theoretical vibe physicist
@matthewraskob.bsky.social
Sweetness & light.
created September 3, 2023
665 followers 550 following 10,385 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) reposted
yes. tasting fabrics is one of the easiest ways to test fiber composition. natural fabrics, such as wool, cotton, and linen, breakdown in the digestive tract. synthetics such as polyester will not. so to test fiber composition, eat the garment. if fibers appear in your poop, it was synthetic.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
He’s got the corruption of Harding & his admin. down; it would be a real shame if he emulated Harding in another respect, too.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
…but that is a distinct question from whether candidates with a military background are *desirable* & while the answer is of course “not unconditionally,” there are many desirable qualities for public officials that military experience can foster.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
There’s probably plenty of political science research on the electoral performance of candidates with a military record. Not being familiar with that research, I would speculate that such a background probably provides much less of a benefit in elections than we generally think.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
bonus points if they are encoded as rural, masculine, & working-class (the last two are not entirely but very nearly synonymous).
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
people would make fun of it as an obsession of Aaron Sorkin (vide everything he’s written) or Jon Stewart (vide Irresistible), but there clearly is much desire to the left of the center for candidates with a military background who tell them what they want to hear.
Harry Turtledove (@hntdove.bsky.social) reposted
I'm sorry, but genetic engineering is getting out of hand.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
it's legitimately hard to judge, since nearly every Trump photo over the last year has looked especially fucked up in a new way. he looks pale here? and extra puffy? and like he's melting, but that's as usual, at least for the past year or so.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
Using one photo already on your phone, what is Trump announcing at 2:00pm?
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
one of the downsides of politics is that good candidates will inspire enthusiasm, & often very extreme enthusiasm among some set, but for those of us who are maladjusted—Caufield-esque—this will always seem dreadfully phony & highly annoying to watch.
Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog.xyz) reposted
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
if you're not running for Congress in Illinois' ninth district, please raise your hand.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
I just hope all these crazy kids have fun.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
anything that someone defines as "having all the characteristics that make [something] unappealing to normal people" is going to be electorally unsuccessful. it's tautological.
Fire Eric Chavez (@mcnietzsche.bsky.social) reposted
It is genuinely hilarious that if you search bluesky for "stroke" right now half of it is about Trump and half of it is gay porn
Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
This was quite a write.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
right, my guess is that "before" was significantly worse than what our popular understanding was!
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
I do think think something changed to account for the bruising on the hand, but again the possibilities are endless. it's not hard to imagine the bruising being inconsequential, but Trump & his people getting weird about it, fueling these theories.
J. C. Cantwell 🌻 (@segfaultvicta.bsky.social) reposted
there is a set of Discourse Topics which you can go absolutely out of your way to Perform the Proper Obeisances and precommit to saying "baby don't worry baby i know you're right baby" every other sentence but still if you try to engage with nuance and clarity the wheels fall off
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
basically anything could transpire regarding Trump's health & it wouldn't surprise me at this point.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
…&, if you want punditry on an action that would be disturbing & deplorable in its own right, it probably would further raise Pritzker's standing within the Democratic Party.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
joking aside, I'm afraid this is most likely correct about what Trump will announce.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
The president, at 2:00 PM tomorrow: "I think I hauve covid."
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
It’s non-responsive; it tries to answer a different question but doesn’t even do that well.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
what kind of an answer is that?
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
bsky.app/profile/matt...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
“I am a supporter of flags.” ~Sir Keir Starmer. #Vexillology
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
the typically simplistic thinking of hawks has some merit with regard to Russia—a lack of consequences for threats & aggressive deeds has emboldened them, & for their behavior to change, they have to have some fear of what we will do to them.
ae (@aelkus.bsky.social) reposted
take the gloves off
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
“We’re trying to figure out what we can do”—virtually the hot dog meme.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
lol, especially at the possibility of tariff exemptions.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
…you can dislike both of them, but there are not even superficial similarities in their styles, personalities, & résumés, & they are operating in extremely different political contexts.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
I suspect this is a result of Americans using the same internet as the British, but having a typical lack of comprehension & curiosity about other countries.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
who got American progressives started on likening Gavin Newsom to Keir Starmer? it’s kind of impressive because it convinces me they understand neither Newsom nor Starmer.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
the amount of mistakes in comparison & judgment one must make to end up here should preclude one from any occupation that requires analytical thinking.
whet moser (@whetmoser.com) reposted
oh my god
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
In fact, when public health experts act with greater transparency & emphasize their uncertainties, conspiracists seize upon that. The conspiracists, who reject expertise & the responsibilities of living in society, are the problem.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
I do not think it is difficult to find flaws with public health experts’ responses to COVID, in policy or communication. Also, they were overwhelmingly reasonable & publicly acknowledging their errors will do nothing to restore trust in public health.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
I think that he, like many journalists, is very easily impressed by Heterodox Ideas & feels that he has to take them seriously & seek dialogue, etc.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
yeah, like 70(?) percent of the time he says fairly progressive Democratic things & then the remainder will sound as if he wants to write for Compact Magazine.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
flags are low-key goated when symbolizing the nation is the vibe.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
same.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
oh BROTHER.
Juan Escalante (@juansaaa.com) reposted
Allison, 20, has been detained for six months at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. She had nearly given up her legal fight due to health issues and unsanitary conditions at the facility.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
What this would require is a kind of collective monomania on the part of the media, which they only appear able to muster for Joe Biden’s age & possibly international conflicts involving the United States.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
I actually think that sustained negative media coverage could force the vice president’s office to disavow “captive dreamer.” It wouldn’t force him out of office, but it would be worth doing to enforce—however inconsistently—a norm against Nazism in American life.
Eli Lee, Exiled Poster (@heyitshamhocks.bsky.social) reposted
Rudy Giuliani happened to be in the middle of one of his favorite pastimes - RESPECTING WOMEN - when he suddenly broke every single bone in his body. Please do not call and ask any questions because his business partner is taking care of him ❤️
Mark Harris (@markharris.bsky.social) reposted
Creative writing prompt: Make a simple press statement about a car accident sound suspicious on at least three different levels.
Jessica Pishko (@jesspish.bsky.social) reposted
Turns out the TN sheriff who inspired Walking Tall (and carried a big stick) murdered his wife. www.wkrn.com/news/local-n...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
anyway, it’s hard to overstate how noxious that account is. just gutter racism & literal neo-Nazism. bsky.app/profile/robe...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
wondering idly if J. D. Vance still follows the “captive dreamer” account. I would guess he does.
Kathryn Brightbill (@kebrightbill.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
And no, boosting a Nazi to say that the Jews aren't going to turn off the entire internet like 4chan thinks, they're just going to censor it, is not in fact incisive commentary in any scenario, and if you think it is, you're already cooked and need to get off the internet for your own good.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
I would like them to have three years of the last months of Biden’s presidency.
Doctor Charlton Cussans PhD (@charltoncussans.bsky.social) reposted
Direct comparisons don't really work well, but to give an example of the issue at hand, I earn about 37K a year. I'd be paying less tax on that *anywhere* in the United States than I would in the UK. In some states I would be paying drastically less.
John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) reposted
1. I think it's difficult for people not in the US to appreciate how absolutely non-useful/condescending "use a train" is as advice. Where I live, the nearest passenger train station is 90 miles away, in Cincinnati. However, there is a bus from Dayton to that train station, a mere 43 miles from me.
John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) reposted reply parent
3. If you live on the East Coast between DC and Boston, "use a train" is more realistic, if still not always practical. If everyone in the Acela corridor switched to trains, the train service would probably literally explode. It's no longer designed to be anything other than a minority use choice.
John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) reposted reply parent
2. There is irony here in that my little town used to be an important railway hub! But the last train came through here in the 80s. All the train tracks are bike trails now, or just simply disused. No public buses out here either. No public transport in general. Lots of the US is like this.
Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) reposted
Honestly Trump being too old & sick to talk to reporters serves my purposes almost as well as him kicking it. "What if Trump was president & it wasn't any fun" is a pretty good summary of why the press hated COVID & I am very happy to bring that back
Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) reposted
Black women have every right to be furious. The irresponsible choices of white voters has for many of us, taken our livelihood with consequences for our homes, the education of our children, our ability to care for parents. It’s unconscionable. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
well, he is eighty-one years old.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
The things Trump does & says are so outrageous that he couldn’t possibly win anyone’s support unless they approved of the outrageous things, which must make them…not outrageous. Q.E.D.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
pretty much!
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
I have here in my hand a list of 205 groypers…
☀️ Starshine (@starshine.bsky.social) reposted
so like,,,how do you clean up the intelligence agencies
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
it’s just so hard to report on what is going on here, because Lisa Cook didn’t rebut Donald Trump’s allegations in her lawsuit… hire me, NYT, Washington Post, CNN etc.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
it won’t happen because it is too perfect, but IMAGINE how funny it would be if he died & his last pronouncement was a Truth Social post that just said “good night!!”
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
God, if you exist, you have a chance to do the funniest thing ever.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
Prejudice directed against public employees (they are undeserving of their position, lazy, inefficient, etc.) has been tolerated by far too much of American society for far too long, & one can be assured that racism underlies much of it.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
the desire for this, felt consciously or not, has long driven much right-wing rage against public employees.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
This comparison perhaps could be made, though with some exaggeration, if the extent of George Wallace’s opposition to civil rights was to go on a minor TV news program & say that he’d come to appreciate some people had valid concerns about bussing.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
meanwhile, we are firing anyone who won’t tell us that 1+2=10.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
you will never guess, dear reader, who is being compared to George Wallace.
Conor Sen (@conorsen.bsky.social) reposted
“At Goodwill of North Georgia, the number of Black people who for the first time ask for help finding work is up 41% over the past three months, compared with a 23% increase in the number of new white job seekers.” www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
sovereign is he who decides on bedtime. is that anything.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
from what I’ve gathered, it is a podcast or YouTube channel where some repulsive guys bother people on the subway, & it’s supposed to be funny? also they’re xenophobic against non-New Yorkers? & NIMBYs? the appeal eludes me.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
This remains unclear to me:
Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) reposted
“.. with the exception of the pandemic, Black women have never seen such staggering losses in employment.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
one of the salutary purposes that "the groups" can fulfill is providing information with clear sources & reasoning on a subject such as this, instead of leaving it to individual media entrepreneurs using a vibes-based approach.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
Bibliography:
Costa Samaras (@costasamaras.com) reposted
EOs aren't laws, get lost
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
It has broad cultural acceptance (whether or not people will admit as much), & it is terrible.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
being On Phone when driving is a fucking curse.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
he can also issue an executive order mandating that the sea levels drop—whatever, man.
Scotty Ray (@theterminizer.bsky.social) reposted
replacing Batman fight onomatopoeiae with old midwestern brewery names
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
oh, those practical jokers!
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
(This is about Ernst Hanfstaengl, who went to college Near Boston & became a close associate of Hitler in the twenties & early thirties.)
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
imagine you were in the Harvard University Band in 1974 & this weird German man who used to be friends with Hitler shows up & wants to talk about college fight songs.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
a lot going on here (why did he return to Wisconsin from *Georgia,* the country?!) but I am hung up on the riding an electric bike to Madison part. that’s over 75 miles, & I don’t know what kind of roads you’d have to use.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
He faked his drowning in Green Lake & then rode an electric bike to Madison, lmfao.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
Wisconsin mentioned! oh. oh dear.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
stove status: touching underway.
Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) reposted
Right. Same thing as 2020 [see below].Through 2 debates and a session on Economics in Chicago during the 2024 campaign I never heard a reporter bring up the cost of the 2020 tariffs & the bailout to farmers WE paid for to cover Trump’s tariff folly. I’m sick of it. www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
“Our emperor saw his grandmother’s ships & needs his own.”
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
exactly: bsky.app/profile/saba...
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
#neverforget
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
this is correct. obviously it would not be possible to follow Hungary’s exact trajectory, but the “national conservatives” do see Hungary as an example of the good society.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
you could say American society is “not holding up well.”
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
oh maaan.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social) reply parent
people used to enjoy ragging on Jonathan Franzen, but his level of disengagement from social media & current events generally is much to be desired in fiction writers.
theoretical vibe physicist (@matthewraskob.bsky.social)
we actually may not talk enough about how cooked are the brains of everyone involved in literary fiction.