Shannon Heaton
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chawkeye.bsky.social
Shannon Heaton
@chawkeye.bsky.social
3.8K followers 2.5K following 19K posts
He/him. Het, not always the cis-iest.
Hard books, dark music, sportsball, MPLS, left politics, cats, occasional fitness, nail polish.
Sentient weighted blanket, high shelf reacher/handwarmer/foot rest, spouse for @zanadu.bsky.social.
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chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 207 📚 for 2025. It's been a good while, if ever, that I read a book and thought, 'Amazing. Every word that you just wrote was wrong' (to be fair, I thought it only of the first graf but there would be more later). A lot of pretty words defend the thesis, but it's not the prescription we need.
An image of the front cover of Yale law professor Anthony T. Kronman's True Conservatism: Reclaiming Our Humanity in an Arrogant Age (2025) (if you have ever wondered why Ron DeSantis and James David Bowman are the way they are, have a go at this book and you'll get some indicia). The book depicts a field of green grass over which a clear blue sky pulsates calmness and gentility. The title and author's name text are in white text and the subtitle text is in black. I believe it's Times New Roman, but font experts/pedants are free to prove me wrong.
December 14, 2025 at 4:04 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 206 📚 for 2025. If there's a way to get inside Buddhism from a book, this book does that well. A little repetitive, but that's good! if you're untutored like me, because it helps pick up what the ajahn is putting down, as it were. Good read. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of Theravana Buddhist monk Ajahn Sumedho's 2010 book (a collection of his talks on mindfulness and Buddhism), Don't Take Your Life Personally. Here, the ajahn is pictured from behind, paying homage to the Buddha at altar. The title text font (since I believe fonts have become a thing lately) is Papyrus? I believe.
December 12, 2025 at 8:13 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 205 📚 for 2025. Mark Twain said (I'm still not sure if it's his 100% direct quote) that statistics are one of the three types of lies. This book takes that up, substituting its own indexes for that of the government's to show that people are hurting economically. (This is my surprised face 😶).
An image of the front cover of author Gene Ludwig's The Mismeasurement of America: How Outdated Government Statistics Mask the Economic Struggle of Everyday Americans (2025). Ludwig is the former comptroller of currency for the US government. The book has a white cover (looks a lot like graph paper), with a US neighborhood appearing to be segmented into bar graph lines on said paper. Which I found curiously telling. It's not a bad book per se, go and get it everywhere including your local library, but it's basically "government numbers suck and here are my numbers which I just drew up; my numbers will show you that Americans in the middle and working classes are hurting." Yeh no shit Sherlock.
December 11, 2025 at 2:18 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 204 📚 for 2025. A history of nearly a century of modern Russia from a woman's perspective, both from leader and from residential angles. Ioffe -- who I'd only seen on MSNBC -- is a polished writer & her story of loss and patience is harrowing. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of writer and TV reporter Julia Ioffe's Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy (2025). The book is red with a white nesting doll figure in the center, partially opened, in which the title text, subtitle text and author's name text all appear.
December 11, 2025 at 12:19 AM
chawkeye.bsky.social
looking at profile tech babble tech babble tech babble blahblahblah oh. oh fuck no. g'bye. I don't truck with fashy neo-Hayekian von Misesian bullshit (airlock sounds)
A post by a central European proto-fashy type whose profile is making the rounds. Here, with some cutesie graphics, he invites onlookers to link to a YT video (appropriate for the topic) that will harangue its viewers to adhere to Hayek and von Mises economic "theory". His post says, "The Keynesian mythology of the Great Depression remains the foundational lie justifying today's institutional dependency." It's not even a slippery slope that leads to donning ICE uniforms or going full jugend from that idea; it's more like the walkways being removed in favor of pullup bars at airports to get from this idea to that.
December 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 203 📚 for 2025. A completely comprehensive account of what happened on the ground in Charlottesville in 2017. Harrowing and shocking at several points. People I followed on Twitter were quoted extensively in the book. A great & necessary read. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of writer Deborah Baker's Charlottesville: An American Story (2025). A red band highlights the title and author's name. The top spotlights the Rotunda at the University of Virginia campus; the bottom shows far-right fashy aholes marching, with counter-protestors to the sides.
December 7, 2025 at 8:28 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
What’s your “how can one album have so many bangers” album?
An image of the front album cover for Depeche Mode’s Black Celebration album, released in 1986.
December 6, 2025 at 6:12 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 202 📚 for 2025. Learned a lot about the NFL's best-ever broadcasting duo, especially Summerall's sports background, and got a lot of 'inside baseball' on making television happen as well. I know I enjoyed the pair in my late teens and 20s. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of author and journalist Rich Podolsky's 2025 book, Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting. Very much a 'sportsball' cover, with a blue background, a gold stripe for the subtitle text. The subjects of the book are pictured just above the title text, with play-by-play man Pat Summerall on the left and color analyst John Madden on the right. They are pictured with CBS microphones, so this picture would have been taken before the 1994 move to Fox, probably in the late 80s.
December 5, 2025 at 1:47 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 201 📚 for 2025. A collection of essays compiled and published on SCOTUS by one of the leading center-left magazines. As I read through, there were warnings issued -- some decades old -- that are impacting us today because past us did nothing. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of The Nation magazine's 2025 book, The Nine Have Spoken: The Nation vs. the Supreme Court, 1870 to Today (edited by Richard Kreitner). The trade paperback cover is white, with black title and author's name text and tan (even dare I say beige?) subtitle text. A skeleton contemplates the scales of justice as it holds the bottom of the apparatus. The skeleton's innards, as it were, includes a brick wall and, also, human arms stretched out fully, as if to grab for justice.
December 4, 2025 at 2:09 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 200 📚 for 2025. Enjoyed it thoroughly, but there were many strands toward the end of the book that augured for either a much longer book, or a second book, and the ending thus felt sort of abrupt. I'm me, he's Scalzi, so that's OK. Good read. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of John Scalzi's 2017 book, The Collapsing Empire. The cover is set in space, with a shuttle heading toward a much larger ship, with a couple of large planets looming in the background, as well as a more distant sun, moon and stars, with a large planetary infrastructure below. Title and author's name text in a large white font.
December 2, 2025 at 1:44 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Hi Kevie,
Please note the states where gas got below $2.
A snapshot of last week's gas prices nationwide (in my business, I need to know diesel fuel prices; I didn't screenshot those as well) as compiled by the US Energy Information Administration. Herein, the lowest gas price was for Gulf Coast states (think ALA, MISS and LOU), where it clocked in at $2.599 two full weeks ago. You can do the math on whether that's less than $2. Note that those are survey averages and are not intended to be THE price in any one location. It's possible that a mom-and-pop MAGA gas station in Swamp Nuts MS decided to say fuck it to their profits and price at under $2/gallon. But I kinda doubt it.
December 1, 2025 at 3:46 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
A cat purrito as the holiday week comes to a close…
A brown with black stripes tabby cat, Obi-wan Katnobi, is in the clutches of Chawkeye the Hutt after the indignity (but necessary) of a hydrogen/oxygen bath. Katnobi is securely wrapped in a dark green blanket so that her murder lightsabers may not be deployed by the Hutt, who is disguised in a black Bridgewater College sweatshirt.
December 1, 2025 at 2:09 AM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 199 📚 for 2025. Almost made it to 200 with a month to spare. This book might have much more relevance going forward, in current tech environment, than it did even in 2012 (some of it presaged 2020). An interesting read and kickoff to a series. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of John Scalzi's 2014 book, Lock In. Kind of a cream-colored cover, with black author's name text and gray title text (except for the O in lOck, which is red, to match a few of the humans randomly depicted and scattered on the cover. I'd say more but spoilers).
November 30, 2025 at 4:40 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 198 📚 for 2025. Glad for me to get a lovely intricate plot, in which average Joe anti-hero becomes the uber-protagonist. This one was quick and it was important. We could do better here in the 'real' world with our similarly-situated scenarios. Available everywhere, including your local library
An image of the front cover of John Scalzi's 2011 book, Fuzzy Nation. The protagonist and a native of the planet where the protagonist is working sit near a dining table, with flying birdlike creatures and a very large tree serving as exterior background.
November 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Stop trying to make Nebraska happen! It's never gonna happen! #Hawkeyes
Mean Girls' Regina George says stop trying to make fetch happen in the movie. Here, I've amended the meme.
November 28, 2025 at 8:28 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 197 📚 for 2025. Two big events happen and I'm still working through how the first one could have happened, let alone how the second one reversed the first one. But lots of fun vignettes throughout. Not my favorite Scalzi, but it's a good read. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of John Scalzi's 2025 book, When The Moon Hits Your Eye. Cover is mostly set in nearby space, with a lone astronaut standing on what appears to be an altered moon. The author's name and title text appear in the space part.
November 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Post something random to make use of your free will if you’d like.
A lighthouse in Duluth MN, taken in mid-September of this year. I like lighthouses. Always have, always will.
November 28, 2025 at 12:04 AM
chawkeye.bsky.social
You’ve just died.
The 6th photo in ypur phone gallery is what killed you.

Well, maybe. If they have razor-sharp edges or were broken or something.
Some older china dishes, owned by Zanadu’s parents and left to her, stand prominently on a dining room table. This reminds me I need to send this photo to my daughter in law possibly…
November 26, 2025 at 11:01 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 196 📚 for 2025. If you like your histories big, this is your book. Covers a millennium of developments without losing you in a dizzying list of kings and popes, this ain't yer HS Western Civ. Heard he shades pro-Roman, but it didn't translate. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of King's College medievalist Peter Heather's Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, 300-1300 (2023). I believe this edition depicted here might have been the 2022 edition, the book I read adds the years to the subtitle and has a more sober churchman holding a religious text, as opposed to the papal figure in this edition.
November 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 195 📚 for 2025. It's just a continuing joy to read @scalzi.com. All the narrative strands come together so very neatly in this one, with a "future Easter egg" (is that a thing) to be seen therein. There'll be a 5-pack of reviews coming soon. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of the Kindle version of John Scalzi's The Android's Dream. The paperback version I read was more vividly dark background, with a blue sheep (spoilers)'s head prominently featured in the lower left corner.
November 24, 2025 at 1:42 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 194 📚 for 2025. The book isn't meant for people who are heavy into social media, politics or otherwise, but does provide a good starter kit for how to start engaging without having to do much more. Accessible and an easy read, if a bit basic. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of Alabama attorney and law professor Joyce Vance's 2025 book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping A Democracy. Simple cover, kind of tan color, black lettering with a red and a blue stripe to separate the title, subtitle, and author's name.
November 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 193 📚 for 2025. Hard for me to believe sometimes that 1999 was his 5th album, that BrownMark and Lisa hadn't always been in the band, & there were problems with the chemistry at the height of Purple Rain. This book lays it all out. Available everywhere, including your local library. #LocalAngle
An image of the front cover of music journalist James Campion's 2025 book, Revolution: Prince, The Band (or the band, as was his style choice in the text), The Era. Naturally the book has purple and pink intersecting, with white text (using the album font for the title). Prince stands out at front, flanked at back by BrownMark to the left of the photo (holding a bass guitar) and Dez Dickerson to the right (holding a mostly obscured electric guitar). Further back on the left of the photo is drummer Bobby Z and keyboardist Doctor Fink is further back on the right behind Dez, with pianist/keyboardist Lisa Coleman still further back on the right, almost straining to get fully into the shot.
November 22, 2025 at 2:23 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 192 📚 for 2025. A book that I enjoyed and would have enjoyed more had I come across it in 2016 or 2017. It's very much in the post-Ferguson moment, plus the realization of the Obama failure to bring about transformation, and the onset of BLM. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of Princeton professor Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.,'s 2016 work, Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves The American Soul. Book cover is light gray, with a downward-waving American flag in the center, colored in black-and-white. The title, subtitle and author's name text are super-imposed over the flag.
November 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Today’s #ThingThursday comes from the greatest lake. Well, via Duluth.
A piece of what appears to be banded flint adorns an otherwise non-descript office desk.
November 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
chawkeye.bsky.social
Book 191 📚 for 2025. Harrowing story of a woman's desire to break free of small-town values (& violence) and become what she may be & the music that helped get her there. Her definition of 'dad rock' may not be yours, but she earned her definition. Available everywhere, including your local library.
An image of the front cover of Toronto-based writer Niko Stratis' 2025 book, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman. The cover is plain black, with curvy text -- suggesting a very 70s vibe -- in multiple colors that shift through the title from red to yellow, with light green author's name text.
November 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM