Jim Grayson
@jimgrayson.bsky.social
teacher, writer, dad, hobbyist, snark
My opinions are only my own.
My opinions are only my own.
I don't have the time to listen to you whine, Green Day. Please advise.
I shot the Deputy, Eric Clapton. Please advise.
I couldn't catch the mystery or catch the drift, Rush. Please advise.
January 6, 2026 at 1:24 AM
I don't have the time to listen to you whine, Green Day. Please advise.
My man bounces on his heels like he's demanding to speak to the chef about his wedge salad.
MILLER: The US is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere. We're a superpower. It's absurd we'd allow a nation in our backyard to become a supplier of resources to our adversaries
TAPPER: Sovereign countries shouldn't be able to do what they want?
M: *yells*
TAPPER: Sovereign countries shouldn't be able to do what they want?
M: *yells*
January 6, 2026 at 12:39 AM
My man bounces on his heels like he's demanding to speak to the chef about his wedge salad.
I remember an Avalon Hill game from the late '80s called FORTRESS AMERICA which seems, unfortunately, like an increasingly likely scenario.
January 5, 2026 at 12:04 AM
I remember an Avalon Hill game from the late '80s called FORTRESS AMERICA which seems, unfortunately, like an increasingly likely scenario.
Well, it sure was nice to sleep in on a Saturday morning so let's just check the news and WHAT THE OVERHEATED HELL
January 3, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Well, it sure was nice to sleep in on a Saturday morning so let's just check the news and WHAT THE OVERHEATED HELL
One more apology we owe to George Lucas.
January 2, 2026 at 4:33 PM
One more apology we owe to George Lucas.
Delightful.
A List of Predictions Made in 1926 About 2026
🧵
🧵
January 1, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Delightful.
"Live from State Line Fireworks in Rocky Top, Tenn, um... *checks notes* That is, um, I'm told this is the Washington Monument in our nation's capital... Jane, can we confirm that? Jane? Jane?
"I'm sorry, Jane had to step away from the mic to laugh convulsively. We'll be back after this."
"I'm sorry, Jane had to step away from the mic to laugh convulsively. We'll be back after this."
January 1, 2026 at 3:09 AM
"Live from State Line Fireworks in Rocky Top, Tenn, um... *checks notes* That is, um, I'm told this is the Washington Monument in our nation's capital... Jane, can we confirm that? Jane? Jane?
"I'm sorry, Jane had to step away from the mic to laugh convulsively. We'll be back after this."
"I'm sorry, Jane had to step away from the mic to laugh convulsively. We'll be back after this."
New Year's resolution just dropped.
It gets worse because of grade focus, because of casualization, because of genAI, because of so many things. I don't have a solution other than to teach classes with as much love as possible.
December 27, 2025 at 6:30 PM
New Year's resolution just dropped.
Merry Christmas, everyone. Let's take good care of each other, today and every day.
December 25, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Merry Christmas, everyone. Let's take good care of each other, today and every day.
I had an intro-level anthropology course where the final was: "Define 'civilization.'" We were given a week and expected to deliver four to six handwritten pages. My cramped, spidery writing comes in around an 8-point font, which had me pretty anxious about the whole thing.
Exam I once had was like, "the US has learned that Saddam Hussein has exactly 3 ICBMs pointed at Chicago and there is credible evidence that he is increasingly erratic and paranoid. Explain optimal strategic and tactical responses citing every single theoretical framework you learned this semester"
Does anyone else bristle at this framing? WSJ says blue books are “torturing” students with hand cramps, and “nobody likes them.”
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
December 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I had an intro-level anthropology course where the final was: "Define 'civilization.'" We were given a week and expected to deliver four to six handwritten pages. My cramped, spidery writing comes in around an 8-point font, which had me pretty anxious about the whole thing.
I did an intensive Batman-themed course at Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program a couple of years ago and asked the kids to use data to support where such a vigilante might need to appear in the 21st C. They were shocked to learn how violent crime is declining in major cities across the country.
I count 10 cities in 2025 that are on track to have the fewest murders since at least 1970. Newark is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1956 (though only have data through Oct this year) and San Francisco is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1942.
December 24, 2025 at 12:55 AM
I did an intensive Batman-themed course at Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program a couple of years ago and asked the kids to use data to support where such a vigilante might need to appear in the 21st C. They were shocked to learn how violent crime is declining in major cities across the country.
Please believe me when I tell you that I, a humble public school teacher, had to sink actually brainpower into figuring out just what he meant by "OOO."
I haven’t gotten a single OOO email reply. Everyone is still working! We are in a RECESSION, y’all.
December 23, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Please believe me when I tell you that I, a humble public school teacher, had to sink actually brainpower into figuring out just what he meant by "OOO."
I laughed six days this week. Should I be concerned?
December 22, 2025 at 12:18 AM
I laughed six days this week. Should I be concerned?
Also consider how this framing has been around for centuries, regarding any exercise of the mind: theatre, philosophy, novels, any form of visual arts. If you don't have the local duke or maybe a pope as a patron, how do you have time for such idle pursuits?
"A.i." exists to devalue art and labor.
"A.i." exists to devalue art and labor.
Please consider how this increasingly common framing (must be nice to have time to read) may do the work of painting reading (and thinking) as an elite activity, which may be dangerous in a time of fascism. I know that is not your intention but this line of AI defence makes me nervous.
December 21, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Also consider how this framing has been around for centuries, regarding any exercise of the mind: theatre, philosophy, novels, any form of visual arts. If you don't have the local duke or maybe a pope as a patron, how do you have time for such idle pursuits?
"A.i." exists to devalue art and labor.
"A.i." exists to devalue art and labor.
A student recently accused me of introducing a whole new course specifically to make a class focus on my own hyperfixations, and I understand, because this kid obviously hasn't been around for seventeen years of my practice to know that this is my default state.
Know that there are nobler reasons to be a teacher but staying interested in the world is probably my number 1
December 21, 2025 at 11:10 PM
A student recently accused me of introducing a whole new course specifically to make a class focus on my own hyperfixations, and I understand, because this kid obviously hasn't been around for seventeen years of my practice to know that this is my default state.
This is from a thread about how happy former "leading man" actors seem to be now that they're getting increasingly weird roles...
...but damn, if I didn't just feel this in my not-quite-50yo soul.
...but damn, if I didn't just feel this in my not-quite-50yo soul.
the paradox of man is that a large number of dudes do not transfigure into who they actually are until well into their 40's. Some people just aren't meant to be young.
December 21, 2025 at 10:56 PM
This is from a thread about how happy former "leading man" actors seem to be now that they're getting increasingly weird roles...
...but damn, if I didn't just feel this in my not-quite-50yo soul.
...but damn, if I didn't just feel this in my not-quite-50yo soul.
I love every single thing about this story.
It all started in 1955 with a misprint in a Colorado newspaper and a call to Col. Harry Shoup's secret military hotline. Shoup played along with the tiny voice who called, and a tradition was born. From the NPR archives.
NORAD's Santa Tracker began with a typo and a good sport
It all started in 1955 with a misprint in a Colorado newspaper and a call to Col. Harry Shoup's secret military hotline. Shoup played along with the tiny voice who called, and a tradition was born.
n.pr
December 21, 2025 at 1:58 AM
I love every single thing about this story.
"Good" and "poor" are, of course, matters of opinion, immediately begging the question of what in the text provoked the respondent's reaction. The resulting discussion might then lead to new understandings of just how a text works.
*Jon Lovitz pose* EDUCATION!
*Jon Lovitz pose* EDUCATION!
One major problem, bluntly, is that lots of folks can't distinguish between good writing and poor writing. This is about education, not intelligence: they could learn the difference, but it's frequently not taught, even in "good" schools. This is ultimately a competitive disadvantage for them.
it's so wild that people conflate quickness with quality so they think chatGPT writing a wall of text in 10 seconds means it's good writing.
December 19, 2025 at 11:42 PM
"Good" and "poor" are, of course, matters of opinion, immediately begging the question of what in the text provoked the respondent's reaction. The resulting discussion might then lead to new understandings of just how a text works.
*Jon Lovitz pose* EDUCATION!
*Jon Lovitz pose* EDUCATION!
youtu.be/LUDntpV_HdQ
Robin Hood - Call Off Christmas
Robin Hood - Call Off Christmas
December 19, 2025 at 1:31 AM
youtu.be/LUDntpV_HdQ
Robin Hood - Call Off Christmas
Robin Hood - Call Off Christmas
✨ is the emoji because so-called "A.I." is driven entirely by magical thinking.
The AI summary appears where the abstract should be and you actually have to notice it and click a different tab to read the author-written abstract.
It says "This content is AI-generated" at the bottom, but just "✨Summary" before you read. I guess ✨ has become the official emoji of AI but still.
It says "This content is AI-generated" at the bottom, but just "✨Summary" before you read. I guess ✨ has become the official emoji of AI but still.
December 18, 2025 at 4:06 PM
✨ is the emoji because so-called "A.I." is driven entirely by magical thinking.
I watched the season premiere of FALLOUT last night, and it's not that I'm tired of "ripped from the headlines" TV, it's that I'm tired of the headlines that TV is ripped from.
And if you don't see today's headlines in FALLOUT, that's on you.
And if you don't see today's headlines in FALLOUT, that's on you.
December 17, 2025 at 11:00 PM
I watched the season premiere of FALLOUT last night, and it's not that I'm tired of "ripped from the headlines" TV, it's that I'm tired of the headlines that TV is ripped from.
And if you don't see today's headlines in FALLOUT, that's on you.
And if you don't see today's headlines in FALLOUT, that's on you.
It's oddly comforting to see Linux discourse in exactly the same place it was twenty years ago.
i believe people when they say linux has gotten better in the last few years. what i'm skeptical of is that linux Guys have improved. i will not use an OS where i'm at high risk of someone calling me stupid for not liking some aspect of the experience. i must be allowed to hate the computer
December 13, 2025 at 10:55 PM
It's oddly comforting to see Linux discourse in exactly the same place it was twenty years ago.
I was so impressed by this sympathetic presentation of an empathetic Christianity. The sort of thing that my experience of the church aspired to in its best moments. The flip side, unfortunately, was all too recognizable.
I’m watching #WakeUpDeadMan and wow, Josh O’Connor is giving an incredible performance. He’s got me like, damn, should I go to church????? (Absolutely not. But maybe?????)
December 13, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I was so impressed by this sympathetic presentation of an empathetic Christianity. The sort of thing that my experience of the church aspired to in its best moments. The flip side, unfortunately, was all too recognizable.
Every now and then I think I really ought to renew my NCTE membership. Glad to know that won't be necessary.
ncte.org/blog/2025/12...
“English language arts (ELA) classroom teachers will lead the creation of a scalable framework for responsible AI use within the discipline through a new initiative led by the National Council of Teachers of English, courtesy of a national grant from Google”
“English language arts (ELA) classroom teachers will lead the creation of a scalable framework for responsible AI use within the discipline through a new initiative led by the National Council of Teachers of English, courtesy of a national grant from Google”
December 11, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Every now and then I think I really ought to renew my NCTE membership. Glad to know that won't be necessary.