Interacting with GPT 5.1 feels subtly different. From brief humor (using puns, with a parenthetical "Sorry"), through to comments about finding a specific cause so that "we can do the fun part". I don't know if this is reflective of the model for everyone, or if my own history is doing this.

Lots of reasons to love using Clojure, but Netflix reminded us of why we don’t want to use anything else… In 12 years, over 7 different versions of Clojure (from 1.5.1 to 1.12.0) they had zero migrations! I don’t know how to express how amazing that is

What the…? ChatGPT 5.1 just cracked a joke???

First day of talks at Clojure/conj. I’m looking forward to this

Americans say, “cursive,” while Australians call it “running writing.” This is one of the few occasions where I feel that American English is a little more eloquent.

0x20 years. Does this mean I’m old now? 🥺

It’s bizarre to listen to a friend being my new state governor (Abigail 💖), then switching over to Australian news and hearing a discussion on a national leader who’s the younger brother of a childhood friend.

Election Day, and the kids and I all have the day off uni/school. So we’re off to our annual pilgrimage… apple picking

Since the emdash now apparently indicates LLM authorship, I've started resurrecting the punctuation I was taught in primary school. I was never taught to use any dashes aside from the hyphen; I learned about them through context. Instead, we were taught to use commas, semicolons, and colons.

Is it a cultural difference, or is it just me…? Does it bother anyone else to listen to other people having a loud speakerphone conversation with someone while in a public restroom or changing rooms?

I didn’t want to take the time to drive one hour to deliver some paperwork in DC, so I sent it certified mail. I’m wondering how a 1 hour trip has become 6 days and counting. I’m anxious, because it will cost me $400 if it doesn’t arrive in the next 2 days

How to release new software, or a new, extended version of software: - enroll in a PhD - have a deadline to meet where you absolutely cannot afford to waste any time

I’m tired but can’t sleep. Jet lag will do that to you. So I’m looking at my phone like an idiot

It’s hard to be sociable on this app. I show up & it feels like the world is falling apart. Sure, that’s important to be aware of, but I can’t spend all day obsessing with despair. Anyway, that’s why I am likely to write inconsequential things here. Apologies to those whose feeds I have interrupted

To paraphrase a friend: Oslo, jeg er i deg… igjen

Oooh, the LoC is showing The Secret of NIMH in October! Definitely going to that one.

Now that MacOS has a "stand loupe" (or "dome magnifier") as the icon for the Preview app, I'm left wondering if the majority of people using MacOS actually know what that icon is?

People point out that Alanis Morissette's 1996 song "Ironic" does not sing about irony. But that's ironic. I like to think that she intentionally wrote it as a masterclass in irony.

Offshore wind opponents are pressuring Brown University to retract research produced by a climate lab.

Reading a post on pronouncing a few words, I saw the word "solder" is said the way I've often heard it in the USA: /ˈsɑːdər/ or "SOD-er" Did everyone around me say it incorrectly when I was young? No. It turns out that the British kept the original pronunciation: /ˈsɒldər/ or /ˈsəʊldər/

I know language constantly evolves, but I still lament the decline of the adverb in American English.

I am reminded again that the US view of punitive justice does not align with most of the western world

Me: I need access to this system. I'll search in Confluence… nope. Again? No. Another? Nope. Sigh. Me to colleague: "I need access, do you know how, please?" Colleague: "Sure. Here is a link to a Confluence page" Page contains all the searched terms. Colleague: "You should just search Confluence"

And here I was, thinking of going to to the march at Culpeper today

One day I would love to attend this conference. It always looks great

"A well-delivered lecture isn’t primarily a delivery system for information. It is an ignition point for curiosity, all the better for being experienced in an audience." Marvellous defence of the increasingly maligned university experience by @patporter76.bsky.social thecritic.co.uk/university-a...

AI problem #237: It's right often enough as to make people complacent, and start to trust it. And then someone relying on AI dies because they trusted it.

I'm working at understanding Q,K,V better, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that after a year of reading other papers in the field I can now follow what "Attention Is All You Need" is telling me. Maybe all that work had value after all

Really related to the 2nd last question this week with @caseynewton.bsky.social My daughter believes AI is evil in all forms and refuses to accept anything to do with it. Meanwhile, I’m a PhD student, researching AI. So, you know… that’s fun

I know it doesn't matter to anyone else except me, but I'm still happy that I've kept my GPA up there. Just 2 more subjects and I can stop worrying about them and start worrying about getting publications accepted instead!

Yes, it’s Mother’s Day, but sometimes if you want something nice you have to make it yourself. (Also, it doesn’t hurt to remind the kids what I do for them)

Exams are over. I should feel elated. But instead, I just feel…. flat. Maybe I just need time to get back to my routine?

NSF was necessary for every step of my career: an REU gave me research experience necessary for grad school; a grad research fellowship gave me independence to design an innovative PhD thesis; an astronomy grant (AAG) as a jr prof enabled me to hit the ground running toward tenure. #withoutNSF

Ha. I always expected I was below average

@angryblacklady.bsky.social will we get to hear about Trump v. CASA, Trump v. State of Washington, and Trump v. State of New Jersey? IANAL (which is why I listen to you!) but I'd love to know if restricting the scope of injunctions could be as significant as it sounds

This morning I saw that a senior Russian general died from a car bomb. Only while speculating about how the general might have upset his boss that much that I suddenly remembered: Russia is at war. It says so much that my first thought was not about enemies of that country

Oh wow! iOS has introduced the most useful emoji ever! 🫩

Eggs for Easter morning

At PyData VA today, with a lanyard that says I’m at VCU (which I am). I don’t think my manager will mind? 🙂 Looking forward to seeing how people are handling data processing and analysis right now #pydata

How do you explain to someone that when git tells you there is a conflict in your merge, the answer is not to simply delete the changes that weren’t in your branch?

What is an "emac", and why would I want more than one of them?

Group project partner: “I don’t know this stuff well, so I’ll do the UI.” OK “I know you suggested Flask, but I want to use Django. Learning it now.” OK “Django doesn’t like schemas not written in it, so I have just rebuilt *everything* you’ve been working on for the past week.” 🤨

It is so bizarre that we’ve barely had any rain in months (with a brief respite yesterday morning) and yet just a few hours drive from here they are experiencing “catastrophic flooding”

Is it just me or does everyone doing a MacOS update experience a hung system when it reboots? Every single update does this.

After having some time away for illness, I chose the second-best time to run 5k

thinking good thoughts for @neurotic.bsky.social today. He knows why 👋

A cyclone coming in on southern Queensland/northern NSW is surreal. Brisbane gets intense storms, but a cyclone is a totally different thing. I don’t know if they’ve ever been that far south

I'm just a student like all these other students. OK, yes, I have a lot of experience, but I still feel like a fraud when they approach me with questions. I guess I'm not doing myself any favors by having the answers they're looking for

"Please provide a document of no more than 2 pages. It must include…" followed by a description of data that requires a minimum of 5 pages.