Stack of books contains a guy if it’s big enough.

rev. howard arson@theophite.bsky.social · 3w ago

language is a world model insofar as to refer to things in the world you need your utterances to covary with the occurrences of the things those utterances represent

I believe that AI, like any other tool, can and will generate art when used interestingly, and also that almost nobody is using it interestingly yet

ashley fairbanks@ziibiing.com · 3w ago

this lady on threads posted this big huge thing about how artists are just jealous that everyday people can now use AI to create better art that gets more attention so i click through to see her “art”… i wish there was an unveil feature here:

too much jeffersonianism: mao, hitler, khomeini, pol pot, trump healthy jeffersonianism: paine, mandela, nehru, lula perfect balance: franklin delano roosevelt healthy hamiltonianism: carney, tito, lincoln, de gaulle too much hamiltonianism: stalin, park chung-hee, chiang, mussolini

Repeat after me: I am not l3373r than Josef Stalin. I am not l3373r than Jeffery Epstein. I am not l3373r than Kate Bush. I am not l3373r than Matt Bruenig. But if I stand back and watch and learn, I will be l3373r than I am.

Repeat after me: I am not gayer than Josef Stalin. I am not gayer than Ben Mora. I am not gayer than Brennan Lee Mulligan. I am not gayer than Cardi B. But if I stand back and watch and learn, I will be gayer than I am.

english isn't for cowards. if you're not saying 'torpify,' that's a skill issue. there's no Académie Française telling you what to do. if you try to type 'pallific' and freak out when you see a little red underline, maybe you're not ready to roll with the big dogs.

really he's just going to coffee with friends. excel mistakes everything for a date

Gay ISIS Brony@rainbowdaesh.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Unclear* on why I’m seeing people say “there’s no way to truly ban partisan gerrymandering because independent commissions might be biased”. * Unclear on whether it’s stupidity or malice

That’s just a cat in a marsupial suit

not my creation but goddamn if it didn't speak to me

my increasingly curmudgeonly take is that we all, in fact, have responsibilities. politics isn't an arena for self-actualization. it's an arena for public service. this is as true of voters as it is of politicians.

A penitent who is loud @loudpenitent.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Ps: a common refrain that you'll hear is that "you're saying the Dems can't be at fault, it's the voters, as if the voters owe something to politicians and not the other way around!" Yes, actually, that's how the social contract of democracy works. Voters yet the government they work for. Or don't.

Thinking about Katyn nowadays

“This is very American” is just as false and vacuous as “this is un-American”. Nations have no inherent ideology or character; patriotism and anti-patriotism alike require a constructed nation. Defining America by historical oppression is no more accurate than defining it by aspirational ideals.

Mikki Kendall@karnythia.blacksky.app · 9mo ago

I fear my tipping point into madness is "Thus is un-American" posts in response to ICE terrorizing immigrants. I beg you to open Wikipedia (I would say a book but let's start small) and read up on The Trail of Tears, Fugitive Slave Catchers, Japanese internment, Indian Boarding schools & Jim Crow

There is no salvation in abdication. I was born with the blood of the system on my hands. When it acts, it acts in my name. I'm one of the small percentage of this earth given the power to vote on who it kills. I was always culpable. The only question is can I be culpable in leaving it better.

the key to understanding today's moment in journalism is specifically a subset of elite journos at NYT/Free Press/WaPo who basically adopt the position of the main character of NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) when it comes to their role in the news

Sam@samd.bsky.social · 12mo ago

maybe a hot take but I think that journalists like Astead (if you can even call him that) should be focused on the fact that Trump has appointed a bunch of deranged antivaxxers instead of the fact that libs got vaccinated four years ago

Making some wikipedia edits

God, this game is incredible

one thing i do not like about these days is that i am filled with hate for so many people

Yeah DHS has got to be repealed and replaced, which would actually be a great opportunity for some wider restructuring of American domestic security infra

Sharon 🪳🌹@sharonk.bsky.social · last yr.

chat i don't think this is good

A lot of our liberal thought leaders are people who have only ever lived in liberal places, known liberal, leftist, and heterodox conservative people. But among the rank and file liberals, we know conservatives and right-wing reactionaries. They are not mysterious to us. Klein is behind the curve.

Kirk was a racist who thought black people shouldn’t be pilots. He thought women should be subservient to men. He hated MLK and the Civil Rights Act. He didn’t care about political violence against Paul Pelosi and Democrats. All his own words. You can deplore the shooting without honoring the man.

florida is the BSL-4 laboratory of democracy

them: we dont want illegal immigrants me: ok but they're net good them: we want all those exact people in the country but legally me: ok so just legalize them them: no

I do think what 2020 and 2024 and this administration has really hammered into me is there is no final victory and there is no final defeat, particularly in a democracy

Reconstructionist@unavaleable.bsky.social · last yr.

I do think it's very true that American institutions are as degraded and brittle as they've been since the stresses of the Depression or worse, but I don't think they necessarily have to decline further. If anything the destruction that has been inflicted so far has cut the chains of path dependency

Y-you- you’re thinking about this all wrong, as if I had the Epstein files back in a safe. The Epstein files aren’t here — the Epstein files are in Joe’s house, and Mrs. Menklin’s house, and a hundred others

The idea of the world being "disenchanted" once science and "rationality" take hold has never sat well with me. You want to tell me that people who lived in a time when demons were considered a legit cause of disease somehow felt more mystical about life? I don't buy it.

He’s not playing chess, he’s eating the checkers