James Harbeck

@sesquiotic.bsky.social

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Words, food, music, beverage alcohol. MA linguistics, PhD theatre. jamesharbeck.com, sesquiotic.com

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James Harbeck

Okay yeah Biden has COVID but I just learned a fantastic new word, "rhinorrhea." That is so much grosser than "runny nose"

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James Harbeck

Reply to

Very Very Common Mike Dunford

The entire "dump Biden" campaign right now is basically a dude running from scary noises in the woods that might be a bear but might be a loud racoon, who is convinced that the best survival strategy is to jump from a cliff and rig a chute from popsicle sticks and socks on the way down.

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James Harbeck

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James Harbeck

This is an enormous scandal and reason for all academics to withhold labor from Taylor and Francis/Routledge

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James Harbeck

And if you need some context here: California is the 5th largest economy in the world. Its electrical grid seems to be on a very short path to being 100% renewable. If they can do it—adding grid stability also!—others can too. If you're a climate doomer, let this brighten your sky today, just a bit

This news is incredible. 100 days this year CA's used 100% renewables to power the entire grid, & through a heat wave, there's been no significant disruption (cough *Texas*). Energy analysts are seeing a "phase-change" of the grid with the addition of 5 nuclear plants worth of battery storage, wow

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James Harbeck

As a factual matter there very much is asymmetric polarization, it just runs in the opposite direction that Musk claims www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

violent conspiratorial fascism is centrism! I'm smart!

The polarization in today’s Congress has roots that go back decadeswww.pewresearch.org On average, Democrats and Republicans are farther apart ideologically today than at any time in the past 50 years.

A high-and-mighty colour sesquiotic.com/2024/07/17/b...

burgundysesquiotic.com Today I’m tasting burgundy. You may notice that I haven’t capitalized the word. No need to be high-and-mighty; my current theme is colours, and the name of the colour is lower-cased. Not that I can li...

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James Harbeck

that is so many giant snails

Ninety giant African snails were confiscated by US Customs and Border Protection at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport late last month, the agency said in a news release. An "odd odor" coming from a passenger's bag tipped off agriculture specialists, officials said in the release.

90 giant African snails ‘intercepted’ at Detroit Metropolitan Airport | CNNwww.cnn.com Ninety giant African snails were confiscated by US Customs and Border Protection at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport late last month, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.

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James Harbeck

Best part of Russian novels is that you’re never quite sure if a new name is a new character vs a character you already know being addressed by their barber instead of their mom

If I could put keyword filters on my YouTube feed I would absolutely filter out all videos with "SHOCKED" in the title. Don't even want to see the previews of them

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James Harbeck

he looks awful and also the alt text here is worth it

this is the lamest shit i've ever seen SHOW US THE EAR

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James Harbeck

spirits of dead relatives watching you masturbate: creepy! disturbing shameful feeling spirit of dr ruth watching you masturbate: thrilling! want to do a good job to make her proud

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James Harbeck

This episode aired in 1994 and no other joke about American politics has held up that consistently for so long.

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James Harbeck

Presidential and vice presidential nominations by generation: Millennial: 1 (Vance) Gen X: 1 (Ryan) Silent: 15 Boomer: 23 www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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James Harbeck

Reply to

Celeste Ng

I have some friends who run a gift / novelty / art store in Hamilton, Ontario, which is essentially Canada's Pittsburgh (steel town, football team) — they do a brisk business in HAMILTON HATES YOU TOO merchandise

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James Harbeck

Guy literally had secrets in his bathroom, selling them to foreign nationals. Calls people to steal votes. Sends a mob to keep himself in office. This country pissing all over its history to bend over backwards for this guy? This is the guy we bring down the whole experiment for?

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James Harbeck

According to Project 2025, which is the heart of Trump's campaign and platform, if you teach or talk about the existence of LGBTQ people then you are a sex offender and should be imprisoned.

Psst: Project 2025 is terrifying for a lot of reasons but also because on page 5 it calls for teachers and librarians who grant access to books that are maligned as pornography (which just means anything LGBTQ) to be registered as sex offenders. Pass it on.

Après la déluge, l’office

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James Harbeck

I will never forget the interview, shortly after Ozy Media Inc. was formed, where Carlos Watson said he named it after the poem, because "the lesson you take from [Ozymandias] is that you have to dream big." So that's why liberal arts education is important.

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James Harbeck

Who could have imagined https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-cant-believe-such-a-hateful-violent-act-could-happen-in-the-hateful-violent-era-ive-created

I Can’t Believe Such a Hateful, Violent Act Could Happen in the Hateful, Violent Era I’ve Createdwww.mcsweeneys.net “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country.” — Donald Trump, writing on Truth Social after an attempt on his life, 7/13/24 - ...

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James Harbeck

“In the name of unity, stop taking issue with Jan. 6” is “when you say it’s wrong that I hit you, you’re tearing this family apart” on a national scale. Screenshot for attribution

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James Harbeck

JD Vance is (like Rubio) a wholly owned subsidiary of some very rich person. (Thiel for Vance, some used car magnate for Rubio). They aren't policy thinkers and they certainly aren't leaders. They're the hired help with public facing prestige and snappy tailors.

The tl;dr This is union-busting, written as a statute. A company union is not a union, it is a way for management to dilute/interfere with the power of the union. Company unions have been unlawful since 1935, because everyone recognizes it is an attempt to union bust. This is trying to undo that.

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James Harbeck

Reply to

Michael Tae Sweeney

Something I'll say for Vance's prospects is that there are 20x as many white dudes in America who are from normal-ass suburbs but conceptualize themselves as hardscrabble small town rednecks as there are actual hardscrabble small town rednecks. Huge demographic!

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James Harbeck

Said it before, I’ll say it again, tell people Republicans want to take away their tax refunds.

Project 2025 raises taxes on a family of four with two parents earning a combined $100,000 by $2,600, in order to fund a tax cut of over three times their combined income for someone earning $5m. x.com/SteveRattner...

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Omg how could I have forgotten the best one: Gorilla gorilla gorilla “IT IS A GORILLA” “Okay but what ki—“ “GORILLA”

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James Harbeck

Mostly agree except on reflection I feel like the three-day combo of the shooting, the Cannon decision, and the Vance pick was a powerful reminder of how miserable and exhausting it was to live with one goddamn thing after another when this guy had the spotlight for four straight years

I think Trump getting shot and being photographed with a defiant fist in the air, bloodied and unbowed, will actually lead to zero changed votes. He might be the only person in the universe that would be true of.

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James Harbeck

The apparent strategy of Bluesky activists: 1. All the progressive Black columnists at the NYT quit their jobs 2. ??? 3. NYT trans coverage improves

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James Harbeck

Oh my god

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James Harbeck

school vouchers are designed to starve public schools and they’re working in that regard

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers' tuition that it's now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.

School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.www.propublica.org Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state program...

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James Harbeck

Trump just named as his #2 a guy who called for insurrection charges against a journalist for writing an op-ed & wants to censor academics and seize the assets of nonprofits he opposes. The "free speech" brigades haven't said a goddamn thing. And their benefactor just pledged $150m to elect him.