Andrew Reid
@reidac.bsky.social
Scientist, cyclist, urbanist, Linux and HPC enthusiast.
Washington DC.
Washington DC.
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Firstborn continues to fall into my traps.
November 29, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Firstborn continues to fall into my traps.
Scary thread about how some students lack engagement with the educational project.
I wonder about "convenience inflation", if you can get peer respect with a hot take on social media, and it feels like accomplishment, why work harder a less-good feeling?
And/or, why write when nobody reads?
I wonder about "convenience inflation", if you can get peer respect with a hot take on social media, and it feels like accomplishment, why work harder a less-good feeling?
And/or, why write when nobody reads?
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Scary thread about how some students lack engagement with the educational project.
I wonder about "convenience inflation", if you can get peer respect with a hot take on social media, and it feels like accomplishment, why work harder a less-good feeling?
And/or, why write when nobody reads?
I wonder about "convenience inflation", if you can get peer respect with a hot take on social media, and it feels like accomplishment, why work harder a less-good feeling?
And/or, why write when nobody reads?
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Sixty years ago this week in the Berkshire (MA) Eagle: "Saturday, Richard J. Robbins, 19, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Arlo Guthrie, 18, of Howard Beach, N.Y., each paid a fine of $25 in Lee District Court after pleading guilty of illegally disposing of rubbish...."
web.archive.org/web/20201125... 1/2
web.archive.org/web/20201125... 1/2
November 27, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Sixty years ago this week in the Berkshire (MA) Eagle: "Saturday, Richard J. Robbins, 19, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Arlo Guthrie, 18, of Howard Beach, N.Y., each paid a fine of $25 in Lee District Court after pleading guilty of illegally disposing of rubbish...."
web.archive.org/web/20201125... 1/2
web.archive.org/web/20201125... 1/2
Reposted by Andrew Reid
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! Do not ask me how my writing is going.
Because @lollardfish.bsky.social says we should promote our books: utpress.utexas.edu/9781477313138/
Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back
Triumphant wins, gut-wrenching losses, last-second shots, underdogs, competition, and loyalty—it’s fun to be a fan. But when a football player takes a hi...
utpress.utexas.edu
November 26, 2025 at 6:33 PM
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! Do not ask me how my writing is going.
In our household, a standard phrase for expressing incredulity is "What, you think soup is a biped?"
IYKYK.
IYKYK.
It’s thanksgiving week so I wanna see some MST3K posting, quotes, pictures, clips, gifs! Meanwhile I’m going to go to a department meeting and try to pay attention while I wonder if there’s beer on the sun
November 26, 2025 at 3:49 AM
In our household, a standard phrase for expressing incredulity is "What, you think soup is a biped?"
IYKYK.
IYKYK.
I feel like this thread captures something about my life-long skepticism about convenience technologies of all stripes -- I have a neurotic fear of being "de-skilled."
Probably I am over-reacting in a lot of cases, but for AI, it feels pretty real.
Probably I am over-reacting in a lot of cases, but for AI, it feels pretty real.
There's a part of learning, which generative AI completely turns into dogshit, which is *doing something you could not have done before*
Whether it's drawing, playing an instrument, solving a physics problem, organizing an essay, you find yourself doing easily what previously you found overwhelming
Whether it's drawing, playing an instrument, solving a physics problem, organizing an essay, you find yourself doing easily what previously you found overwhelming
November 26, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I feel like this thread captures something about my life-long skepticism about convenience technologies of all stripes -- I have a neurotic fear of being "de-skilled."
Probably I am over-reacting in a lot of cases, but for AI, it feels pretty real.
Probably I am over-reacting in a lot of cases, but for AI, it feels pretty real.
This phrase, "too many books," is confusing.
Like, I know what each of the words mean, but when you put them together like that it's just nonsense, like the colorless green ideas thing.
Like, I know what each of the words mean, but when you put them together like that it's just nonsense, like the colorless green ideas thing.
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 24, 2025 at 2:01 AM
This phrase, "too many books," is confusing.
Like, I know what each of the words mean, but when you put them together like that it's just nonsense, like the colorless green ideas thing.
Like, I know what each of the words mean, but when you put them together like that it's just nonsense, like the colorless green ideas thing.
Reposted by Andrew Reid
A friend who teaches theology shared with me a post about CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, which discusses foundational Christian logic across denominations. It reminded me of Dale's tweet below, and I wanted to share some thoughts here regarding modesty and respectability, which are often hot topics.
November 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
A friend who teaches theology shared with me a post about CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, which discusses foundational Christian logic across denominations. It reminded me of Dale's tweet below, and I wanted to share some thoughts here regarding modesty and respectability, which are often hot topics.
Reposted by Andrew Reid
I like how full text search of every book and human thought ever was a SOLVED PROBLEM in 2001, and now dicks at search engines and my own phone – a piece of silicon faster to respond than God was ever imagined in scripture – prevent it from working, _as a retroactive infantilizing design choice_.
November 14, 2025 at 12:42 AM
I like how full text search of every book and human thought ever was a SOLVED PROBLEM in 2001, and now dicks at search engines and my own phone – a piece of silicon faster to respond than God was ever imagined in scripture – prevent it from working, _as a retroactive infantilizing design choice_.
Reposted by Andrew Reid
The real problem for Bond is also the problem for Batman, Doctor Who, and dozens of similar characters -- the idea that a melodrama hero must also be a dramatic protagonist. The two roles are fundamentally irreconcilable. I blame George Lucas and Joseph Campbell.
November 11, 2025 at 1:18 PM
The real problem for Bond is also the problem for Batman, Doctor Who, and dozens of similar characters -- the idea that a melodrama hero must also be a dramatic protagonist. The two roles are fundamentally irreconcilable. I blame George Lucas and Joseph Campbell.
For some reason I am enormously pleased by Edmund Fitzgerald discourse. The below post is quite a banger -- see the thread for nuance, if that's your thing.
Also TIL that Edmund Fitzgerald the man was president and CEO of Northwestern Mutual insurance, which invested in mining.
Also TIL that Edmund Fitzgerald the man was president and CEO of Northwestern Mutual insurance, which invested in mining.
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 2:53 AM
For some reason I am enormously pleased by Edmund Fitzgerald discourse. The below post is quite a banger -- see the thread for nuance, if that's your thing.
Also TIL that Edmund Fitzgerald the man was president and CEO of Northwestern Mutual insurance, which invested in mining.
Also TIL that Edmund Fitzgerald the man was president and CEO of Northwestern Mutual insurance, which invested in mining.
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Once more for the North Americans: I'm remembering Leonard Cohen, my inspiration, co-national, and songwriting buddy. Here's a video I stitched together of CC licensed photos for "On Hearing a Name Long Unspoken". Music by me, words by him in the 1970s. Dead nine years today. youtu.be/FycRg8IobCA
Michael Munnik, "On Hearing a Name Long Unspoken" by Leonard Cohen and Michael Munnik
YouTube video by Michael Munnik
youtu.be
November 7, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Once more for the North Americans: I'm remembering Leonard Cohen, my inspiration, co-national, and songwriting buddy. Here's a video I stitched together of CC licensed photos for "On Hearing a Name Long Unspoken". Music by me, words by him in the 1970s. Dead nine years today. youtu.be/FycRg8IobCA
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Reposted by Andrew Reid
One thing to like about this chart is that you can try and spot the transformative technologies in the past
AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points
November 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM
One thing to like about this chart is that you can try and spot the transformative technologies in the past
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Trump defeated the establishments of both parties to become president twice, break most civic and legal norms of import, end-run the Constitution's safeguards against Trump-like figures, survive numerous career-ending scandals, and now single-handedly holds a party together that would have spent
Trump has gotten huge numbers of infrequent voters to the polls, twice. He's deeply unpopular but has mobilized a large, unprecedented coalition of Americans motivated by some combination of ignorance, avarice, and cruelty. It is hard to describe what he has as something other than charisma
His charisma is fundamentally incompatible with me (and likely many of the people on Bluesky) but it’s kind of insane to say it doesn’t exist
November 7, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Trump defeated the establishments of both parties to become president twice, break most civic and legal norms of import, end-run the Constitution's safeguards against Trump-like figures, survive numerous career-ending scandals, and now single-handedly holds a party together that would have spent
Reposted by Andrew Reid
i wrote about having long covid as a hypochondriac and why no one should ever go on reddit www.late-review.com/p/the-galler...
the gallery of maladies
on long covid, hypochondria, and the forums
www.late-review.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:38 PM
i wrote about having long covid as a hypochondriac and why no one should ever go on reddit www.late-review.com/p/the-galler...
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Wonder why this scene looks so familiar...
#WildlifeWednesday 🐦🐕
#WildlifeWednesday 🐦🐕
November 5, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Wonder why this scene looks so familiar...
#WildlifeWednesday 🐦🐕
#WildlifeWednesday 🐦🐕
Reposted by Andrew Reid
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University
Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...
www.ru.nl
November 1, 2025 at 10:26 PM
‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...
Reposted by Andrew Reid
Wasn't sure that it was appropriate to quote somebody else's story abt leaving academia as context, but some of the most important work is being done by people in precarious positions - students, postdocs, on contract - & every one who must leave is present conditions robbing us of a greater future
November 2, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Wasn't sure that it was appropriate to quote somebody else's story abt leaving academia as context, but some of the most important work is being done by people in precarious positions - students, postdocs, on contract - & every one who must leave is present conditions robbing us of a greater future
Reposted by Andrew Reid
