robert p. baird
@robertpbaird.com
Thinking is, or ought to be, a coolness and a calmness; and our poor hearts throb, and our poor brains beat too much for that. || I'm on a Bsky hiatus, but THE NIMBUS, my debut novel, is now available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook. || robertpbaird.com
Pinned
Aura et labora
In Robert Baird’s debut novel, a religion scholar’s young son starts emitting a holy glow that might or might not be...
www.christiancentury.org
It’s nice to be read, but an honor to be read well. I’m so grateful for this review of THE NIMBUS, one of the more perceptive considerations the book has gotten, by Benjamin J. Dueholm in the November issue of @christiancentury.bsky.social. www.christiancentury.org/books/aura-e...
This is going to end with Elon trying to develop a Grokified AI version of JCO only to discover that not even all the world's machine-language experts burning all the world's energy to power every last data center can generate text as fast as that woman.
incredibly funny that Joyce Carol Oates owned Musk so hard he's started trying to post like a regular person with normal interests
November 10, 2025 at 9:22 PM
This is going to end with Elon trying to develop a Grokified AI version of JCO only to discover that not even all the world's machine-language experts burning all the world's energy to power every last data center can generate text as fast as that woman.
Reposted by robert p. baird
Trump is 30 points underwater. Dems swept the special elections. People know the GOP is responsible for the shutdown. So the Dem Senators pulled out their big guns... and shot themselves in the foot.
November 10, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Trump is 30 points underwater. Dems swept the special elections. People know the GOP is responsible for the shutdown. So the Dem Senators pulled out their big guns... and shot themselves in the foot.
Reposted by robert p. baird
Reposted by robert p. baird
Senate Democrats voting to dismantle the ACA to avoid any problems with their Thanksgiving travel is tragically on brand.
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Senate Democrats voting to dismantle the ACA to avoid any problems with their Thanksgiving travel is tragically on brand.
I’m pretty regularly dazzled by stuff Larissa MacFarquhar writes, but this piece on aphantasia is blowing my little mind. I‘d heard of the phenomenon before, and recognized a weak form of it in myself, but have never seen it described with such depth and subtlety: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Some People Can’t See Mental Images. The Consequences Are Profound
Research has linked the ability to visualize to a bewildering variety of human traits—how we experience trauma, hold grudges, and, above all, remember our lives.
www.newyorker.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:18 PM
I’m pretty regularly dazzled by stuff Larissa MacFarquhar writes, but this piece on aphantasia is blowing my little mind. I‘d heard of the phenomenon before, and recognized a weak form of it in myself, but have never seen it described with such depth and subtlety: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
If tampered Tylenol offered corporations the promise* of laying off 1/3 or more of their employees without a concomitant loss in output, all of US society would have been reorganized to encourage popping the stuff 3x daily.
(*The false promise, yes, let us continue to hope. You get the point.)
(*The false promise, yes, let us continue to hope. You get the point.)
Six people died from tampered Tylenol and the company pulled 30 million bottles off the market. ChatGPT is accused of urging seven people towards suicide, and OpenAI just assures us they’re still working out the kinks. Billions in investment, zero accountability.
OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
apnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:05 PM
If tampered Tylenol offered corporations the promise* of laying off 1/3 or more of their employees without a concomitant loss in output, all of US society would have been reorganized to encourage popping the stuff 3x daily.
(*The false promise, yes, let us continue to hope. You get the point.)
(*The false promise, yes, let us continue to hope. You get the point.)
Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not sure this is the cave everyone is suggesting. A year of ACA subsidies makes them the centerpiece of the midterm campaign, keeps prices down for another year, and (assuming midterms go like Tuesday) lets Dems negotiate from a stronger position next time around.
SCHUMER is on the floor now making this offer to end the shutdown:
Clean CR
Bipartisan "minibus" of approps bills
1-year ACA funding extension
Bipartisan cmte to negotiate on health care
"This is a reasonable offer that reopens the government, deals with health care affordability."
Clean CR
Bipartisan "minibus" of approps bills
1-year ACA funding extension
Bipartisan cmte to negotiate on health care
"This is a reasonable offer that reopens the government, deals with health care affordability."
November 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not sure this is the cave everyone is suggesting. A year of ACA subsidies makes them the centerpiece of the midterm campaign, keeps prices down for another year, and (assuming midterms go like Tuesday) lets Dems negotiate from a stronger position next time around.
Wrong movie. Bovino is a dead ringer for Steven J. Lockjaw.
Border Patrol's Greg Bovino just posted a new Batman-themed propaganda video to social media
November 7, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Wrong movie. Bovino is a dead ringer for Steven J. Lockjaw.
For all the undeniable Sturm und Drang of the public high-school application process in New York, I think I'm going to come out of it with more respect for the NYC DOE than I had going in.
November 7, 2025 at 6:41 PM
For all the undeniable Sturm und Drang of the public high-school application process in New York, I think I'm going to come out of it with more respect for the NYC DOE than I had going in.
Twenty-four hours ago, in Playbook. (Blair is White House deputy chief of staff.)
November 7, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Twenty-four hours ago, in Playbook. (Blair is White House deputy chief of staff.)
Reposted by robert p. baird
Apart from anything else, "Abigail Spanberger" is a great name. If you're lucky enough to have a surname that's a dactyl and you don't give your children a first name that's also a dactyl you're wasting everybody's time.
Hats off in particular to Mr & Mrs Roosevelt for coming up with "Franklin D".
Hats off in particular to Mr & Mrs Roosevelt for coming up with "Franklin D".
November 5, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Apart from anything else, "Abigail Spanberger" is a great name. If you're lucky enough to have a surname that's a dactyl and you don't give your children a first name that's also a dactyl you're wasting everybody's time.
Hats off in particular to Mr & Mrs Roosevelt for coming up with "Franklin D".
Hats off in particular to Mr & Mrs Roosevelt for coming up with "Franklin D".
I'm a committed DeWittist and plan to pick up YOUR NAME HERE posthaste. But it's already obvious that it's going to be one of those books for which the commentary:reading ratio will be wildly out of whack. Everyone who writes about it should feel compelled to say how many pages they actually read.
November 5, 2025 at 5:04 PM
I'm a committed DeWittist and plan to pick up YOUR NAME HERE posthaste. But it's already obvious that it's going to be one of those books for which the commentary:reading ratio will be wildly out of whack. Everyone who writes about it should feel compelled to say how many pages they actually read.
Reposted by robert p. baird
Normal people are just sick to fucking death of the cruelty and meanness
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Normal people are just sick to fucking death of the cruelty and meanness
Reposted by robert p. baird
The last month of the anti-Mamdani campaign was an absolutely shameful undertaking, an attempt to rip the city and Democratic coalition apart and I'm very happy to see it failed.
November 5, 2025 at 3:15 AM
The last month of the anti-Mamdani campaign was an absolutely shameful undertaking, an attempt to rip the city and Democratic coalition apart and I'm very happy to see it failed.
Reposted by robert p. baird
NAIL BITER
November 5, 2025 at 2:50 AM
NAIL BITER
Reposted by robert p. baird
Six U.S. states have fewer than a million people total
November 5, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Six U.S. states have fewer than a million people total
Reposted by robert p. baird
I’m a big fan of ZM’s politics in general, and was especially impressed that he made childcare a priority without having kids himself, but I can’t help feeling that a big and maybe huge reason for his success is that he was almost never not smiling during the campaign.
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 AM
I’m a big fan of ZM’s politics in general, and was especially impressed that he made childcare a priority without having kids himself, but I can’t help feeling that a big and maybe huge reason for his success is that he was almost never not smiling during the campaign.
Probably not an exaggeration to say that Dick Cheney shaped my politics more than any other person on the planet. This is not a compliment. In 2000, I was a blithe, Harper’s-reading “both parties are equally bad” recent college grad who swore he would’ve voted for Ralph Nader even in Florida.
November 4, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Probably not an exaggeration to say that Dick Cheney shaped my politics more than any other person on the planet. This is not a compliment. In 2000, I was a blithe, Harper’s-reading “both parties are equally bad” recent college grad who swore he would’ve voted for Ralph Nader even in Florida.
Thing is, if Cuomo had done nothing else that was awful—no IDC, no sexual harassment, no constant undermining of the city he now wants to rule—the way he’s run this general-election campaign alone would be disqualifying.
November 3, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Thing is, if Cuomo had done nothing else that was awful—no IDC, no sexual harassment, no constant undermining of the city he now wants to rule—the way he’s run this general-election campaign alone would be disqualifying.