Darryl Nester

I gave a talk about ROT13 last week, and used this post as an example of how to use it to hide spoilers. I was amused that Bluesky offered to "translate" the post, which led to "detected language" = Breton, and exactly one word—"raqvat"—being translated to "socks."

So Byron Donalds can identify a forged Trump signature on sight?

Cool. How about we take all those different signatures, remove all of the surrounding context, and present the set to Donalds. I'm sure he'll be able to say which one is the fake.

Tired of his underwater polling numbers, he asked his advisors if there was anything he could do that would be popular with a majority of Americans.

After an awkward silence, an aide cleared his throat and said, “Well, actually ….”

A very friendly brown-and-white kitten who will start purring almost immediately when you pick him up.

A shy, slightly cross-eyed gray tiger kitten who will run away if she sees you coming, but will tolerate being carried around if you manage to sneak up on her.

An adorable black-and-white kitten who plays very hard-to-get. And if you manage to pick it up, it will do everything in its power to get away and/or make you bleed.

So what I'm hearing is that you are in the market for more foster kittens ...

2026: John Scalzi publishes “Planet of the Apiaries,” hailed by critics as a humorous sci-fi dystopian masterpiece.

2050: Scalzi’s novel (except for the humorous bits) is now studied for its prescient insight into the collapse of human society.

I had the same thought.

The Streisand Effect: How to get people to talk about the thing you don't want people to talk about.

In light of the current peril facing public television and radio, it feels like it’s time to post this again.

Reckon … trifle … these are synonymous, right? /s

I assumed it meant that the rocket made it to heaven, and hit an angel playing the harp.

Happening tonight! I just rewatched the story, both to prepare for discussing this with my students, and to stir up my seething rage against industry leaders and government regulators who resist efforts to put safeguards in place.

*DANNY Smith. Shoot, I knew I should have read through that one more time before publishing it.

YouTube video by Coaltown Dixie "Coal Mine in Kentucky" by the The Black Dragons--Appalachian College of Pharmacy students.

The other song is the haunting "Coal Mine in Kentucky." One of the writers/performers is the daughter of Dave Smith, who is featured in _Coal's Deadly Dust._

"If you can turn a light on, thank a miner. If you don't have to think about your next breath, thank God."

YouTube video by Philip Bowen Music "Vampire in Appalachia" - Acoustic Demo - Original Song by Philip Bowen

The first of these is Philip Bowen's _Vampire in Appalachia_: "While the rich keep getting richer, and the sick keep getting sicker, there's a vampire in Appalachia, and we're running out of blood."

Making these stories more widely known results in pressure on the government agencies and private companies, who (too often, it seems) would rather bury the problem than solve it.

It also is a great chance for me to share two great songs related to this awful story ...

That discussion (coming up on Thursday night) is one of my favorite class sessions, because it's a great illustration for my students—who typically have not thought too much about such things—of the important role independent media organizations play in telling these stories.

Coal's Deadly Dust FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the rise of severe black lung disease among coal miners, and the failure to respond.

For the past several years, I have asked the students preparing for a trip to eastern Kentucky to watch _Coal's Deadly Dust_ from @frontlinepbs.bsky.social and Howard Berkes.

For the past two years—and again this year—Howard Berkes has generously offered to meet (via Zoom) with my class.

And I thought about that birthday girl. Wherever that now 20ish-year-old young lady is now, I hope she and her parents are still singing that song.

And I hope she has better birthdays ahead.

The banner and logo for the NCAA 2024 Woman of the Year contest.

This past week, the NCAA convention returned to Nashville. On Wednesday night, I attended the NCAA Woman of the Year celebration, and at the end of the ceremony, they played ... Rachel Platten's "Fight Song."

In the back-story I wrote in my head about this family, I imagined that these parents had made a very deliberate choice to have their daughter sing THAT song—a Clinton campaign theme song—on the day after Trump's first inauguration, while a half-million women and men marched in Washington.

It became apparent that they were on a sort of "scavenger hunt," with a list of challenges to complete. I then saw a man and woman nearby, chaperoning from a discrete distance; I assumed they were the parents who had organized this as part of their daughter's birthday party.

I sat and listened to them, smiling in appreciation for their performance (while also puzzled about what brought it on).

When they finished, they stepped off the stage, and consulted a piece of paper, which led them to ask a stranger if they had a pencil they would be willing to part with.

After arranging themselves around a tablet so they could see the lyrics, they began to sing:

"Like a small boat on the ocean
sending big waves into motion;
Like how a single word
can make a heart open;
I might only have one match,
but I can make an explosion ..."

I was checking my phone for news of the Women's March. I knew quite a few people who had traveled there, including our younger son.

Over the general hubbub of mall traffic, I became aware of the sound of a group of girls—around 10–12 years of age, I think—who had stepped up onto the stage.

The "Entertainment Stage" in the atrium at the Opry Mills Mall. The text on the stairs leading up to the stage says "Rock out, Famous Fun, Be The Star."

Eight years ago, I was in Nashville attending the NCAA convention. On January 21—the final day of the convention—I was in the Opry Mills Mall. As I waited for my colleagues to join me for lunch, I was passing the time sitting near this stage in the mall atrium.

a man wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket says you were so preoccupied with whether or not you could Alt: Jeff Goldblum’s character from Jurassic Park says, “You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could that you didn’t stop to think if you should.”

Store music system just played a crooner and backup singers performing a nicely-arranged—and flawlessly enunciated—version of “All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth.”

How They Fared A list of recent results for all teams who received votes in the d3hoops.com basketball polls

This week's "How They Fared" report—showing recent results for top #d3hoops teams—is available at homepages.bluffton.edu/~nesterd/htf...
Some scores to be added later. #whyd3

(First time trying this on Bluesky; I'll also post [reluctantly] on X, but curious to see what kind of response I get here.)

Sesame Street's 55th birthday is just one week away! If you haven't picked out a gift yet, see the suggestion at the end of this thread. (Or skeet? I haven't really gotten the hang of Bluesky yet.)

A kitten falling asleep on my arm.

I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t have any pressing need for my left hand.

That’s what I thought…but even so, I’ve had tons more engagement here. (And the first like, which happened while I was still working on the second or third post in the thread, was from someone that i don’t think was following me, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ …)