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Mike Urbancic

@urbancic.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.3K following 2.7K posts

teaching professor of economics, faculty unionist at the University of Oregon | pedagogy, astronomy, tabletop gaming, parodies, data visualization, maps, sundry | #TeachEcon #EconSky 📈📉 | alum UArizona & Berkeley Econ | he/him

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · Aug 11

Anyone on Bluesky a fan of astronomy, LEGO, or general nerdery?

I stumbled on a MIND-BLOWING Easter egg on the pink panel of LEGO set 21340: Tales of the Space Age.

🤯😱🤩

It’s so subtle and so *wonderful*!

Settle in for a tale within a Tale…

🧵

image of the four panels of LEGO set 21340 (Tales of the Space Age)

In the first panel, a large comet flies in the black heavens above a bluish horizon.

In the second panel, a larger moon and a smaller moon appear as thin crescents in a black sky above an orange horizon.

In the third panel, a small gray rocket leaves behind a white plume of exhaust while launching. In the background are seven stars arranged like the Big Dipper in a black sky above a pink horizon.

In the fourth panel, a green ringed world hangs in a black sky above a green horizon.

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Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Paul Gowder @gowder.io · 10h

Again this is how you do it. State universities are entities of their states, and when said states have branches governed by democrats that exercise authority over those universities, that authority needs to be used to protect them from the cowardice of their administrators

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 11h

The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 8h

me in 1983: GENERAL Han Solo?! The guy's been frozen in carbonite for three years. 🤨

me in 2025: What are your orders, General Frog and General Chicken? 🫡

Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 9h

😩

Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 9h

Oof. Fewer characters than we get when adding alt text for images on social media.

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 14h

NOBODY HAS WON HERE -- least of all me.

😆

Dinosaur Comics! @qwantz.com · 20h

*scarf* it's for science, so i can *om nom nom* like them a NORMAL AMOUNT

www.qwantz.com/index.php?co...

T-Rex: I just had a butter tart...

T-Rex: ...and it was REALLY good!

Dromiceiomimus: Hell yeah! That's the nature of butter tarts, T-Rex!
T-Rex: No, no, you don't understand - it was EASILY 75% better than any other butter tart I'd ever had! It had raspberries and coconut in it, and somehow - SOMEHOW - this elevated the whole deal to an entirely new level of BLISS.

Utahraptor: You sound like you're angry about it.
T-Rex: I am angry about it!!

T-Rex: Utahraptor, every NORMAL butter tart I have from now on will NEVER BE AS GOOD. This one Fancy Tart ruined me for all others, giving one moment of sublime bliss in exchange for a lifetime of small disappointments to come. NOBODY HAS WON HERE - least of all me!

Off panel: Solution is obvious: gorge yourself on Fancy Tarts until you can't stand them anymore.
T-Rex: Of course! Once again, science says I must eat butter tarts till I puke!
T-Rex: *sigh*
T-Rex: AND ONCE AGAIN I SHALL

Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Todd Wolfson @proftwolf.bsky.social · 18h

I am proud to say that MIT has rejected Trump's poison compact. MIT President Sally Kornbluth: "Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education."
@aaup.org @aft.org @higheredlabor.bsky.social @uaw.org
links.mit.edu/nl3/N5Jy2cKq...

Regarding the Compact

links.mit.edu

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Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Shelly Lundberg @shellyjlundberg.bsky.social · 1d

Motivated reasoning is very powerful in economics. But focused and creative empirical research wins.

Seema Jayachandran @seema.bsky.social · 3d

We just spent 6 months to add 1 figure to this paper. Some people said, "Couples aren't prioritizing men's careers. Men just have better earnings opportunities when moving."

Earnings effects of moves for couples on the left, singles on the right. Negligible gap between single men and women.

Event study coefficients that show that men's earnings rise more than women's among couples following a cross-commuting zone move (left panels). The pattern is muted or reverses among single men and single women (right panels).

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 1d

ditto for Flash Gordon

Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks!

Until your post I had only seen close-up photos showing one side of the table, so it was very funny to see the wide shot and have that same bemused moment.

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 1d

THE ANTIFA ROUNDTABLE: Your going to the camps.

LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE, CHUCKLING: That table isn't round.

Sha Merirei @merirei.com · 1d

🧵 Trump’s “Antifa Roundtable” was supposed to be about safety.Instead, it was a live-action paranoia spiral—starring officials, influencers, and a script that sounds more like a dictatorship trailer than a democracy briefing. 🧵

Title slide for “The Antifa Roundtable.” A photo of Trump seated at a long table in the White House surrounded by guests. Overlaid text reads: “Yet another @Merirei-made carousel. The Antifa Roundtable. It was supposed to be about ‘safety,’ it became a live-action paranoia spiral. Critics are hailing it as a masterpiece… of sh*t!”

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Reposted by Mike Urbancic

rabbitsmom.bsky.social @rabbitsmom.bsky.social · 2d

isportlandburning.com

Is Portland Burning?

No. See real-time Portland cameras, PulsePoint incidents, and sourced fact checks.

isportlandburning.com

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 2d

a man says okay but that 's worse in front of a woman

Alt: GIF from The Good Place. Chidi says to Eleanor: Okay, but that's worse. You do get how that's worse, right? I'm response, Eleanor scrunches up her face (apparently unsure of how that's worse).

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Tim Steller @timsteller.bsky.social · 3d

The University of Arizona's faculty senate has voted to ask the UA president to reject the Trump administration's proposed compact. It's among an accumulation of voices who say not to be tempted by the good things in the compact due to its more fundamental threats.
tucson.com/news/local/e...

U of A Faculty Senate opposes Trump compact; provost says no decision yet

The University of Arizona Faculty Senate approved a resolution calling on the UA to reject the White House’s compact requiring ideological, political and financial commitments in return for federal fu...

tucson.com

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 2d

Willamette

Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 2d

Astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung was born #OTD in 1873. 🧪 🔭

H-R diagram:

🔵 🟦 🟥
🔵 🟧
⚪️ 🟨
⚪️
🟡🟡
⚬ ⚬ 🟠🟠
⚬ ⚬ ⚬ 🔴
⚬ 🔴
⚫️

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 2d

👀

Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 2d

techbro: Don't worry. The sky isn't falling because there are unions.

also techbro: *does everything in their power to undermine or destroy unions*

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Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 3d

How should university boards prepare?

- Strategize in advance (could happen here)
- Leverage internal expertise (strategize with political scientists, public policy scholars and law faculty)
- Respond collectively and support one another
-Stay true to the mission

This is the real fiduciary duty!

Jackie Gardina @jackiegardina.bsky.social · 3d

@joshpasek.com, @umich.edu, provides boards of trustees a roadmap for responding to external pressue, like the so-called Educational Compact.

@aaup.org @utaustinaaup.bsky.social @aaup-penn.bsky.social

riverside.fm/shared/expor...

One thing boards can d... | Oct 7, 2025 001 - Riverside - HD Podcast & Video Software

riverside.fm

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Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 3d

Window Screen

xkcd.com/3151/

4-panel comic. (1) [person in front of window, shaped like a trapezoid with a curved top] This weekend, I had to make an oversized screen for a porch window. (2) [person sitting with hands on head surrounded by images of assorted equations and measurements] It involved countless tiny problems, each somehow way harder than it should be. Oblique angles. Curved edges. Noncoplanarity. (3) [person in front of window with screen on it, with building detritus strewn on the ground] ...I solved them all. I measured precisely. I did trigonometry. I made custom parts. And it fit *perfectly.* No gaps, no ripples. (4) [person typing at computer] I know that your foundation normally limits its purview to physics, medicine, peace, chemistry, and literature. However, if you review the attached photos showing how well the screen fits into the...

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 3d

My exit was pretty passive, peaceful, and amiable over the remote times of the pandemic and the years since.

But the mere *existence* of this brief makes me FURIOUS.

The Church is blithely attacking and proactively working to undermine dear, dear friends whom I adore and love.

And for what?!

Reposted by Mike Urbancic

Brian McFadden @mcfadden.bsky.social · 3d

Spirit Halloween is going to need these data centers to close up shop quick. Inflatable protest costume aisles are a better use of the space.

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Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 3d

😔

Good luck! ❤️

Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 3d

Right: can't touch beans if you're dead, so it'd probably be fine.

Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 3d

Go West:

🎶 'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking

China Crisis: ... 😒

Mike Urbancic @urbancic.bsky.social · 4d

Depending on how Villeneuve wants to play it, Dune: Part Three might scratch a bit of that itch...

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