![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/screenshot-2026-09-28-at-10.21.17-am.png\")
George Saunders (yeah, I'm breaking my vow, but this is too funny not to quote):
\n\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/19/george-saunders-yeah-im-breaking.html","date_published":"2026-10-19T13:16:17+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"13:16","date_timestamp":1792415777,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99493019","content_html":"Think of it this way: there’s plenty to do, right now, with just these minds we’ve been given: fight our anxiety, temper our cruelty, foster loving-kindness, try to figure out just what a mind is and what sort of trap it’s making for us in every moment. (Or: learn to skate, make a better omelet, play Bach, etc.) These things make up the (honorable, pleasurable) work of a lifetime. In what way does AI make life better, really? And for whom? In the end, will AI be there to guide us across to the other side and soothe our...
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How LEGO Engineered the Perfect Plaything
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![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/img-0164-m.jpg\")
The pre-dawn walk with Angus is one of the best times of my day, especially as I usually listen to the Church of England’s service of Morning Prayer as we walk. This morning’s service was especially lovely.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/19/the-predawn-walk-with-angus.html","date_published":"2026-10-19T12:30:02+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"12:30","date_timestamp":1792413002,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99492090","content_html":"![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/f5742389f1-m.jpg\")
Yesterday evening as I was setting the table I experienced The Transfiguration of the Watermelon.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/19/yesterday-evening-as-i-was.html","date_published":"2026-10-19T12:23:52+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"12:23","date_timestamp":1792412632,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99471406","content_html":"![](\"https://micro.blog/photos/100x/https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Fw154%2FtgNjemQPG96uIezpiUiXFcer5ga.jpg\")
Watched: High and Low — for the third time. An absolutely bonkers and absolutely brilliant movie, profoundly influential on everything from Schindler’s List to modern heist movies to any number of animes. 🍿
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/18/watched-high-and-low-for.html","date_published":"2026-10-19T02:15:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-19 02:15","date_timestamp":1792376123,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99449445","content_html":"![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9780821258224/cover.jpg\")
\nCurrently contemplating: Portfolios of Ansel Adams by Ansel Adams, John Szarkowski. I bought this book in 1982, but this is the first time I’m going through it systematically and very slowly. 📚
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/18/currently-contemplating-portfolios-of-ansel.html","date_published":"2026-10-18T15:01:53+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-18 15:01","date_timestamp":1792335713,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99446282","content_html":"\nAnsel Adams, Moon and Half Dome (1960). Larger version here, and you have to see the larger version. It’s worth remembering that, as Louise Story wrote some years ago, “Yosemite does not often appear as it did at the moments Adams tripped his shutter. Nor is it easy to stand where he stood and capture the...
social.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/18/ansel-adams-moon-and-half.html","date_published":"2026-10-18T13:52:16+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-18 13:52","date_timestamp":1792331536,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99445285","content_html":"\n\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/18/phil-christman-when-i-finish.html","date_published":"2026-10-18T13:23:25+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-18 13:23","date_timestamp":1792329805,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99445219","content_html":"When I finish reading James on Spencer, as when I finish reading Robinson or David Bentley Hart on Dawkins or Tallis on Dennett or Midgley on everybody, I appreciate again the infinite variety of consciousness, the plurality of its ends. Its excessiveness.
\nAnd James's last point reminds me why people like Hart and Robinson and Tallis and Midgley keep having to do this over and over again: it's about desire. Some people want the mind to be a machine, and they will jerry-rig the worst arguments together in order to have it so, and they will patch those arguments as many times as they...
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Walking Angus this morning we passed a house with an enormous murder of crows on it, maybe thirty or forty of them, all cawing as loudly as possible. I remembered E. B. White’s poem:
\n\n\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/18/walking-angus-this-morning-we.html","date_published":"2026-10-18T13:20:35+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-18 13:20","date_timestamp":1792329635,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99444666","content_html":"In their assemblies at the edge of town,
\n
\nCrows introduce resolutions, then vote them down.
\nHow many times in summer, waked early by the mosquito,
\nHave I lain listening to the crow’s loud veto!
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/img-0158-m.jpg\")
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/18/080346.html","date_published":"2026-10-18T13:03:46+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-18 13:03","date_timestamp":1792328626,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99414392","content_html":"\n\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/17/david-hume-the-separation-of.html","date_published":"2026-10-17T20:37:01+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-17 20:37","date_timestamp":1792269421,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99396394","content_html":"The Separation of the Learned from the conversible World seems to have been the great Defect of the last Age, and must have had a very bad Influence both on Books and Company: For what Possibility is there of finding Topics of Conversation fit for the Entertainment of rational Creatures, without having Recourse sometimes to History, Poetry, Politics, and the more obvious Principles, at least, of Philosophy? Must our whole Discourse be a continued Series of gossipping Stories and idle Remarks? Must the Mind never rise higher, but be perpetually “Stun'd and worn out with endless Chat / Of...
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![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9780062089236/cover.jpg\")
Currently reading: Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America by Douglas Brinkley. 📚 Brinkley reports that one Civilian Conservation Corps company in New Mexico had a newsletter called The Woodpecker in which this psalm was featured:
\n\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/17/currently-reading-rightful-heritage-franklin.html","date_published":"2026-10-17T13:42:46+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-17 13:42","date_timestamp":1792244566,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99393044","content_html":"Roosevelt is my shepherd, I shall not want;
\n
\nHe maketh me lie down on straw mattresses,
\nhe leadeth me inside a mess hall,
\nhe restoreth to me a job.
\nHe leadeth me in the paths of reforestation for his country’s sake.
\nYea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of poison oak and ivy,
\nI will fear no evil, for he is for me.
\nHis blankets and...
![\"55509300747](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/55509300747-7b6a66d34c-c-m.jpg\")
![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9780198800538/cover.jpg\")
\nCurrently reading: Anna Karenina, for the first time in some years. Endless joys here, and I’m reminded that there’s a certain kind of scene that Tolstoy does uniquely, and wonderfully. Here, for instance, a dinner party at which Levin finds himself encountering Kitty, who some months earlier had rejected his proposal of marriage. Several of the others are discussing Issues of the Day, especially the education of women, but Levin and Kitty are absorbed in a tête-à-tête, and Levin’s heart is not-so-strangely warmed. He tells Kitty about having seen her in a coach.
\n\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/16/currently-reading-anna-karenina-for.html","date_published":"2026-10-16T15:31:12+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-16 15:31","date_timestamp":1792164672,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99343336","content_html":"‘Wasn’t I all dishevelled?’ she...
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Lionel Trilling (1963):
\n\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/16/lionel-trilling-how-far-from.html","date_published":"2026-10-16T15:17:14+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-16 15:17","date_timestamp":1792163834,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99303220","content_html":"How far from our imagination is the idea of “peace” as the crown of spiritual struggle! The idea of bliss is even further removed. The two words propose to us a state of virtually infantile passivity which is the negation of the \"more life\" that we crave, the \"more life\" of spiritual militancy. We dread Eden, and of all the Christian concepts there is none which we understand so well as the felix culpa and the \"fortunate fall\"; not, of course, for the reason on which these Christian paradoxes were based, but because by means of sin and the fall we managed to get ourselves...
\n
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/courtofhonor-m.jpg\")
The Court of Honor, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 (Photograph by C. D. Arnold)
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/15/the-court-of-honor-photograph.html","date_published":"2026-10-15T22:31:22+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-15 22:31","date_timestamp":1792103482,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99302371","content_html":"![\"1904](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/1904-1910-c01259-int.png-m.jpg\")
The Franke Reading Room at the Art Institute of Chicago
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/15/the-franke-reading-room-at.html","date_published":"2026-10-15T22:29:30+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-15 22:29","date_timestamp":1792103370,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99302213","content_html":"The CGI in The Magician’s Nephew, as we see it in the trailer, makes the movie look like an ad for Skittles.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/15/the-cgi-in-the-magicians.html","date_published":"2026-10-15T22:23:16+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-15 22:23","date_timestamp":1792102996,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99302186","content_html":"This Leo Robson essay on Ralph Ellison is the single dumbest thing I have ever read in the LRB. Only a radically tone-deaf reader could make an assessment this triumphantly condescending: “Invisible Man, for all its intricacies and coiled ironies, has an element of stridency, and Ellison’s pronouncements...
social.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/15/this-leo-robson-essay-on.html","date_published":"2026-10-15T22:22:24+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-15 22:22","date_timestamp":1792102944,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99272696","content_html":"\n\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/15/middlemarch-dorotheas-impetuous-generosity-which.html","date_published":"2026-10-15T12:23:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-15 12:23","date_timestamp":1792066980,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99270316","content_html":"\nDorothea’s impetuous generosity, which would have leaped at once to the vindication of Lydgate from the suspicion of having accepted money as a bribe, underwent a melancholy check when she came to consider all the circumstances of the case by the light of Mr. Farebrother’s experience.
\n“It is a delicate matter to touch,” he said. “How can we begin to inquire into it? It must be either publicly by setting the magistrate and coroner to work, or privately by questioning Lydgate. As to the first proceeding there is no solid ground to go upon, else Hawley would have adopted it; and as to...
\n
\nsocial.ayjay.org","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/15/philip-jenkins-as-i-remarked.html","date_published":"2026-10-15T11:21:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-15 11:21","date_timestamp":1792063316,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99270192","content_html":"As I remarked, my current work concerns the development of folk horror, and in that process, the whole Margaret Murray phenomenon is critical. Crucially, the theory (which endured powerfully into the 1970s) allowed modern writers to imagine ancient pagan cults surviving today, and entrapping unwary urban visitors. Whatever he actually intended, Robert Kirk offered a superb manual for such literature, with his entrancing portrait of those fairies in the adjacent realm, into which modern people could easily slip. Adding witchcraft to the mix created a very tempting brew indeed. Kirk...
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![\"\"](\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/404/2026/img-0108-m.jpg\")
Hi.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/15/hi.html","date_published":"2026-10-15T11:19:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-15 11:19","date_timestamp":1792063140,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99183859","content_html":"PSA: I will post nothing further about AGI/machine learning. I will read nothing further on the topic (and am purging my RSS feed accordingly). I have other and better things on my mind and heart.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/13/psa-i-will-post-nothing.html","date_published":"2026-10-14T01:47:15+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-14 01:47","date_timestamp":1791942435,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99148084","content_html":"![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9780141439549/cover.jpg\")
\nFinished reading: Middlemarch by George Eliot — for maybe the twelfth time. As I grow older and older, it grows greater and greater. 📚
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/13/finished-reading-middlemarch-by-george.html","date_published":"2026-10-13T12:33:47+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-13 12:33","date_timestamp":1791894827,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"99147582","content_html":"Ring Rhyme in Latin - by Adam Roberts: “In terra Mordoris tenebrosissima” is especially fine.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.ayjay.org/2026/10/13/ring-rhyme-in-latin-by.html","date_published":"2026-10-13T12:21:09+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-13 12:21","date_timestamp":1791894069,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"98886971","content_html":"@wcaleb One of my last-year-of-teaching thoughts this summer was “Oh wow, I’m using the Syllabus Maker for the last time.” 😢
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/98886971","date_published":"2026-10-08T17:24:19+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-08 17:24","date_timestamp":1791480259,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"98720263","content_html":"@manton For us users there will be a powerful prejudice in favor of developers we know to be legitimate and serious. The people I feel worst for are new developers who are not peddling slop — they’ll be impossible to find and if you find them difficult to trust.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/98720263","date_published":"2026-10-05T23:11:11+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-05 23:11","date_timestamp":1791241871,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"98596681","content_html":"\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/98596681","date_published":"2026-10-03T12:02:54+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-10-03 12:02","date_timestamp":1791028974,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"98427865","content_html":"@frjonjordan Honestly, I expect no punishment at all. My guess is that City will just keep appealing and filing lawsuits – they have bottomless pockets, after all – until finally the whole thing just fades away.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/98427865","date_published":"2026-09-30T14:23:12+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-30 14:23","date_timestamp":1790778192,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"98310992","content_html":"@KevinHoltsberry Her best novel is The Nine Tailors, so it’s tempting to name that one as the starting point, but it’s unusual in several respects, so I would probably say Strong Poison (the first novel that introduces Harriet Vane alongside Lord Peter).
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/98310992","date_published":"2026-09-28T14:26:21+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-28 14:26","date_timestamp":1790605581,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"98309823","content_html":"@KevinHoltsberry That would depend on whether you’re interested in detective fiction, theology, drama, literary criticism, or medieval poetry!
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/98309823","date_published":"2026-09-28T13:56:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-28 13:56","date_timestamp":1790603783,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"98005353","content_html":"@patrickrhone I’ll be saying that in two months.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/98005353","date_published":"2026-09-23T02:24:16+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-23 02:24","date_timestamp":1790130256,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"97837932","content_html":"@patrickrhone My favorite iPod ever.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/97837932","date_published":"2026-09-19T23:47:33+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-19 23:47","date_timestamp":1789861653,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"97755413","content_html":"@wcaleb Time is a flat circle.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/97755413","date_published":"2026-09-18T12:13:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-18 12:13","date_timestamp":1789733617,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"97651718","content_html":"@adampalm Maybe something like that? I’ll have time at the end of the semester to do some serious thinking about it.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/97651718","date_published":"2026-09-16T18:42:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-16 18:42","date_timestamp":1789584124,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"97516755","content_html":"@philbowell I guess I’m thinking they’re fine where they are?
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/97516755","date_published":"2026-09-14T13:45:57+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-14 13:45","date_timestamp":1789393557,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"97363358","content_html":"@ablerism I’m sure these old memories are very strong today.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/97363358","date_published":"2026-09-11T14:38:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-11 14:38","date_timestamp":1789137536,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"97360160","content_html":"@manton Just one small data point, but: Here in Waco I have seen dozens and dozens of Talarico signs in yards, and not a single Paxton sign. Zilch. That doesn’t mean that people here won’t vote for him, but he has no enthusiasts; no one even likes him. It’ll be a hold-your-nose vote, and that’s not going to bring people out.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/97360160","date_published":"2026-09-11T13:32:03+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-11 13:32","date_timestamp":1789133523,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96780457","content_html":"@Miraz The live oaks all over campus are old and enormous — I never get tired of looking at them.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96780457","date_published":"2026-09-01T18:36:35+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-01 18:36","date_timestamp":1788287795,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96780381","content_html":"@bloftin2 Here’s hoping they’ll be friends to several more generations.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96780381","date_published":"2026-09-01T18:35:52+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-01 18:35","date_timestamp":1788287752,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96739887","content_html":"@ablerism And sometimes, as Austin K likes to say, “It’s not for me.” Which is fine. You can watch and enjoy Saul without knowing anything about BB, but if you know BB it is deeper.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96739887","date_published":"2026-09-01T01:44:14+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-09-01 01:44","date_timestamp":1788227054,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96729638","content_html":"@ablerism That would help, but since Breaking Bad is the best TV program in history, it would be no punishment.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96729638","date_published":"2026-08-31T21:53:16+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-31 21:53","date_timestamp":1788213196,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96623547","content_html":"@mwerickson Each of us has to discern his or her own calling, but FWIW, I am here to show people the wonderful resources for thinking and living that are available through (a) things that are not online at all and (b) things that are online but obscure and not in any way part of The Discourse. My constraint is that I will not participate in any social media platform to do this – people have to find me on the open web only. Once I realized that participating in The Discourse in any form whatsoever is a betrayal of my calling, I gained real and really-God-given peace. Again: FWIW.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96623547","date_published":"2026-08-29T20:05:01+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-29 20:05","date_timestamp":1788033901,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96558088","content_html":"@manton It shouldn’t bother me as much as it does!
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96558088","date_published":"2026-08-28T15:45:40+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-28 15:45","date_timestamp":1787931940,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96558080","content_html":"@mbattles I’m making central Texas great again!
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96558080","date_published":"2026-08-28T15:45:27+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-28 15:45","date_timestamp":1787931927,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"96206709","content_html":"@patrickrhone Maybe worth a try! (Though that’s not my preferred way to listen to music.) l’ve got a feeling that the sonic elements that are painful to me are just what the band wants to create.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/96206709","date_published":"2026-08-22T11:53:46+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-22 11:53","date_timestamp":1787399626,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95765065","content_html":"@manton I would absolutely try this … if Marco did customer support. Seems like too big a risk in the circumstances. Also: Fingers crossed for Wavelength.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/95765065","date_published":"2026-08-14T14:41:25+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 14:41","date_timestamp":1786718485,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95646385","content_html":"@wcaleb @manton Also, I assume that when someone does a Google search and interacts in any way with the Gemini response at the top of the search results, Google counts that as using Gemini.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/95646385","date_published":"2026-08-12T15:49:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-12 15:49","date_timestamp":1786549740,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94925220","content_html":"@dancohen Ack, I didn’t clock that, though I should have. Trouble on all sides!
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/94925220","date_published":"2026-07-30T17:42:10+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-30 17:42","date_timestamp":1785433330,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94805665","content_html":"@manton Same. But I can see millions of people choosing to sweat rather than live without TikTok for a day.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ayjay/94805665","date_published":"2026-07-28T18:06:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Alan Jacobs ","url":"https://ayjay.org","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2022%2F650.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ayjay"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 18:06","date_timestamp":1785261997,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"edit_url":null,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}}]}![here](\"https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/NYR/2019_NYR_19148_0011_001(ansel_adams_moon_and_half_dome_yosemite_national_park_california_1960).jpg\"){kind=link}