pretty sure there is similar "reasoning" as to why he doesn't take a strong stand against Putin. a good slice of MAGA admires and to some extent wants to emulate the strong-man ethnonationalist (white) Christian leader -- but don't relate to/admire the Iranian theocracy in at all the same way

I do not want AI on a train I do not want it in the rain I do not want AI on a boat I do not want an AI goat I do not like the AI spam I do not like it, Sam [Altman] I am

For the people who think racial inequality is a historical artefact that is behind us: www.nber.org/system/files... important new work from @kaseybuckles.bsky.social and her coauthors linking Americans over four generations. History matters in the present

Being an American parent in Sweden is going to your kid's end-of-school ceremony and hearing them blast the uncensored version of Starships-- which includes the line "higher than a motherf*a" like 9x--to all the parents, toddler siblings, and <12yo kids

"A subsistence farmer from a thousand years ago would look at what many of us do and say we have fake jobs...since we have plenty of food and unimaginable luxuries." interesting (lack of) perspective since many also currently feel their jobs are fake blog.samaltman.com/the-gentle-s...

continue to be a bit bemused about the AI hype. my experience is that chatGPT at least is like an overconfident, slightly incompetent RA -- helpful for some narrow, heavily guided, concrete, and easily verifiable tasks, but anything more and it's probably better (and faster) to do it yourself

Deep Blue is 30 years old and was capable of defeating chess grand champions. It could be housed in a single cabinet. ChatGPT spans untold data centers devouring massive amounts of electricity and it got its ass whipped by an 8 bit gaming console from the 1970s.

using chatgpt to generate a "family" image with 2 adults + kid and wow it can't hold back the heternormativity. after explicit instructions to remove hair/clothes and like 5 iterations, it *shortens* the "mom's" hair...but adds a boob for good measure

you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.

the fact that the American idea of something akin to a general labor strike is a general consumption strike is...something

this is a bad signal from the SC. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...

If you're wondering what the vibes are in DC, it's sort of now a thing when you talk to people to open a conversation with some version of "Hi...do you...still have a job..."

The entire business model of American R1 universities is not viable without restoration of federal funding, & every individual institution pretending it can solve this problem alone is also not viable. University presidents need to be speaking out, collectively & loudly about this, in DC, right now.

well, we already know their theories about quantifying health issues. No measurements, no morbidity, no problem!

REMINDER: Cutting IRS spending is not a “cost-cutting” move. Cutting the IRS lowers revenue. It’s a move to protect the wealthy, like Elon Musk. Auditing the rich returns $12 for every $1 spent. www.nber.org/papers/w31376

Notably, there's a 10 p.p. increase in "economy on the wrong track" and a 4 p.p. decrease in approval for how Trump is handling the economy

oh gee whiz we wouldn't want to exceed the power vested in us by the Constitution!

I will fix my finances using the DOGE roadmap Step 1: save 5 dollars by not getting coffee Step 2: record it as 5,000 dollars in the spreadsheet where i track my finances Step 3: tell everyone I saved 5,000 dollars already

i think it has not sunk in for people, including newspaper headline writers, that "probationary" employees does not just mean like, young novice staffers right out of college, but those who have received promotions in the last year

judge gave DOJ lawyer a time out and then asked if it hurt their feelings

BREAKING On Monday, Popular Information broke the news that the NIH had frozen virtually all grant funding in violation of 2 federal court orders On Wednesday, NIH leadership distributed a memo, acknowledging that its funding freeze was illegal and directing staff to resume issuing grants.

TIL

How much is this the couple weeks delay in study section vs the actual freezing of the cash? Or were these for previously approved grants?

Let's celebrate #DarwinDay by reminding ourselves that everyone has moments when they feel worse for wear. Darwin wrote to Charles Lyell in 1861: "But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything." www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-L... So, hang in there, #academicsky! 🧪

I’ll say it again and again, I’ll always call it Twitter and I’ll always call it the Gulf Of Mexico.

OK, I've got the piece that I've been working through in my brain over the weekend and writing since yesterday done. I'm just going to give it one last look, then it will go out. It's my in-depth look at the first three weeks of the new Trump admin, where we're at, & what's ahead. Subscribe now.

I hate being in the era where we have to listen to endless pyschoanalysis of, as one memorable recent editorial put it, "the most economically wealthy and spiritually impoverished" men in the world

I actually hate the "lol the giant asteroid will deliver us from this suffering" jokes. Are there any other people in the progressive movement who think that humans are actually fucking amazing?

House Republicans discussing trillions of dollars in spending cuts to programs working- and middle-class Americans rely on to finance tax cuts for the wealthy.

Halftime show is a good reminder that the left will always win culture. Always. Art comes from curiosity, novelty, openness, the ability to understand & juxtapose multiple perspectives simultaneously, surprise & irony & layered meanings, all of which are alien to the authoritarian mind.

this seems like a good time to throw some money towards the Wayback Machine archive.org/donate/?orig...

Not exaggerating when I say I would like a personal, handwritten apology from every pundit who barfed out a dozen "the left wants to change the way you talk!" op-eds based on non-mandatory guidelines in obscure PDFs.

Good managers - as revealed by their speed of promotion - significantly boost worker performance. This is achieved through lateral and vertical transfers within the firm, creating #productivity through better job matches. @virginiaminni.bsky.social cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky

Pro tip: when explaining the NIH cuts to friends and family, use "research infrastructure" rather than "indirect costs" or, godforbid, "overhead." DOGE just slashed the budget for research infrastructure. It's accurate and it drives home that the fight is over jobs and facilities, not "waste."

The US is successfully becoming a hybrid regime

I’m totally open to redesigning the structure of government support for basic research. In fact we have not one, but two legislative bodies charged with deliberating and determining how this should be done. By all means, pass a law.

A very simple script. Feel free to adjust for your needs. "I JUST READ THAT MUSK AND TRUMP ARE CUTTING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN CANCER AND ALZHEIMER RESEARCH MONEY. I DIDN'T VOTE FOR CANCER. ARE YOU SUPPORTING THIS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO STOP THEM?" reps.fyi

That’s the same basic idea behind the current system of indirect cost rates for universities. A university has buildings with labs and furniture and electricity and IT systems (and on and on). They don’t need to buy those things all over again each time a new research study is funded. 7/

Take a step back, see what's happening. Trump took office and abruptly gave the richest guy on earth free rein to unmake the US government without any White House oversight or coordination. That guy has been publicly radicalized into an increasingly open white supremacist and conspiracy theorist.

1000000x this

NFIP said, fine, we'll pay that too. That's the origin of indirect costs on grants, which are a major source of academic revenue.

A tip if you're struggling with the doomscroll: take social media and news apps of your phone, and only read them on the computer. You will not make the world a better place by checking/engaging with the news 20x a day rather than 2.

Is there any court action underway to stop the USAID situation? I've read about what the admin has done, but not come across if there's an actual legal response to try to block/reverse it?

I know there's a lot of doom&gloom about teens&screens, but in my small bubble the teens I know have much healthier habits for their phones (aka can put it away and be present) than the 60+ crowd

its so good the swedes learn the english version too

Decades of political spending by business interests have finally produced the conditions that will destroy America's status as a good place to do business. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-busine...

The Papua New Guinea Courier is in rare form.