John Tobin
@jptobin.bsky.social
PhD Candidate at UW Madison - Early 20th century China and Tibet
Chan literature should operate on Dragon Ball rules. You hype up Monk A just to have him get instantly smoked by Monk B in order to impress the audience with Monk B’s power level
The most famous instance is probably Shenxiu getting bested by Huineng. But this is a case of one contender's failure allowing for another's success. Are there cases of simple failure, or were they too embarassing to record?
January 7, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Chan literature should operate on Dragon Ball rules. You hype up Monk A just to have him get instantly smoked by Monk B in order to impress the audience with Monk B’s power level
Reposted by John Tobin
If I were a rival zen lineage, I would compile an anthology of failed public cases, where all my competitors and their ancestors keep trying to say and do cool shit and fall flat on their faces and everybody laughs at them. Why didn't they do this?
January 7, 2026 at 4:39 PM
If I were a rival zen lineage, I would compile an anthology of failed public cases, where all my competitors and their ancestors keep trying to say and do cool shit and fall flat on their faces and everybody laughs at them. Why didn't they do this?
Reposted by John Tobin
One of the things you learn when you study the literature of dynastic collapse is that there is (slaps hood) *so much* collapse in a dynasty.
we all thought Twitter’s collapse would be swift and sudden like the fall of the Roman Empire but instead it’s been a steady, irreversible decay like the fall of the Roman Empire
October 26, 2023 at 2:09 PM
One of the things you learn when you study the literature of dynastic collapse is that there is (slaps hood) *so much* collapse in a dynasty.
I enjoyed the movie, but Elphaba was running the most incompetent insurgency campaign I have ever seen
January 5, 2026 at 8:50 PM
I enjoyed the movie, but Elphaba was running the most incompetent insurgency campaign I have ever seen
Reposted by John Tobin
I assume what we'll actually see is that elite institutions will attempt to reduce class sizes by increasing the number of adjuncts (to keep teaching loads of the tenure-line steady, but not hire more), while non-elite institutions will embrace jumbo-slop-classes.
I think a fundamental problem in 2026 is the good solutions require smaller first year classes where we can create new assessment methods (oral presentations, digital research projects, etc). LLMs break the assignments that worked OK with big groups. But no one is investing in hiring professors.
January 5, 2026 at 4:40 PM
I assume what we'll actually see is that elite institutions will attempt to reduce class sizes by increasing the number of adjuncts (to keep teaching loads of the tenure-line steady, but not hire more), while non-elite institutions will embrace jumbo-slop-classes.
Reposted by John Tobin
My whole life, advocating war has been fed to me as “the adult position,” akin to drinking your coffee black or reading the business section of the newspaper. Let’s be very clear — war is the childish nonsense of impulsive destructive idiots playing baby-brained video games with real human lives.
January 4, 2026 at 2:02 AM
My whole life, advocating war has been fed to me as “the adult position,” akin to drinking your coffee black or reading the business section of the newspaper. Let’s be very clear — war is the childish nonsense of impulsive destructive idiots playing baby-brained video games with real human lives.
Reposted by John Tobin
caught a mouse under the stove this morning and now they’re just hanging out in case it happens again
January 3, 2026 at 7:40 PM
caught a mouse under the stove this morning and now they’re just hanging out in case it happens again
Did anyone else get the vibe that Knives Out 3 was really about Protestant churches but just slapped a coat of Catholic aesthetics on top?
Everything from the politics (good and bad) to the way characters pray seemed so different than the dynamics (good and bad) in Catholic churches
Everything from the politics (good and bad) to the way characters pray seemed so different than the dynamics (good and bad) in Catholic churches
December 31, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Did anyone else get the vibe that Knives Out 3 was really about Protestant churches but just slapped a coat of Catholic aesthetics on top?
Everything from the politics (good and bad) to the way characters pray seemed so different than the dynamics (good and bad) in Catholic churches
Everything from the politics (good and bad) to the way characters pray seemed so different than the dynamics (good and bad) in Catholic churches
One of the biggest things I try to get students to understand is that the transition from community to society-type social bonds
1) is absolutely necessary for scale and legibility of institutions
2) comes with tons of tradeoffs and new problems
3) drives most people experiencing it insane with rage
1) is absolutely necessary for scale and legibility of institutions
2) comes with tons of tradeoffs and new problems
3) drives most people experiencing it insane with rage
A credit score is important because the alternative is “you gotta become friends with the bank or someone with a lot of capital to do anything”
This feels like a strain of anti-intellectualism. "Everything must be able to be explained super simply." Sorry but the world is in fact complex.
September 18, 2025 at 11:03 PM
One of the biggest things I try to get students to understand is that the transition from community to society-type social bonds
1) is absolutely necessary for scale and legibility of institutions
2) comes with tons of tradeoffs and new problems
3) drives most people experiencing it insane with rage
1) is absolutely necessary for scale and legibility of institutions
2) comes with tons of tradeoffs and new problems
3) drives most people experiencing it insane with rage
Reposted by John Tobin
the China studies version of this is a story about the leadership that you hear from somebody in DC who vouches for it because they got it from a source in China who read about it on a Taiwanese tabloid who copied the story from the Epoch Times who made it up in New York state.
September 18, 2025 at 4:33 PM
the China studies version of this is a story about the leadership that you hear from somebody in DC who vouches for it because they got it from a source in China who read about it on a Taiwanese tabloid who copied the story from the Epoch Times who made it up in New York state.
Honestly I had a very similar reaction.
I don’t have a lot of respect for people who are advising panic and cowardice in order to seem savvy, especially while still openly posting antigovernment stuff under their legal names
I don’t have a lot of respect for people who are advising panic and cowardice in order to seem savvy, especially while still openly posting antigovernment stuff under their legal names
I've lived in both a full blown autocracy (China) and one of the great resistance states (SK)
a) if you were *actually* practicing security, none of this would be on this highly visible public platform.
b) courage is an important part of resistance, organization is an even more important part
a) if you were *actually* practicing security, none of this would be on this highly visible public platform.
b) courage is an important part of resistance, organization is an even more important part
People legit yelled at me for 24 hours when I said it's extremely dumb to RSVP to a protest. Why hand your name over to a group organizing a protest/rally? Do you *want* to have to talk to the FBI?
Treat anyone encouraging you to RSVP to a protest as a fed. End of.
Treat anyone encouraging you to RSVP to a protest as a fed. End of.
September 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Honestly I had a very similar reaction.
I don’t have a lot of respect for people who are advising panic and cowardice in order to seem savvy, especially while still openly posting antigovernment stuff under their legal names
I don’t have a lot of respect for people who are advising panic and cowardice in order to seem savvy, especially while still openly posting antigovernment stuff under their legal names
Reposted by John Tobin
You know things are rough when the AAUP's advice on how to use social media is just "set all your accounts to private."
The @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...
Advisory to Academic Workers
In a moment when it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the consequences of our online speech and choices, the AAUP and Faculty First Responders are issuing guidance to AAUP members and othe...
www.aaup.org
September 17, 2025 at 11:46 PM
You know things are rough when the AAUP's advice on how to use social media is just "set all your accounts to private."
Reposted by John Tobin
Classical Chinese for Councils of Eunuchs:
September 17, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Classical Chinese for Councils of Eunuchs:
Reposted by John Tobin
On the Lord of the Rings commentary track John Rhys-Davies had this long speech about how he considered all the lore and character for Gimli before settling on a Welsh accent. And it's like John. You played an Egyptian as Welsh. You played a Dwarf as Welsh. You play everyone as Welsh. Stop lying.
August 6, 2023 at 7:00 PM
On the Lord of the Rings commentary track John Rhys-Davies had this long speech about how he considered all the lore and character for Gimli before settling on a Welsh accent. And it's like John. You played an Egyptian as Welsh. You played a Dwarf as Welsh. You play everyone as Welsh. Stop lying.
Reposted by John Tobin
None of the 19 points are giving people health care/pensions or raising wages, but they got an ace up the sleeve:
"Authorities pledged to... extend the operating hours of popular museums and other scenic sites."
"Authorities pledged to... extend the operating hours of popular museums and other scenic sites."
From tourism to healthcare, China unveils a 19-point plan to get people spending
Support and investment incentives unveiled for sectors such as tourism, sports, healthcare and culture, while visa-free access and school holidays could be enhanced.
www.scmp.com
September 17, 2025 at 7:42 PM
None of the 19 points are giving people health care/pensions or raising wages, but they got an ace up the sleeve:
"Authorities pledged to... extend the operating hours of popular museums and other scenic sites."
"Authorities pledged to... extend the operating hours of popular museums and other scenic sites."
Every time you think you got a handle on this, it gets weirder
Guess the American apologist for Imperial Japan who wrote these words.
September 17, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Every time you think you got a handle on this, it gets weirder
Reposted by John Tobin
It’s the ouroboros of fandom that ruins so many big genre properties (ahem, Star Wars, most of Marvel & DC) with a few notable exceptions (Andor, basically). What are you trying to say beyond “the fans are going to love this?”
September 16, 2025 at 7:26 PM
It’s the ouroboros of fandom that ruins so many big genre properties (ahem, Star Wars, most of Marvel & DC) with a few notable exceptions (Andor, basically). What are you trying to say beyond “the fans are going to love this?”
Reposted by John Tobin
Reposted by John Tobin
As it happens, international students dislike being used as bargaining chips and wondering whether their visas will be pulled out from beneath them. Among other things.
Amid Declining U.S. Enrollment, Many Chinese Students Cite Negative Experiences
The United States remains the top destination for Chinese students studying internationally, although numbers have declined significantly in recent years. Most Chinese students at U.S. colleges and un...
www.migrationpolicy.org
September 16, 2025 at 2:56 PM
As it happens, international students dislike being used as bargaining chips and wondering whether their visas will be pulled out from beneath them. Among other things.
800 years of occupation and colonization avenged by the Irish becoming pfp greatest literary fiction authors in the English language
I loved this? Maybe it’s the soothing Irish lilt of the audiobook reader but I didn’t find her style grating or distracting and I thought the story was compelling in a lovely low-stakes, human way. I will be reading more from her!
FINE I will read Intermezzo after every single semi-literate gay man in my life recommended it
September 15, 2025 at 9:53 PM
800 years of occupation and colonization avenged by the Irish becoming pfp greatest literary fiction authors in the English language
Once when I was like 8, a priest just read a passage from Walter Payton’s autobiography out loud for an uncomfortably long time as his homily during mass
Included the anecdote about how Payton would run up a hill to be quicker on his feet
Included the anecdote about how Payton would run up a hill to be quicker on his feet
September 15, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Once when I was like 8, a priest just read a passage from Walter Payton’s autobiography out loud for an uncomfortably long time as his homily during mass
Included the anecdote about how Payton would run up a hill to be quicker on his feet
Included the anecdote about how Payton would run up a hill to be quicker on his feet
The ideological content in Annie (1982) was wild, not including what you would guess from remembering the basic story
Yeah rich guy saves orphan, lots of 30s pop culture nostalgi, but also they had FDR make Daddy Warbucks and Annie co-heads of the Works Progress Administration
Yeah rich guy saves orphan, lots of 30s pop culture nostalgi, but also they had FDR make Daddy Warbucks and Annie co-heads of the Works Progress Administration
September 15, 2025 at 4:45 AM
The ideological content in Annie (1982) was wild, not including what you would guess from remembering the basic story
Yeah rich guy saves orphan, lots of 30s pop culture nostalgi, but also they had FDR make Daddy Warbucks and Annie co-heads of the Works Progress Administration
Yeah rich guy saves orphan, lots of 30s pop culture nostalgi, but also they had FDR make Daddy Warbucks and Annie co-heads of the Works Progress Administration
Almost historically accurate, but you also would be required to write poems about:
1. How much you miss your buddy who just went home after hanging out
2. How much you love to day drink (and night drink)
3. How unfair it is that the government doesn’t recognize your talent and give you a job
1. How much you miss your buddy who just went home after hanging out
2. How much you love to day drink (and night drink)
3. How unfair it is that the government doesn’t recognize your talent and give you a job
frankly very unfair that i have to work a real job instead of writing poems about my alley cats all day like an ancient chinese scholar
September 14, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Almost historically accurate, but you also would be required to write poems about:
1. How much you miss your buddy who just went home after hanging out
2. How much you love to day drink (and night drink)
3. How unfair it is that the government doesn’t recognize your talent and give you a job
1. How much you miss your buddy who just went home after hanging out
2. How much you love to day drink (and night drink)
3. How unfair it is that the government doesn’t recognize your talent and give you a job
I was genuinely shocked how big the gap felt
so I will say I discounted Canelo's legendary chin but that's about it, Crawford utterly outclassed this man
September 14, 2025 at 6:39 AM
I was genuinely shocked how big the gap felt