Brian Urlacher (aka Grant Forks)
@grantforks
Scholar of conflict management. I spell things wrong. Fiction: More Fiction: Nonfiction:
When I die, I want people to say three things about me. 1) he was kind when he didn't have to be, 2) he was relentlessly (even pathologically) optimistic, 3) he could write one banger of a footnote. The slideshow should be just screenshots of footnotes and my kids.
Sometimes writing goes faster when you obsessively document every single thing you do. 11 months ago, I started a book project with 30k of crap notes. I've worked like mad this year and now have 90k of polished social science prose for an August 31st deadline. Will it matter? 🤷♂️ Did I do it? 👍
Found a really cool Easter egg (recipe) during a rewatch of Arrested Development. Excited to try this out tonight!
While you all are enjoying the World Cup in some bar somewhere, I’m sitting in 100 degree heat enjoying a street vault organized by my son that has brought some of the best athletes in the country to grand forks, ND. We are not the same
Spent the past week working to build AI agents in Claude, Copilot, and Gemini/NotebookLM Pros: I’ve done a lot of reflection on my workflow and how to improve note taking and storage Cons: ran a proof of concept test today …and it was not good.
So there I was, trapped in someone else’s car on the interstate with a student (no idea what had happended to the others) a dead cellphone and 1/8 tank of gas…maybe. Temps tires were still -20 but the wind was less strong. So there I was.
Back again for the third time this year. Good to see you again my old friend.
So we meme/vaporize this asshole who read the constitution and is going to speak truth to power about how zoning for a new community pool is treading on his rights. Time to switch it up. Dude just read Fanon, or Orwell, or Baldwin, or Arendt, or Foucault or Said…and he is righteously pissed!
I’m in chicago and ai always make a point to hit Untitled supper club. The results are always spectacular.
Is this Drunk Shakespeare Chicago — Romeo and Juliet? Yes. How does it compare to Drunk Shakespeare Chicago — McBeth? I’ll let you know in 90 minutes!
Relatedly in grad school I was visiting home and came across a book from my very early childhood. I read it and I cried. It was everything that drew me to political science—how can you trust and work with people who are hurting you.
Oh man I always do a couple read through a of my conference presentation before my panel. I had no idea it was so bothersome to others. Sorry past ISAs. I had no idea! #ISA2026
#ISA2026 is days away. Tried using Notebook LM for a first draft of slides based on the paper draft. The text/organization was ok...but it generated a bunch of graphs that are completely misleading (i.e. fabricated data). The side by side is below. Let the user beware!
For those of us who remember how indignant the Neo Cons / Bush / Cheney once were about bombing campaigns.
I’m in downtown Grand Forks on a Friday night. It is -17 real feel and the number of people dressed for clubbing who just casually stroll between bars without coats is kind of wild. North Dakotans are built different…in that they apparently don’t have nerve endings!
I’ve been on the road for a couple days and my cats are well fed and watered but social deprivation has left them looking like meth addicts. I’m a terrible cat dad.
Other notable mentions in mirror / lead light crafting.
I haven’t had a lot of time to work on stained glass lately, but I was able to get this mirror cranked out in about 8 hours over 4 days.
I posted this 13 years ago today when I was speculating on what the release of the final book in the Wheel of Time series would do to this country. Simpler times.
And I don’t mean this in the sense that AI will become sentient and threaten humanity. Rather I mean it in the sense that this is…dumb. It is all so dumb.
Me everytime some over paid consultant tries to shove AI into my workflow.
Again, nothing wrong with gumbo and cornbread on a Friday night.
Not sure if Im doing Chicago right but I’m not doing it wrong.
I have completed my new associate dean training and have take my position among the ranks attending the associate dean conference. Relatedly I’m having lasagna at Andy’s Jazz club in Chicago.
When in Chicago I always do Cajun cuisine. Heaven on 7 was a favorite before it closed. Storyville is very good, but when I noted the spicy warning on the jambalaya the waiter asked if I found black pepper hot (no) and assured me I would be fine. I am indeed.
Truer words have never graced the pages of any print magazine.
I don’t want to quibble because I think the thesis of this story is right…but this is not what happened with the subprime mortgage crisis. Not even close. This is just flat wrong as a description of events.
Summer is approaching and I’m so ready. I have yard projects and house repair and sitting by a fire with whiskey and a cigar time. All of these activities require an audio book, and I am well stocked.