Professor Nutella
@jpnudell.bsky.social
Pizza appreciator, ancient historian, reader, writer, baker. In some order.
Blogging here: https://joshuapnudell.com/blog/
Blogging here: https://joshuapnudell.com/blog/
The final menu
-Seitan “steak” tips (with a Penzey’s steak seasoning)
-Miso mashed potatoes
-Baked Mac and cheese with spicy peppers (frozen, but grown in the garden)
-Rolls
-broccoli (frozen, alas, because the fresh options at the store were bad)
Not pictured: pumpkin pie for dessert
-Seitan “steak” tips (with a Penzey’s steak seasoning)
-Miso mashed potatoes
-Baked Mac and cheese with spicy peppers (frozen, but grown in the garden)
-Rolls
-broccoli (frozen, alas, because the fresh options at the store were bad)
Not pictured: pumpkin pie for dessert
November 28, 2025 at 12:06 AM
The final menu
-Seitan “steak” tips (with a Penzey’s steak seasoning)
-Miso mashed potatoes
-Baked Mac and cheese with spicy peppers (frozen, but grown in the garden)
-Rolls
-broccoli (frozen, alas, because the fresh options at the store were bad)
Not pictured: pumpkin pie for dessert
-Seitan “steak” tips (with a Penzey’s steak seasoning)
-Miso mashed potatoes
-Baked Mac and cheese with spicy peppers (frozen, but grown in the garden)
-Rolls
-broccoli (frozen, alas, because the fresh options at the store were bad)
Not pictured: pumpkin pie for dessert
Baking resumed after my run, mostly done with a nice mug of assam tea from Smith Teamaker (not pictured).
November 27, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Baking resumed after my run, mostly done with a nice mug of assam tea from Smith Teamaker (not pictured).
Reposted by Professor Nutella
The perfect story for my true crime gastropodcast
November 27, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The perfect story for my true crime gastropodcast
“Trot” is a generous description of this turkey’s gait, but I dragged my carcass to a new personal best by distance.
November 27, 2025 at 9:42 PM
“Trot” is a generous description of this turkey’s gait, but I dragged my carcass to a new personal best by distance.
Holiday baking is underway. I had extra pumpkin puree, so I made these pumpkin muffins while getting the rolls started this morning, to be joined later by pie.
November 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Holiday baking is underway. I had extra pumpkin puree, so I made these pumpkin muffins while getting the rolls started this morning, to be joined later by pie.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
I wish we were better able to talk about Ken Burns documentaries as attempts to rewrite American National mythology. Some films succeed more than others, but that’s the project. This is not a criticism.
November 27, 2025 at 1:05 AM
I wish we were better able to talk about Ken Burns documentaries as attempts to rewrite American National mythology. Some films succeed more than others, but that’s the project. This is not a criticism.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
The only problems with the theory that southern Italy is poor because of mass migration from Syria in Roman times are that Roman southern Italy was rich, Roman Syria was rich, and there was no mass migration from one to the other. Otherwise, great theory
November 27, 2025 at 1:31 AM
The only problems with the theory that southern Italy is poor because of mass migration from Syria in Roman times are that Roman southern Italy was rich, Roman Syria was rich, and there was no mass migration from one to the other. Otherwise, great theory
Reposted by Professor Nutella
Just occurred to me that if Native Americans hadn't wiped out this continent's charismatic megafauna, the Pilgrims would have been disembowled by a pack of dire wolves as soon as they reached land and never heard from again. And that's what I'm thankful for, I guess.
November 27, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Just occurred to me that if Native Americans hadn't wiped out this continent's charismatic megafauna, the Pilgrims would have been disembowled by a pack of dire wolves as soon as they reached land and never heard from again. And that's what I'm thankful for, I guess.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
National parks have SO MANY people from other countries (since they get real vacations!)
And they spend a lot of money on hotels, food, souvenirs, etc.
This is unbelievably dumb, it will destroy entire tourist towns
And they spend a lot of money on hotels, food, souvenirs, etc.
This is unbelievably dumb, it will destroy entire tourist towns
November 26, 2025 at 3:13 AM
National parks have SO MANY people from other countries (since they get real vacations!)
And they spend a lot of money on hotels, food, souvenirs, etc.
This is unbelievably dumb, it will destroy entire tourist towns
And they spend a lot of money on hotels, food, souvenirs, etc.
This is unbelievably dumb, it will destroy entire tourist towns
I wish we were better able to talk about Ken Burns documentaries as attempts to rewrite American National mythology. Some films succeed more than others, but that’s the project. This is not a criticism.
November 27, 2025 at 1:05 AM
I wish we were better able to talk about Ken Burns documentaries as attempts to rewrite American National mythology. Some films succeed more than others, but that’s the project. This is not a criticism.
I'm not usually one to judge what people choose to read and we live in a moment dominated by the salacious, and yet the publication of part 3 of Ryan Lizza's saga compels me to say...
have some self respect, don't encourage him.
have some self respect, don't encourage him.
November 26, 2025 at 9:13 PM
I'm not usually one to judge what people choose to read and we live in a moment dominated by the salacious, and yet the publication of part 3 of Ryan Lizza's saga compels me to say...
have some self respect, don't encourage him.
have some self respect, don't encourage him.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
I think more than anything else AI feels like a miracle to people with questionable literacy because it can read and write for you, and a lot of us who are highly literate underestimate how many of our society's leaders, esp in business, struggle with literacy.
It's pretty much mandatory at work that I appear to be using it, so I've doe a few functional things with it, and it's a moderate time-saver if used right. But nowhere near worth it's stock value, energy cost.
Then I realize there's a lot of people who simply can't write coherent paragraphs.
Then I realize there's a lot of people who simply can't write coherent paragraphs.
September 4, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I think more than anything else AI feels like a miracle to people with questionable literacy because it can read and write for you, and a lot of us who are highly literate underestimate how many of our society's leaders, esp in business, struggle with literacy.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
I strenuously object to the implicit assertion that people don't want to hear about other people's holidays. I do! In Iran they have an outdoor picnic day (Sizdah Bedar). In Japan there's a bean-throwing day (Setsubun). There's a whole world of fascinating rituals and traditions.
November 26, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I strenuously object to the implicit assertion that people don't want to hear about other people's holidays. I do! In Iran they have an outdoor picnic day (Sizdah Bedar). In Japan there's a bean-throwing day (Setsubun). There's a whole world of fascinating rituals and traditions.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
Again, I cannot stand Amazon or Bezos. However, because _Strike_ comes out in paperback in 2 months, they are fire selling it in hardback for $2.84. So if you want it, you can indeed get it for the price of a cup of coffee. www.amazon.com/Strike-Labor...
Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire
Amazon.com: Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire (Audible Audio Edition): Sarah E. Bond, Hillary Huber, Tantor Media: Books
www.amazon.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Again, I cannot stand Amazon or Bezos. However, because _Strike_ comes out in paperback in 2 months, they are fire selling it in hardback for $2.84. So if you want it, you can indeed get it for the price of a cup of coffee. www.amazon.com/Strike-Labor...
Reposted by Professor Nutella
I've just read two different newsletters linking the rise in AI use in education to a pervasive fear of/aversion to failure or a sense of entitlement and anxiety about grades, also linked to aversion to failure. (One a feminist blog, one @jpnudell.bsky.social's Noodlings.) It seems plausible.
November 26, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I've just read two different newsletters linking the rise in AI use in education to a pervasive fear of/aversion to failure or a sense of entitlement and anxiety about grades, also linked to aversion to failure. (One a feminist blog, one @jpnudell.bsky.social's Noodlings.) It seems plausible.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
Don’t do this! It just encourages administrators to push LLM use, and convinces students that their use of generative AI is legitimate.
About 25 percent of faculty members have used AI to save time in creating more engaging in-class activities or generating quizzes and other assessments. Yet talking about AI use is taboo in some quarters. https://chroni.cl/4rjLxQp
Why Professors Are Using AI in Course Design
Some believe in the technology’s promises; others are simply desperate for help.
chroni.cl
November 25, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Don’t do this! It just encourages administrators to push LLM use, and convinces students that their use of generative AI is legitimate.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
What if the best AI safety system is just tort law?
“Nobody knows who’s liable if things go wrong.” www.ft.com/content/abfe...
November 25, 2025 at 6:41 PM
What if the best AI safety system is just tort law?
Around this time every year I have the thought that I should better keep up with things as they're published, but, looking over the last half decade of my reading logs, I usually finish 10–15 titles the year of, with that number again in the following year, often selected from "best of" lists.
November 25, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Around this time every year I have the thought that I should better keep up with things as they're published, but, looking over the last half decade of my reading logs, I usually finish 10–15 titles the year of, with that number again in the following year, often selected from "best of" lists.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
that list of four potential peer reviewers you gave your acquisitions editor? one of them is retired, another is chairing their department and simply can't, the third is on leave and has an autoreply up for months, and the fourth replied within 20 seconds to say "no."
November 25, 2025 at 1:46 PM
that list of four potential peer reviewers you gave your acquisitions editor? one of them is retired, another is chairing their department and simply can't, the third is on leave and has an autoreply up for months, and the fourth replied within 20 seconds to say "no."
Reposted by Professor Nutella
chotiner is a pretty good journalist and i would like there to be so many of him that he seems unremarkable
November 25, 2025 at 4:17 AM
chotiner is a pretty good journalist and i would like there to be so many of him that he seems unremarkable
Reposted by Professor Nutella
I think it’s pretty clear at this point that one of the main impacts of LLMs is to disrupt thinking: to make it so that far too many people never properly learn how to do it, and then to control the output so there are thoughts that people never learn how to think.
November 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I think it’s pretty clear at this point that one of the main impacts of LLMs is to disrupt thinking: to make it so that far too many people never properly learn how to do it, and then to control the output so there are thoughts that people never learn how to think.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
The knowledge contained in our fields (any field) is valuable and we should act like it is.
It’s not just a problem with LLMs. People pushing skills over content drive me crazy. If students never develop domain knowledge, all of the analytical skills don’t matter much because they don’t have a basis for analysis.
November 24, 2025 at 10:18 PM
The knowledge contained in our fields (any field) is valuable and we should act like it is.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
We should have listened when the modems screamed at us.
July 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
We should have listened when the modems screamed at us.
The best thing about Rogue One as a movie is that it gave us Andor. I like some of the scenes and characters but am very much in the camp that it is not a good (or even necessary) movie overall.
November 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The best thing about Rogue One as a movie is that it gave us Andor. I like some of the scenes and characters but am very much in the camp that it is not a good (or even necessary) movie overall.
Reposted by Professor Nutella
I’m sure I’m gonna get dragged for this, but I think AI is bad. AI has completely ruined Google search and it’s created a lot more slop that needs to be avoided on the Internet.
November 24, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I’m sure I’m gonna get dragged for this, but I think AI is bad. AI has completely ruined Google search and it’s created a lot more slop that needs to be avoided on the Internet.