Marc Kissel
@marckissel.bsky.social
2.4K followers 420 following 450 posts
co-creator of 2 amazing daughters, paleoanthropologist, Assistant professor at AppState in Boone, NC!
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Very cool! Congrats 🎉
For what it is worth, my time as a postdoc in anthropology at Notre Dame was amazing and foundational, and that was before Cara got there. Will be even more wonderful place to work now :)
ICYMI Notre Dame Anthropology will be hiring a post-doc for 2026-2028. This is part of a university-wide initiative to support early career scholars. Deadline is Oct. 31...sorry for late notice.

apply.interfolio.com/171503
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Oh oh oh..

- Decision on your submission
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.
Abstract deadline is today

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In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.
Oh this looks awesome! I was just telling students about your work the other day and I'm excited to read this. Congrats!
Houston Street in Manhattan
What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?
Rubber duck debugging might be the norm, but my students have upgraded to "3D printed axolotl Debugging" in our #Rstats course cause ya gotta embrace whatever joy you can these days (thanks to @jennakissel.bsky.social for realization that w/ 3d printer we could go all in here)
Photo shows nine small axolotl figurines that were 3d printed in pastel colors.
I'm currently watching Stranger Things with my 14 year old and been amused by their use of mouth breather in the show
one thing i noticed is how so many of them are thinking of how they can make things better for others. They truly care and that makes our jobs so worthwhile
1000% this. I teach anthropology and all my classes (for majors and the GenEd courses) are full of students who make me generally excited about teaching and getting to work with them
I'm not sure what's going on, but this year's freshman class is giving me ... what was that word ... hope?

They're energized and excited, they're doing the reading and doing it well, they're asking great questions and offering smart answers too.

Is this just me or are others seeing it?
Hahaha... I guess once my daughter had a day where they had to dress as kids did during a decade *I* lived through I reached a certain point ;)
I'm showing my age here, but it was always a good day when the teacher brought the TV in so we could watch The Voyage of the Mimi!
🏺
If you were hoping to see a teenage Ben Affleck* talking to Dr Peter Reynolds @butserancientfarm.co.uk before the weekend, then don't worry: we've got you covered. 👍

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeJj...
Given everything happening right now, this video is so wonderful. I'm not always sure we deserve dogs but we are definitely lucky to have them in our world
*DOG: “You're finally back! I missed you so much!!”
Workday convo in anthro dept:

Colleague: how's teaching quantitative methods?

Me: well I wasn't allowed to call it "But I was told there's no math in this major" but otherwise going ok. Next week we will discuss if 43 is odd or just different!

Colleague: so you got the dad jokes covered, eh?
Starting my 9th year at Appalachian State!
Homer Simpson at Flander's door. He has just rung the door bell and Flanders has opened the door. Homer says to Flanders "Can't talk now Flanders. I've got a class to teach."
Jenna: ya know, there is always that one short story you read in school that messes with your mind. I remember this one we read...

Me: was it All Summer in a Day?

Jenna: yup

Me: yeah that sticks with you
I don't know but seems like part of a new National Treasure movie with Nicholas Cage trying to steal something......
It has been brought to our attention that some sections of Article 1 are missing from the Constitution Annotated (constitution.congress.gov) website. We’ve learned that this is due to a coding error. We have been working to correct this and expect it to be resolved soon.
Ugh I can only imagine the level you get these days.
I need to look into the "early humans got that drip" theory of human evolution....
"The discovery of Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggests that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier."

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My semester starts Aug 18th so I assume new finds will drop all month to make it harder to finalize syllabus 🤣
Hominins on Sulawesi during the Early Pleistocene - Nature
Early Pleistocene artefacts at Calio suggest that Sulawesi was populated by hominins at around the same time as Flores, if not earlier.
www.nature.com
I keep thinking of this:
Calvin and Hobbes strip. Calvin tells Hobbes he doesn't believe math is a science, but is a religion. Calvin explains the equations are like miracles. You take two numbers, add them together, and you make one new number. No one can say how it happens. You either believe it or you don't. Calvin points to his book and says it's full of things you have to accept on faith. It's a religion. Hobbes says since it's in the public school, no less, Calvin should call a lawyer. Calvin says as a math atheist, he should be excused from this.
Description from Calvin and Hobbes search engine