Take the wrong lesson from a movie: Monty Python and the Holy Grail Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is a perfectly valid basis for a system of government.

BREAKING: The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV's teaching authority on just war doctrine — less than twelve hours after JD Vance told a Turning Point USA crowd the pope should “be careful” talking theology. This is a serious escalation.

This jogged a memory: in fifth grade I wrote an essay about wanting to be an astronomer with a radio telescope when I grew up.

An eclipse and photos of a crescent Earthrise. From the Artemis 2 mission. From here: www.nasa.gov/gallery/luna...

The dark side of the Moon, from the Artemis II mission. Almost looks like the 😮 emoji. www.nasa.gov/image-detail...

I think the reason AI propagandists are so flustered by the fact that no real writer wants to use their idiotic tools is that they themselves don't enjoy writing. They see it as a boring arduous chore to be avoided, while real writers actually enjoy writing and actually care about the quality of it.

A student doing a site visit to observe a Catholic service just commented that when they started Mass he thought it was a snack break in the middle and I’m just dying here.

Back home from Breakout Con in Toronto, and all ready to apply what I’ve learned to TPK my players. Seriously, though, gaming cons are great not just for fun but to spark creativity and new ways to think about gaming.

And I end the night with a misunderstanding. Forgot to eat dinner, so stopped for some slices of pizza. Apparently they don’t just have slices, and I brought two pizzas back to my hotel. I know what I’m eating for breakfast.

In other news, I found an Iraqi restaurant to eat lunch at today. I had the chicken tikka, with roast veggies and garlic sauce, plus lentil soup and some fluffy sesame bread. Excellent food.

I’m in Toronto and had a weird Tim Hortons experience earlier. First, one of the employees complimented me on my hair. Now, guys don’t usually compliment my hair, but that’s not the weirdest part. 1/6

Gaming night quote: “that guy’s ego is like a Bag of Holding.”

Older man stumbled on the stairs near me at the coffee shop and said, “Don’t get into your nineties!” “I’m not sure I like the alternative!” I replied.

Don’t drag professors into this. Most of us hate AI and what it’s doing to our students and profession. Yell at the tech lords.

Now this brings back memories. My best friend’s dad had a PCjr with this game. First (and only) person I knew at the time who had a personal computer.

I’m not here to defend AI, but when I’m playing war games, if I get nukes, I recommend using them too.

I know it’s heresy to criticize Wegmans in WNY but I’m peeved they abruptly canceled a cake order I was supposed to pick up today. Now I have to add “bake a cake” to my to-do list.

The Jock, the Goth, the Nerd, the Drama Queen.

I understand why chatbot cheating happens but every time I read about it I want to gently remind everyone that the point of schoolwork is not for the submission to exist. Teachers are not just greedy for more essays or solved equations. The point is to do the work WITH YOUR OWN BRAIN, FOR LEARNING.

The trick is to get students to learn from meaningful experiences when what has have is the output of that experience and the evidence they provide. Those outputs and evidence are unfortunately increasingly easy for AI to fake.

“Why don’t people love AI more? Sure it will replace you at work and make you dumber and it’s bad for the environment and raises electricity prices. I just don’t get why people don’t embrace it??”

I wish students would email me questions ahead of time. Grading papers based on observing another religion and I have students who didn’t do the assignment because they feel it dishonors their tradition to attend another service during Lent, Ramadan, etc. 1/2

Looks like the Pope is against priest using AI for homilies. Glad to see it. www.ncronline.org/vatican/pope...

I’d suggest one of the issues here is that AI implementation has not been an organic, bottom-up process. Since 2022, its boosters have been tech titans and media folks who got waaaaay ahead of the demand for this technology and began imposing the features and infrastructure on an unconvinced public.

“Move along then and let the cleanup crew do their job.”

He also gave compelling performances in the 1960s in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits. RIP.

Funny story: I once used this as my laptop screensaver. Once while working at the cafe I went next door to check my laundry and when I got back it was blasting the screensaver at full volume. Everyone was looking around for the owner. I wanted to die on the spot of embarrassment.

The Church of the Holy Self-Reliance “We don’t need no God’s grace. We’ll get to heaven on our own, thank you very much.” Glad to see they’re reopening old religious debates.

I’ve started adding to my humanities classes some rationale for why these classes are important. I include the skills they are developing and discussion of how these skills are valuable in their future careers.

"Appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not." The perfect encapsulation of what has clearly become the systemic failure of higher-ed leadership

Stop giving him the benefit of the doubt. He’s the president and should be held to a higher standard. And God knows we never give other presidents the benefit of the doubt.

Order of the Scribe Wizard, as a professor of the humanities teaching only online courses.

The word for the day is “myomancy.” It refers to divination by examining the behavior of rodents. It usually refers to rats and mice, but groundhogs are rodents too.

Yourself, but as a cartoon.

The replies to this are *chef's kiss*

Change a letter, ruin a film The Whining

It’s a crisp -7F here in WNY. Hope it’s warmer wherever you are.

It's inevitable, you simply must adapt to it and use it, you have no choice, but also please use it more or it's going to die

So in other news my laptop died and it’s at the shop. I got my backup laptop running but the adapter just flared out in a shower of sparks. Plenty entertaining for other patrons at the coffee shop this morning.

The title and the headings in the article understate how bad this administration has been for higher Ed.

I stand corrected.

It’s ironic that in Plato’s Republic, the argument is made that a government should censor works that don’t fit its views. I guess TX is just following his recommendation.

To think, I wasted years of meals eating fruits and vegetables, when I could have been eating healthy Philly cheese steaks all along!

How exactly would a hospital buying its own insurance to cover patients’ care going to work? Or do they mean just patients should haggle with healthcare providers? When you’re unconscious in an ambulance you’re not really in a strong negotiating position.

International and foreign language programs are not a priority… sheesh. No, why bother trying to understand and communicate with other nations and cultures? How myopic.

I am really glad to hear these materials documenting the attempted violent overthrow of an American election are being preserved. Esp. given the current administrations attempts to whitewash its history and pardoning its perpetrators.

This is terrible, just terrible. Peer reviewers for journal articles should also check on each source cited, if they weren’t doing so already. And lay off the damn AI.

Some More Font Upgrades, After Yesterday’s Calibri News www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

My humanities class has a creative project. Correlation is not causation, but I do think it’s a little suspicious that I get more short stories (over art projects) as genAI has become more mainstream. I mean, dammit, this was a chance for students to do something authentic and original.