Steuard Jensen
@steuard.bsky.social
Physics professor, Tolkien scholar, JoCoNaut, and all-around science nerd.
he/him
he/him
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
What's so amazing about Jim Henson as a puppeteer is that he could literally be explaining that Kermit is made out of felt and ping pong balls and yet Kermit still feels alive the whole time he's doing it
February 11, 2026 at 10:03 PM
What's so amazing about Jim Henson as a puppeteer is that he could literally be explaining that Kermit is made out of felt and ping pong balls and yet Kermit still feels alive the whole time he's doing it
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
This is blackout poetry to me
February 14, 2026 at 2:26 PM
This is blackout poetry to me
Happy Naked Gandalf Day to all who celebrate!
Nineteen days after destroying the Balrog, Gandalf returns to life. ‘Naked I lay upon the mountain-top…faint to my ears came the gathered rumour of all lands: the springing and the dying, the song and the weeping, and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone.’
February 14, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Happy Naked Gandalf Day to all who celebrate!
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
You may laugh, but the Macbeths are a much better role model for a marriage than Romeo and Juliet. They discuss their problems (killing the king of Scotland), share their hobbies (killing the king of Scotland), and resolve their conflicts (by killing the king of Scotland).
February 13, 2026 at 5:09 PM
You may laugh, but the Macbeths are a much better role model for a marriage than Romeo and Juliet. They discuss their problems (killing the king of Scotland), share their hobbies (killing the king of Scotland), and resolve their conflicts (by killing the king of Scotland).
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
Facebook plans to put facial recognition in its glasses and they think we’re too stupid to fight back.
Their internal memo: “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
Their internal memo: “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Facebook plans to put facial recognition in its glasses and they think we’re too stupid to fight back.
Their internal memo: “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
Their internal memo: “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
Best advertisement I’ve seen so far at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
February 12, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Best advertisement I’ve seen so far at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
well i for one couldn’t be more excited for the possibilities of AI. finally a technology that answers the age old question ‘what if clippy was wormtongue’
February 12, 2026 at 1:10 PM
well i for one couldn’t be more excited for the possibilities of AI. finally a technology that answers the age old question ‘what if clippy was wormtongue’
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
Abolish ICE is the moderate position.
I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it.
I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”
1/
I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”
1/
February 12, 2026 at 12:18 PM
Abolish ICE is the moderate position.
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
Yeah it is genuinely fucking scaring me the degree to which all our cultural output about nuclear war lately seems to present it as a Struggle That Humanity Will Emerge From Stronger. We honestly cannot allow that message to propagate in our fictions, because it *will* doom us. Nuclear War is not…
Threads director Mick Jackson has expressed worry over the upcoming remake’s focus on finding “hope even in the most challenging of times.”
“That one phrase worried me,” he tells Empire. “Hope is not part of nuclear war.”
Read more: www.empireonline.com/movies/news/...
“That one phrase worried me,” he tells Empire. “Hope is not part of nuclear war.”
Read more: www.empireonline.com/movies/news/...
February 12, 2026 at 9:59 AM
Yeah it is genuinely fucking scaring me the degree to which all our cultural output about nuclear war lately seems to present it as a Struggle That Humanity Will Emerge From Stronger. We honestly cannot allow that message to propagate in our fictions, because it *will* doom us. Nuclear War is not…
If this doesn't turn out to lead into the biggest story of the week, I hate to think what will. (Under any other President, I'd say "biggest story of the year.") It's remarkably difficult to come up with an explanation, even awful ones. Invading Mexico? Rogue autonomous anti-aircraft system?
What the heck? This is a big airspace closure in New Mexico for no known reason.
It doesn’t help that the guy answering the provided FAA phone number for questions is telling the press (from the article) that he has no idea what’s going on.
elpasomatters.org/2026/02/11/u...
It doesn’t help that the guy answering the provided FAA phone number for questions is telling the press (from the article) that he has no idea what’s going on.
elpasomatters.org/2026/02/11/u...
El Paso, New Mexico airspace closed by FAA without explanation; flights restricted under national defense noticeWithout explanation, FAA closes El Paso and New Mexico airspace for 10 days, cites natio...
The Federal Aviation Administration has closed airspace over El Paso and parts of southern New Mexico for 10 days under a national defense designation, offering no explanation for the rare move.An une...
elpasomatters.org
February 11, 2026 at 12:27 PM
If this doesn't turn out to lead into the biggest story of the week, I hate to think what will. (Under any other President, I'd say "biggest story of the year.") It's remarkably difficult to come up with an explanation, even awful ones. Invading Mexico? Rogue autonomous anti-aircraft system?
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
! @weratedogs.com com goes beyond what you've already heard about the Ring Cam ads and includes excellent reporting about ICE and, less surprisingly, about finding lost dogs
February 10, 2026 at 8:25 PM
! @weratedogs.com com goes beyond what you've already heard about the Ring Cam ads and includes excellent reporting about ICE and, less surprisingly, about finding lost dogs
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
There's a super-viral post going around on here with replies and quotes disabled that is just a rip-off of someone else's image from more than a decade ago. See old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinte... for what *might* be the original source but it's hard to say.
Tried to take a photo of a grasshopper on my windshield, but it looks like its giant and destroying the town
Posted in r/mildlyinteresting by u/AhoffNYC • 4,722 points and 333 comments
old.reddit.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:10 PM
There's a super-viral post going around on here with replies and quotes disabled that is just a rip-off of someone else's image from more than a decade ago. See old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinte... for what *might* be the original source but it's hard to say.
As usual, rahaeli has a solid rundown on the obnoxious worldwide pressures that have led Discord to its upcoming policy change.
While this absolutely sucks, we are going to see a lot more places implementing universal global age verification over this next year, because the number of states and countries legally requiring it has gotten to the point no one can keep up anymore.
Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month
February 10, 2026 at 12:33 PM
As usual, rahaeli has a solid rundown on the obnoxious worldwide pressures that have led Discord to its upcoming policy change.
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
Good Lord, it didn't even occur to me that like 60% of the population of New Hampshire is probably Canadian by this definition
I'm not saying that Canada is perfect, I'm saying that the bar is pretty low right now.
February 10, 2026 at 4:22 AM
Good Lord, it didn't even occur to me that like 60% of the population of New Hampshire is probably Canadian by this definition
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
I feel like I'm losing my goddamnned mind.
This op-ed was written by Kathrine Mangu-Ward. Katherine is editor-in-chief of Reason magazine.
Reason fired @shikhadalmia.bsky.social for being too anti-Trump.
This op-ed was written by Kathrine Mangu-Ward. Katherine is editor-in-chief of Reason magazine.
Reason fired @shikhadalmia.bsky.social for being too anti-Trump.
Opinion | Libertarians Tried to Warn You About Trump
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:09 PM
I feel like I'm losing my goddamnned mind.
This op-ed was written by Kathrine Mangu-Ward. Katherine is editor-in-chief of Reason magazine.
Reason fired @shikhadalmia.bsky.social for being too anti-Trump.
This op-ed was written by Kathrine Mangu-Ward. Katherine is editor-in-chief of Reason magazine.
Reason fired @shikhadalmia.bsky.social for being too anti-Trump.
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
“I’m mad I can’t understand Bad Bunny’s lyrics because they’re not in English”
my brother millions of metalheads around the world have been happily listening to incomprehensible Finnish shrieks and Japanese death grunts since we were teens, you’re just boring and racist
my brother millions of metalheads around the world have been happily listening to incomprehensible Finnish shrieks and Japanese death grunts since we were teens, you’re just boring and racist
February 9, 2026 at 5:46 AM
“I’m mad I can’t understand Bad Bunny’s lyrics because they’re not in English”
my brother millions of metalheads around the world have been happily listening to incomprehensible Finnish shrieks and Japanese death grunts since we were teens, you’re just boring and racist
my brother millions of metalheads around the world have been happily listening to incomprehensible Finnish shrieks and Japanese death grunts since we were teens, you’re just boring and racist
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
i went back to a tougher, pre-covid syllabus for my intro NT class this term. students have been rising to the occasion magnificently. like, for real, i was expecting a bunch of drops after day 1. i got emails and office visits instead.
it’s making for a very fun teaching term!
it’s making for a very fun teaching term!
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:36 AM
i went back to a tougher, pre-covid syllabus for my intro NT class this term. students have been rising to the occasion magnificently. like, for real, i was expecting a bunch of drops after day 1. i got emails and office visits instead.
it’s making for a very fun teaching term!
it’s making for a very fun teaching term!
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:01 AM
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
The entire anti wokeness nonsense of the past decade was about making this kind of gutter racism broadly acceptable again bsky.app/profile/adam...
Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...
A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
February 6, 2026 at 10:09 AM
The entire anti wokeness nonsense of the past decade was about making this kind of gutter racism broadly acceptable again bsky.app/profile/adam...
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
why don’t you have kids??
February 6, 2026 at 8:48 AM
why don’t you have kids??
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
Taking your obligations of candor to the tribunal to a new level (before people say "she should quit": she had submitted her resignation but remained specifically to try to force the agency to comply with court orders; I expect she will soon be fired)
Lots of excellent work today by my @mprnews.org colleagues. This one from @msepic.bsky.social, though, is especially memorable.
Federal atty tells judge: “The system sucks. This job sucks. I wish you would hold me in contempt so I would have a full 24 hours sleep."
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Federal atty tells judge: “The system sucks. This job sucks. I wish you would hold me in contempt so I would have a full 24 hours sleep."
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
ICE attorney to judge: ‘This job sucks’
A federal judge admonished DHS for repeatedly defying court orders to release detainees, as government lawyers described widespread noncompliance during Minnesota’s immigration crackdown.
www.mprnews.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Taking your obligations of candor to the tribunal to a new level (before people say "she should quit": she had submitted her resignation but remained specifically to try to force the agency to comply with court orders; I expect she will soon be fired)
There are some great things in the replies and comments to this video, in addition to the coolness of the skater's concept itself.
i have been made aware that an Olympic figure skater for Kazakhstan does a Dune themed routine in a full stillsuit and he is now my personal hero
February 4, 2026 at 3:09 AM
There are some great things in the replies and comments to this video, in addition to the coolness of the skater's concept itself.
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
Full comic here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/waste #smbc
February 3, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Full comic here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/waste #smbc
Reposted by Steuard Jensen
There is a story here that deserves to be told in its entirety, just for its core literary depiction of what, exactly, Richard Dawkins is.
To add to this, Richard Dawkins (biologist). Complaining about Rebecca Watson. www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
February 2, 2026 at 5:07 PM
There is a story here that deserves to be told in its entirety, just for its core literary depiction of what, exactly, Richard Dawkins is.