Google DeepMind’s Weather Lab uses AI to track tropical storms and is remarkably good.

Check out @jordynhaime.bsky.social on "Taiwan's Israel Charm Offensive" in the latest issue of her newsletter. "Now let’s turn to what has been absent from Taiwan’s messaging: any acknowledgement of the accusations of starvation and genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government."

This is a stunning political realignment--Mamdani lost Jews, Catholics, and Protestants but won by sweeping "Other" and "None." As a Jewish voter in the 33% I hope my neighbors (literally) in the 63%, who were flooded with dishonest mailers, social media, and texts, will now keep an open mind.

good morning specifically to the FBI agent who introduced Mamdani’s dad to Marx

11. Importantly, the city is and has always been a much less controllable space for the far right than the countryside. It is less in thrall to traditional hierarchies and better able to mobilise: the sheer number of people provides a counterweight to oligarchic power.

I just got out of D&D and am finally watching The Speech and I got as far as "these are not hands that have been allowed to hold power" before I burst into tears www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MfB...

Very proud to have contributed a few chapters to this book on the past, present, and future of neon in HK. The process showed me how it’s so much more than just sappy sentimentality to mourn HK’s lost lights — and that despite everything… neon’s not dead. Consider backing our Kickstarter campaign ⬇️

finally official

thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting. now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.

In @nkjemisin.bsky.social's sci-fi novel, The City We Became, Staten Island is the vector by which fascist aliens from a parallel dimension invade the city.

You African Studies majors out there: you too can become mayor of New York City!!!

Good job NY!

It seems the decision was made after threats, not for financial reasons, which is still terrible, but for different reasons.

Over four years, the top four military contractors "spent $89 billion rewarding shareholders, an estimated two-thirds of which came from public funds that could have otherwise gone to helping people afford groceries."

"Taiwan's #wages have been growing so slowly that its median-wage earners are today actually only earning the minimum wage, when benchmarked to other economically-similar countries," explains wages activist @royngerng.bsky.social. "This means Taiwan's workers have much lower purchasing power."

OK - huge and positive update! bsky.app/profile/avis...

Really appreciating the bsky feature that lets you mute certain words for 24hrs!

What if I told you I'd created an app that produces racism and misogyny on command, for free? But wait, there's more. At no extra charge, it will destroy the environment at the same time! Not only that, but we've even thrown in the ability to mislead voters and promote fascism!

It feels like the cast of an 80's TV soap has taken over the government ...

It isn't just that he's happy; it's that he's happy because he genuinely loves New York and the people who live there. Cuomo, on the other hand, seems to have nothing but contempt for ... well, everyone actually.

There have been several articles about Musk and Trump appropriating Tolkien to push a fascist message. I actually wrote about this in my newsletter a year ago. This started in Italy, where "hobbits are the symbol of a radical movement to reimagine fascism and restore far-right movements to glory."

That time my dog wrote a review of Donna Haraway: "I was very happy when my owner decided that we should review this book. Mostly because when he reads a book we can sit together on the couch… I get scratched behind my ear a lot more when we are reading a book."

I don't think it really matters that much which orthography one uses, as long as it is used consistently. The big problem in Taiwan is that it is still a mishmash of at least 5 of these systems. But there are some things I wish people did keep in mind:

Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.

Cancel culture

A Nazi Tattoo Exposes Democrats’ Greatest Weakness www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o... @tressiemcphd.bsky.social is unmatched. Read her latest piece—and everything else she writes.

Reject the smear campaign - join the schmear campaign! Vote @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social on November 4th!

This is like every dinner conversation I’ve had with @shashwati.com for the past 30 years: “Which aunt is that? … Oh, so she’s your cousin?” Didn’t know it was a headline worthy scandal!

The most charitable interpretation of him as a candidate is immaturity, and I don’t just mean that he’s puerile. He clearly hasn’t done the work to actually have a job like this, either morally or intellectually. Most Dems do not want another Fetterman.

recently discovered that wikipedia volunteers have a hilariously high bar for what constitutes "unusual death"

I really do think we are in an AI bubble, but if you want to understand why we are in a bubble, it is good to understand what they are capable of, beyond making stupid videos of raccoons on a trampoline. Here are some real-world examples of how I have used AIs this past week:

Where are the signatories of the Harper’s letter now?

worth applying to politics as well. when you're criticizing an action people take "taking the better action next time" is only one of the alternatives people will consider, and worth remembering that "not bothering at all" is another.

"This is not the same thing as persuading people that the thing itself matters: they usually know it does. The task is to persuade people that they matter: they know they usually don’t." haven't seen it said better than @alybatt.bsky.social says it here

“Gallery attendants, ticket agents and security personnel at the museum staged a brief walkout in June, citing chronic understaffing and poor working conditions.”

I guess he was jealous of Asad's bunker?

It was never about a ballroom. "The bunker under the East Wing will also be upgraded, sources told CBS News. The White House Military Office is handling the renovation of the bunker, which is known as the President's Emergency Operations Center."

#Taipei marches in support of trans rights tonight 🏳️‍⚧️

"There was a time when the "digital revolution" promised to preserve everything, forever, after mere books faded. Ours is a time when it's possible to wonder whether the real point of digital media is that it's easier to turn them off, when no one is looking. " - @zunguzungu.bsky.social

The American Anthropology Association Renews Its Call for the Release of Dr. Rahile Dawut

This is even worse than I expected, and my expectations of Cuomo are about as low as possible.

It is far more exhausting, physically and mentally, to skim a boring book for useful information than to carefully read an interesting book cover-to-cover.

Whenever I post about Taiwan not being part of China, I always get comments and replies about how the Qing weren't really Chinese, because they were Manchu. This is a terrible take that ignores the last thirty years of Qing historiography.

Clever and informative

You often hear the claim that #Taiwan was part of China "for centuries." Well, maybe technically, but it was only from 1683 to 1895, or just 212 years. And for most of that time (until the last 20 years) it was treated as a remote backwater—but why should the length of time even matter?

Evacuations under way due to the Mataian lake bursting again www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT "A millionaire levy in Massachusetts has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed Sunday that UT Austin professor Art Markman has been dismissed from his administrative role as senior vice provost for academic affairs because of “ideological differences"

Here's a gift link to the New York Times' coverage of the initial Tea Party rallies in April 2009 which inspired the media to treat it like a massive movement. Check out how tiny the crowds were: Philly: 200 DC: "several hundred" Boston: 500 Austin: 1,000 Houston: 2,000