A tweet from Pope Leo XIV that reads: “When simulation becomes the norm, it weakens the human capacity for discernment. As a result, our social bonds close in upon themselves, forming self-referential circuits that no longer expose us to reality. We thus come to live within bubbles, impermeable to one another. Feeling threatened by anyone who is different, we grow unaccustomed to encounter and dialogue. In this way, polarization, conflict, fear and violence spread. What is at stake is not merely the risk of error, but a transformation in our very relationship with truth.”

Apparently the Pope has read Baudrillard.

I study racism for a living and can still manage to be shocked by how institutionalized it is. What do you mean they were giving tax-breaks to white supremacists celebrating treason?

just a wild country

Winning campaign slogan here if anyone wants it.

There are more of us than them and we are going to win.

The humanities are absolutely vital to a functioning democratic society.

There's a long, bad journalistic tradition: All conservative grass-roots political movements are fascinating heartland phenomena, all progressive grass-roots political movements are ineffectual bleating. This one is written off as powered by white female college grads--the wine-moms slur, basically.

yeah im bummed about sora. bummed i sora bunch of stupid fake videos

ok y'all, i am officially teaching graduate #FanStudies in the fall. what do you feel like are the best books/articles published in recent years? bonus: what are the best pieces published specifically by grad students, to teach the last week?

What was Doge? How Elon Musk tried to gamify government The long read: Steeped in gaming and rightwing culture wars, Musk and his team of teenage coders set out to defeat the enemy of the United States: its people

This article is an excellent primer for people who aren't already familiar with the destructive overlap between video games, AI, meme culture, technocracy, the manosphere, and far-right nativism.

Last day (though tomorrow sometime is fine, too) to submit an abstract for #GenerationAnalog2026! This year's theme is "GREEN." analoggamestudies.org/generation-a... @analoggamestudies.bsky.social #gameinlab #analoggamestudies #analoggames #greengames

Art: "War is not healthy for children and other living things."

Lorraine Schneider, 1967.

The second you leave this country for even a few days, you realize the place you call home is decaying at an almost exponential pace. The realization that you don't have to live like this is stark, and that nobody in power is taking tangible actions to fix it in your lifetime is even starker.

re: hockey, Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers ever to live, gave up three years in the prime of his life — years in which his fighting would have been at peak; actual money incalculable — rather than fight in an unjust war, so noping out on grandpa’s burger bash should be an easy choice

Looking for your Questions: One Hour Games (with Dr. Evan Torner) | Dr. Em Friedman Get more from Dr. Em Friedman on Patreon

If I post it, it’s true: @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social & I will be recording a conversation next month about his strategies for satisfying roleplaying in just an hour-long session. Taking questions now.

I can think of few peers more consistently supportive, thoughtful, rigorous, & truly hospitable.

ignore it all you want. the behelit will find you at the crucial moment.

Monk from Age of Empires

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Wololo
Roses are blue

Hoggle from Labyrinth

"I'm not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats."

I fear that men are about to do what men do. They are about to characterize any sober thinking about power as non-technical and therefore unserious.

We have seen this pattern over and over again in tech criticism. Women and people of color repeatedly lead on understanding tech changes.

if you played sonic the hedgehog and put down the controller, sonic would look at you and tap his foot impatiently. this was proof that sega genesis cartridges had souls. the decision was made to make the storage cases a lot larger than the cartridges so they would have room to move around in there

Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...

No Kings includes Draft Kings

Buried Without Ceremony - Games that mean something. My name is Avery Alder. For the past thirteen years I’ve been designing tabletop roleplaying games about community, doubt, queerness, and apocalypse.

Hello, new followers!

My name is Avery, and I'm a tabletop roleplaying game designer who makes games about self-doubt, queerness, community, and the apocalypse. Learn more here: buriedwithoutceremony.com

I also talk about the necessity of an anticapitalist, decolonized, gender-liberated world.

The Board of Governors decided, unilaterally, that no published textbook in the field of sociology could be used in compliance with the law for an Intro to Sociology class. None. Victor: There's not a single existing textbook on the market that could be used that would qualify under state law? Zachary: Correct. Victor: I'm sorry, that's kind of funny. Like, the absurdity of not a single sociology textbook getting past the censors. I mean, it makes me kind of proud of our colleagues, but...

I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.

Great work everyone.

From @acyn.bsky.social (posted on X)

"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?

Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…

Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.

Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."

The need for gender studies classes has never been greater.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

It's easy to see these academics as individual bad actors. But I'd argue--they were enabled by "elite" schools' look-the-other-way approach to dealing with big-name abusers, and by the fact that, societially, we treat people associated with "elite" schools as automatically deserving of deference.

These were the people who held the careers of female scholars in their hands . This is who was shaping or epistemological world

Is there a world-eating demon in our black boxes? In my forthcoming book The Unseen Internet I demonstrate the overlaps between the quest for AGI and spirit conjuring. Here's an adapted version of the chapter from @mitpress.bsky.social

“Ohhhhhh, they talking about me.” 😭😭😭