Ryan Anderson
@anthropologia.bsky.social
Cultural, environmental, and economic anthropologist. All things coastal. Photography. Some baseball too.
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Ryan Anderson
@anthropologia.bsky.social
· Aug 24
Anthropology The Gathering #2 (Bundt cake and aristocratic power edition)
Some classic culinary material culture that I found in my garage this past month. Welcome back to my semi-regular roundup of anthropology-related happenings. Here’s what I have for you this t…
anthropologia.org
Ok here's my second anthro roundup. It may be the only game in town that goes from Bundt cakes and Magic the Gathering all the way to aristocratic power. But I could be wrong. anthropologia.org/2025/08/24/a... #anthropology
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
It’s the entire point. There’s no plan to make this meaningful for students. No plan to use it administratively. Its design and implementation signals its only real intent. It’s best and easiest use case is for systematic harassment and to scare faculty into complying in advance.
We know the students don’t read the syllabuses. So who will? Right-wing activists looking for excuses to hound profs.
December 20, 2025 at 12:47 PM
It’s the entire point. There’s no plan to make this meaningful for students. No plan to use it administratively. Its design and implementation signals its only real intent. It’s best and easiest use case is for systematic harassment and to scare faculty into complying in advance.
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There is so much going on in this country right now that requires our attention and energy. We need to find fuel that keeps us going, and creative writing has done that for me. Find what works for you, and do it. We're not going to win if we let the bastards grind us down.
December 19, 2025 at 7:07 PM
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Reposted by Ryan Anderson
There is so much going on in this country right now that requires our attention and energy. We need to find fuel that keeps us going, and creative writing has done that for me. Find what works for you, and do it. We're not going to win if we let the bastards grind us down.
December 19, 2025 at 6:20 PM
There is so much going on in this country right now that requires our attention and energy. We need to find fuel that keeps us going, and creative writing has done that for me. Find what works for you, and do it. We're not going to win if we let the bastards grind us down.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
So a few words about this now, with (obviously) much more to come later. I see a lot of us talking about how to stay sane in the current environment. Writing fiction is one of my main tools, as it takes me out of my head more effectively than anything else.
December 19, 2025 at 6:12 PM
So a few words about this now, with (obviously) much more to come later. I see a lot of us talking about how to stay sane in the current environment. Writing fiction is one of my main tools, as it takes me out of my head more effectively than anything else.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Still waiting for the Climate Working Group (TM) to respond to the many critiques of the DOE-commissioned report, but meanwhile the hits keep coming...
The Rate of U.S. Coastal Sea‐Level Rise Doubled in the Past Century. Piecuch (2025)
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
The Rate of U.S. Coastal Sea‐Level Rise Doubled in the Past Century. Piecuch (2025)
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
The Rate of U.S. Coastal Sea‐Level Rise Doubled in the Past Century
Tide-gauge records are used to quantify relative sea-level (RSL) acceleration along the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) during the past century Average CONUS RSL rates doubled from 2 mm yr−1 ${\text{yr}}...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Still waiting for the Climate Working Group (TM) to respond to the many critiques of the DOE-commissioned report, but meanwhile the hits keep coming...
The Rate of U.S. Coastal Sea‐Level Rise Doubled in the Past Century. Piecuch (2025)
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
The Rate of U.S. Coastal Sea‐Level Rise Doubled in the Past Century. Piecuch (2025)
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Ya this captures it.
The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
December 18, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Ya this captures it.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
December 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Trump is not even pretending that the regime change is about bringing democracy to Venezuela.
Trump: "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled ... It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the USA all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us."
December 17, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Trump is not even pretending that the regime change is about bringing democracy to Venezuela.
The first big realization that anthropology brought to me was back when I was taking an undergrad archaeology class in socal. We were working on a 5 kya site right on campus. Suddenly I thought, wait, if there's this old site here, are there also very old sites in my home town? Answer: YES.
December 16, 2025 at 11:05 PM
The first big realization that anthropology brought to me was back when I was taking an undergrad archaeology class in socal. We were working on a 5 kya site right on campus. Suddenly I thought, wait, if there's this old site here, are there also very old sites in my home town? Answer: YES.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Trump is never able to be anything other than who he is — even amidst tragedies like Rob Reiner’s death. Cruelty is always the point.
December 15, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Trump is never able to be anything other than who he is — even amidst tragedies like Rob Reiner’s death. Cruelty is always the point.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Apart from the fact the leader of the right mocked Reiner, one small difference is that Reiner's day job was making movies that people loved, while Kirk's starting point was creating enemies list of professors to be fired or harassed. These are not the same things.
December 15, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Apart from the fact the leader of the right mocked Reiner, one small difference is that Reiner's day job was making movies that people loved, while Kirk's starting point was creating enemies list of professors to be fired or harassed. These are not the same things.
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TEACHING is, you know, the other way we can do the exact same work, and that work is supposed to be institutionally protected (though obviously we see from many examples over the last few years in particular that it is not).
December 16, 2025 at 7:15 PM
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Exactly this: "Get out there and speak your mind...but you're on your own." Encouraging op-eds is an easy way to distance by claiming 'well that's just *their* opinion and has no bearing on this specific institution.'
Lately our upper admin at UIUC have been telling faculty to write op-eds to express their opinions after telling us to otherwise keep our heads down and not draw attention to the institution. Having us do that kind of work is actually about distancing us from the university and protecting them.
December 16, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Exactly this: "Get out there and speak your mind...but you're on your own." Encouraging op-eds is an easy way to distance by claiming 'well that's just *their* opinion and has no bearing on this specific institution.'
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Tracking Responses to the Compact for Excellence in Higher Education: www.standtogetherhighered.org/responses-to...
Responses to Compact — Stand Together
Stand Together for Higher Ed continues to create and post resources for faculty and staff to use within their communities.
www.standtogetherhighered.org
December 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Tracking Responses to the Compact for Excellence in Higher Education: www.standtogetherhighered.org/responses-to...
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Ending the SAVE Plan — which Trump is trying to do today — will disproportionately hurt Black borrowers who known student loans to be a "trap" and a "scam."
wordinblack.com/2025/12/stud...
wordinblack.com/2025/12/stud...
The Student Loan Crisis Is About to Get Worse
Threats to the SAVE plan could raise payments and harm Black borrowers.
wordinblack.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Ending the SAVE Plan — which Trump is trying to do today — will disproportionately hurt Black borrowers who known student loans to be a "trap" and a "scam."
wordinblack.com/2025/12/stud...
wordinblack.com/2025/12/stud...
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
"LLMs can be accurate", proponents argue, they just need a bit of oversight. And that oversight doesn't have to mean human-in-the-loop. It can come from other LLMs."
Well, clearly not.
Well, clearly not.
December 15, 2025 at 11:41 PM
"LLMs can be accurate", proponents argue, they just need a bit of oversight. And that oversight doesn't have to mean human-in-the-loop. It can come from other LLMs."
Well, clearly not.
Well, clearly not.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Yet one more reason we cannot allow LLMs to serve as epistemic grounding is that we cannot triangulate among them the way you can among reasonable independent sources. They bullshit in the same way and end up agreeing with one other about things that are completely false.
December 15, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Yet one more reason we cannot allow LLMs to serve as epistemic grounding is that we cannot triangulate among them the way you can among reasonable independent sources. They bullshit in the same way and end up agreeing with one other about things that are completely false.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
'Reporters were dissuaded from pursuing political or controversial topics and instead encouraged to focus on human interest stories." apnews.com/article/trum...
One of the clearest examples yet of Orbánization in our media sector.
One of the clearest examples yet of Orbánization in our media sector.
How an AM radio station in California weathered the Trump administration's assault on media
Six days into President Donald Trump's new administration, the San Francisco Bay-area radio station KCBS-AM and other outlets reported on local immigration raids.
apnews.com
December 16, 2025 at 4:47 PM
'Reporters were dissuaded from pursuing political or controversial topics and instead encouraged to focus on human interest stories." apnews.com/article/trum...
One of the clearest examples yet of Orbánization in our media sector.
One of the clearest examples yet of Orbánization in our media sector.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
The linguistic anthropologists have entered the fray: intro to a great looking (& OA) special section of the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology on LLMs. doi.org/10.1111/jola...
December 16, 2025 at 3:48 AM
The linguistic anthropologists have entered the fray: intro to a great looking (& OA) special section of the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology on LLMs. doi.org/10.1111/jola...
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Rob was a diehard Dodger fan even when they were awful. I was lucky enough to get to know him around the yard and at dinners during spring training that I’ll never forget. Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts. This is incomprehensible:
people.com/carl-reiner-...
people.com/carl-reiner-...
Rob Reiner Says Dad Carl Reiner Taught Him and Son Jake to Love Baseball: 'Passing the Game Down' (Exclusive)
Rob Reiner and his son Jake tell PEOPLE about how patriarch Carl Reiner taught them to love baseball
people.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Rob was a diehard Dodger fan even when they were awful. I was lucky enough to get to know him around the yard and at dinners during spring training that I’ll never forget. Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts. This is incomprehensible:
people.com/carl-reiner-...
people.com/carl-reiner-...
In the spirit of just making stuff to make the days a little better, here's an unfinished and rough sketch from last Sunday. It's based upon a painting by the great Rockwell Kent. Sometimes it's just fun to draw stuff, even if the details aren't perfect. Just make stuff. #coast #sketch
December 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
someone should invent a thing that's like a university but it's goal is to facilitate learning
December 11, 2025 at 8:02 PM
someone should invent a thing that's like a university but it's goal is to facilitate learning
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
Rob Reiner directed some of the most beloved movies of all time, including Stand By Me, This is Spinal Tap, and The Princess Bride. His production company also made movies like The Shawshank Redemption, Before Sunrise and Michael Clayton. The film industry has lost one of its titans.
December 15, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Rob Reiner directed some of the most beloved movies of all time, including Stand By Me, This is Spinal Tap, and The Princess Bride. His production company also made movies like The Shawshank Redemption, Before Sunrise and Michael Clayton. The film industry has lost one of its titans.
Reposted by Ryan Anderson
If the so-called leaders of the New School had actually learned from the university’s history (instead of just endlessly recounting it), they would be seeking ways to provide an institutional safe-haven for another group of political dissidents from Columbia U.
The extreme, ideologically-driven, fast, furious, economically reckless decisions being made by New School president & provost are NOT the simple consequence of economic need. they're a malicious disaster and must be stopped... an assault on critical thought.
December 12, 2025 at 5:24 PM
If the so-called leaders of the New School had actually learned from the university’s history (instead of just endlessly recounting it), they would be seeking ways to provide an institutional safe-haven for another group of political dissidents from Columbia U.