February 14, 2025

spencergreenhalgh.com posts digest for Feb 14 2025

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Here are long-form blog posts I published this week:

• watching Star Trek: Lower Decks

• the purpose of research isn't to fund universities

• in criticism of Microsoft Outlook Reactions

Here are microblog posts that I published this week:

• Tea steeping times should always be printed in digits (“4 minutes” not “four minutes”) so that I can scan for digits on the tin instead of having to read through words.

• (Now that I think about it, scanning for digits in a wall of tea tin text is like the brain’s natural regex, and I think that’s beautiful.)

• Me, all of December: “Next semester, I have a course release and a once-a-week evening class. I’m going to get so much research done during the day!” Me, on February 7th: “Wow, it’s great to finally be getting to research this semester.”

• “Tsk, tsk, tsk, what an uncaring dad I have!”

• Been waiting for this email all day: the University of Kentucky estimates that the NIH limits on indirect funding, if maintained, would cost us $40 million over the next year.

• I’ll say this much: A snow day is a heck of a lot easier when the university (i.e., mom and dad’s employer) also cancels for the day.

• I feel like half of ClassDojo’s business model is “let’s prey on parental anxiety.”

Here are news articles and podcasts I commented on this week:

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Trump’s FBI Pick Kash Patel Took Up to $5M in Stock From Chinese Ecommerce Giant Shein'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Staffer with Elon Musk's DOGE amplified white supremacists online'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'How close is Elon Musk to controlling a nuclear weapon?'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on '[Article] Zuckerberg donations – Alex'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Normalizing Indian Hate Makes Me a Good Father and Husband'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Trump Is Just Threatening to Do Something Stupid as a Terrible Negotiation Tactic'

Here are my reviews of books and other media I consumed this week:

• 📺 tvblog: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ for Star Trek: Lower Decks (Season 1)

• 📺 tvblog: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ for Silo (Season 2)

• 📚 bookblog: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤 for Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible, by Mitri Raheb

• 📚 bookblog: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤 for Joseph Smith and the Mormons, by Noah Van Scriver

• 📚 bookblog: ❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤 for The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy, by David Graeber

If you have thoughts about anything I've posted, feel free to comment directly on my website through Hypothesis or to reply to this email with what you have to say.

Thanks for reading!

Spencer