iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

My department is in need of an adjunct professor who can teach The Arctic and Globalization in Spring 2027 (MA-level course). Deadline: 10/26

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Envious bc my 13 year old's text to me is usually like 'why can't we have pizza 3 meals in a row!' When we are both at home.

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Things don’t look great, but no need for defeatism.

030

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Never been rich, so I wouldn't know for sure. But if I were, I would live in places like Manhattan, where nice things are in arm's reach. Poverty is inconvenience. So wealth must be convenience. Tax rates wouldn't be too much of an issue in that calculation.

020

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I fail to see much reason for using McCune–Reischauer (or any) romanization in the age of internet. Why not just “Seoul” rather than “Sŏul”? **Better yet**, why not just 서울? Particularly in references (where you have to make things up). If curious, people can Google it. #AcademicSky

010

Reposted by 👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son

John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It's for this paper. We'll release it soon.

0188

Reposted by 👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I want to say that if you have ghosted on your comrades while part of an organizing group, it's never too late to get back in touch to explain yourself. Most people will appreciate that you followed up.

631057

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

#APSA2026 Logan Express Bus from the Convention Center to the Airport was pretty effective. From hop-on to the gate (past security) was about 30 minutes. Just 3 bucks.

010

Reposted by 👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son

Vincent Arel-Bundock @vincentab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Big news! 🎉 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚜 1.0.0 for #Rstats is out. It’s a big number and it feels like a big step. I wrote a blog on the challenges of interpreting statistical models, SPEED, cool new features, the future, and a 5 year package development and writing odyssey. arelbundock.com/posts/margin...

1642199

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I refused to acknowledge that I didn’t know about this.

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Can tell this is not just APSA. ISA and MPSA too. Or maybe more serious there. Parallel trends.

000

Reposted by 👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son

David Burbach 🇺🇸 @dburbach.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

NSF will no longer fund graduate students in political science or public policy (though keeps anthropology, sociology, and geography) Personal to me -- I owe my career to being awarded an NSF fellowship when I started graudate school

421595

Reposted by 👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 26/08/2026

The FDA just approved daraxonrasib, a breakthrough drug for advanced pancreatic cancer that doubles survival time. This is huge: pancreatic cancer was once thought untreatable. The researchers received a standing ovation when they presented the trial results, unheard of at scientific conferences.

205122373302

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I am concerned that we’ve let things slide down too deep; when we finally decide to go back up, the distance we will have to climb up is too much.

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Examining the cases of Park and Yoon (#SKorea) led me to suspect that trying to rationalize an autocratizer's policies, particularly foreign policies, is essentially a fool's errand. Often, whims, coverups, and mistakes triggered decisions. No 'strategic consideration' or '3-D poker.'

020

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Sort of feeling uneasy this time though given how quickly the intervention effect (bond market) evaporated.

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Every committee seems to be in need of a talkative Asian guy 😅

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

You know you have served on too many committees when just listing them goes out of the word limit. #AcademicSky

120

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

cannot emphasize this enough and apologies in advance!!

020

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

FWIW, the whole drill-reduction thing is really not that big of a deal in S. Korea. Yes, it made headlines, but that’s about it. The tariff negotiation had received much more attention, I think. Ordinary Koreans don’t really think about N. Korea that much.

120

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Not sure if it's just my panels, but non-US based people are backing out. #APSA2026 Had a similar issue at the #ISA2026 and #MPSA2026 earlier this year.

030

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Find a little spot at the conference venue for a quick 'retreat' in-between panels and meetings. They are intense and you need rest; Go to receptions (many are open to all) -- free booze and a good way to talk to ppl; Arrange a meeting or two in advance to meet senior ppl in the field.

020

Reposted by 👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son

Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

New causal inference primer just dropped - he's not on socials but many thanks to Scott Cunningham for this amazing free resource #EconSky

mixtape.scunning.com

Causal Inference The Remix

05918

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The irony is that this aligns with one of the longest-standing demands of left-leaning activists in South Korea (though it's not as important as it used to be).

030

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

The End of Oak Street wasn't bad. It was actually quite good.

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

And no, these kids are not coming to our state universities. This is not a 'great opportunity to engage the community for recruitments.'

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Some anecdotal evidence I overheard indicates that there are 'college entrance consultants' charging quite a bit of money to guide high schoolers on this. Another aspect of this that bothered me was that based on the email, they seemed to have better grasp of my research than my students do.

151

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I wonder how much effect the hugely inaccurate polls had on the #WI #primary. Had people known that the race was actually quite close, what would the result have been like?

020

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Higher Ed definitely has problems, some of which are not so negligible. But it still remains true that it is one of the areas where US comparative (and competitive, probably) advantages rest on.

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

It's particularly hard that I still want to communicate that I like this job while presenting them with all information. In the end, it usually gives them impression that I made an irrational choice, I think.

030

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

My policy usually is to help students make an 'informed decision' but it gets *very* challenging when a median student expects having a PhD near-guarantees you: - a prof job in a big city - social respect/recognition (or 'fame') - $250k a year No, like, seriously. I become the bearer of bad news.

150

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

And here I thought (until now) it was 'the cause of death'. Like, all along. 😅

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Not sure if the identification holds very well here tho, because it seems to draw on the assumption that students are coming to class, let alone engaging in discussions or doing the reading. This ‘treatment’ often doesn’t exist ;)

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Probably everything is better? The only (arguable) exception is music.

110

Reposted by 👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son

Noah Greifer @noahgreifer.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I'm so happy to announce version 2.0.0 of my #Rstats package WeightIt is out on CRAN! New features: censoring weights, multilevel propensity scores, improved weights for continuous treatments, bias-reduced ordinal and multinomial models, M-estimation in subgroups Check out the website below!

ngreifer.github.io

Weighting for Covariate Balance in Observational Studies

Generates balancing weights for causal effect estimation in observational studies with binary, multi-category, or continuous point or longitudinal treatments by easing and extending the functionality ...

29136

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I have some disagreements here and there, but this comes very close to the *aggregate* public opinion, let alone the expert one. I *wish* we could just stop wasting time on MJ-LBJ GOAT debate just right here.

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Probably an odd take, but this Spiderman movie felt quite a bit like Love and Monsters (2020), in that it seemed to keep telling young people 'hey, I see you.'

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Even better: the vignette is given through an online survey.

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

The timing is a bit of a head-scratcher indeed.

000

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

In the protracted process of deconstruction, oligarchs will most definitely use the 'our economy is in danger because I am politically persecuted' card. It's proven effective (across societies). 6/6

020

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Pro-democracy elites promise the society improvements in their lives in exchange for latter's support. But even well-designed power shift may still take time--not fast enough for the society to notice the difference. More so under challenging economic circumstances. 5/n

120

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Power deconstruction & shift aims at durability of changes. But durability is still hard to come by. The glue that used to tie together the pro-democracy political elites and various social groups evaporate pretty quickly once the immediate threat to democracy is addressed. 4/n

120

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

They are small, relatively homogeneous, and particularly unified over the emerging 'threat' to their influence. The asymmetry tells us that the textbook collective action problem is likely kicking in. 3/n

120

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

'Collective ppl power' is really a heterogeneous group, comprised of many, smaller clusters centered on different areas while the target of power deconstruction (organized interests) is not. 2/n

110

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

What a great read! Putting it in the context of the recent S. Korean experience (still unfolding), two things (very classic stuff) are worth thinking about. 1/n

130

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

thought about it a bit, but couldn't come up with a better one that undermines LLM training while still only marginally detrimental to science.

010

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

People have been saying this for quite some time, but only very recently did some 'big names' start acknowledging it. I don't know why 🤷‍♀️😉

101

👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Not 100% sure if the Supreme Court upholds this decision (yes, Korean SC is also quite 'political'), but this adds yet another spin to the already chaotic People Power Party. Out of frustration over how few ppl talk abt PPP's GoT-like situation, I will present a related project in Sep. at APSA.

english.hani.co.kr

Yoon’s conviction in election law case could put PPP on hook for 39.7B won in campaign expenses

If the sentence is upheld by the Supreme Court, the People Power Party could have to pay back to the state nearly 40 billion won in reimbursed campaign expenses

000