Vera Tobin
@vtobin.bsky.social
Cognition, language, literature, occasional possums, potatoes. Being difficult. Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot.
Pinned
Vera Tobin
@vtobin.bsky.social
· Oct 22
the Tobin Unit is the unit of minimal forward progress on a project. if you do a Tobin Unit on your thing, you moved it forward and are good. feeling anxious and avoidant about a project? open that sucker up and do a Tobin Unit. maybe you moved a comma. great! now you are in good standing
adrift on a semiotic sea of ads resolutely resisting giving the least hint that it might be in any way odd to refer to any old wednesday (or tuesday) (or week) (or who knows what) as "black friday"
November 19, 2025 at 7:48 PM
adrift on a semiotic sea of ads resolutely resisting giving the least hint that it might be in any way odd to refer to any old wednesday (or tuesday) (or week) (or who knows what) as "black friday"
Reposted by Vera Tobin
like nine years ago I said to my friends "somebody should make a picture of Eliezer Yudkowsky as the paperclip optimizer as MODOK" and they said "why not commission our friend @john13.bsky.social" and I did and he put in the kirby krackle and a million little details and it has given me SO MUCH joy
November 18, 2025 at 5:22 PM
like nine years ago I said to my friends "somebody should make a picture of Eliezer Yudkowsky as the paperclip optimizer as MODOK" and they said "why not commission our friend @john13.bsky.social" and I did and he put in the kirby krackle and a million little details and it has given me SO MUCH joy
Reposted by Vera Tobin
just learned we won an award for our blog post about Tom Holland and stormwater management.
remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.
remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.
What Tom Holland’s historic lip-sync showcase taught us about stormwater management
Grab your umbrella and your tights.
neorsd.medium.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:22 AM
just learned we won an award for our blog post about Tom Holland and stormwater management.
remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.
remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.
i mean. he didn't grant it to ME.
women are always saying “lord grant me the confidence of a mediocre man.” ok well he did. now what. is the world a better place? look at what you’ve wrought.
Olivia Nuzzi's 'American Canto': Read the Exclusive Excerpt
She flamed out and she faded away. 'Vanity Fair'’s West Coast Editor returns to the written word to survey scorched earth.
www.vanityfair.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:03 PM
i mean. he didn't grant it to ME.
Reposted by Vera Tobin
We should at least have a culture that doesn't make a sensible person continually DIE inside. Is that too much to ask? (Yes, when I think about it--it's probably everything. It would be huge.)
November 17, 2025 at 7:54 PM
We should at least have a culture that doesn't make a sensible person continually DIE inside. Is that too much to ask? (Yes, when I think about it--it's probably everything. It would be huge.)
“They call what they are doing ‘spiritual science,’ ” Almqvist said, sighing. “A friend of mine has been ‘researching’ the color orange for forty years. What does this mean? It means he paints in orange.” 🧡
The Strange Afterlife of Hilma af Klint, Painting’s Posthumous Star
As af Klint’s fame has grown, so have the questions—about what she believed, whom she worked with, and who should be allowed to speak in her name.
www.newyorker.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM
“They call what they are doing ‘spiritual science,’ ” Almqvist said, sighing. “A friend of mine has been ‘researching’ the color orange for forty years. What does this mean? It means he paints in orange.” 🧡
Reposted by Vera Tobin
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
They pulled the lion by the hair
They hit him with the folding chair
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
They pulled the lion by the hair
They hit him with the folding chair
November 12, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
They pulled the lion by the hair
They hit him with the folding chair
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
They pulled the lion by the hair
They hit him with the folding chair
fun times!
November 8, 2025 at 7:18 PM
fun times!
Reposted by Vera Tobin
After a full year of work, this book is out! Cooking in Maximum Security, compiled by Matteo Guidi, is our latest Half Letter Press book and it's beautiful. How do people in Italian prisons cook? This book will show you their recipes and tools used to make them. halfletterpress.com/cooking-in-m...
November 8, 2025 at 1:35 PM
After a full year of work, this book is out! Cooking in Maximum Security, compiled by Matteo Guidi, is our latest Half Letter Press book and it's beautiful. How do people in Italian prisons cook? This book will show you their recipes and tools used to make them. halfletterpress.com/cooking-in-m...
Reposted by Vera Tobin
“It gives me no joy to admit that there are certain kinds of professors who love little more than seeing their names in the paper.…But I like to think even they would’ve been able to spot the coiled wires and rusty springs of this particular trap.”
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:27 PM
“It gives me no joy to admit that there are certain kinds of professors who love little more than seeing their names in the paper.…But I like to think even they would’ve been able to spot the coiled wires and rusty springs of this particular trap.”
Reposted by Vera Tobin
i can’t believe a good thing happened we should do this more often
November 5, 2025 at 2:26 AM
i can’t believe a good thing happened we should do this more often
Reposted by Vera Tobin
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
This sucks!
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This sucks!
Reposted by Vera Tobin
Zohran Mamdani campaigned a lot and appears not to hate the voters whose support he's seeking. Here's what other Democrats can learn from his unorthodox strategy.
November 2, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Zohran Mamdani campaigned a lot and appears not to hate the voters whose support he's seeking. Here's what other Democrats can learn from his unorthodox strategy.
Reposted by Vera Tobin
[Very unpopular president] is doing / wants to do [very unpopular things], vote for us and we'll fight to stop him. That's what you can credibly run on in the midterms. Not what you theoretically might do years down the line if you win a bunch of other future elections.
October 31, 2025 at 12:53 PM
[Very unpopular president] is doing / wants to do [very unpopular things], vote for us and we'll fight to stop him. That's what you can credibly run on in the midterms. Not what you theoretically might do years down the line if you win a bunch of other future elections.
since there is typically also ketchup in thousand island dressing, this is truly a symphony in ketchup. korean flavors meet american ketchup. celebrating the enduring friendship through ketchup. reminiscing the success story of ketchup. korean platter of sincerity with ketchup
October 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
since there is typically also ketchup in thousand island dressing, this is truly a symphony in ketchup. korean flavors meet american ketchup. celebrating the enduring friendship through ketchup. reminiscing the success story of ketchup. korean platter of sincerity with ketchup
Reposted by Vera Tobin
vance answers the question of what if you made a moblin the vice president
October 29, 2025 at 3:31 PM
vance answers the question of what if you made a moblin the vice president
Reposted by Vera Tobin
not now, infectious monkeys
October 28, 2025 at 8:11 PM
not now, infectious monkeys
Reposted by Vera Tobin
I (half-jokingly) call this Hot Person's Aphasia (gender-neutral) cause it seems to especially afflict folks who are so used to being offered the world just for showing up that they don't seem to notice they're not participating equitably in the work of conversation.
October 27, 2025 at 2:18 PM
I (half-jokingly) call this Hot Person's Aphasia (gender-neutral) cause it seems to especially afflict folks who are so used to being offered the world just for showing up that they don't seem to notice they're not participating equitably in the work of conversation.
Reposted by Vera Tobin
3. While big oil, big tobacco, etc. serve as well-known cautionary tales, social media research poses novel challenges for independent researchers—perhaps most notably, access to the study system itself.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
October 24, 2025 at 12:49 AM
3. While big oil, big tobacco, etc. serve as well-known cautionary tales, social media research poses novel challenges for independent researchers—perhaps most notably, access to the study system itself.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
Reposted by Vera Tobin
Nothing warms my heart as much as seeing someone doing this. The world is *full* of people doubling down on shit they don’t even believe out of a sense of pride, and seeing someone graciously acknowledge being wrong, in full public view, is quite inspiring.
Reminder that Violent J of Insane Clown Posse has the correct response to a lot of the shitty things he said in the early days.
October 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Nothing warms my heart as much as seeing someone doing this. The world is *full* of people doubling down on shit they don’t even believe out of a sense of pride, and seeing someone graciously acknowledge being wrong, in full public view, is quite inspiring.