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aaronottinger.bsky.social
@aaronottinger.bsky.social
Literature & mathematics | philosophy | rhet comp | history of media
"A little patience, and all will be over!" —Mary Wollstonecraft's mom
https://aaronottinger.github.io/
can't let this outfit go unseen! For the Highline Foundation fundraiser this past weekend the dress code was "intergalactic chic"...nailed it!
November 25, 2025 at 6:02 AM
I'm often looking for discussions of analysis and synthesis in my reading. So my book margins are filled with "anal/syn" 😁
Science PSA: Never abbreviate “analysis” as “anal”. Ever.
November 21, 2025 at 5:30 AM
just watched the latest John Oliver on public media and was very pleased to see them citing @joshshepperd.bsky.social's book, Shadow of the New Deal! 🥳 Josh was kind enough to talk to my "Media Matters" class last year...happy to see that his work is having a meaningful impact! Congrats, Josh!
November 19, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I might be stuck, but on the bright side, how many books could have possibly been published in 2007-08?
November 18, 2025 at 1:34 AM
worst 5 movie genres:

-philosophical movies that try to be philosophical
-uncharismatic bad guys
-last two hours are completely undermined by a "twist"
-children saving the day
-musicals
Top 5 movie genres are:

heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
Top 5 movie genres are:

People being shits at a dinner party
Rotting mansion, faded starlet/society beauty, high-camp fuckdown
Either nothing or everything happened, glacially slowly & visually stunningly
Woman is being haunted or maybe there’s actually a gross guy
Tilda Swinton hears a weird noise
November 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM
if all the books i wanted to save for later are from 2007–08, does that mean i will forever be stuck in the late aughts? will i just be rockin' In Rainbows and Sounds of the Universe for the rest of my days?
November 14, 2025 at 9:08 PM
when do we revise the little rhetoric triangle to include "robot overlord"?
November 10, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted
For ICE, "an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is [considered] a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status," & any other evidence (incl birth certificate) is irrelevant if the app returns a positive match. Who made the app? What databases does it use? How does it work? Nobody knows
New from 404 Media: you can't refuse to be scanned by ICE's new facial recognition app, according to internal DHS document I obtained. Photos captured by the app are stored for 15 years, including U.S. citizens. We've seen officers scanning faces w/ phones on streets

www.404media.co/you-cant-ref...
You Can't Refuse To Be Scanned by ICE's Facial Recognition App, DHS Document Says
Photos captured by Mobile Fortify will be stored for 15 years, regardless of immigration or citizenship status, the document says.
www.404media.co
October 31, 2025 at 4:05 PM
are "easter eggs" (in games) a good analogy for talking about subtle or hidden ideas in texts? or is this too loose?
October 29, 2025 at 5:05 PM
folks who've dismissed the idea that "there won't be another election" need to think about that phrase a little more broadly. Voter suppression is not new and it is easy to scale up. The conditions are being set in place:
Pritzker on Fox: "He's challenging the integrity of the next election by sending troops into our cities. It isn't about fighting crime. He said he's going after the worst of the worst. That's not what they're doing. They are literally after black and brown people because of the color of their skin."
October 24, 2025 at 5:11 PM
2045, somewhere in Portland:
"Those dinosaur costumes are how your mother and I fought fascism, son."
October 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I feared for the VA and vets when the president was elected. Naively, I did not imagine this scenario. I don't know what it will take to convince the country as a whole that this administration does not care about the *people* who actually serve, past and present, in the military.
Growing number of US veterans face arrest over Ice raid protests
Veterans are facing federal charges after protesting Ice sweeps and Trump’s national guard deployments. The justice department claims the veterans were violent
www.theguardian.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:21 PM
"A White House spokeswoman...said in a statement that 'any university that refuses this ***once-in-a-lifetime opportunity*** to transform higher education isn’t serving its students or their parents...'" I mean, if they're not going to throw in a free oven mitt...
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:21 PM
my work meeting just ended with reminiscing over the great Twitter battles of yore: the oxford coma, should we go by our first names in the classroom, and dunking on ooo (not really a battle so much as a pile-on). to better days.
October 10, 2025 at 9:18 PM
besides book reviews (which I love, don't get me wrong), I've been in a bit of a publishing slump. But just returned final proofs on two new articles on math and literature this week—one of which will be freely available online! I'll post details once it's live. :)
May 27, 2025 at 4:21 AM
just remembered i have zero followers, so I'm not sure who I think is going to respond to that first post. :(
March 5, 2025 at 5:58 PM
rhet-comp folks: Anyone have a rec for a good first-year writing-level essay on bibliography/citation? rn I'm using McKittrick's, "Footnotes," from Dear Science. A colleague who observed my class thought this was too hard. :( I may not change but I'm open to suggestions
March 5, 2025 at 5:57 PM