The long-term concern here, to be clear, is not just about researchers, but about enclosure of the knowledge commons. Schools are paying tech companies for tools that were trained on their own books—while tying their own hands to prevent internal development of similar tools. It's self-destructive.

"I'm not, not licking toads."

For a moment I thought I'd found a way to hack through the rice cooker discourse. My solution: Look at the user ratings on hmart.com - Alas, as best I can tell, the H-Mart site doesn't support them. Sigh.

A friend from @rprc.bsky.social posts their curling sessions to Strava, an app more commonly used to share runs, hikes, bikes and swims. I love it.

Happening Now: A snowball fight is taking place at Washington Square Park in New York City

Lower Lake Shore Drive & Navy Pier ferris wheel 🎡

A fantastic Herzog deep cut

You have to have a system....

HEAT PUMPS!

Same, and extended to dog videos for me. Or, for that matter, dog + cat videos, which are often particularly cute and heartwarming.

As a MechE undergrad who ended up immediately shifting to CS, it's helpful to be reminded that fundamental innovations in built things continue to be possible and, indeed, are essential. That Lonnie "Super Soaker" Johnson is one of the people continuing to do this work is <chef kiss>.

I was well into adulthood when I discovered I share a name with a piece of forestry/firefighting equipment. I still don't own one. I should fix that.

@bradyharan.bsky.social - I would like to propose a Numberphile video about the LUGE() function. LUGE(1) and LUGE(2) are, of course, well understood. But LUGE(3)?

Who's the most famous alum of your high school? Ernest Hemingway

Unit conversion and intuition is an interesting sub-area of electrification. I used to buy gallons, therms and kWhs. Now I just buy kWhs (and often fewer of them. How do we "market" these benefits? How do we introduce "cheaper off-peak kWhs" when there's no such concept for therms or gallons?

I will eventually shut up about this but Bad Bunny’s use of the power lines is an outstanding example of how to communicate about climate and energy issues. Not about who is the smartest nerd in the room and spewing numbers but about people’s actual lives. Genius.

The prep is terrible but the drugs they give you are good so it evens out.

DO YOUR DUTY, CHICAGO

Sunday vibz

A 16 year old New Zealand runner just did a 3:48 mile. I repeat. 3:48. - www.letsrun.com/news/2026/02... - Hell, I'm just going to go ahead and @ a few relevant parties here. (cc: @rprc.bsky.social) and I hope @janecoaston.bsky.social sees this. And ( @gopher33j.bsky.social, bsky is sports!)

A quick skim above a very frozen & snow-covered South branch of the Chicago River this afternoon. This view will transform quite a bit once “The 78” is developed.

( Original post - bsky.app/profile/lacr... )

Is it a local call?

love you chicago

This is second order or perhaps Schrödinger-coded Tony Hawk discourse. The author under review both does and does not exist.

A larger lesson, perhaps, about how social media fails to map to the "real world"?

Doing whatever the food equivalent of chain smoking is with the fresh corn chips and green sauce from Taqueria Ciudad Hidalgo in RP....

New York begins cargo drone trial between Manhattan and Brooklyn, deep dive with all we could find! adafruit.com/nycdrones @nycedc.bsky.social #dronedelivery

Chicago people, particularly those with detailed knowledge of the city _south_ of Roosevelt, please solve @sorenspicknall.bsky.social's riddle here. I'm terribly curious and have run out of guesses.

The 1970s business environment - www.youtube.com/watch?v=r257... - (I genuinely enjoyed this archive report, but goodness.... that was a different time.)

I Love Chicago

This is Charles Clyde Ebbets, the photographer who took the iconic “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” picture. Look at this fearless, dapper fuck wearing spats, suspenders, and a tie 850 feet above the ground. Absolute legend.

Real "Homonym!" energy - www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZLk...

Good news, everyone! Today is my first day as a climate and weather editor for CNN (For realsies, instead of a temp position. I'm bona-fide now) and I got to publish my first CNN byline on the same day. www.cnn.com/2025/12/08/c...

Strong agree - Spoken more clearly than I am capable of

Damnit. Next time I will follow my gut and post what I was going to post: "Looks fantastic. How do you do it? Seriously. Mine always end up either too dense or too chewy."

At a recent gathering of Rogers Park volunteers, we heard from a neighbor who choked up telling us about their dad turning around and going home when he heard whistles up the street. "One of you may have saved his life that day." It all matters, it really does.

You got greedy Martin.

Battery export boom: China has exported approximately $60 billion in battery energy storage systems and components in the first three quarters of 2025, up 24% from last year www.reuters.com/markets/comm... US export comparisons in 2024: Soy, $25b. LNG, $28.9b. Auto exports, $59.2b. 🔌💡

So here’s a really fascinating thing in energy news today. According to PJM, the only thing better at meeting grid short-term power needs than load-sited demand reduction “DR” is nuclear. This is a really BFD. www.pjm.com/-/media/DotC...

~ timeline cleanse ~

Chicago baby

I got this useful bon mot from a middle school teacher recently. In response to, “I DONT UNDERSTAND,” he calmly said, “okay what steps have you taken to understand?” And that’s when I realized that a lot of folks have no steps.

Anyway, we need some joy, so here's the Egyptian foreign minister being given a Lego Pyramid by the Danish foreign minister.

I have a plea for you. I need an automotive engineer familiar with programming of the safety systems in a crash. This is both an engineering passion of mine, and deeply personal. Hell, I will pay them an hourly rate. Story I've tried for years. It feels like I've hit a wall on millisecond logic.