Tim

What happened with the Tolkien calendar?

I'm not giving traffic to that site. You're truly pathetic.

.... You seriously used the plaigirism and sycophanty machine for a question about its own legality, and think the response is trustworthy?

Expanding Jeff's question. Is there any rigorous/legal argument against describing AI as a technology that is fundamentally based in plagiarism? I would argue that there is no use of AI that is not ultimately rooted in intellectual theft.
@jeffsharlet.bsky.social

I always have trouble with "favourite song" choice, but here's one song with a longish title that I've been enjoying lately:

Caroline Polacheck "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings"

Chuck Shumer thinks this is “common sense”.

The rest of the world thinks this is “lipstick on the fascist pig”.

America, if history will judge you by your opposition to fascism, you better be sure they don’t think Shumer’s Democrats are considered “opposition” or you will be judged harshly.

I wish I could believe that, but I think it's more likely that the vast majority of rich assholes continue to escape consequences for their immoral and illegal behaviours.

Tbf, laypeople who haven't studied philosophy probably do assume this? Which is likely a vast majority of the population. Guess it depends really on the "we" they're referring to.

I wish I had any sort of faith that these motherfuckers would face justice, but based on the history of "rich powerful white dudes that did terrible shit", my expectations are very low...

I found the endings of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul very satisfying, and also the UK version of The Office. Or any of Ricky Gervais' series really... Extras, Derek, Afterlife....

❤️

Submitted today! Following a few years of rigorous peer-review and working with my co-editor @lukebshelton.bsky.social and many Tolkienists!
- 44 chapters
- 46 Tolkien scholars globally
- over 280K words overall
Still tons of work to do as proofs arrive, but feels like a moment to celebrate. ☺️

A quote by Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: "Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary. Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."

It sometimes feels ludicrous to study literature when jackbooted thugs are murdering people in the streets and shipping innocent people to camps. But if I'm going to be an academic in such a moment, at least I get to study this.

I am a single-issue voter and that issue is "Nuremberg Trials for Kristi Noem."

My other idiot dog (Winston, 9 year old Westie) acting like a goof has really helped me be less sad about Gordon's passing.

some of y'all are going to need to come to grips with the fact that being a citizen of the evil nazi hegemony threatening to start a world war is enough for people to get angry at you, personally, sight unseen, and there's no dignified way to get defensive about that.

Terrible restaurant could close unless people enthusiastically embrace bad food, complains chef.

I just woke up from a nap and somehow while I was asleep, everyone on the bus has figured out we are not going to the right place

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was spotted earlier today, January 20, 2026, on a plane heading to Laguna Beach as the state of Texas braces for a rare ice threat and arctic cold front.

2026 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From! This year, consider ordering your Girl Scout cookies from a trans girl scout to make their day!

1. Did you know that Girl Scouts has, for a long time, accepted trans girls and nonbinary scouts?

Trans kids are under attack. Every year, I make a thread of trans and nonbinary girl scouts you can get your cookies from.

Lets get our cookies from them this year in solidarity!

An important thread. The Trump administration will continue to expand the categories of non- & partial-citizens this year. Fascism used "qualitative citizenship" to describe the flexibility they gave the term. That's what we're watching unfold.

on the couple of times it's sort of happened for me, I just very liberally apply the 'block' button.

Frodo: I wish so much unbelievably stupid shit had not happened in my time Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. This is all exceptionally stupid, though

NEW — DHS just posted this as an apparent explanation for why they arrested an elderly US citizen with no criminal record (it's a quote post of a post about ChongLy Thao's arrest.) The implication seems to be that all Asian men look the same, and it's not their fault they mistook one for another.

Our new members area is live! You can now log into our website and update your info whenever you want and also set your membership to auto-renew if you always forget to renew it too😅

members area: mythsoc.org/members/logi...
a short explainer for first time login: youtu.be/lwKo4H-hNcs?...

Fucken hero. This is art.

i once read "the rights you think criminals should have are the rights you think everyone should have because the state can criminalize anyone" and it changed how i think about everything

Accelerating ICE violence & MAGA imperialism might finally push the opposition past the near-decade-long definitional debate about fascism ("but is this REALLY fascism?") into a pitched battle between those who demand, "how do we STOP THIS NOW?" & those who get primaried & swept aside.

I've harped on congressional war powers for a long time and we do need to fix all that, but threatening to invade Greenland while ranting at Norway about the Nobel Peace Prize and imposing trade sanctions on NATO is more the kind of thing you can only fix by not having a literally insane president.