Was waiting for a coffee at the place around the corner when this old guy in a van just backed straight into a parked car. Sat there for a sec clearly going "what do" before just driving off. But I got everyone's plates, so.

Decided I need to do a read-through of my MS, out loud, and it turns out that 80K is actually ummm a lot of words

MAGAZINER: How many veterans have you deported? NOEM: We haven't deported veterans MAGAZINER: We are now joined on Zoom by a combat veteran you deported to Korea

Why can't Gmail's spam filters detect these stupid AI book promo scams?

Idk who needs to hear this but the best part of self-publishing is that you can do literally whatever tf you want. Hate preorders? Don't run 'em Hate Amazon? Distribute elsewhere Hate figuring out printing? Just do ebook Hate formatting ebooks? Do web serials Do what *you* want.

Ugh. Making the annual family photo book is difficult when half the year's events were traumatic.

I know someone who cycles through the same 5 or 6 talking points every time I run into them. Like same stories, same everything, as if we've never discussed it before. Is this... some early form of Alzheimer's/dementia? They don't seem to have trouble functioning otherwise?

One thing these ghouls consistently miss is that it's not grandma's WORDS that matter. It's grandma's hug. Her food. The card with indecipherable cursive. The little basket of toys and games she kept on hand. Words are important. But people are not words.

These guys can't fucking communicate, and they have very literally never had to learn how to. Everyone they have talked to, for decades, sounds exactly like chatgpt glazing them.

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

Finally caved and am trying @kagi.com OH MY GOD I LOVE VERBATIM MODE IT ACTUALLY SEARCHES FOR WHAT I ACTUALLY TYPE NOT WHAT IT THINKS I MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO TYPE THIS IS AMAZING. Ahem. Anyway, thank you to @tiffanyleigh.bsky.social for the trial invite. Good, longish, overview of Kagi here:

Hey! At the time I shared it there was some demand for it, so I made a print of this piece, available for a limited time (mid january for now)! Get it this holiday season! 🎁 Link below! 👇

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

This is long but if you are an artist or a writer or a programmer affected by the AI bubble, I think it's worth a read. pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...

“I brought this horrid creature into the world, and now I must take him out!” Winfrey said

12 year old had his annual piano recital today - it was the first year where he got really anxious and self-conscious about his performance. It's all fun and games until you realize other people are PEOPLE and they are watching!

My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth (honorable mention: tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart)

Have not been able to get this passage from @vajra.me out of my head:

This is ANY community activity in a nutshell. When we moved here we took our kids to the annual holiday display. Turns out the entire thing is run by 3 old people and the scout troop that I now oversee. People just expect stuff to BE there, but it takes hard work and showing up.

Did not realize becoming a regular blood donor would also keep me supplied with clothing. Last time it was a t-shirt, this time socks. Maybe next time I get pants?

Okay I want to know if anyone else is experiencing this: literally every elderly person I talk to, they say something that's just baffling, and when I look it up later, it's some weird and/or vaguely right-wing social media rabbit hole? What are our elderly folks doing???

Absurdly happy that a teen I know asked me to write him a college recommendation letter 😊

Give a fish a man, teach him for a day. Feed a man to teach; fish becomes a lifetime.

Took the fam to our usual burger joint tonight. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger. The cashier grinned and said, "And what flavor milkshake would you like?" So I guess we're THAT family.

Any traditionally pubbed authors here who are included in the Anthropic settlement? I got my stuff in the mail and I'm not sure if this needs to go through my publisher rather than me? Anyone know?

This will now be the link I send everyone who says, "Well, I asked ChatGPT and it told me--"

Oh I saw some rumors about this a couple of weeks ago. Happy to learn they were accurate! I'll be there.

Me: You hiked this route before, remember? 12: No? Me: It's the one where you jumped into a puddle of mud and your shoe came off and then we still had 4 more miles to go. 12: Oh, THAT one.

uuuuugh the AI book marketing scam emails have found me

Welp that ep of Pluribus hit a little too close to home

Kiddo was having trouble filling out a "brainstorming" worksheet as prep for the short story he's supposed to write, so I showed him that he could literally just list random settings/characters/themes and then roll dice to generate a story like D&D.

Was really hoping to avoid having to explain the whole AI/LLM thing to my elderly friends but here we are

tired of fresh hell and would settle for some stale heaven at this point

that's because it has more people with security clearances in charge

Not that I was gonna sub during the teacher strike, but the subbing app is now completely down so uhhh NOBODY is subbing. That should be fun.

Last week @theverge.com published my essay exploring the limitations of large-language models. This week, that same essay is cited by a federal judge in Michigan to distinguish the process of human reasoning from what these models do. Very, very gratifying.

A kid just knocked on our door to see if he could wash the car parked out on the street because it "looked a little dirty." Not my car, alas - but I appreciate the hustle, kid.

At some point (now) there are going to be so many corporations who are complicit in this corruption that it will be possible for individuals of good conscience to simply take their business elsewhere. Fighting back requires collective action - which is what government is SUPPOSED TO BE FOR.

HE DID IT

Years ago I joked that when my grandmother finally died, her descendants would descend into chaos and bloodshed over my beloved grandfather's crystal knife rest. Well--I got to it first. MUAHAHAHAHA

Sympathetic to the teachers striking while at the same time AUGH COME ONNNNN KEEP MY KID IN SCHOOL

Well, according to my chocolate advent calendar, it's just two days until Christmas.

So here’s the thing: I, a certified Disabled™️ Person, do not actually care if anyone fakes for an extra 20 minutes on the test. I care deeply about how the fear of that very thing puts up flaming hoops disabled people have to jump through. Maybe listen to disabled folk on this one.

It's Pluribus niiiight! (I watch it on Tuesdays because it's too scary for everyone else and this is the night I get the TV to myself.)

A question I've been thinking about: how do we raise kids that speak up? I mean this not just for my own kids, but all of the kids in our circles. Some are naturally comfortable with speaking their minds, but others really feel that social pressure and anxiety about saying the right thing.

When we went to the movie theater to see Wake Up Dead Man, they started the show with a land acknowledgment - and followed it with an advertisement for vacationing in Dubai. Me, too loudly: HEY THAT'S THAT PLACE WHERE THEY HAVE SLAVES

Once again I have too much responsibility for too many things and I can't juggle it all and now I'm dropping balls. How do I end up in this same hole over and over again?

Arcane The making-of Arcane, courtesy of @fortiche_prod. Thank you for four magical years. Always with you 💙