Michael Erard

Thanks, useful to know!

Please do Angus

nobody says you can’t approve two metaphors in a day, so I approve this one too

I approve this metaphor

One killer argument for solarization that MAGA might get is that you could pursue regime change in other countries without having domestic fuel costs dampen your momentum.

Downside: you have to figure out how to shock and awe on batteries. With my technoutopian glasses on I think we’ll get there.

no LLM could be as saucy as you were in your last one!

in the middle of a darkened living room that has a longhorn skull hanging on the wall is a cedar tree festooned with a string of white lights and another of red.

christmas at Dobie Paisano (2008)

Sorry, but your description of the anatomy of an NIH Specific Aims page sucks

(not that describing it any better matters anymore these days, sadly)

adding to my grant proposal structure presentation a slide on "Who cares? LLMs will do it all for me"

An Edward Gorey drawing showing a morose looking black bird on a branch. He (and this feels very much like a he) is pointing downwards with one scraggly wing, and looking straight ahead with debt-filled eyes. His beak is long and sharp, like winter on the Great Plains. He is pointing with his right wing, but this means he is pointing to your left. Your wicked, sinister side. This is no accident. The Bird makes no such mistakes. But he is talking, and the text tells us that he is saying, "Beware of this and that." Honestly, you feel his message in your bones.

Some days I just feel like this Edward Gorey bird gets it.

UH Researcher Disputes Claim that Multilingualism Promotes Better Brain Aging  | University of Houston Not so fast: A University of Houston professor of psychology is disputing a high-profile study claiming that people who live in multilingual countries show healthier brain aging, claiming instead that...

UH Researcher Disputes Claim that Multilingualism Promotes Better Brain Aging | University of Houston www.uh.edu/news-events/...

Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words [Erard, Michael] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words

Bye Bye I Love You hardcovers are still 38% off the cover price on Amazon.

This book will tell you about four different approaches in the world's cultures to first words and is the first linguistic take on last words and language at the end of life. Really!

bit.ly/4s21RW3

[insert thinkpiece about the subtle social changes arising from having to sit and charge your EV on long trips about here]

Can’t beat that campaign transparency….

This country still has surprises: just saw a guy on a bike pulling a trailer with a campaign ad for himself aboard. (It’s municipal election time in Maastricht.)

#ScholarSunday Thread 266 (3/8/26) – Black and White and Read All Over Not ready to emerge into the "daylight" yet? Check out my super-sized 266th #ScholarSunday thread, chock-full o’ public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add mor...

Not ready to emerge into the “daylight” yet? Check out my super-sized 266th #ScholarSunday thread, chock-full o’ public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ +

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

WHAT

Kill Your Chatbot (Thomas Aquinas) by Daniel Mitsui | Redbubble There have been some inventions also which have been able for the utterance of articulate sounds, as the speaking of certain words… Such was the brazen head made by Fryer Bacon, and that statue in the...

Daniel Mitsui has created merch based on the story of St Thomas Aquinas destroying an artificial talking bronze head created by Albert the Great. St Thomas the Botslayer, pray for us www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/1789...

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

God, it is crushing to read this. We all knew these decisions were made recklessly but to see it all laid out in black and white? 😭

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

I blame the literary agents. 15% of an advance for an 80k word book > 15% of an advance for a 40k word book, and as the reading market contracts, the agents need their 15% to be as big as possible

signed, writer who can't sell a 35k nonfiction book

A screenshot of the article title: Reframing oxytocin as a behavioral flexibility hormone

Scientific claims in biobehavioral oxytocin research are dependent on a “derivation chain”. Theoretical models are the beginning of this chain, which are dependent on a theoretical core supported by auxiliary hypotheses. Efforts to improve biobehavioral oxytocin research have tended to focus on auxiliary hypotheses related to experimental models (e.g., improving oxytocin delivery to the brain, polygenic approaches for genetics studies), and statistical auxiliary hypothesis (e.g., appropriate sample sizes for research). However, even if these issues are addressed, a poorly specified theoretical core (and associated auxiliary hypothesis) can lead to unreliable scientific claims

Oxytocin is typically described as a "social" hormone. In our new article, we propose that it should instead be viewed a hormone that modulates behavioral flexibility

doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds Researchers identify sharp rise to about 0.35C every decade, after excluding natural fluctuations such as El Niño

It doesn’t matter whether the rate of global warming is increasing. It’ll never cease to amaze me that people don’t care that it’s happening at all. It should be the most alarming thing ever.

Good morning asymmetric information battlespace!!

Oh, and Jesus isn't coming back. Sorry.

Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words [Erard, Michael] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words

yes, it's an oligarch website, but I thought I should mention that hardcovers of Bye Bye I Love You are on sale there for US$20

www.amazon.com/Bye-Love-You...

And If you’re a company doing this without permission, then fuuuuck you

bsky.app/profile/mile...

Aerial view of five rows of graves being prepared by people and digging equipment, with vehicles on the left side.

Once you see this image as a grim American flag you cannot unsee it.

The Second Skeleton Museums construct knowledge by constructing objects—literally.

"I saw a specimen of science and the natural world, of course, but I also saw a beautiful object constructed, created, by people—by paleontologists, museum curators, engineers, and welders."

On the bright side, a cold email to an editor returned a very nice comment about Babel No More

Murphy has a law and now Kennedy does too