So exhausted already by the meme that the "tells" of gen AI writing are when something is structurally aping the way a decent professional writer writes, rather than when it's meaningless word salad. (You will take my em dashes, sets of three, and lack of typos from my cold, dead hands.)

Julia Serano@juliaserano.bsky.social · 3d ago

nothing shouts "I don't read much" more than when you equate em-dashes with AI. as Kat says here: 1) AI uses em-dashes BECAUSE AUTHORS USE THEM & AI IS TRAINED ON OUR WRITINGS! 2) "AI checkers" are complete bunk (just another AI bullshit machine), 3) this is not a "list of three" haha

It's a tough job, but literally no one has to do it

You bet your ass my 2nd gen Irish-American g^3-grandfather went and fought rebels in the Civil War. And that feels pretty "heritage" American to me.

Alexander Clarkson@aphclarkson.bsky.social · 4d ago

Another datapoint for the fascist radicalisation of institutional pillars of much of the American Right

It turns out insurance companies believe in climate change whether you do or not

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 6d ago

MIAMI'S COST OF LIVING SURPASSES NYC FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER

Excellent exam room art at AtlasVet

All the Fauci stuff is a modern day version of the POW/MIA stuff after Vietnam - a way to try to rewrite the history of a huge failure of conservative ideology to be instead a story about how liberals and foreigners stabbed us in the back.

Telehealth medication abortion is safe & effective. But it is an access workaround disguised as a solution. We need equitable access to the full spectrum of abortion care, not just better delivery of one type. See our op-ed (my first)!

Rewire News Group@rewirenewsgroup.com · last wk.

Since Roe fell, advocates have rallied around telehealth abortion as a way to serve pregnant patients—especially in ban states. And in May, the fight to protect mailed abortion pills reached the Supreme Court. But telehealth is not a solution, this op-ed argues—it’s a bandaid.

My last story about DC for a while: Trying to figure out why buses slowing down 51st.news/metro-tried-...

Metro tried to make bus service better. Somehow, ridership and speeds are both down

A year after Better Bus, reviews are mixed.

51st.news

Even the worst-transit-served block in DC has better transit and lower VMT than this corner of Loudoun County. Following the logic of TOD, DC should allow this RF-1-style density everywhere. Yet it doesn't - because it's applying TOD logic to exclude, not include.

Greater Greater Washington@ggwash.org · 2w ago

If it were the 1970s, this proposal from the DC Office of Planning would be cutting edge. Instead, it stands to seriously hold back housing in the District.

"By proposing only to legalize new homes w/in a 10min walk of Metrorail stations, or a 5min walk from [some bus stops], OP is shying away from making changes that cities with much less transit have already embraced." Legalize rowhomes & plexes everywhere! @ggwash.org ggwash.org/view/104207/...

Think outside the circle, DC OP

If it were the 1970s, this proposal from the DC Office of Planning would be cutting edge. Instead, it stands to seriously hold back housing in the District.

ggwash.org

just got an email from my (former) chair that the university has acted & the state has approved the formal closure of my department. this was done without any faculty input on the decision or the process, & has ended a vibrant, growing (!), humanities department that won teaching and research awards

Matt Gabriele@profgabriele.com · 12mo ago

Anyway, happy Monday! The Dean is shutting down my department - Religion & Culture, the only 1 of is kind in the country & home to the innovative Major in Humanities for Public Service. There is no immediate budgetary or political pressure for this decision

DC has been building far too little, for far too long, and the shortfall runs into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of homes.

How bad is DC’s housing shortage?

View this post on ggwash.org

ggwash.org

I somehow missed there was going to be a halftime show entirely and so am doubly unprepared for whatever on earth is happening right now

Out and about for the first time today and seeing no one else on the streets but us are wearing masks... It makes me feel crazy? Like you all can see this and are reading the news too, right?!

What did somebody with a public health degree do to Emily Oster that has made her so persistently hostile to the field?

Sarah T Roberts, PhD@ubiquity75.xyz · 3w ago

Emily Oster, an *checks notes* economist, on public health crisis, social media, risk, and evolutionary psychology. Can I have a national column on economics?

A whole lot of people with otherwise progressive views suddenly get real mad when you talk about doing anything at all to address the scourge of speeding drivers killing people

it's the biggest technological revolution of our lifetimes and you almost never hear about it (because it threatens to bankrupt many of the fossil fuel interests who currently run our society)

lines down@linesdown.bsky.social · 3w ago

The growth of solar energy in Pakistan

An incredible euphemism here for “the government is doing illegal discrimination”

This miniseries was *foundational* viewing for tweenage me. Sam Neill as Merlin? Helena Bonham Carter as Morgan Le Fay? Miranda Richardson as the Lady of the Lake? A not-yet-famous Lena Headey as Guinevere?! Iconic. (I bought it on VHS.)

Comics in the Golden Age@comicsinthega.bsky.social · 3w ago

Tonight's viewing. Haven't seen this since it first came out in 1998.

My god. The Heritage Foundation, which mercilessly attacked transgender kids in order to protect the "integrity of women's sports," is now attacking the legal basis for women's sports. The transgender student decision is barely 2 weeks old.

In the exam room at my ob-gyn the other day, I noticed a folder of flyers ready for handing out labeled "Tylenol and pregnancy," bc I presume they're getting a lot of scared questions about it from patients. Cool cool cool, great national public health situation. www.reuters.com/world/us-app...

US appeals court revives private lawsuits linking Tylenol to autism

A federal appeals court on Monday revived more than ​500 private lawsuits against Tylenol maker Kenvue over ‌the painkiller's alleged link to autism.

reuters.com

The Republican war on science comes for road safety. Protected bike lanes, road diets, and automatic traffic enforcement prevent people from being killed. Researchers have proven this—repeatedly.

Wes Marshall@wesmars.bsky.social · 4w ago

FHWA’s Proven Safety Countermeasures website continues to say that there are "28 countermeasures and strategies effective in reducing roadway fatalities & serious injuries"... but they now only list 23. MIA are the following 5 related to Speed Management, Bicyclists, & Road Diets...

The thing is, 95% bullshitting a paper is actually doing most of the important skills development work of writing a paper . "The point of writing a paper is to have a good final product" is something believed by people who paid others to write their papers but somehow they run universities now

Amy Mode Activated 🪷 ᓚᘏᗢ ಇ.@activateamymode.bsky.social · 4w ago

Kids today have lost the fine art of bullshitting a 10 page paper from a single Funk & Wagnalls entry or from reading only the CliffsNotes. 🤣

I have to hope that under a new administration and different Council, DC won't keep raiding paid family & medical leave funds and cutting benefit maximums to pay for general fund things that should be covered by more progressive taxation on DC's wealthiest. dc.citycast.fm/news/dc-paid...

They will also learn that, for karaoke purposes, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a lot longer and has more awkward instrumental interludes than you remember

rax ‘levon honkers’ king@raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 4w ago

RIP bonnie tyler. lotta folks tonight are gonna learn the extent to which 'total eclipse of the heart' is outside their karaoke range

With OUC's sessions on 311 being in person, I'm doing a survey of challenges with the current app! If you have experience with the DC 311 mobile app, I'd appreciate if you'd fill out the below linked survey. I'll be sharing key takeaways with OUC!

Well I have received this truly twisted Instagram ad from Matt Walsh and the Daily Wire.

My greatest Emmy nominations excitement is that "Task" got acting nominations for Tom Pelphrey and Mark Ruffalo as well as writing and directing nominations. That show totally blew me away and I have been banging the "Why is no one talking about Task???" drum ever since.

One of my hardest-won political lessons is that it’s never, ever worth it to treat ppl as ~indispensable no matter what they do~ —bc we *see* the contributions & potential of the abusive men & we don’t get to see that in the women they drive out. We never actually get to know what we’ve squandered

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · last mo.

this dynamic described by jenny racicot is, as i understand it, very common among progressive women in maine. they’ve been put in an impossible position and feel like they’re tanking platner’s campaign when in reality he did that on his own by being a violent and reckless person.

Sorry but I'm embarrassed for everyone who is acting like it required some special skill to suss out that Platner was not great