Dr. Blair Stein
@blairstein.bsky.social
Historian of technologies, environments, and modernities. Book: “North Stars in Modern Skies” under contract with MQUP. Canadian living in western MI. Cool dog aunt to Slugger.
my LMS grading platform keeps autocorrecting “academic writing” to “academic writhing”
fair enough
fair enough
November 11, 2025 at 12:56 AM
my LMS grading platform keeps autocorrecting “academic writing” to “academic writhing”
fair enough
fair enough
overheard between two women in a college restroom:
“[boyfriend and friend] dressed up as Tyler Durden and the Narrator from Fight Club.”
“I’ve never seen that. I’ve heard of it!”
“Yeah, I don’t know either.”
…ah, Fight Club. Giving college-age men the wrong idea since 1999.
“[boyfriend and friend] dressed up as Tyler Durden and the Narrator from Fight Club.”
“I’ve never seen that. I’ve heard of it!”
“Yeah, I don’t know either.”
…ah, Fight Club. Giving college-age men the wrong idea since 1999.
November 4, 2025 at 12:02 AM
overheard between two women in a college restroom:
“[boyfriend and friend] dressed up as Tyler Durden and the Narrator from Fight Club.”
“I’ve never seen that. I’ve heard of it!”
“Yeah, I don’t know either.”
…ah, Fight Club. Giving college-age men the wrong idea since 1999.
“[boyfriend and friend] dressed up as Tyler Durden and the Narrator from Fight Club.”
“I’ve never seen that. I’ve heard of it!”
“Yeah, I don’t know either.”
…ah, Fight Club. Giving college-age men the wrong idea since 1999.
do NOT bring my beloved Ladies into this
(ok but actually incredible though)
(ok but actually incredible though)
🎶I'm the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can't understand what I mean? Well, you soon will
I have a tendency to wear my Totenkopf on my sleeve
I have a history of taking off my shirt🎶
Can't understand what I mean? Well, you soon will
I have a tendency to wear my Totenkopf on my sleeve
I have a history of taking off my shirt🎶
October 22, 2025 at 1:48 AM
do NOT bring my beloved Ladies into this
(ok but actually incredible though)
(ok but actually incredible though)
See, in the game show it wasn’t actually Carmen herself. It would be, like, Vic the Slick or Patty Larceny or those weird twins or whomever.
October 19, 2025 at 8:29 PM
See, in the game show it wasn’t actually Carmen herself. It would be, like, Vic the Slick or Patty Larceny or those weird twins or whomever.
I don’t pretend to know anything beyond the Wikipedia basics about Adriano Celentano, but he brought us this, so
October 14, 2025 at 2:25 AM
I don’t pretend to know anything beyond the Wikipedia basics about Adriano Celentano, but he brought us this, so
My niece turned 2 this weekend. Her favorite thing in the world is Shrek, and so I threw her a Shrek-themed party (mostly for all the millennial parents).
I love making things for people. Here’s what I made. First, this banner for them to hang on the front door. It’s tapestry crochet!
I love making things for people. Here’s what I made. First, this banner for them to hang on the front door. It’s tapestry crochet!
October 12, 2025 at 12:47 AM
My niece turned 2 this weekend. Her favorite thing in the world is Shrek, and so I threw her a Shrek-themed party (mostly for all the millennial parents).
I love making things for people. Here’s what I made. First, this banner for them to hang on the front door. It’s tapestry crochet!
I love making things for people. Here’s what I made. First, this banner for them to hang on the front door. It’s tapestry crochet!
I have two, both childhood foods of my dad:
Montreal bagel, margarine, and a slab of halva, as a sandwich (vaguely understandable, since halva is basically sesame-based fudge)
Kraft Dinner with cinnamon sugar on it (absolutely baffling, do not know the origins of this, eat for nostalgia only)
Montreal bagel, margarine, and a slab of halva, as a sandwich (vaguely understandable, since halva is basically sesame-based fudge)
Kraft Dinner with cinnamon sugar on it (absolutely baffling, do not know the origins of this, eat for nostalgia only)
What foods do you love that you fully acknowledge make you a pervert for loving them?
October 7, 2025 at 3:15 AM
I have two, both childhood foods of my dad:
Montreal bagel, margarine, and a slab of halva, as a sandwich (vaguely understandable, since halva is basically sesame-based fudge)
Kraft Dinner with cinnamon sugar on it (absolutely baffling, do not know the origins of this, eat for nostalgia only)
Montreal bagel, margarine, and a slab of halva, as a sandwich (vaguely understandable, since halva is basically sesame-based fudge)
Kraft Dinner with cinnamon sugar on it (absolutely baffling, do not know the origins of this, eat for nostalgia only)
Go to the doctor.
Go to the mountains. Look to the children. Drink from the fountains.
Go to the mountains. Look to the children. Drink from the fountains.
Those who are 35+, what advice do you have for people just entering their 30s?
October 6, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Go to the doctor.
Go to the mountains. Look to the children. Drink from the fountains.
Go to the mountains. Look to the children. Drink from the fountains.
“Canada has never had a president,” I tell a group of students learning about the many ways that federal governments have intervened in telecommunications and transportation infrastructure
“HOLY SHIT, NEVER?!” gasps one of my beloved first-year engineers who basically never says anything
“HOLY SHIT, NEVER?!” gasps one of my beloved first-year engineers who basically never says anything
October 2, 2025 at 8:34 PM
“Canada has never had a president,” I tell a group of students learning about the many ways that federal governments have intervened in telecommunications and transportation infrastructure
“HOLY SHIT, NEVER?!” gasps one of my beloved first-year engineers who basically never says anything
“HOLY SHIT, NEVER?!” gasps one of my beloved first-year engineers who basically never says anything
We all know that being an adult is realizing that Benny isn’t the villain in RENT. Those guys should have paid their rent or whatever.
Being an *academic* is realizing that Tom Collins was expelled from a job at MIT for being an anarchist and immediately got another one at NYU somehow.
Being an *academic* is realizing that Tom Collins was expelled from a job at MIT for being an anarchist and immediately got another one at NYU somehow.
October 2, 2025 at 12:24 AM
We all know that being an adult is realizing that Benny isn’t the villain in RENT. Those guys should have paid their rent or whatever.
Being an *academic* is realizing that Tom Collins was expelled from a job at MIT for being an anarchist and immediately got another one at NYU somehow.
Being an *academic* is realizing that Tom Collins was expelled from a job at MIT for being an anarchist and immediately got another one at NYU somehow.
there could not be a better metaphor
In food history, we notice how super-refined foods--gelatin, vienna sausage, white bread--lose class and become horrifying once they become industrialized. Suddenly, fingermarks in bread dough demonstrate skill, not clumsiness.
Post-chatGPT, I'm feeling this about writing. Smoothness feels gross.
Post-chatGPT, I'm feeling this about writing. Smoothness feels gross.
October 1, 2025 at 5:34 AM
there could not be a better metaphor
My aviation history course next winter is about to be LIT
Trump says he’s ordering the release of all government records on Amelia Earhart.
September 26, 2025 at 11:18 PM
My aviation history course next winter is about to be LIT
it’s the 1958 airline sandwich wars for me
September 25, 2025 at 1:07 AM
it’s the 1958 airline sandwich wars for me
unreleased production still from the second Wicked movie
Someone was trying to take a portrait of their two fave Chickens, and this happened.
September 21, 2025 at 3:00 AM
unreleased production still from the second Wicked movie
every Tamora Pierce book series
i think every girl should be issued an obedient murder of crows upon reaching the age of 12
September 20, 2025 at 12:49 AM
every Tamora Pierce book series
love to announce that I’m obese at a Walgreens so they’ll give me a covid shot
(yes yes I know “obese” isn’t a bad word and BMI is bunk I’m an Aubrey Gordon fan etc. it’s just hard to unlearn three decades of diet culture while in line at this walgreens)
(yes yes I know “obese” isn’t a bad word and BMI is bunk I’m an Aubrey Gordon fan etc. it’s just hard to unlearn three decades of diet culture while in line at this walgreens)
September 19, 2025 at 10:08 PM
love to announce that I’m obese at a Walgreens so they’ll give me a covid shot
(yes yes I know “obese” isn’t a bad word and BMI is bunk I’m an Aubrey Gordon fan etc. it’s just hard to unlearn three decades of diet culture while in line at this walgreens)
(yes yes I know “obese” isn’t a bad word and BMI is bunk I’m an Aubrey Gordon fan etc. it’s just hard to unlearn three decades of diet culture while in line at this walgreens)
Reposted by Dr. Blair Stein
My parents got their windows replaced yesterday and my mom kept sending me pictures of Slugger desperately trying to take his usual midmorning sunbeam naps while it was happening.
September 18, 2025 at 5:28 AM
My parents got their windows replaced yesterday and my mom kept sending me pictures of Slugger desperately trying to take his usual midmorning sunbeam naps while it was happening.
My parents got their windows replaced yesterday and my mom kept sending me pictures of Slugger desperately trying to take his usual midmorning sunbeam naps while it was happening.
September 18, 2025 at 5:28 AM
My parents got their windows replaced yesterday and my mom kept sending me pictures of Slugger desperately trying to take his usual midmorning sunbeam naps while it was happening.
eyebrows, yelling, and combover
sounds about right
sounds about right
September 14, 2025 at 4:12 AM
eyebrows, yelling, and combover
sounds about right
sounds about right
This got buried in the torrent of Wednesday’s…news…but I’m so jazzed about this piece.
Have you ever met a brilliant colleague and realized “I’ve got to tell the world about this! Why isn’t everyone thinking this way about this stuff?”
@tierneyspowell.bsky.social is that brilliant colleague
Have you ever met a brilliant colleague and realized “I’ve got to tell the world about this! Why isn’t everyone thinking this way about this stuff?”
@tierneyspowell.bsky.social is that brilliant colleague
Today we have "On the Waterfront: Mapping Logistical Contagion as Environmental Crisis in HBO’s Station Eleven" by @tierneyspowell.bsky.social
Station Eleven reframes contagion as infrastructural collapse, exposing ecological and logistical fragility.
niche-canada.org/2025/09/10/o...
#envhum
Station Eleven reframes contagion as infrastructural collapse, exposing ecological and logistical fragility.
niche-canada.org/2025/09/10/o...
#envhum
On the Waterfront: Mapping Logistical Contagion as Environmental Crisis in HBO’s Station Eleven
Station Eleven reframes contagion as infrastructural collapse, exposing ecological and logistical fragility.
niche-canada.org
September 12, 2025 at 6:49 PM
This got buried in the torrent of Wednesday’s…news…but I’m so jazzed about this piece.
Have you ever met a brilliant colleague and realized “I’ve got to tell the world about this! Why isn’t everyone thinking this way about this stuff?”
@tierneyspowell.bsky.social is that brilliant colleague
Have you ever met a brilliant colleague and realized “I’ve got to tell the world about this! Why isn’t everyone thinking this way about this stuff?”
@tierneyspowell.bsky.social is that brilliant colleague
It’s a “three loose hot dogs, cucumber slices, and handfuls of shredded cheese from the bag” kind of night.
you know, ~*wake-of-a-galvanizing-news-story girl dinner*~
you know, ~*wake-of-a-galvanizing-news-story girl dinner*~
September 11, 2025 at 12:32 AM
It’s a “three loose hot dogs, cucumber slices, and handfuls of shredded cheese from the bag” kind of night.
you know, ~*wake-of-a-galvanizing-news-story girl dinner*~
you know, ~*wake-of-a-galvanizing-news-story girl dinner*~
she’s a girl’s girl
VENUS
a mini comic about girls night uniting us all
1/2
a mini comic about girls night uniting us all
1/2
September 7, 2025 at 5:39 PM
she’s a girl’s girl
I just finished the list of artifacts for the “virtual museum” my scientific revolution class (in lowercase—they can force the syllabus-of-record course title but I will take away its power by removing the capitals) is “curating” and there are some BANGERS.
Watch this space in a couple months!
Watch this space in a couple months!
September 6, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I just finished the list of artifacts for the “virtual museum” my scientific revolution class (in lowercase—they can force the syllabus-of-record course title but I will take away its power by removing the capitals) is “curating” and there are some BANGERS.
Watch this space in a couple months!
Watch this space in a couple months!
When I worked at the aerospace museum we had a lot of old guy veteran volunteers. One of them was named Art, and whenever anyone would ask how he was he’d say
“I’m vertical and ventilating!”
Art also had one of those awooga horns on his walker and would honk it at the women educators, so
“I’m vertical and ventilating!”
Art also had one of those awooga horns on his walker and would honk it at the women educators, so
Just heard the greatest line for a question I never know how to answer. A woman at the checkout asked the man behind me “Hello how are you?” And he said:
“I’m stable thanks.”
“I’m stable thanks.”
September 3, 2025 at 5:09 PM
When I worked at the aerospace museum we had a lot of old guy veteran volunteers. One of them was named Art, and whenever anyone would ask how he was he’d say
“I’m vertical and ventilating!”
Art also had one of those awooga horns on his walker and would honk it at the women educators, so
“I’m vertical and ventilating!”
Art also had one of those awooga horns on his walker and would honk it at the women educators, so