Michael E. Skyer, PhD

"API Waived" is "Free Pizza" for postdocs.

Every Scientific Empire Comes to an End America’s run as the premier techno-superpower may be over.

www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

A web-style info graphic linking Nestle with: Stouffers, Hot Pockets, Dreyer's Taster's Choice, Coffee Mate, Ralph Lauren, Loreal, Perrier, Nestea, Poland Springs, Gerber, Wonka, Nerds, Kit Kat, O Henry, Crunch, Purina, Alpo, Friskie's and many more.

Boycotting is easy and fun too!

Here's an info graphic of all the ultra processed crap that Nestle makes. You can punch upward and improve your health at the same time.

Blackstone and BlackRock are two sides of the same dystopian coin falling into a well of infinite darnkess. It is a race to the bottom for all and the coin is going faster and the bottom is getting nearer. To hell with capitalism.

From the Fauxmoi community on Reddit: Ms Rachel for The Washington Post, photographed by Natalie Keyssar. Explore this post and more from the Fauxmoi community

Ms. Rachel is my hero. What ironclad character.
www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/co...

From the Global_News_Hub community on Reddit: The New York Times' office building in Manhattan was 'vandalized' with red paint this morning. The words 'NYT Lies Gaza Dies' were written on the windows. Explore this post and more from the Global_News_Hub community

Holy shit.
www.reddit.com/r/Global_New...

Freedom of religion includes freedom from religion.

Faculty Support of George Mason’s President Draws Federal Investigation

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...

Fascists going after shared governance at George Mason University.

Education Department says it will release billions in remaining withheld grant money for schools President Donald Trump's administration had suspended more than $6 billion in funding on July 1, as part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s priorities.

This is a hostage situation:
www.10news.com/news/nationa...

Just wait. They will try to rehabilitate the careers of these ghoulish enablers. It's going to happen. And probably sooner than you think.

No sitting politician lacks for food.
No sitting politician lacks for healthcare.
No sitting politician lacks a home to sleep in.

Put another way, every politician has their basic needs met and therefore do not embody the lives of all those they represent.

This alone is an indictment of democracy.

Text continues: The Order redirects funding to ensure that individuals camping on streets and causing public disorder and that are suffering from serious mental illnesses or addition are moved into treatment centers, assisted outpatient facilitates, or other facilities. The last two words are highlighted in yellow.

America. Are you ready for the regime?

Image of text from an account called: "aclu_nationwide." Text reads: "BREAKING: President Tump signed an executive order directing states to criminalize and institutionalize people experiencing homelessness, addiction, and mental health disabilities."

www.reddit.com/r/This_is_fa...

This is class war. This is fascism.

Bend the knee to break the spine.

A "Far Side" Gary Larson comic. On the left is the image: A dentist and assistant stare down at a man recumbent on a exam chair. The man in the chair has tubes and objects pouring out of his mouth. The dentist says to him: "Now open even wider, Mr. Stevens...Just out of curiosity, we're going to see if we can also cram in this tennis ball."

Life on the tenure track is Sisyphean.

While publishing articles is one of the most important goals, it seems like publishing is the last thing you can manage to pull off after teaching, grading, correspondence, grantsmanship, budgeting, travel, committees, conferences, mentoring.

Pic related.

Violence is never the answer if you are a victim.

Violence is always the answer if you are a cop, a CEO, a president, a soldier, a guard, a jailer, a vivisectionist.

- Conventional "Wisdom."

Dutifully up-voting images of the dystopia, wondering when the future is supposed to arrive.

Normalize having honest talks with prospective PhD students. About workload, expectations, what academic hierarchies they can expect, what life after the doctorate looks like, how timelines go to shit.

"It is not a genocide, it is a war of choice" is not a refutation but an admission of guilt for both.

JCSCD invites submissions examining the impacts of sociopolitical shifts and evolving governing ideologies on communication and disability.

criticalstudycommunicationdisability.org/index.php/jc...

It is important to remember that the powerful are also extraordinarily weak. Their power is so tenuous and holds on by a thread. That is not deep authentic power but fragility.

Exclusive: NIH to dismiss dozens of grant reviewers to align with Trump priorities The move would undo years of work, leaving advisory councils understaffed, and without the full expertise needed for reviews.

Stupid is as stupid does.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

It sucks that transcription AI only works for spoken languages. Another example of audism baked into research.

And yes, I've seen the promo video for sign language AI and that shit is cool but light years behind what is needed for deaf signers to match the tools available for speaker hearers.

Two hard choices meme, with the guy giving the thumbs up and the caption says, FUGG THIS

Doctor: You shouldn't take this one OTC pain med, it has a negative cumulative effect on the body's filtration system. Instead, here are new prescriptions for pain that won't actually reduce the pain level and now your body has to metabolize three new drugs as well. Oh and weight gain.

Me:

After Trans People, Trump Now Erasing Bisexual People From Stonewall National Monument The "History and Culture" page no longer includes bisexual rights.

Literal bi erasue.

www.erininthemorning.com/p/after-tran...

Experiences of autistic joy Challenging mainstream narratives of autism as disaster, this participatory study of Autistic Joy found that a majority of its 86 participants often experienced joy. The study was conducted using a...

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Autistic joy. What a nice idea for a research paper.

The Viral Ontology of Linguistic Transmission: A Hypercomplex Analysis This essay, taken from Sokal Nouveau #051, interrogates the the hypercomplex vectors of the hypothesis that “language is a virus” by triangulating structuralist semiotics, virological m…

sokalnouveau.com/2025/06/16/t...

Rust Belt Voters Are Sick of Both Parties Polling shows Americans are ready to support independent populists running on economic platforms. But what they don’t want is anything associated with the Democratic Party’s brand.

> Overall, the independent workers association appealed most to the very constituencies that Democrats have struggled to mobilize or retain in recent cycles: working-class Americans, people of color, and those who feel that the American Dream is slipping away.

jacobin.com/2025/06/rust...

‘Magic Tree House’ Author, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ among hundreds of Tennessee book bans - PEN America The removals in Tennessee are the result of a growing political movement to control information through book banning.

pen.org/magic-tree-h...

Kinda bullshit that the "et al.," designation takes up two words, when often it is replacing just two words. I feel like this kind of thing should not count for word counts.