I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.

This, from @jamellebouie.net is exactly right. And I think so many folks have refused to see or admit what Trump is because admitting implicates them, or their families, so denial is easier.

crickets from the free speech crowd, of course

IF THIS WORKED, SHE WOULDN'T NEED TO SELL THE TECHNIQUES TO YOU

reading about organisms that aren’t your specialty is like margins of the quorbus eplungulate, ploobular processes bent posteriorly towards the foobulum define term “eplungulate” - lacking plungae. synonym: thubulous

It’s 2026. There is a measles outbreak in the prison for babies

wake up babe the right is doing drapetomania for white women engaging in race treason bsky.app/profile/hann...

olive oil is a legitimate interest

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Minnesotans are showing the soul of the United States to the world.

unfortunately it appears that things are really complicated and getting the details matters a lot, sometimes more than anything, and also evil is extremely real. sorta the worst of both worlds there.

Maybe the most important thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that the solution to what looks like a collective action problem is to just start solving it. People will show up.

I can see direct through lines from the times in my life when I was flailing/dicking around and getting really good at things later. It’s part of the process.

this shouldn't be surprising to anyone: specialization is for insects fairly certain i qualify as a high performance adult by these standards and i wasn't good at anything as a kid besides reading a shitload of random books www.wsj.com/science/elit...

so in the last 2 days I have received 2 "welcome to gemini" emails. Both say I received them because I "signed up" for gemini which I definitely didn't. Anyone know what this is about? Any tips on turning it off? Web search has failed to turn up answer. Wild how hard it is to opt out of this stuff.

💀

CONFIRMED: Eileen Higgins, a Democrat, will be the new mayor of Miami. She'll be the city's first Democratic mayor since the 1990s. She flipped the office from Republicans, and does so easily. She leads the DeSantis-endorsed Emilio González 59/41 right now with most ballots counted.

every time somebody asks me for help with an LLM problem at work, the checklist starts with "do you understand what you are trying to do well enough to explain it to me, a human with way more preexisting context about your problem than the LLM has?". most fail.

ruh roh

Don’t try to tell me when something should be a table google sheets. I decide when things should be tables.

A lot of education discourse is at root an inability to decide whether the purpose of our education system is to 1) teach material and measure learning 2) reward students who work hard 3) separate the smart kids (destined for smart guy jobs) from the dumb kids (destined to serve the smart guys)

the way basic human decency hits these days is crazy

DESPITE ALL MY RAGE LET'S CIRCLE BACK AND GET ON THE SAME PAGE DESPITE ALL MY RAGE THERE ARE STILL SEVERAL METRICS TO GAUGE SOMEONE WILL SAY TURN THIS IN BY THE END OF THE DAY DESPITE ALL MY RAGE YOU DON'T NEED MY SIGN-OFF AT THIS STAGE

If we were really going to "run the government like a business," Costco is the actual model we'd want to follow.

THIS IS AMAZING. ALSO WHAT, IF ANYTHING, DID WE FORGET TO RUIN?

Mark your calendar for a huge December election (sorry, sorry, I know): Democrat Eileen Higgins & Republican Emilio Gonzalez moved on to the runoff for mayor of Miami.

This is the most minor of points possible. But the theme for Halloween parties is “Halloween”. Why are you trying to narrow the field of possible costume choices? Anyways, unsurprisingly joyless crap here.

Yeah the Hobbits big virtue is that they're indomitable. They aren't wise or clever or strong, but that turns out to be less important than the will to pick up and carry your friend to the end of the world

Environmental activism that only focuses on “raising awareness” without a broader theory of change, are not helping and can potentially harm progress.

Great turn out and energy in Miami today 💙

"Organizing" is just "Did I do anything to help out with organizing efforts today?" And it, like most of the categories, isn't binary—I give myself more points for that day if what I did was more significant, or took more time.

Any Miami folks, especially near the Coral Way/Shenandoah area: we’re meeting up to travel together to the protest if anyone wants to join this Saturday @coralwaydems.bsky.social

Interestingly I found this action to be a real beautiful example of solidarity across orgs, movements and causes. Too often things are structured in ways that keep us fighting for “our issue” in silos, but all our fates are intertwined. Always have been, but now could not be more obvious.

been dealing with some brain fog more lately and as someone with a parent with early onset dementia I can't determine if this is just HOW IT STARTS or if its my mind reacting to everything being too much right now.

CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors. ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart. ISILDUR: true

"We're going to create superintelligence" How about making outlook search work first. How about that

feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak

Say it often, say it loud: "Overall, research has not supported the common-sense presumption that digital approaches to schooling are better than non-digital alternatives. At the broadest level, widespread computer use in education has been found to be associated with lower student achievement."

Scientists say Twitter has lost its edge and Bluesky is taking its place | Coverage of our paper in PsyPost

For Floridians wanting the COVID-19 vaccine, both Publix and Walgreens pharmacies have announced they are offering the shot now without a prescription.

How your email finds me:

Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration

CHOTINER: And when was that? MY CAT: I mean at least 14 hours ago CHOTINER: Well hold on. You're telling me you haven't been fed at all today but if I look in your bowl here I see a- MY CAT: An untouched serving, I know, but if you'd let me finish- CHOTINER: Yeah, of course.

this is a very cool story but also part of a wider and incredible resurgence of the Eurasian beaver, which dropped to approximately 1,200 survivors in the early 20th century and is now up to 1.5 million. Beavers were reintroduced to the UK this March.

It should be needless to say, but it is perhaps at this moment worth saying, that transgender individuals have the same right as anyone else to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

for your consideration…….donate to my fundraiser

Every year this event is an expression of sheer joy and community. Science is for everyone.

Good things happening alert: Field School is running our 5th annual Drag n’ Tag event (drag queens+shark research). We run this event to raise funds for local LGBTQ+ youth org Pridelines. Enjoy these photos and donate to support their work here! donate.misselasmo.org/event/drag-n...