Tim Ruback
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profruback.bsky.social
Tim Ruback
@profruback.bsky.social
IR theory / historical IR / Pedagogy / Maine / Dogs. Views=mine. Trying to practice kindness here. Also here to remind everyone that Thucydides never said that.

https://sites.google.com/view/timrubackme/
Pinned
Here's a I posted on the old place about why IR scholars are so weird about Thucydides. Some folks seemed to find it useful when I posted it in 2020. so I'm re-creating it here before deleting the other acct. Here we go. Buckle up. I don't thread often, but when, I do I thread long.
Reposted by Tim Ruback
November on The Sphinx…

This is the Internationalisation Strategy. And this
Is the Impact Strategy, whose use you will see,
When you are assessed for REF preparedness.
And this is the Future Priorities Strategy,
Which in your case you have not got.

thesphinxblog.com/2025/11/07/t...
The Naming of Parts
Today we have Strategic Vision. Yesterday,We had financial imperatives. And tomorrow morning,We shall have what to do after firing. But today,Today we have Strategic Vision. The quiet girlAt the ba…
thesphinxblog.com
December 31, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Made a couple really good pizzas yesterday: one kind of traditional and the other not so much. Descriptions in alt text
December 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Watching Oppenheimer, in the moment of pure silence before the Trinity test, when the woman behind us just barely whispers to herself "boom."

Perfection. The rest of you saw a significantly poorer movie, through no fault of your own.
Raising the always fun question: What are your most memorable theater-going experiences?

Mine also include The Matrix, Blair Witch, and being way too stoned in Belgium when Fellowship of the Ring was sold out so we sat in the back row for Mulholland Drive instead.
It was hands-down one of the most memorable theater-going experiences I can remember, a collective 30-minute butt-clench/armrest-grab for the final climb. And we knew he lived! Wild.
December 12, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
As we all crawl through the Cloudflare slowdown, it is a powerful reminder that the international economy is not flat but built around key chokepoints. And those chokepoints are sites of vulnerability as well as opportunity.
www.amazon.com/Underground-...
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy [Farrell, Henry, Newman, Abraham] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
www.amazon.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Top 5 Movie Genres are:

- detective takes the case, finds moral ambiguity
- hey, it's the Mid-Atlantic Accent
- don't ask about the plot; the cinematography is the point
- this one is also filmed in Monument Valley
- 70s paranoia
Top 5 movie genres are:
-nothing happens but it’s devastatingly sad
-dancing
-road trip
-family at the holidays
-is it comedy? is it drama?
Top 5 movie genres are:

heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
November 17, 2025 at 6:46 PM
We've been celebrating the 2nd anniversary of Grover's gotcha day all this week. The trip to the beach today was a highlight. I swear I've never known a happier pup than my buddy here.
November 15, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Tomorrow is Grover's gotcha day, and we're gonna be giving him a nearly 3' tall rubber chicken. Will the house survive intact? Stay tuned to find out.
November 10, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
The #1 lesson from yesterday’s blowout:
Humanities majors killed on the job market
1) Mamdani- Africana Studies
2) Spanberger -French
3) Sherill - Global History
Humanities where the cool jobs at
November 5, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
Attention is understandably elsewhere this evening, but it's a good night up here too (DSA-backed $19 minimum wage passes in Portland as well)
November 5, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
Antivax is animal cruelty

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/s...
Vaccine Skepticism Comes for Pet Owners, Too
www.nytimes.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
I feel like Moxie shouldn't be a good answer for this. I also feel like it's probably a good answer for this.
What foods do you love that you fully acknowledge make you a pervert for loving them?
October 7, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
This recipe is excellent. I love sheet pan recipes. Accessible for these working parents.

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017...
Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma Recipe
Here is a recipe for an oven-roasted version of the flavorful street-side classic usually cooked on a rotisserie It is perfect for an evening with family and friends Serve with pita and tahini, choppe...
cooking.nytimes.com
September 27, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Grover's a VERY high energy pup. And at 95 lbs, that's a lot of zoomie puppo. So, when we really need him to relax we've only found one thing that consistently works: watching Chinatown. I don't understand why this calms him, but I'm glad for it.
September 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
A reminder that nominations for the @intlethics-isa.bsky.social Emerging Scholar Award are still open. If you are, or you know, a fantastic early career scholar in international ethics send their name to [email protected].

@isanet.bsky.social @mybisa.bsky.social @ethicsjournal.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
I would read an academic murder book in which the murder was solved by reading the syllabus
I love this idea and also want a list of academic murder books. Please reply with recs
Hear me out: a dark academia murder book that opens at a department beginning-of-the-year celebration on a boat (I know a department that does this) and a professor goes overboard. The intrepid department chair must figure out who did it. Everyone is a suspect, including the chair herself.
August 29, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Q: What's your biggest concert flex?

A: Morphine @ Central Square World's Fair (06 June 1999) -- last ever show in the US. You can actually stream it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncmT...
August 28, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Ruin a book by adding "Tom Clancy's" to the title:

Tom Clancy's Oh, The Places You'll Go!
Tom Clancy’s Eat Pray Love
Ruin a book by adding “Tom Clancy’s” to the title

Tom Clancy’s Autobiography of Malcolm X
August 27, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Grover is refusing to come inside without his stick.
August 19, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
A new flyer and promo code for 20% off my forthcoming book at the @stanfordpress.bsky.social website: www.sup.org/books/politi...
August 19, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Last week on this very same dogwalk, we saw a murder; this week, it seems like everybody herd.
August 16, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Slightly diminish a band:

No La Tengo
Jog-D.M.C.
G. Love & Sauce
Slightly diminish a band: The Only Mostly Dead Kennedys
Slightly diminish a band: The Beach Toddlers
August 13, 2025 at 2:56 AM
We were on our usual dog walk, just minding our own business, when it happened: we saw a murder.
August 9, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Tim Ruback
Nope! I have zero sympathy for Breslow. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...
July 31, 2025 at 11:43 PM