Stephen T Casper

a man and a woman are standing in front of a mirror and the word kapwing is on the bottom ALT: a man and a woman are standing in front of a mirror and the word kapwing is on the bottom

I doubt that there were ever two more beautiful people together in a film ever

a woman in a white dress holding a piece of paper ALT: a woman in a white dress holding a piece of paper

Damn it. And now I want to watch them all again. Plus this one

a man and a woman are laying in bed with the words what are we going to do ALT: a man and a woman are laying in bed with the words what are we going to do

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

a man in a red space suit is walking through a tunnel in space . ALT: a man in a red space suit is walking through a tunnel in space .

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

a black and white photo of a woman with the words play it sam above her ALT: a black and white photo of a woman with the words play it sam above her

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

I think we are at a bizarre inflection:

STEM was a big deal 3 years ago; STEM looks like it might mean MAHA.

Ai is furiously transforming the private sector.

The lack of readers appears to have hit critical mass.

Being centrist means trying to keep Cheney republicans happy.

Bubble Economy.

A thing that confuses me more and more as a professor is why students do not cite the readings that they read in class as part of the way they write essays.

Hate hate hate it

Had it last year

Always ends in a particular moment of vomiting. You suddenly know “it’s over” and then a couple of hours later the fever abates

Well - if you did that on $140,000, your family would have an income of $65,000. Definitely hard. But do it and yield $145,000? Sounds like prudence.

So you subtract $47,000 for the 401K and $15,000 for the Roth. And then $8500 for HSA. You have $149,000 left. You can subtract $2000 for each kid for Coverdell. So you have $145,000 left. So behavior of pretty much maxing out everything puts you at slightly above $140,000.

Yes. I did something similar but with an estimate that focused on the question of behavior. The federal government phases out a ton of tax benefit contribution mechanisms after about $220,000. So let’s say you earned as a family $220,000 and you both contributed the max to a 401.

You need to stop. I prefer not to block people. You are trolling me. Stop.

First of all, Ramsay data doesn’t include billionaires.

Second: I KNOW!

Crivens!

Ergo the median is very very precarious and the mean is marginally precarious. I think a family of four making around $102,000 is probably feeling pretty strapped often. They are probably not saving any money.

Uggg. I understand the difference. And you are being obtuse and not thinking critically. In the case of Green’s essay, looking at comparison average data on expenditures is actually useful because Green is saying that anyone making less than average is definitely precarious because the average is.

I think you are right. $140,000 sounds like a huge amount of money to most Americans. What Green is saying is that they should be earning around that… not that they are. And he argues that’s where a lot of resentment of the absolute poor comes from.

The question is does that average expenditure indicate struggle? Does it indicate getting ahead or falling behind? Does it imply precarity. Green says “yes.” I think I agree.

Thank you for being very unhelpful.

The point factually here is that the average is a more valuable number than the median. We may take it as a given that the median is having a harder time than the mean. And the average by Ramsay is itself in line with Green’s claim.

I mean, if people spend on average $8500 a month for a family of 4, then they are earning around $135,000 as a family with taxes

I have been so struck by how angry people are about that article. Everyone who says “it doesn’t cost that much” seems to do a poor job explaining how much it does cost. Ramsay solutions finds that the average expenditure is about $102,000 nationally.

Would it really kill the business model of American airports in our largest metropolitan regions to open all of the security lines? It’s just such a perfect illustration of the contempt we have for the customer experience in 2025.

That hits hard. I think that’s an accurate diagnosis of our present situation.

A lot of the time it was simply cynical behavior. “I’ll say this offensive thing and then leftwingers will ostracize me and then I can go on a Bill Maher and make $$$”.

There were people explicitly seeking to be offensive for the purposes of then using the ostracism they engendered to claim victim status. Sort of “whoa is me, my right to say a stupid thing was taken from me.” Except it wasn’t. You could say what you wanted, just not where you wanted. But it played.

I don’t know that it is obvious to people. Like a lot of so called cancel culture was about people who were grandstanding against their own ostracism.

What on earth?

Genuinely trying to understand how that works.

Dean dear, I’m worried the odd genetics of fungi could upset some concepts of gender, advise.

Provost dear. How exactly do I talk about current climate events in environmental science.

Dean, ethics make people uneasy. Thoughts?

Freedom of speech includes ostracism. It’s important to admit that.

The real question I have about the OU decision regarding the graduate instructor is whether the university had provided appropriate mentorship for its grad teachers. When situations like this occur, I’m inclined to think two students are harmed. Sad that they don’t see it.

The problem is that millions of people voted for a man who tweets “retard” but rather than face that fact for what it is, we have spent time analyzing my alleged bigotry. The word is obviously offensive. It is like many equally offensive words. Offensive words are not the problem. Character is.

My good anonymous sir/madam, I have denied nothing. I have suggested to you that I don’t take you seriously because I think you are lying. All you need to do is tell me your name & persuade me. You can also block me. You, so far, have done none of the above. And you did begin by calling me a bigot.