copy.

Teaching Neuromancer as a text in the history of popular culture next year for the first time and re-reading in preparation. I'd forgotten how jagged, vivid and off putting the book can be at times. Gibson's later works are better in many ways, but it's super apparent why this book had such impacts.

No one is lying about the Hadestown proshot, folks. It is incredible and, yes, quite possibly the best proshot I’ve seen. Do not miss it. It’s only out for a week, and I don’t know that we know yet if and where it will have a life after this.

Listened to the old album 'Deltron 3030' on a whim this evening and lord is it ever still a weird masterpiece. How many other albums have a track with lyrics as bonkers as "I'm like Gamera to amateurs" and "Rap your tear clap your ear with Soulsonic Mantronik phonics / Turn your brain to an omelets"

Drop album(s) important to you when you were nineteen! By the time I was nineteen I was pretty deep into making a lot of mixed CDs and multi-artist playlists across genres, but these albums - all recent thought not current - found their way into my ears mostly as whole albums and shaped my tastes.

Christian Lipski@christianlipski.bsky.social · 2w ago

Drop an album that was important to you when you were nineteen So much angst, plus the best "Fuck You" song.

every day i feel like we're experiencing some kind of societal gas leak

one of few books I've read twice in less than a year is @hntdove.bsky.social's Three Miles Down. Isn't that the book is a masterpiece of complex literature, though it is good. I found its premise, period-piece authenticity, narrator's flawed but ultimately morally striving attitude, all deeply fun.

I enjoyed vacations and travel much more when I was young, renting an apartment, and with no pets. As an adult with a house and several small dependent creatures I can't take with me, I end up spending a lot of energy when vacationing anywhere a plane ride away worrying about homefront disasters.

This is a really interesting idea, and would certainly mean that states where there is divided control like Arizona would be less likely to idle a lot of their policymaking/governing capacity with partisan warfare.

NERV IRB Coordinator@professormusgrave.bsky.social · 2w ago

US states should have parliamentary governments

Had the chance to go see the in-movie-theaters recording of Hadestown and it's quite a good recorded performance. Really captures a lot of what's good about the staging and energy of the original live show (I was luck to see that cast on broadway). Definitely see it if you're even remotely curious!

The original 1954 Godzilla movie is legitimately terrifying to watch in a lot of ways. Almost hard to stick with because of the repeated and relentless exceptionally grim, unguarded images and sounds of suffering it presents. I wonder how a contemporary audience would absorb it if mostly unprepared.

sitting on that precipice point where I'm almost ready to get really excited for next year's classes and students as I re-write syllabi and re-check calendars and readings BUT am also still grumpy and exhausted and just want to play computer games. An unpleasant corner to slowly navigate around.

Been re-reading Alan Taylor's sequential books in reverse order (American Republics, American Revolutions, American Colonies) and strikes me how really excellent they are as overview historical monographs. Detailed and complex enough for specialists, vivid and well-written without jargon for others.

"harder on systems gentler on individuals esp those not in the boardroom" is a really good motto

Rachel Cohen@cohen489.bsky.social · 2w ago

yeah I’m just never ever going to ascribe to the idea that teenagers deserve to get blown up for the sake of defense contractor paychecks even if the teenagers are supposedly on the same side as the defense contractors. harder on systems gentler on individuals esp those not in the boardroom