EM Simpson

Harvard Students Skip Class and Still Get High Grades, Faculty Say Many students don't do the reading and don't speak up in class, according to a report. Now, professors are trying to change that campus culture. 7 MIN READ A Harvard Professor Is Placed on Leave After Firing a Pellet Gun 3 MIN READ

You have to think of the NYT’s education reporting in much the same way as its Real Estate, Lifestyle, and Vows features. That is, of direct personal interest to a tiny but influential sliver of subscribers, and functionally ragebait for everyone else.

wrote this line yesterday:

"If President Trump were, in other words, trying to instigate some kind of national divorce, it is hard to imagine what he would be doing differently than this."

France is gripped by turmoil as another government collapses Elections could follow that bring in the hard right

What next for France after it loses its fourth prime minister in little over a year

economist.com/europe/2025/...
from @economist.com

Judge issues new broader order barring any National Guard from relocating to Oregon Judge asked federal government lawyer: 'Do you believe this is an appropriate way to deal with a judge’s order that you disagree with?'

Folks we are watching the adjudication of some of the most important constitutional issues of federalism, executive discretion, and judicial review since the 19th c

www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

sweet mother of god please stop making me think about my dissertation

I actually quite enjoyed the TV adaptation, which was a much ambivalent as to what happened in Beirut (did Elliot get played or was defection always the preferred outcome).

The book does a good job highlighting that its hard to know spies' motivations bc they're often unaware of them themselves

semi-related: i just finished Ben Macintyre's "A Spy Among Friends" which has an afterward from your dad at the end. He had lengthy notes from an interview with Nicholas Elliot which served as a great coda. Elliot in his own words was really something.

no industry in the US has ever really been angelic but there is an unique combination of messianic fervor and raw nastiness behind current AI gold rush that even fairly jaded science fiction hasn't really depicted quite well

bsky.app/profile/cksh...

It's very telling that — of all the things they could have created — they jumped straight to reducing famous, powerful women flirtation tools without their consent.

It’s National Poetry Day.

The greatest poem in the English language.

I must ask - where did you get that

It's neither. He's simply creating a calculated pretext to justify violence against political enemies. They teach it on the first day in dictator school.

I morning’d too hard and now I need a nap

Oh, they know what time it is

Somewhere in America, a young Hispanic girl is hiding in an attic writing a diary.

Swedish Cinnamon Buns Swedish Cinnamon Buns are not radically different from other cinnamon buns (and do see my Norwegian Cinnamon Buns), but they do diverge in one fundamental way: rather than having the fluffiness of, sa...

It’s Kanelbullens Dag, that’s to say, Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden. And while I mean no disrespect to Norway and Iceland, who also mark this day, it’s Swedish Cinnamon Buns that are #RecipeOfTheDay!
www.nigella.com/recipes/swed...

one take deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/ha...

lotta that going around

I spent 10+ years reeling from the fact that deploying to Afg totally made my career and the "surge" was at best a failure (and more accurately, a significant strategic mistake). these people need to read a book or at least watch a ken burns doc.

and people who argue for that online seem to think that none of us encounter any kind of intellectual or ideological diversity in our offline lives. like, my family is in Kansas! my cousins are anti-vaxxers! I work with the military! I am not unaware of conservative arguments and viewpoints.

the Bagram stuff will be the death of me

Gorgeous!

Honestly sometimes Bake Off is too stressful

Gender pay gap grows as wages of women backslide Women's' wages aren't keeping pace with what men earn on average, and at the same time, women are increasingly leaving the workforce.

I went on Here and Now to talk about the gender pay gap and news that it has widened over the past two years. We went on to talk about family friendly work policy, the focus on boys and men, and why I remain steadfastly optimistic.

www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

Every legal story now is either

Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach

or

In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport

also, racists.

This GOP move does several things:
+ No votes in the House until at least October 14
+ No swearing-in for Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva D-AZ
+ No 218th signature from Grijalva on the Epstein Files discharge petition
+ Continues the House 'jam' of the Senate on the CR

After Declining to Give Trump a Sword for King Charles, a Museum Leader Is Out

Very Trump-era story.
1. The sword has no meaning for Charles, but matters for the Eisenhower Museum.
2. Illegal for the museum to give away US property!
3. Trump makes no distinction between personal/public property.
4. The person who did the right thing was fired.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/a...

On @sirenspod.bsky.social “it’s a drill” section this week, I highlighted the final paper to digital checks transition at SSA. For much more, check out this great thread and any of Kathleen’s work bsky.app/profile/kath...