I went to the polls as soon as they opened. Here in small town America, voting is painless — no lines, no problems, just instant service and quick gratification. However, it did feel a bit grim and unsatisfying. I felt like I’d been sent out to stop a raging, drug-addled hippopotamus with a hatpin, and […]

I am not going to hover over the news tonight. As a distraction, I’m going to talk about evolution on the internet. You’re welcome to join in.

I lived for 8 years under President Ronald Reagan, a shallow, stupid, evil man who wrecked the economy and laughed as gay men, and others, died of AIDS, who made deals with our enemies to get elected, and I said, “at least it can’t get worse than this.” I lived for 8 years under President […]

Remember, pretty does not mean it doesn’t have a savage bite.

If all of us take little steps to deprive billionaires of some of their power, maybe we can eventually make them care about us little people. Here are some simple things that could make them sting a little bit. Obviously, get off Twitter. There’s no excuse anymore — tweeting enables fascists. Unsubscribe from any big, […]

Freethoughtblogs has a podcast coming up on Saturday, at 4pm Central time. Get your injection of liberal tears then! (Actually, we’ll try to talk about productive directions, like how to help the people who will be most hurt by this new administration.)

It was hard to get motivated this morning — Fridays are typically low attendance days in the classroom, and I had worked hard to get today’s topic condensed down into a lot of digestible information (we’re talking about the rediscovery of Mendel, the biometrician and Mendelians arguing with each other). I had a presentation that […]

There is a group of people who monitor deportation flights out of Boeing Field, and other airports. The observation room at Boeing Field offers what is arguably America’s best real-time window into our vast network of privately run deportation flights, a system that has generated troubling reports of passenger mistreatment and in-flight emergencies. … While […]

I’m in the mood for some self-abasement, and also to nod in the general direction of the Xmas season. I’m going to tell you about the most horrible, embarrassing moment of my life so far. Maybe it’ll inspire you to mention your moment of humiliation in the comments to make me feel a little better. […]

A silly speculation: what if you die, go to heaven, and discover that a god had a set of fundamental rules that it didn’t tell anyone about? I was initially sympathetic to the idea that a god would judge you for doing harm to small helpless creatures — I avoid killing insects without cause — […]

I’m not a fan of phys.org — they summarize interesting articles, but it’s too often clear that their writers don’t have a particularly deep understanding of biology. I wonder sometimes if they’re just as bad with physics articles, and I just don’t notice because I’m not a physicist. Anyway, here’s a summary that raised my […]

The rich have a well-funded network that has been poisoning the collective mind of the country, yet somehow they have failed to penetrate my soft, permeable, liberal skull. How could that be? There it is, they targeted “gaming, sports, fitness” thereby completely bypassing all of my interests. Another point not mentioned: have you ever noticed […]

Every year, around this time, as the weather gets colder, we get an influx of mice moving into our house to find refuge. Our cat is useless — she makes a lot of noise, usually in the middle of the night, but she can never deliver the coup de grace. It seems I already have […]

A common sense act has been introduced in congress, HR 926, asking for basic ethical requirements for the Supreme Court. It sounds like something that ought to be in place. This bill makes various changes related to the ethical standards, financial disclosure requirements, and recusal requirements that apply to Supreme Court Justices. Among the changes, […]

I knew it. It’s all Rebecca Watson’s fault that Trump got elected. Who would have thought that a woman asking, “Guys, don’t do that” would trigger a decades-long meltdown in certain man-babies? Also…Rebecca, why are you still on Twitter? You’ve got a Bluesky account, say goodbye to the right-wing propaganda mill.

Professor Dave demolishes Sabine Hossenfelder. I feel that. The topic of my history class last week and this week is about bias in late 19th/early 20th century evolutionary biology, and how we have to be critical and responsible in our assessment of scientific claims. It’s tough, because I’m strongly pro-science (obviously, I hope?) but I […]

The last time I was in Washington, we had cleaned out a lot of my parent’s old stuff, and I was leaving after having booked a real estate agent to sell off the property. There were boxes and bags of miscellaneous papers that were going to be thrown out or destroyed, and I scooped up […]

My experiences in grad school were mostly happy ones, and I credit that to the fact that I was lucky to work with good people. I entered the lab of Charles Kimmel, working on zebrafish neuroscience, and stumbled my way through several projects before Chuck suggested a new one: he recommended that I use a […]

A liberal feminist, Marla Rose, knocked on Nick Fuentes’ door. He reacted by immediately pepper-spraying her, knocking her down, and and stealing her phone. All she did was knock! In a Facebook post, Rose elaborated on her motivations, citing Fuentes’ controversial reputation. “What would you do if a neo-Naz*, white supremacist who called on a […]

In that treasure trove of old documents from my mother, I found this little surprise: she’d also saved one of my extra figures from my research at the University of Oregon, the stuff that led to me working with Judith Eisen. That’s another oldie — Mom must have asked what the heck I was doing […]

Алексей Навальный, 2011 год. Пять цитат из интервью журналу Esquire: — Я очень хорошо помню, как в детстве после концерта «Алисы» подрался с какими-то гопниками, которые приехали, скажем так, обижать неформалов. Больше всего меня тогда поразило, что с концерта вышли тридцать тысяч человек, которые только что кричали «мы вместе», а потом на глазах у этих […]

У нас в Детфорде есть памятник Петру I работы Михаила Шемякина. Как и на многие другие произведения автора, смотреть на него без слез нельзя, но к годовщине российского вторжения неизвестные художники раскрасили скульптуру в цвета украинского флага. Стало, на мой взгляд, лучше. Как говорится, подлецу все к лицу. У этого памятника воообще интересная судьба. Странная […]

Спустя десять лет после того, как я прочитал «Внутреннюю колонизацию», мы наконец развиртуализировались с ее автором, Александром Эткиндом. Он прочитал в лондонском King’s College отличную лекцию про «петро-агрессию» (это когда производитель нефти и газа нападает на соседа, часто — чтобы усилить контроль за транзитом углеводородов). Представляя Александра Марковича, организаторка семинара перечислила несколько его книг, но […]

Заглянул вчера снова в школу славистики UCL. Послушал лекцию аспиранта из Кембриджа Павла Степанова о том, как советские политработники объясняли кинозрителям, что им предстоит увидеть на экране и как правильно следует понимать картину. В конце возникла небольшая дискуссия о том, когда исчезла практика таких ликбезов перед фильмами. Павел сказал, что с распространением звукового кино необходимость […]

Пару недель назад нелегкая судьба научного журналиста занесла меня на викторианскую канализационную станцию на восточной окраине Лондона. Умели все-таки строить промышленные здания: чугунные решетки, огромные окна, красота! Время от времени там запускают паровой двигатель, который обслуживают мужички в котелках — совсем как при бабушке. Чтобы добраться до станции, пришлось сначала ехать на винтажном даблдекере, а […]

Сходил на прошлой неделе в Барбикан на концерт брата и сестры Канне-Мейсон. Брат — виолончелист, сестра — пианистка. Она родилась в 1996 году, он — в 1999‑м. Почувствуйте себя старенькими. Дуэт совершенно прекрасный, Шопен им особенно удался. В первом отделении давали сонату для виолончели и фортепиано Мендельсона и это напомнило мне о кампании «Свободу Мендельсону!», […]

Пару недель назад нелегкая судьба научного журналиста занесла меня в Палату лордов на встречу, посвященную связи жары и здоровья. Спойлер: все плохо, а будет еще хуже. Но вы про это и без меня знаете, расскажу лучше про лорда, который нас там встречал. Виконт Стэнсгейт начал свою речь с признания, что впервые оказался в здании парламента […]

Мало на свете более странных вещей, чем британские парламентские обычаи. Вот три моих любимых: — Члены Палаты лордов на имеют права голосовать на выборах в Палату общин. Хочешь воспользоваться активным избирательным правом — откажись от лордства. — Спикер Палаты общин — надпартийная роль. Член парламента, которого выбирают спикером, должен покинуть свою партию и фракцию. В […]

Минувшее воскресенье стало самым жарким днем на планете как минимум с 1940 года — 21 июля средняя температура достигла 17,09 градусов. Звучит не очень впечатляющее, но ключевое слово здесь «средняя», ведь измерения включают, например, и полярные области. Воскресный рекорд продержался недолго: уже в понедельник средняя температура на Земле поднялась до 17,15 градусов. Это явно не […]

Нелегкая судьба научного журналиста занесла меня недавно в северное крыло госпиталя Сент-Бартс — старейшей больницы Лондона, которая работает на одном и том же месте уже девять веков. Постоянные читатели знают, что я большой фанат строек, поэтому, разумеется, не мог упустить шанс примерить каску, яркий жилет и тяжелые сапоги. Дело в том, что в северном крыле […]

[Winnie] the Poohs [equivalent] to "[Mother Fucking] Shit"

A term used mostly by [ice climbers] to describe the feeling of having your hands go numb only to come back to feeling with [extreme pain]. The terminology coming from when your hands are coming back to feeling you want to scream and [barf] at the same time.

[Scottish] word.......Sweetie-wife: n. [purveyor] of [gossip]. A man who likes to gossip. A man who is in the affairs of women.

[BLOBJECT] Designed object styled by an expired trend of morally turpid purpose. FORM-OVER-FUNCTION-and-PURPOSE. [Endemic] if not emblematic of the Bush/[Chenney] era of 'Bubble' economies and baseless wars. This style came about without deep reazoning, solely because it could by way of technology. Conceived under the false and misguided [precept] that "design could bring stories to life". Characterized by the advent of faster rendering and 3D applications which allowed to execute visions of the 50's [modernity], except with out the inherent reasoning that makes timeless useful classics and trully beautiful objects. Like a bubble, this style has gone bust. [Blobject] also invokes the bloated state of our environment whence humans keep on gorging on superficially conceived stuff and piling that useless stuff on top of useless stuff. Blobjects upon blobjects..

[Hesher] can be generally described as a grungy, long-haired person with a "still stuck in the '80s" image. Usually seen wearing leather motorcycle or [denim jacket] full of band patches, torn acid-washed jeans and an '80s rock t-shirt. Likes to listen to some heavy metal tunes while riding an old [school van]. Charactirized by an outlaw attitude, probably drinks alcohol and smokes weed. Similar in appearance to a thrasher.

When someone becomes [irritated], angry, or [cranky] when they haven't [eaten] and are hungry.

N., "a person whose judgments about what is good, [fashionable], etc., are [accepted] and [followed] by many other people", i.e., an asshole.

Through March 31st, the audiobook edition of The Law is 80% off on Audible!

Jim’s collaborating with Plus5Armory to create live, steel sharp versions of the Swords. It’s still early days so I don’t have any more information than that. If you watch their Facebook or Instagram, you’ll see … Continue reading "Get Your Own Sword of the Cross!"

Hello everyone!I would like to formally introduce myself. My name is Kavi, and I shall be slowly taking over content management for Jim-Butcher.com and its social media channels from Angie. … Continue reading "Greetings!"

We’re excited to let you know that Warriorborn has been selected for a Kindle Deal on amazon.co.uk starting 3/18/2024 and ending 3/18/2024. During this time the ebook will be £0.99!

Get it for $2.99 today!

Jim will sadly be unable to attend Norwescon this weekend as perviously scheduled. He sends his best to the attendees and convention and looks forward to seeing fans at future … Continue reading "Norwescon Update!"

Check out Grim Oak Press for Fool Moon limited editions!

Jim will be at Chicago Steampunk Exposition April 12th-14th! Tickets are available on Chicago Steampunk Exposition’s website. Please see their website for schedules and for any changes in times or location.

Jim will be attending Comicpalooza May 24th-26th in Houston Texas! Tickets are available on Comicpalooza’s website. For schedules and for any changes in times or location, please visit their website.

Jim will be attending Hal-Con this November 8th-10th in Halifax, Nova Scotia! For tickets, head to Hal-Con.com. Please visit their website for all information about schedules and events.

Gay couple Oscar and Xavier donate blood for the first time after rules change across most of the UK.

Seaweed production has been affected by warming seas – this is how farmers are adapting.