Even if it's true that they can do it better than people, that's not a reason to do it. Chess computers being able to beat any human didn't end chess. The fun is still seeing people play. Computers playing computers is one of the most boring displays I have ever seen.
say what you will about AI, it’s an absolute godsend for professors who hate their students & also teaching generally
gift link:
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
On this day in 1916, Emma Goldman was arrested in NY for spreading information about birth control. She was charged with violating the Comstock Act, which barred sending or bringing “obscene” material across state lines.
Back when some argued that history had come to its end…
That quote is one of those things where I would have never thought about it that way but the second I read it, it’s like YES OF COURSE!!!!
Where I grew up, we’d say he’s “grinning like a possum eating shit.”
The everyday courage of normal people is breathtaking
To paraphrase Margaret Atwood…”men are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will kill them”
Sesame Street is better than Harry Potter.
The past year or decade or so has felt like one of those nightmares where you know danger is coming and every part of you is screaming to DO something but you find you can’t move.
Star Trek The Original Series scene. We're in a corridor on the Enterprise. Two non series regular crew members are standing behind Spock in a bodyguard stance. (Tough guy bodyguard vibe, not Kevin Coster/Whitney Houston bodyguard vibe). Spock is wearing a dress uniform with extra flair, medals, and pins, a golden sash, and has a goatee. He's looking at Kirk, who seems a bit cocky and is wearing a glittery fancy gold sleeveless uniform. Closed caption reads, "Terror must be maintained or the empire is doomed."
Also if anyone is interested in the history of the United States' attempts to topple leaders in South America and install more friendly dictators then you can - and I'm not joking here - download the files from the CIA website.
This is spectacular in so many ways. I mean, so wrong but so right.
Evergreen.
I’m just going to be over here deep in a state of denial.
That scares me because it feels like yesterday you were tweeting about Dinosaur Train.
in the pit
This entire weekend
OMG, I just saw the scene where she sits the guy down to ask what they think of her books...All I could think about was this.
It's their end of the semester treat ;)
Is there a German word for "Ugh, but I'm glad I'm teaching your interview on Getting Curious today"?
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
I hate the entire discourse of “I did X and my students learned Y.” I’ve never had a class where 100% of them left with my intended “lesson.”
Wonder Woman, 1944:
The industry is not supporting small-press publishers enough, not because it ought to, but because small-press publishing is the future of book production in this country, says Lucy Mercer in our recent Comment piece 👇 #BookSky
NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen.
Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.
We are currently a nation trapped in a Trump casino watching those we trusted with our lives and our country go on tilt at the craps table. Or at blackjack. Some of you have seen this happen: the loser at Texas Hold’em, betting beyond his hand because he is pot-committed, and having put too much in already, feels that it’s too late to fold, push back from the table, and walk away. Even if you never gamble, never set foot in a casino, you have probably seen at least that scene from Goodfellas where Joe Pesci’s character goes on tilt, losing at blackjack, telling the dealer “hit me again!” Obscenities flavoring every utterance like salt on popcorn, as he keeps borrowing, betting, losing, far beyond his credit limit. It’s a hypnotic scene, mesmerizing, the cliched “car crash in slow motion” from which we cannot look away, the inevitable cascading of ruin and despair. Only we are watching the legislators who asked us to trust them to do what’s right for the country get up every day and vote to do what’s wrong. Last week they voted to give a half-million dollars apiece of taxpayer money to those of them who had been determined to be material witnesses to the crime of insurrection. What will they vote for next week? Gamblers on tilt don’t walk away. They borrow until no one will lend; then they steal. The addict dies with the needle in his arm. Every Republican needs to see their party as it now is. Those who had enough and entered a program are long gone. We’re down to the hardcore now, too weak to help themselves, too numb to feel, just filled with need and self-loathing. The ugly days are ahead.
From my brilliant friend and colleague @richardtn.bsky.social who (having spent much of his life at the race track) knows a thing or two about gamblers
I can’t unsee that.
It's getting colder every day throughout much of the northern hemisphere. If you want to build shelters to help keep your local stray and feral cats warm this winter, here is a great DIY option! www.alleycat.org/resources/ho...
Wrote a bit about a case that has long fascinated me, where Fanny White, one of the most famous sex workers of the 19th century, may or may not have been murdered and/or may or may not have had her fortune stolen.
rmdavis1.substack.com/p/the-myster...
