TED LASSO SPOILERS BELOW --- The new season's charming and warm, but I am bummed about: - Women athletes being depicted as bumbling - 'Progressive' themes feeling a bit shoehorned / forced / clichéd - That last line. Come on, writers, funny idea, TERRIBLE word choice!

I don't really understand the allure of athletic competitions in general. But I really REALLY don't grok the purpose of robots in athletic games. www.google.com/search?q=chi... (stories this week about Chinese robots competing in boxing, running...)

Why is video *still* so GOSH DARN AWFUL on Google Photos? (Yes, I realize it's called Google *Photos*, but still...!)

BTS... at the Asian Art museum yesterday! Okay, not quite a real concert by the BTS dudes themselves, but we did our best to channel 'em in this drop-in a cappella event yesterday. Hella fun!

Was listening to Sting today and deeply lamenting just how lame today's popular music is in the aggregate compared to the greats from last century by almost all measures (lyrically, melodically, and harmonically; rhythm-wise it's a bit more nuanced).

How did the capital 'I' (eye) come to be indistinguishable from the lowercase 'l' (elle) in common fonts online? And, given this, why are people still dooming their poor kids to a life of confusion and name-butchering by giving them names like "IIona" and "Ilene"? :o :(

Since "content creator" and, worse, "influencer" are such 🤮-inducing descriptors, is there something we can use to describe people making actually useful, thoughtful, clever and/or artistic videos online? Folks like Rick Beato (musician?) or the Brooklyn Coffee Shop folks (comedians?), etc.?

I did not have finding-nuanced-convos-about-AI and commisserating about the toxic state of U.S. tipping on my Bluesky bingo card, but I'm not gonna complain! Still wish this thing didn't have such a damn-small character limit per post, though :(

What are you doing about it, Senator Warren? Not that you'll reply here; looks like you don't do that. Actually, no, what USEFUL action are you taking besides just stoking (justified) outrage here? Like your friend Bernie, I don't see a call to action, a link to your bill, anything useful, really.

Love musicals? In or up for visiting NYC? GO SEE "SPELLING BEE"! 🐝 ❤️🎶 Their last performance is Oct 11 😥 It's such a lovely show and it'll have you laughing and even tearing up a bit! Absolutely one of my fav musicals!

This wins for the most hilariously over-the-top-and-overlong "TIP GENEROUSLY!" page I've ever seen in my life. www.blade.com/is-it-custom... ...particularly the insistence that you should tip BEFOREHAND if you want an enjoyable tour. LOL.

Tipping Etiquette: Is It Customary to Tip a Helicopter Tour Pilot in NYC? - BLADE

blade.com

Trying to understand "Please pray for the [earthquake/flood/etc.] victims" Why? If there's a God... - He's omniscient, so must already know about it, right? - Is he offering help based on prayer volume? - If he can help save people, why did he allow (or cause?!) the situation in the first place?!

I'm puzzled over a few "influencer"* things. 1) Why are so many female influencers putting on makeup when they're presenting? Isn't that something one usually does (optionally) BEFORE they go on camera?

If you want this to change, you need to embrace automation and AI so we can decouple well-being from employment

In writing this I discovered this funny fact that this steel mill consumed 50% as much water in 2024 as all combined US data centers did onsite in the same year.

Andy Masley@andymasley.bsky.social · last wk.

Wrote a rant about how other large industries reveal how impoverished the data center debate is based on the image of the steel mill I posted yesterday blog.andymasley.com/p/other-larg...

Just realized ATE is EAT scrambled and I don't know what to do with that discovery.

The number of people on social media who seem to find the most joy in being ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGED ABOUT EVERYTHING is too. damn. high.

Humans behave odd as hell. We created this miracle of innovation and parents are like nah I'd rather hold crystals and drink raw milk.

My only sort-of-a-grievance with watermarking is that it doesn't really accomplish anything in the long run. No open-weight / open-source model will watermark, and the internet will still be flooded with slop.

Holy bloody guacamole, why didn't anyone tell me how damn GRIM the "Dungeon Crawler Carl" book is?! Noped out right after [redacted, but I bet you can guess] at the ~25% mark. (doesn't help that I've never been into RPGs) I know it's a beloved series, but man, the horror genre is not for me.

We need to vote out pols who lack even a cursory understanding of technology and economics. Latest example: NJ gov Sherill is attempting to outlaw "surveillance" pricing and also ban electronic price tags for a year. Congrats! This'll raise grocery store prices for EVERYONE.

This is beautiful and amazing! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnsu... I worry a lot about kids today and, separately, also despair about the depressingly crappy state of popular music. But then I rediscover so much incredible talent and creativity on YouTube and a bit of my faith gets restored :)

Jacob Collier for 7 Trumpets | UT Austin Trumpet Studio

YouTube video by Caleb Hudson

youtube.com

For those who don’t follow video games, there is constant policing of any AI use among small, indie developers. They are the most resource constrained firms in a field where profits are rare & artistic vision is often compromised, but they are punished more harshly than big devs by their audience.

BEWARE: There's a new 'pervert device' coming out in Sept. Compared to the Meta specs, its videos will be much higher res and usable even in dark settings (IYKYK), w/ >10X the recording limit! Worse, there's *no recording indicator*!

Finally, a common sense, succinct proposal of rules for data centers! substack.com/inbox/post/2... In a nutshell: 1. No subsidies. 2. Bring, build, or buy your own power. 3. Closed-loop water. 4. Community benefits before construction.

The Data Center Development Playbook

Today we are releasing The Data Center Development Playbook, which is the latest installment of our Democratic AI Opportunity Agenda, a series of policy ideas, frameworks, and proposals to ensure that...

substack.com

No no no, Google, we're making FUN of "content creators" for overusing the word "obsessed". DON'T ENCOURAGE THEM!

Was happy to see Matthew's smart post (and thread) on the dispiriting situation in academia. Rather than push for more guardrails in AI tools (which'd be both futile AND problematic for legit uses), the thread rightly identifies the core problems re how we view and offer education in society.

Matthew L Reznicek@drreznicek.bsky.social · 2w ago

There are obviously pedagogical questions but so much of this stems from an attitude that education is a means to an end, rather than what it really is: an end in and of itself—that the real benefit of education is self development and discovery www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/u...

Okay, this is both a little scary AND funny (especially the listed replies)! (For the record, I've never been brave enough to use these open-source claw thingies; I'm a ChatGPT and Claude-stan all the way)

Unsurprisingly, this is an incredibly thoughtful and helpful primer that folks should consider adapting to other verticals! (and as a long-ago law school grad myself, I wish I had had AI tools back then... and a smart prof like this who encouraged and offered guidance in their responsible use!)

Jess Miers 🦝@jmiers230.bsky.social · 2w ago

You can find my generative AI primer here: A Generative AI Primer for Law Students by Jess Miers :: SSRN share.google/Mus7gJdG7V6R...

I'm just not grokking the Substack economic model. There are a handful of writers I really like there and in the past have been a paid subscriber of 'em at $80-$100/yr a piece. I've since canceled all my Substack subs because -- even as a relatively well-off guy -- that price point seems nuts.