Bodie A. Ashton

no, i won't be watching the bad bunny super bowl halftime show.

no, i won't be watching the kid rock turning points usa halftime show.

i'll be too busy watching the marxist extravaganza halftime show, featuring an ai hologram of hegel singing imagine dragons' greatest hits.

Every time the Swiss curler yells “curl!”, it’s close enough to “Girl” that my cat Bucky—who often gets the nickname “Miss Girl”—perks up and meows. She’s getting very confused by this point.

Mentioning Basil and James evidently broke my brain enough that I didn’t finish this thought, but you get me.

When in doubt, goofy.

The Germans are so excited. I have no idea what a misty 1440 is but they definitely have at least one.

I saw someone complaining that it’s a scandal that the German Olympics broadcaster didn’t get expert commentators for whichever sport, and instead just got whoever, and as an Australian I seriously wonder if introducing German viewers to Basil Zempilas or James Brayshaw.

ok this is a lot. even for me.

The radical and unrealistic position of "no concentration camps"

The reasonable moderate position of "some concentration camps in certain circumstances"

THE STARFLEET ACADEMY COFFEE SHOP USES CHEMEXES

Not the Olympics but my favourite was this very simple gem from Aussie Rules football:

“Ahh yes, it looks like he’s got a groin.”

People like my work. People want to be supervised by me. Editors want me to evaluate things.

And none of it means a damn thing.

I'll cross my fingers for the lottery that is third-party funding to be announced *whenever*, but for now it's really hard to feel any confidence. /fin.

I'm not going to lie. It's crushing. I'm in despair this week as my final day at work appears on the horizon. I have so much still to do and so much I'm still doing. And, like being told you were the runner-up in that thing you really wanted, it doesn't really help to know it's not my fault. 4/

And I'm *good* at it. I know I'm good at it. But this system is so inflexible that I simply cannot be paid to do it because Germany's idea of "a degree of flexibility" is "let's take this person who has spent the last two decades building a career and spit them out unceremoniously." 3/

My department head wants to keep me. I keep getting requests to do reviews for books and articles, or to be a secondary supervisor for MA theses. I've just started writing my next book and I have something like six (!) publications currently pending for this year. I'm still doing the work. 2/

Sorry for the earnest posting, all, but: in a bit less than two months I'll be unemployed. It's not the case of "I'll just pick up something"; it's that Germany's frankly absurd law governing academic contracts means that I've now timed out. I can't be extended. 1/

Why, after all these years, is it so hard to understand that you don’t have to repost a racist video clip to condemn it?!?

On that note: the acoustic version of the Asphalt Meadows album is really quite gorgeous.

I'm writing but I'm listening to acoustic Death Cab for Cutie and either or both of these things is making me weepy, is this a good thing

I assume Starmer will (supposedly) grapple with his conscience rather than his “conscious”, but I must admit it would be rather in-keeping if on Friday at 5 he just winds down like an old Windows 95 PC, laying dormant and blank on the weekend, only to chug reluctantly back to life at 9 on Monday.

Do I know anyone in Munich with access to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek who would be willing to copy some microfiche?

It really isn’t hyperbole to say that while some have been trying to suggest that Hanania should be embraced, he’s literally telling you that expecting active, resource-laden paedophiles to face any consequence at all is bigotry.

Unexpected event of the day: fan mail (?)

…you’re kidding, right?

German bureaucracy is an amazing panic generator.

Not for the first time, I’m grateful I haven’t the faintest idea about the back room machinations of 4chan.

“The quest for perfection” = basic civil rights for minoritised people inc trans people and those experiencing homelessness. Gavin Newsom isn’t just okay with throwing them under the bus, he’s positively enthusiastic.

Ofc Newsom is a collaborator; his quibbles with Trump are largely aesthetic.

Given what I’ve posted so far today, bump here for if you feel like hiring me to edit stuff, write stuff, or snark about any of the three states I have to answer to in some way, shape, or form. Because one of them, with its absurd laws on academia, has in its infinite wisdom decided that I’m done.

My pleasure! Thank you once more for the invitation!

What I’m saying is that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has an understanding of social cohesion that seems comparable to a spotty private school boy-turned-first-year accounting student who talked disparagingly about “chicks who decided to have a kid, not me.”

Rachel Reeves has bizarre ideas about the social contract. Reminds me of the tepid arguments by the “edgy” 18yo guys in first year at my uni twenty years ago fulminating on the fact their student fees went partly into the uni child care when they *didn’t have kids.* SHOCK HORROR.