Mike Duncan
@theophrastean.bsky.social
Professor in Texas. Rhetoric, technical communication, composition, early Christianity. I also like games. https://badrhetoric.com/about/
As I get older I have gotten progressively ornery. McCoy is a role model now, warts and all.
a man in a brown jacket is sitting in a chair and saying oh joy
ALT: a man in a brown jacket is sitting in a chair and saying oh joy
media.tenor.com
December 7, 2025 at 7:41 AM
As I get older I have gotten progressively ornery. McCoy is a role model now, warts and all.
Maintaining a caste system for university teachers has left us vulnerable instead of united.
The issue is that a vulnerable instructor was not protected by her department or her institution. To focus on the grading is to place the blame entirely on a grad student who is making the kinds of decisions teachers face daily. To quibble w/the pedagogy is to ignore the larger forces at play. 2/x
December 5, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Maintaining a caste system for university teachers has left us vulnerable instead of united.
Reposted by Mike Duncan
We are not in Toto anymore, Kansas
December 5, 2025 at 8:26 PM
We are not in Toto anymore, Kansas
Reposted by Mike Duncan
OU graduate student senate condemns the university
OU Graduate Student Senate condemns university, defends graduate student instructor put on leave
The OU Graduate Student Senate passed a resolution calling on university administration to provide more transparency regarding administrative leave and additional protection for graduate teaching assi...
www.oudaily.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:05 AM
OU graduate student senate condemns the university
Fellowship of the Ring update: I have learned my youngest, who is obsessed with France, thinks the hobbits are headed to the Eiffel Tower… where the streets of Paris are the fires of Mordor? I swear I was more specific.
December 5, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Fellowship of the Ring update: I have learned my youngest, who is obsessed with France, thinks the hobbits are headed to the Eiffel Tower… where the streets of Paris are the fires of Mordor? I swear I was more specific.
It’s hard to mix anti-corpo, pro-worker, and pro-cop into one film. The guy died and he had to go back to work. Go Detroit, I guess.
Detroit's own crime-fighter RoboCop finally stands guard in Motor City
RoboCop has found a permanent home in Detroit — all 11 feet and 3,500 pounds of him. A statue of the crime-fighting movie character has been welcomed by fans since it began standing guard over Detroit...
apnews.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:38 PM
It’s hard to mix anti-corpo, pro-worker, and pro-cop into one film. The guy died and he had to go back to work. Go Detroit, I guess.
Xmas light wrangling is a high-tier Dad activity. Electricity, outdoor decor, ladders, tackiness, general chaos. The only thing missing is a tire to kick or a wall to slap.
December 4, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Xmas light wrangling is a high-tier Dad activity. Electricity, outdoor decor, ladders, tackiness, general chaos. The only thing missing is a tire to kick or a wall to slap.
Helldivers 2 has finally implemented a minigun, and, well, it goes brrrr. 10/10. 11/10 for how the ammo belt flaps around wildly while running.
December 3, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Helldivers 2 has finally implemented a minigun, and, well, it goes brrrr. 10/10. 11/10 for how the ammo belt flaps around wildly while running.
Reposted by Mike Duncan
I wrote about the dirty, demeaning, absolutely booming business of turning something like a shitty bigoted college essay into a shitty public career as a bigot, and also estimated how old Marine Todd would be today. defector.com/the-conserva...
The Conservative Grievance Business Is Always Hiring | Defector
Given his age when he first came to the world’s attention and assuming continued good health in the intervening decade and change, Marine Todd would be in his late 30s today. That would be if he was a...
defector.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I wrote about the dirty, demeaning, absolutely booming business of turning something like a shitty bigoted college essay into a shitty public career as a bigot, and also estimated how old Marine Todd would be today. defector.com/the-conserva...
Reposted by Mike Duncan
This is insane. Any material a prof thinks is necessary but isn’t for formal licensing has to get the signoff of the chair, then dean, then provost?
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
TX Tech has a flow chat for guidance on what can be taught in the university system. Two things:
1. Very little content seems to be permitted. This is partisan control of the curriculum.
2. I would not enjoy teaching under these conditions, but I really would not want to be a Chair or Dean.
1. Very little content seems to be permitted. This is partisan control of the curriculum.
2. I would not enjoy teaching under these conditions, but I really would not want to be a Chair or Dean.
December 2, 2025 at 2:30 AM
This is insane. Any material a prof thinks is necessary but isn’t for formal licensing has to get the signoff of the chair, then dean, then provost?
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
Kemp’s Goliath’s Curse is a good read. The last third is not as strong as the first two-thirds, though. Graphic descriptions of overthrows of autocratic societies over thousands of years, on and on, and then the last hundred years with two world wars felt excised to skip to global warming and AI.
December 2, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Kemp’s Goliath’s Curse is a good read. The last third is not as strong as the first two-thirds, though. Graphic descriptions of overthrows of autocratic societies over thousands of years, on and on, and then the last hundred years with two world wars felt excised to skip to global warming and AI.
Sometimes the semester ends all neat and tidy, like a wrapped present with a well-placed bow.
And sometimes the semester ends like a hit-and-run victim being treated on the street by EMTs.
This semester is… well, the present is bleeding a little at the edges.
And sometimes the semester ends like a hit-and-run victim being treated on the street by EMTs.
This semester is… well, the present is bleeding a little at the edges.
December 1, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Sometimes the semester ends all neat and tidy, like a wrapped present with a well-placed bow.
And sometimes the semester ends like a hit-and-run victim being treated on the street by EMTs.
This semester is… well, the present is bleeding a little at the edges.
And sometimes the semester ends like a hit-and-run victim being treated on the street by EMTs.
This semester is… well, the present is bleeding a little at the edges.
Reposted by Mike Duncan
Profiles in University Administrator Courage
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Profiles in University Administrator Courage
Reposted by Mike Duncan
New post by me on #MITPressReader @mitpress.bsky.social
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
December 1, 2025 at 5:56 PM
New post by me on #MITPressReader @mitpress.bsky.social
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
So I’m pretty sure with a little prep time Erica could solo Vecna.
November 30, 2025 at 10:15 PM
So I’m pretty sure with a little prep time Erica could solo Vecna.
There are still an awful lot of male professors that don’t understand how women can have a very different experience of the same profession. The percentage of the clueless has improved somewhat but it’s still there.
November 30, 2025 at 6:29 PM
There are still an awful lot of male professors that don’t understand how women can have a very different experience of the same profession. The percentage of the clueless has improved somewhat but it’s still there.
Reposted by Mike Duncan
open.substack.com/pub/academic...
“It is fair to conclude that academic freedom simply does not exist within the Texas A&M system.”—John Warner
“It is fair to conclude that academic freedom simply does not exist within the Texas A&M system.”—John Warner
You Can't Count on Legislatures or Leadership to Protect Academic Freedom
What do we do when state and institutional leadership attacks freedoms?
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM
open.substack.com/pub/academic...
“It is fair to conclude that academic freedom simply does not exist within the Texas A&M system.”—John Warner
“It is fair to conclude that academic freedom simply does not exist within the Texas A&M system.”—John Warner
I’ve seen some helldivers on here. What’s your loadout?
Me: Coyote, grenade pistol, light gunner armor. Then EAS, EAT, machine turret, guard dog liberator. I may switch EAS for a turret, or guard dog for the jetpack. But I’ve settled into a run-and-gun style. Almost never take a secondary.
Me: Coyote, grenade pistol, light gunner armor. Then EAS, EAT, machine turret, guard dog liberator. I may switch EAS for a turret, or guard dog for the jetpack. But I’ve settled into a run-and-gun style. Almost never take a secondary.
November 30, 2025 at 9:59 AM
I’ve seen some helldivers on here. What’s your loadout?
Me: Coyote, grenade pistol, light gunner armor. Then EAS, EAT, machine turret, guard dog liberator. I may switch EAS for a turret, or guard dog for the jetpack. But I’ve settled into a run-and-gun style. Almost never take a secondary.
Me: Coyote, grenade pistol, light gunner armor. Then EAS, EAT, machine turret, guard dog liberator. I may switch EAS for a turret, or guard dog for the jetpack. But I’ve settled into a run-and-gun style. Almost never take a secondary.
Reposted by Mike Duncan
BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith Lecture
BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith Lecture
Journalists not allowed to repeat Rutger Bregman’s corruption claims against US president in coverage of edit
BBC presenters and journalists have been told they cannot quote a line removed from its prestigious annual lecture, in which a Dutch writer accused Donald Trump of being “the most openly corrupt president in American history”.
Rutger Bregman accused the BBC of cowardice after the decision to remove the line from the first of his Reith Lectures, which he was invited to give by the corporation. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:41 PM
BBC tells staff they cannot quote Trump line removed from Reith Lecture
Some years, the Xmas village doesn’t keep up with its tribute to Milo the cat, and there are causalities.
November 28, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Some years, the Xmas village doesn’t keep up with its tribute to Milo the cat, and there are causalities.
I am reading The Fellowship of the Ring to my sons at night.
This go-around (I’ve read it 5 or 6 times before) I am struck by two things: how all the hobbits call anything not hobbit-like “queer,” and the leisure & slow pace. The four are just getting into the Old Forest on page 150.
This go-around (I’ve read it 5 or 6 times before) I am struck by two things: how all the hobbits call anything not hobbit-like “queer,” and the leisure & slow pace. The four are just getting into the Old Forest on page 150.
November 27, 2025 at 4:03 AM
I am reading The Fellowship of the Ring to my sons at night.
This go-around (I’ve read it 5 or 6 times before) I am struck by two things: how all the hobbits call anything not hobbit-like “queer,” and the leisure & slow pace. The four are just getting into the Old Forest on page 150.
This go-around (I’ve read it 5 or 6 times before) I am struck by two things: how all the hobbits call anything not hobbit-like “queer,” and the leisure & slow pace. The four are just getting into the Old Forest on page 150.
Reposted by Mike Duncan
aaup-texas.org/blog/f/aaup-...
The AAUP chapter at the University of Houston has sent the following letter to their administration concerning the wave of censorship unleashed on instructors for spring courses
The AAUP chapter at the University of Houston has sent the following letter to their administration concerning the wave of censorship unleashed on instructors for spring courses
AAUP @ Univ. of Houston Opposes Campus Censorship
CONTACT: Daniel Morales, JD, President of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Chapter at the University of Houston, [email protected]
aaup-texas.org
November 25, 2025 at 11:52 PM
aaup-texas.org/blog/f/aaup-...
The AAUP chapter at the University of Houston has sent the following letter to their administration concerning the wave of censorship unleashed on instructors for spring courses
The AAUP chapter at the University of Houston has sent the following letter to their administration concerning the wave of censorship unleashed on instructors for spring courses
The three campuses of the University of Houston system - Main, Downtown, and Clear Lake - have requested a university-wide course audit for compliance with SB 37.
This is a few weeks after they all made a show of supporting academic freedom.
This is a few weeks after they all made a show of supporting academic freedom.
November 25, 2025 at 9:09 PM
The three campuses of the University of Houston system - Main, Downtown, and Clear Lake - have requested a university-wide course audit for compliance with SB 37.
This is a few weeks after they all made a show of supporting academic freedom.
This is a few weeks after they all made a show of supporting academic freedom.
Introduce yourself with four spaceships.
November 25, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Introduce yourself with four spaceships.
Reposted by Mike Duncan
David Clayton. NC-05
Watch him.
The breed of Democrat that is entering the political arena.
Watch him.
The breed of Democrat that is entering the political arena.
November 23, 2025 at 7:56 AM
David Clayton. NC-05
Watch him.
The breed of Democrat that is entering the political arena.
Watch him.
The breed of Democrat that is entering the political arena.