Sign in

Peter D. Kramer

@peterdkramer.bsky.social
1.2K followers 676 following 380 posts

Author, most recently, of Death of the Great Man, a novel. Also new: 30th anniversary edition of Listening to Prozac. peterdkramer.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 5h
My memory is that the old Twitter group went back & forth on the word. Nice note on CHILBLAIN in @merriam-webster.com: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/c...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 6h
I'm sure that I must have noted CHILBLAIN before, but I don't see a posting in the old Twitter links.
120
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Surprised that neither 🐝 nor @merriam-webster.com (nor @OED) accepts APENECK since it's the opening word of TS Eliot's "Sweeny Among the Nightengales." Do they think that Apeneck is Sweeney's given name?) I looked for the pangram APENECKED, too. www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/poem...
bartleby.com
12. Sweeney among the Nightingales - Collection at Bartleby.com
12. Sweeney among the Nightingales APENECK SWEENEY spreads his kneesLetting his arms hang down to laugh,The zebra stripes along his jawSwelling to maculate giraffe.The circles of the stormy
111
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
About that dead horse: @NYTgames doubles down by using FOAMILY as a choice in today's Connections puzzle.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Has anyone speculated about the timing of the US crackdown on drugs imported from Canada...just as Ozempic goes off-patent there? Was the change in enforcement part of the deal that Trump made with manufacturers? He can point to low prices while Americans often pay more. www.wsj.com/health/healt...
wsj.com
Americans Are About to Lose Access to Cheap Gray-Market Prescriptions From Canada
Millions who use online pharmacies from Canada and other countries could get cut off in October.
020
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Beating a dead horse, I know, but here's a pretty comparable (disallowed) word, DINGILY vs the pangram FOAMILY. DINGILY does closely resemble recognized words, including ones accepted today.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
But good to have (yesterday) a new set of letters. @merriam-webster.com classes BILTONG as "chiefly South Africa." All the references in the OED are from books about Africa (mostly South Africa).
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
FOAMILY was easy enough to find, arguably easier than yesterday's BILTONG, which, as I suggested yesterday, looks to be only slightly less widely used than FELICITATE. But no one actually says or writes FOAMILY.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Here's a ngram contrasting the missing pangram FELICITATE with Thursday' FOAMILY. Felicitate looks to be (almost) infinitely more common—and if you go back in time, the difference is yet greater. Felicitate also does well compared to the least common of today's pangrams.
111
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A thoughtful discussion of the role and best use of SSRIs. Level-headed, sensitive to context—probably as good as we are going to get today: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | What R.F.K. Jr. Gets Wrong — and Right — About Antidepressants
What’s missing in the national conversation on mental health medication.
000
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
x.com/PeterDKramer...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
x.com/PeterDKramer...
x.com
@peterdkramer (@PeterDKramer) on X
@kievaliant @seattlebecca @BCDreyer @thedraz @alicia_furiosa @goldberg_dan @KathaPollitt @EllenFremedon @LauraMLippman @JamesGleick @OpheliaBenson @jschwartz_james @sorrykb @Neko_Akage @billruppert @L...
000
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The missing pangram FELICITATE was the first word I saw today. It was once very common--less so today--but on an ngram usage graph, it certainly keeps pace with the recent DOGBANE.
220
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Here's another favorable take on the book, but I wonder whether that review doesn't cede too much to the controversy. I think that Life of M works as an almost abstract piece, with our times as the only relevant setting. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | This novel may or may not be about Natalie Portman. Does it matter?
Rachel Cusk’s “Life of M” is a feat. Book lovers should rejoice.
010
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
You need to accept Cusk as she is, unpleasant, judgmental, sharp-eyed. She's that way in her memoirs. We don't fault Thomas Bernhard for sometimes being mean-spirited. Or Jamaica Kincaid, for that matter—at least, I don't. Cusk is in her territory, and she's a master or mistress of it.
231
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Lots of sarcastic, hyper-critical reviews of Rachel Cusk's Life of M. Fine as news—Cusk savages Portman. But take the novel on its own terms, as a portrait of our times, and it's a tour de force. Cusk writes so well! She captures life in the bubble of fame and wealth—and outside the bubble, too.
220
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-p... My interest in these effects has partly to do with countering the specious claim that antidepressants are placebos with side effects. Of course, as I suggest in the essay, the mechanisms of action may differ for different indications.
psychologytoday.com
Another Quick Effect of Antidepressants
How fast do antidepressants act? It depends what’s being treated. Premenstrual irritability responds within hours.
000
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Update on an old finding. Intermittent SSRI treatment gives rapid relief from irritability in perimenstrual dysphoric disorder. For a similar study from 2008, see below. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Escitalopram and brain reactivity to aggressive stimuli in premenstrual dysphoric disorder | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core
Escitalopram and brain reactivity to aggressive stimuli in premenstrual dysphoric disorder
120
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
ANATOMIZATION not even especially medical www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Related to my profession, I suppose, but today it was hard not to see the missing pangram CATALEPTIC. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/c...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
& UNNAMEABLE [also UNNAMABLE] www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/u... oof.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Along with the slightly more awkward UNBLAMABLE: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/u...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Another of those missing pangrams with UN-, again with its own entry in @merriam-webster.com: UNAMENABLE. Not obscure. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/u...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Not sure how precise that link is, but here's my tweet from June 2021...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
From the first time that these letters appeared: x.com/PeterDKramer...
x.com
@peterdkramer (@PeterDKramer) on X
@Threneo @NormOrnstein @EllenFremedon @DavidJManson @KathaPollitt @MattF_FF @nhmeems @kevincarey1 @BCDreyer @oliverbutler @alicia_furiosa @goldberg_dan @JamesGleick @LauraMLippman @LisaBirnbach @NYTim...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
& if you read deep in, you find that "in trials restricted to participants with a primary diagnosis of MDD," that is, major depression, medicating gave a mean improvement of .44 standard deviations, which is respectable… Change at this level is not trivial given that the treatments are not additive.
000
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Late in the day, but 2 pangrams that @merriam-webster.com accepts with their own entries: UNPLAIT & UNPLIANT.
210
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Apparently, about 1000 of these sets remain unused. Allowing for different central letters as unique puzzles, the Times has about two decades more ahead without a need for repeats (or S). AI relied on analyses done by the Wolfram Community such as community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t...
community.wolfram.com
New York Times spelling bee puzzle: unicorns and other oddities - Online Technical Discussion Groups—Wolfram Community
Wolfram Community forum discussion about New York Times spelling bee puzzle: unicorns and other oddities. Stay on top of important topics and build connections by joining Wolfram Community groups rele...
000
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Issuing a red card would be too extreme.
010
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Folarin Balogun's lineage, yet more confusing than it needs to be: "Born to Nigerian parents who lived in London, his mother wound up giving birth to him in Brooklyn…" Copy edit? Or a discussion of the need to tolerate misplaced modifiers? @bcdreyer.social www.wsj.com/sports/socce...
wsj.com
The U.S. Soccer Star at the Center of the World Cup’s Most Stunning Controversy
Folarin Balogun elected to represent the U.S. in 2023 for the chance to play at a home World Cup. He never imagined that a refereeing call against him would become an international incident.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Missing (for the 4th time) pangram: accepted pangram preceded by AL-
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
But I can say that Professor Wood was extraordinarily gracious—as he was always and to everyone. it is hard to overstate how respected and beloved he was at Brown.
010
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Devastating to learn of the death of Gordon Wood. Our paths crossed in 1996 when we served as panelists discussing the upcoming Presidential election and why voting matters. For the life of me, I cannot recall why I was included. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/08/m...
bostonglobe.com
Gordon Wood, American Revolution expert cited in ‘Good Will Hunting,’ fatally struck by car in R.I. parking lot - The Boston Globe
A longtime Brown University professor who won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing, Wood was name-checked by Matt Damon in the film about a self-taught genius.
140
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Is the Formula That Defeated Orban. It Would Defeat Trump, Too.
001
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
In Hungary, Orban's gerrymandering backfired. He drew many winner-take-all districts where he expected narrow wins—& then added another amplification method. That's how 54% of the vote gave Magyar 69% of the parliamentary seats. Hoping that something similar happens to the GOP in Texas & elsewhere.
160
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
NYTimes makes Dr. Robby out as a high-functioning depressive. It's wonderful if a widely seen show highlights that category. I often wrote about how indispensable my depressed patients were to organizations they worked for. But you can be lost & suicidal without being clinically depressed.
081
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Ambiguous hed in @wsj.com? If you judge your hotel roommate to be revolting, you'd better hope that your suite's bathroom has a door. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Am I right the ANTONYMY is back in only after a period of exile?
100
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Today, missing pangram: HANDLINING www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/h...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
GNOMON?
210
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Oh, too bad... How quirky X has become.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Follow the thread up and down from the post. It's amazing how much fun it was, and with vigorous participation. And then, along came Elon.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
I also managed to find my earlier request for TROCHAIC: x.com/PeterDKramer...
010
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Here's that post: x.com/JamesGleick/...
210
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Thanks! Cute (modern) pangram, too
010
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
I recall that @around.com (James Glieck) posted immediately about a day when there no four-letter answers.
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
I miss the old group. What do the stats show?
100
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
missing pangram: TROCHAIC www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/t...
110
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
In the book, an observer discusses causes for an uprising against a buffoonish autocrat in his corrupt 2nd term. These include the suspicion that he misused young women and that, for that reason or others, he is under the thumb of a foreign despot, the Smiling Gnome. bit.ly/40ktYDu
theatlantic.com
Putting Trump on the Couch
A new novel from the psychiatrist famous for "Listening to Prozac" imagines a Trumplike president’s sessions with a shrink.
120
Peter D. Kramer @peterdkramer.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
The second half of this March 7 @hcrichardson.bsky.social piece details @whitehouse.senate.gov's theory that Putin has used sexual blackmail to make Trump a puppet. The account echoes themes of my 2023 novel Death of the Great Man. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-7-2026
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
March 7, 2026
At 8:50 yesterday morning, President Donald J.
111