First of all, yes, Heard was absolutely abusive towards Depp. She’s a liar and a disgusting person. Yes, male victims of domestic abuse exist. My great-grandmother abused my great-grandfather in front of me, including physically. I loved him deeply, and this will never stop hurting.

The problem is, Depp didn’t win on abuse charges. He won on defamation charges over a couple of extremely nebulous phrases in an article. This is a dangerous precedent. For us. A very rich man won his battle, and we lost.

The idea that Depp’s win will somehow trickle down to the rest of abused men is exactly the idea behind #MeToo. And we all saw how that turned out. Nothing ever trickles down.

This is yet another feel-good moment that we will pay for in the future.

Class consciousness is a term that fell out of use, and what a shame. We keep identifying with these mega rich people who don’t give a hoot about us. We are emotionally attached to them, and they aren’t emotionally attached to us. Any relationship of this kind is unhealthy.

Toddlers in Russia are forced to sing a song that begins, “We are ready to go into our last battle with Uncle Vova.”

Vova is a diminutive of Vladimir. Uncle Vova is Putin. But forget Uncle Vova. Note the words “our last battle.” Why is it the last battle?

Look at these cute little faces. Look at the military uniforms. What are they being prepared for? And who is their enemy in that last battle? I’ll give you a hint. It starts with a “U” but it isn’t Ukraine.

At 11 pm I feel energized, fresh, positive and in top form. At 8 (or 7 or 9) am I feel like normal people do at 11 pm after a hard day’s work. I’m bleary-eyed, exhausted, and ready for a long sleep.

I’ve been like this my whole life. It’s a heavy burden to be so out of sync with the rest of the world.

I’m at a conference, and people started talking about the publish or perish culture in academia, and I’m thinking, gosh, I’d love to spend two days at least in this mythical publish or perish environment. I publish more than the people who were complaining (probably combined) but there are absolutely no benefits accruing to me as a result of that from my university. At best, people here treat my interest in research as an eccentricity and at worst as something that makes me a bad teacher.

I feel envious of those few lucky bastards who feel pressured to publish. I’d like to be pressured. My motivation to do research is completely internal, which is healthy, but it would be nice to get a little push. Just to know what it feels like.

Does anybody here know the differences between the candidates for Governor of Illinois? Republican, obviously. Who’s good and who should be avoided at all costs?

Of course, the main goal is to kick out Pritzker. But it’s good to know who’s worth the trouble on our side.

Yesterday Russians shelled Svyatohirsk Lavra with heavy artillery. Two monks and a nun were killed.

Here are some pictures of the Lavra so you can see that nobody can confuse it with a military installation:

Watch this turn into the Chinese-style one-child policy in 3…2…1…

N is taking Klara to Chicago to get her passport renewed. I’m not going because I finally have an appointment with an otolaryngologist and I can’t take any more of this ear situation. While they are away, I’m planning to go to a movie and order takeout.

This whole thing is plunging me into paroxysms of guilt. Guilt that I’m selfishly choosing my ear and guilt that I’m planning to enjoy a movie and takeout instead of rending my garments with shame because I’ve abandoned my family.

Please don’t tell me this is dumb. I know it’s dumb. It’s a feeling. It’s not a rational choice.

I have no opinion on Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard other than how consistently surprising it is for me that mega-rich, famous men in America don’t try to purchase the company of beautiful, pleasing women. Heard looks OK, if completely generic, but for men like Depp and Musk to go for her (or that grimy Grimes person) and not for some stunning beauty is incomprehensible. It’s clearly not these women’s intellect and stellar personal qualities that they are attracted to. If you want dysfunction, there are plenty dysfunctional beauties to purchase.

I spent 15 years deep on the American Left, so “you want XYZ to die” has no effect on me. This is the Left’s favorite rhetorical device that is deployed whenever you demonstrate the smallest disagreement with the current dogma. Which changes every 3 minutes, of course. The other day, I saw somebody on Twitter come out with this gem: “Republicans want more kids to be born so that they can then shoot them.” Immediately, this was picked up by every social media with great glee.

“Against puberty blockers? You want trans children to die!”

“Voted for Trump? You want black people to be genocided!”

I’m completely impervious to this rhetoric, so people should keep it to themselves.