To get my current driver’s license, I was asked to take off my glasses for the photo and told it had something to do with facial recognition. That terrified me, but my hope is that since I ALWAYS wear my glasses, the software is going to struggle matching me to that photo.

Just made a pact with an academic colleague that we wouldn’t hold back from telling each other that it’s time to retire and make room for new faculty.

This morning, I am remembering the officially Wendy’s-branded tabletop roleplaying game ‘Feast of Legends,’ which is preposterous but also seems like it could work if you really wanted it to.

My parents are hosting (almost) everyone from my big family for Thanksgiving this year. Given growing numbers of food preferences and restrictions among us, I wonder whether we’ll have a big inclusive-but-non-traditional Thursday feast or whether dinner gets balkanized.

The best figure I’ve ever included in a scholarly publication was a screenshot of a joke I made in a tweet and was especially proud of. The screenshot happened to demonstrate a Twitter feature I was trying to explain, which seemed justification enough.

It is fun to see all my neighbors’ Halloween decorations tonight. It is less fun to see how many of them have Ring doorbells capturing my comings and goings.

I am rereading through old FoxTrot comic strips and bookmarking all the tech ones I think I might use in lectures next semester. Wish I’d done this years ago.

Using the Stardew Valley soundtrack as a chores anthem seems to get kiddo more excited (or at least less resentful) about helping out around the house.

I liked the She-Hulk finale, but one thing that’s been irritating me is the way its gimmick reinforces the locking in of content to streaming subscriptions rather than letting people own content. Can you even buy Disney+ stuff on disc?

The fediverse is great and all, but for me, it won’t be complete until there’s a Mormon instance of Mastodon at curelom.social.

Especially proud of kiddo’s growing sense of humor when it involves successful wordplay. Tonight, she went from ‘my legs are wobbly’ to ‘my legs are wallabies,’ and it was great.

Est-ce qu’il est possible de « feuilleter » un document électronique ? Où est-ce que le sens est trop lié à l’expérience physique et non le sens général de vite parcourir un document ?

Kiddo’s response to our complaining that we’re also tired: 🎶‘When you’re a kid you get to sleep, but now you don’t, now you don’t!’ 🎶

I’m taking the lead on the format and details of a small academic organization’s first online conference. I’d love to hear from folks who have attended successful, truly international online academic conferences about what made them work! All advice welcome!

I put in an earbud an hour or two ago so I could listen to music while preparing class readings, and I’m only now realizing that I never hit play.

Cet après-midi, je fais des corrections en écoutant ma collection de musique francophone. Après une quinzaine d’années d’effort, je suis bien content de ce que je peux écouter quand je veux.

It’s my students’ Fall break, which means I’m naturally busier than a normal Monday.

Pretty sure the sermon I heard this morning had undercurrents of British Israelism in it and 😬😬😬

I’ve had a several moments this week where it’s felt okay—and not like failure—to acknowledge that my life and my self don’t match the idealized vision of the future I had when I was younger. I’ve been learnng this lesson for years, but this week has felt like a big step forward.

This morning’s freezing bike commute has me dressing like a double-balaclavad bank robber with a love for fluorescent yellow.

Generally, I discourage my intro to data science students from tackling questions they can’t answer at their level of programming, but sometimes I get so interested in the question that I end up writing the code for them so I can see what they do with it.

Apprendre à reconnaître la voix de Johnny Hallyday, c’était une étape importante dans mon apprentissage de tout ce qui est francophone. Jean-Baptiste Guégan (sa sosie vocale) pose donc problème quand il chante à la radio.

Going through old things and found a letter from my grandfather. It’s all typed except for a signature and a handwritten line at the very top: “All errors, be it spelling, grammar, etc., are fault of computer!!”

Quand j’étudiais le français au lycée, on s’amusait beaucoup à imaginer que tout prénom terminant en « -er » (comme le mien) puisse se conjuguer comme un verbe du 1er groupe—et que le nom Beyoncé était donc un participe passé. C’était tout bête, mais ça faisait marrer.

I think one of the most important things in learning to do research is understanding that it’s a process of argumentation more than a process of discovery.