Tim Mayers

Outside of “Barely Breathing,” I was essentially unfamiliar with Duncan Sheik’s work. But I’ve always remembered the opening line of a magazine article I read at least twenty years ago: “Duncan Sheik majored in semiotics.” RIP

Rule change suggestion for the NFL: pass interference on a play where the ball is underthrown is a five yard penalty with no automatic first down.

At Rush “Fifty Something” tour in Philadelphia.

Kicking off National Vinyl Record Day with one of the greatest albums ever made: Love, *Forever Changes*.

I’d bet that many of the people raising allegedly sincere concerns about the DSA platform are the same ones who brushed off (or laughed off) concerns about Project 2025 during the 2024 presidential election.

If Dr. Fauci will plead the Fifth in response to every question he’s asked today, one of the Dem Senators should ask: “Dr. Fauci, during any of President Trump’s COVID press conferences, based on what you smelled and heard, do you believe he shit his pants on stage.”

We might not ordinarily think of notebooks as technology, but this book vividly illustrates how, for centuries, they have been actively enabling key developments in human thinking and human activities.

Anybody else think the Fox announcer for the England - DRC match today (who’s worked a bunch of World Cup matches thus far) sounds almost exactly like Mehdi Hasan?

So you don’t think that Great Replacement Theory, as described by Ibram X. Kendi, is an ascendant ideology on the right (and elsewhere)? The just take a peek at the discourse swirling around other social media platforms about today’s SCOTUS decision on birthright citizenship.

“Come on, man. Are you going to finish those grades any time soon?”

“Writing is thinking” is a slogan, not an argument. We’re going to have to do much better if we want to make clear the genuine dangers of generative artificial intelligence.

Look, I’m as concerned (and as angry) about generative artificial intelligence being used as a substitute for writing as anyone else. But repeating “writing is thinking,” like some kind of magical incantation is not going to convince anyone who needs convincing.

Brilliance is often demonstrated in the ability to share complex ideas in very few words, like this:

50 years ago today, *this* was unleashed on the world. The red star on the cover of my copy (purchased in the 1980s) has faded because it was hanging, framed, on my office wall for a quarter of a century.

Just finished reading yesterday: this fascinating book about how Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgely, Philippa Foot, and Iris Murdoch, who met at Oxford as undergraduates in the 1930s, reshaped the field of philosophy during and after the Second World War.

Anybody taking bets on whether Barron Trump has “hereditary bonespurs“ to keep him out of the draft in the event this war with Iran gets larger?

In this age of generative AI, I’m beginning to wonder if genuine human writing is becoming a form of retro-tech nostalgia.

This punk landmark was released 44 years ago today, so I’m giving it an anniversary spin.

Imagine if the next President mobilizes ATF agents to scour the most Republican-voting precincts in red states to arrest firearm owners who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol: Raid bars, follow people home from liquor stores or anywhere beer is sold, etc.

The NFC East was trash from top to bottom this season.

Spinning today, on the sixth anniversary of the day the world lost Neil Peart: drummer, lyricist, travel writer, book lover.

Interesting that Pete Hegseth (who’s probably had a few gin and tonics already today) sounds more sober than Donald Trump (who probably hasn’t).

December 7: the year’s earliest sunset

Thanksgiving football

To be honest, I’m a lot less frustrated at the Senate Dems “caving” than I am at Hakeem Jeffries (or any other Dem in House leadership) for not having already sworn in the new congresswoman from Arizona, and then dared Mike Johnson to declare it illegal or invalid.

Another pencil ready for retirement to the nub jar. This particular one helped me scratch out over 100 pages in the birding notebook

Whether we like it or not, politics have become theater. The next batch of Democratic presidential nominees must promise, if elected, to demolish Trump’s White House ballroom.

If you’re a soccer fan and did not see today’s Carabao Cup match between Grimsby Town and Manchester United, you missed one of the greatest upsets in the entire history of the sport.

"It's Epstein file release date for the House Oversight Committee..." "Squirrel!!!! John Bolton!!!!!" Off scurries the media...

That feeling when you find a record you’ve been looking for for a couple of years. Long in the Tooth Records & Books, Philadelphia.

Imagine a German saying they're proud of the Nazi part of their history.

Well, I’m gonna insist that you listen to this. Definition of terms: “these people” = Latino migrants “Inner city people” = Black people “We tried to get them [inner city people] to do it” = slavery & sharecropping

I was never a huge fan of either, but let me say now that Ozzy Osbourne’s contributions to culture absolutely dwarf Hulk Hogan’s. It’s not even close.

Trump's argument for the elimination of the estate tax is that the heirs of the super rich will no longer have to go beg a predatory Jewish banker for a bridge loan to overcome cash flow problems associated with the $15 million dollar estate they're about to get.

I’m getting the idea that an awful lot of people feel this way.

I see the Washington Post is platforming an op-ed by Krisi Noem, because apparently they're still pissed they missed their opportunity to publish Goebbels in the original German.

40 years ago today, this masterpiece was released into the world.

Lancaster shows up, 4,000 strong!

This probably doesn’t end well.

As a writing teacher, few things frustrate me more than students who get high B+ or A- grades on drafts and then beg for specific “corrections” to help them recover “lost points” instead of considering feedback that asks them to extend or build on what they’ve already done.

For once, if that’s not too much to ask, I’d like to see some university president or top-level administrator call BS on the assumption that “viewpoint diversity” must only be understood through the narrow and suffocating framework of U.S. electoral politics.

30 years after the first one . . . another presentation at the Conference on College Composition and Communication. #CCCC25

Another one bites the dust. #BlackwingPencils

The university where I teach doesn’t have the most picturesque campus, but it has its moments.

I try not to let National Pencil Day pass without doing at least a little bit of writing in one of my journals. Stay sharp, everyone!

“Regulate class discussion”? We really are living in the End Times for public higher education.

Tried to catch a glimpse of the eclipse sunrise, but the clouds and the horizon weren’t really cooperating.

Agreed!

Hope I'm not speaking out of turn here but... I already knew the Trump administration was full of incompetent boobs. Incompetent boobage was literally what white folks voted for.

Shout out to Jeffrey Goldberg for reporting on this now instead of waiting two years to put it in a book.