Wasn't expecting class today to include the statements "then my dad joined the rebels and got his arm blown off" or "when my grandfather testified at Nuremberg..."

Iris Long, Scientific Mentor to AIDS Activists, Dies at 92

It’s hard to express how important Iris was to ACT UP’s scientific development. She was the catalyst who started it all. Iris Long, Scientific Mentor to AIDS Activists, Dies at 92 www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/h...

I have long maintained that all engineering or technology related students should be required to watch this movie.

Orban gonna have to change his first name.

No shade on these fine folks, but why do you need a belt in zero-g?

Three ceramic frogs on a shelf with their mouths open appear to be singing. They are mostly white with gold around the mouths and some decoration. Behind them are bags of Groovy Mushrooms and there is a book to the left with a picture of a walking frog with a mushroom hat and a basket on its cover.

It has been a crazy week, so my daughter has started sending photos from her job. This one was captioned, "The frogs are harmonizing"

How Artemis II’s Earthset photo compares with the iconic Earthrise image from 1968 Artemis II astronauts updated the iconic 1968 image during their 2026 loop around the Moon.

Interesting piece by friend of @manchstm.bsky.social, Prof Robert Poole: how does the Artemis II Earthset photo compare to the iconic Earthrise photo from 1968?

theconversation.com/how-artemis-...

Gen X collectively reliving Challenger, Columbia and Cold War nuclear holocaust anxiety all in the same week is a fucking lot, y'all.

Have to admit it took a bit to figure out Pam Bondi's connection to the Pinochet nanny

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump · 6m Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP

Happy Easter, everyone.

Btw my press funded a small study into best-practices for alt text for illustrations, especially of illustrations of art. The resulting guide is short and clear and available free to download.

The thing that really pisses me off about people who do try to defend this absurdity: (a) rampant adjuncting was objectively NOT the way the old guard "paid their dues," and (b) no one can provide evidence that adjuncting reliably leads to secure employment.

Currently reading Mimi Pond's graphic memoir, "Do Admit! The Mitford Sisters and Me" and it's simply wonderful. Very highly recommend, thank you to @bookmoon.bsky.social for having it.

Why do I have eduroam at the local hipster bakery but not in my classroom and other questions of the modern academic

'“These large-scale protest events make people feel like they’re not alone" Collective catharsis and hitting what she called “a magical number” of participants is not enough to sustain an effective political movement. “What we really need to do is the work of defending democracy in our communities”

A Challenge for ‘No Kings’ Protests, the Third Time Around

I spoke with @nytimes.com about today's #NoKings Day events and why the focus must be on channeling outrage into strategic action (and not meeting some magical number):
“It’s not about inflatable costumes. It’s not about clever signs.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/28/u...

The amount of Gen X queer people we lost to the AIDS epidemic is something that haunts me regularly and I imagine there is a better use of our energy. There is a massive void they left where we have been robbed of watching them age as queer people and experience some of the hard-won joys.

One of the things that becomes very obvious very quickly when you have a neurodivergent kid is how much of education is about performance and not learning.

US quadruple amputee cornhole champion arrested on suspicion of murder Dayton Webber, 27, accused over shooting death of Bradrick Wells in Maryland, reportedly after argument inside car

New inspiration porn form just dropped

The middle class is the new proletariat, clinging to antiquated notions such as the belief that education matters, just as the old working class believed in the sanctity of the job.

user abbiistabbii: The Germans really cooked making "Hobbyless behaviour" an insult. It is both devastating, applicable to a wide range of people and behaviours, and doesn't resort to swearing. Man ranting on the internet about the Superbowl halftime show or complaining that something is "woke"? Hobbyless Behaviour. Girls mocking another girl for not looking right? Hobbyless Behaviour. Mindless vandalism? Hobbyless Behaviour. It is more powerful than "get a life" or the English "You're Sad" because it gets to the central point of the matter, and that is wonderful. Danke, Deutsch.

I don't normally subscribe to the "German has a word for it" thing because all languages can invent and borrow new words!

That said, I can't stop thinking about "hobbyless" as an insult since I saw it a few days ago, so here you go

It promotes a growth mindset!!
www.tumblr.com/abbiistabbii...

I know things like this are good onramps for new people, but we've had more than a year of onramps. I don't understand the escalation strategy for this approach.

I need to check this out for class

mill's dedication: this is a jointly authored work

a century & a half of male editors: mill exaggerated out of a sentimental fondness for his wife

mill's letters: no, really, most of "my" work was partly by her, i really could not be clearer on this

Hmmmm

One thing that AI evangelists seem to assume, particularly legal AI evangelists assume, is that the thinking and analysis is quick, and the writing is just tedious busywork that slows us down.

But the writing IS the thinking and analysis. You work out the thinking and analysis by writing it down.

This doesn't have to keep happening. It is possible to craft worlds where women and children are safe, rather than objects to be either dominated or protected from the domination of others.

It is possible to create a world where people can just be safe in their bodies.

Sharing this for anyone who needs to hear it.
Which may or may not include me.

Yup, this is good, but if we let adjuncts and grad students negotiate, apparently the whole state would explode or something. Then again, I can now claim to be part of the most precarious state employee group, so that is something. Good that staff got these rights.

Most #autistic people don’t have the power to use our autism as an excuse for anything. For most of us, autism isn’t even accepted as an excuse for avoiding eye contact or using the “wrong” tone of voice! We are regularly punished for these things!