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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 3h

So the absolute insane stupidity of this is the idea that he could set up a theocratic state and also get a 'significantly smaller government.'

The folks on the authoritarian right do really seem to be believe there is a secret government liberalizer ray they can just switch off to change society.

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 5h

Ross Douthat treats this guy like they're having some deep conversation about the relationship of Christianity and the government, but the dude is a garden-variety dull, shallow, hateful, worthless bigot with nothing interesting to say, just endless riffs on "God hates everything/everyone I do."

Douthat: So that’s the first purpose of your political project, for America to stop making God angry.

Wilson: Yes. And most people think that when they are confronted with that project, they think that we want to get our tentacles into everything and start controlling everything. I actually think we need limited government. The government should be significantly smaller than it is, and we need to curtail a lot of the busybodyness that we have. That’s why I would call myself a theocratic libertarian. There is a true libertarian element in this, and yet, the transcendent grounding for what we’re talking about means that we acknowledge the authority of God.

We have racked up quite a body count of awful crimes, and I believe the only way out is for us to repent and turn to Christ. This would be things like no more Pride parades, no more drag queen story hours, no more abortion on demand, no more legalized same-sex unions — all of that, done. That’s the repentance part.

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Ruth Mace @ruthmace.bsky.social · 3d

African harps as units of cultural evolution: a cladistic analysis on their morphology. New paper by Salome Strauch et al| Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core - www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

African harps as units of cultural evolution: a cladistic analysis on their morphology | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core

African harps as units of cultural evolution: a cladistic analysis on their morphology - Volume 7

www.cambridge.org

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Tombmas Spooks @thomasfuchs.at · 3d

How many trillions of dollars have been invested into this technology so far?

Google search for "austria hungary in space"

Google excitedly tells you about the 1889 orbital flight, and that by 1908 there was a Mars research output with 30 people.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 2d

A good example of why direct inflation adjustment of this sort is more deceptive than clarifying when applied over very long stretches of time where consumption patterns are very different.

Basic foods (bread/grain) probably devours a third of Cratchet's income, but not the modern worker's.

Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 2d

👇

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The Alternate Historian @althistorian.bsky.social · 2d

We almost had Django Unchained the game.

Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 2d

SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year

Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File

www.gamefile.news

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 2d

Classics hivemind! I have in my head that there's a passage somewhere where a ruler (a Roman emperor?) comes across a woman tilling her own fields and orders some arrangement to be made for her?

I don't know if I am imagining it, but I can't find it again. Wonder if anyone recognizes it?

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Natalie Wynn @contrapoints.bsky.social · 2d

Any form of media that involves an angry man telling an audience what to be angry about for several hours a day is probably not good for the human brain

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The Alternate Historian @althistorian.bsky.social · 2d

Honestly the Jedi having no interest in fighting slavery may be connected to the fact that it might make their Janissary-esque recruitment style very much illegal!

The Alternate Historian @althistorian.bsky.social · 2d

That would fit into the theme of the prequel era Jedi having lost their way/became corrupted. More warriors than peacekeepers, no interest in ending slavery and if you have enough money they'll just pass on testing your m-count.

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Starfleet Intelligence SCREAM Analyst @daxarian.bsky.social · 6h

“The T-600s had rubber skin. Bright, day glo green coloring. We spotted them easy. But these are new. They look like frogs. Slime, realistic croaking, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait til he moved on you before I could zero him.”

ellie lockhart (she/they) @eleanor.lockhart.contact · 7h

2025. Even then there were barely any stores left. even though the worst had not yet come to pass, antifa supersoldiers already ravaged the land, clad in inflatable frog suits. all I can remember from those days - frogs, fire, and ash

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8h

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Andrew Reeves @andrewsshi.bsky.social · 1d

Somehow I don't think that ProQuest's AI is quite ready for prime time...

An article on penance an the Inquisition in Languedoc that has an AI-generated list of "related articles." These related articles have to do with financial accounting and monetary fines in modern times.

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The Alternate Historian @althistorian.bsky.social · 1d

Daniel Bensen has a new story coming out that's a perfect fit for #AlternateHistoween! In Wealthgiver I, a Russian army doctor fleeing from the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War stumbles upon a lost group of Hades worshipping Thracians. And it comes out on Halloween! www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKMQBSP1

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 1d

Linguists have long speculated that language may have originated in gesture, as a type of early sign language, before shifting to a spoken medium. Using experimental evidence, a 2022 paper suggests that the meanings of gestures are sufficiently universal to have provided a basis for early language.

Hand Gestures May Have Been the Start of Human Language

Our unique language systems distinguish us from other species, but researchers explore how early hand gestures paved the way for civilization.

www.discovermagazine.com

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Natalie Wynn @contrapoints.bsky.social · 1d

Slopsploitation

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Mike Rugnetta @mikerugnetta.com · 1d

We have never lived in a more exciting time for music and new musical ideas - but we’ve probably also never lived in an economic climate more directly hostile to musicians and their fans 😅

Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 1d

I heard someone on a podcast say that music is boring now and, look, I am saying this as kindly as I can…skill issue.

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The Alternate Historian @althistorian.bsky.social · 1d

Pope needs to condemn all spam callers next.

Like no chance for redemption. Straight to hell.

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 1d

You won’t believe what degrading practice the Pope just condemned

Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists The Pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires. Australian media representatives were among those to hear directly from Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday with about 150 members of newswire alliance MINDS International. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Arturo Serrano 🇨🇴🤖👽🧙🦄 @carturo222.bsky.social · 3h

In Colombia we also have "more lost than Adam on Mothers' Day."

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Adam Sharp @adamcsharp.bsky.social · 2d

What do humans and octopuses have in common?
Two sets of forearms.

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Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 16h

Want to learn more about Sumerian and Babylonian mathematics? Check out this issue of the Linguistic Discovery newsletter:

linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/Sumeri...

#cuneiform #writing #numbers #counting #linguistics #language #Sumerian #Akkadian #Babylonian

From counting to cuneiform: How writing was invented

The earliest version of cuneiform wasn't used to write language at all—it was used to count! And that Sumerian system of counting still influences our counting systems today. Here's the story of…

LinguisticDiscovery.com

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Democratic Activists @democratswin.bsky.social · 19h

Frogtifa

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MICHIE @michiemusic.bsky.social · 13h

old dude with a guitar is a genre

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 11h

My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking?

Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but

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Arturo Serrano 🇨🇴🤖👽🧙🦄 @carturo222.bsky.social · 4h

Post your antifa terrorists.

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Aidan Moher @aidanmoher.com · 1d

Woke Pope 2: The Awakening

Lucius Fox In The Box @carnegro.bsky.social · 1d

Pope Leo is spitting.

www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...

Leo questioned a world where the wealth of the elite grows
"exponentially" while many "millions of people die of hunger or survive in conditions unfit for human beings." He also criticized "ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation,"
with false promises "that a free-market economy will automatically solve the problem of poverty."

Leo described a "new tyranny," which shuns any kind of oversight and where the economy is structured "in such a way that sacrifices are demanded of the masses in order to serve the needs of the powerful." The poor, he wrote, are only allowed "drops that trickle down."

The pope openly challenged "prosperity theology" and called Christians to the practice of giving charity. "It will not solve the problem of world poverty, yet it must still be carried out, with intelligence, diligence and social responsibility," he wrote.

Popular movements that challenge "the empire of money," invite people to take on the cause to combat poverty alongside the poor, instead of on their behalf, and "make history," the pope said. It our duty, Leo said, to "make their voices heard, albeit in different ways, in order to point out and denounce such structural issues, even at the cost of appearing foolish or naïve."

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 1d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

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Paul "Princejvstin" Weimer📷🚀 🚀 📸 @princejvstin.com · 1d

Congrats to the finalists:
@vajra.me
, @andreahairston.bsky.social
@nalohop.bsky.social
, @margaret.bsky.social
@vandroidhelsing.bsky.social
, @edenrobins.bsky.social
, @nghivo.bsky.social
@yarntheory.bsky.social

Ursula K. Le Guin @ursulakleguin.com · Jun 18

We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:

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