One thing that frustrates me about the whole "AI safety" discourse is that it assumes it is possible for an AI model to be "aligned" with "human" values and interests. This ignores the patently obvious fact that different groups of humans have fundamentally conflicting values and interests!

Not to brag, but our product has been foldable since 1828.

Culture Crave 🍿@culturecrave.co · 2y ago

Apple is aiming to release a foldable iPhone in 2026 📱 (via WSJ)

In 2026, a far-right government with neo-fascist ties is in power in Italy, an expansionist autocrat is ruling Russia, and a far-right ethno-nationalist party is gaining momentum in Germany. It sure makes you wonder if anyone learned any lessons from that stuff a hundred years ago.

“Often and quite contrarily, we look down on a laborer while delighting in his work.” πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τοὐναντίον χαίροντες τῷ ἔργῳ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ καταφρονοῦμεν #Plutarch

This detail of an Athenian vase shows Thebe & Dionysus at the wedding of Peleus & Thetis. Thebe’s incredible dress is decorated with sphinxes, lions and goats while Dionysus waves a vine clipping heavy with grapes. 🕰️C6th BC 🏛️BM 📷me

I continue to absolutely detest the word “Herstory.” Let’s leave aside that history comes from the Greek ῐ̔στορῐ́ᾱ (“inquiry”); it’s just ridiculous to separate out the experience of women from the umbrella of history. I don’t want two versions or a binary. I want women implicit in all histories.

It's such a tragic coincidence that two of the twentieth century's greatest gay icons, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, both passed away on the same day at the same age (eighty). I hope that Cher and Liza Minnelli are doing ok. (Both of them are also eighty.)

It's very telling that both of the professors from IU who signed the Cofnas letter are from the Kelley School of Business, and one of them is the (now-retired) professor who caused a controversy back in 2019 for his tweets claiming that women are "destroying academia."

Me, a US-based academic: I don’t care what any scholar believes, we all need to stand up publicly whenever someone’s academic freedom is threatened Me, continuing: also, the first time this has happened, motivating me to sign my first ever open letter, is in late 2026, to a race scientist, in Ghent

Fun fact: "Dr. Seuss" was a pen name. His real name was Theodore Geisel. Funner fact: "Geisel" is a German cognate to the archaic Old English "gisl", which is inscribed in runes on the back of the Franks Casket

Gary, Indiana is without power for the 11th straight day after storms. This is climate injustice.

I happened to drive through Gary the day after the big storm. It looked like it had been hit by a hurricane. Most of the trees were knocked down, trees and limbs were in the streets, the streets were flooded in places, none of the traffic lights were working, lots of houses and cars were damaged. 1/

Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis@kendrawrites.com · 4w ago

Gary Indiana hasn't had power for almost two weeks

How did a Bronze Age religious symbol become a defining symbol of lesbian feminism? In this blog post, I answer that question, exploring the strange, complex, nearly 4,000-year history of the labrys or double-headed ax. #lesbian #feminism #classics #labrys talesoftimesforgotten.com/2026/08/16/h...

How the Labrys Became a Symbol of Lesbian Feminism - Tales of Times Forgotten

Three and a half millennia ago, the people of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization revered the double-headed ax, which is conventionally known today as a labrys (plural form: labryes), as a religious sy...

talesoftimesforgotten.com

The Castellani family in Italy specialized in creating exact reproductions of ancient Greek and Roman jewelry. Below, two gold nereid-hippocamp pendants and a matching necklace strung with 'acorns'. All three pieces were created in 1864-76. 🏺 1/ V&A Museum, London. 📸 me

Garffeld

Antichrist Rolls Eyes Throughout  Peter Thiel Lecture https://theonion.com/antichrist-rolls-eyes-throughout-peter-thiel-lecture/

Parents Parents 2026 BCE 2026 CE 🤝 "These kids and their damned tablets"

Heck, even when it comes specifically to the contemporary, white Euro-American right, so-called "intellectual diversity from the right" rarely includes non-Christian perspectives. I'm reminded of the time Pete "Deus Vult" Hegseth said that Norse paganism isn't a real religion.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · last mo.

it's also pretty interesting that "expose yourself to more intellectual diversity from the right" rarely means "hire more experts credulously studying the intellectual basis for Hindu nationalism, the gender politics of the Black Hebrew Isrealites, or the righteous teachings of al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ"

Most people think Hades is the ruler of the underworld in Greek myth, but, in actual ancient sources, Persephone holds greater prominence and authority. In this post, I argue that she is the underworld's main ruler. #GreekMyth #Hades #Persephone #classics talesoftimesforgotten.com/2026/08/05/i...

Is Persephone the Main Ruler of the Underworld in Greek Myth? - Tales of Times Forgotten

Most people who know about Greek myth think that Hades is the ruler of the underworld. This is not wrong per se; early Greek poems do describe Hades as “ruler of those beneath the earth.” But, for the...

talesoftimesforgotten.com

Just wait until he hears about Odysseus.

Cat wailing and scratching at my bathroom door to be let in, we call that convention a para-claw-sithyron.

ㅤ Paestan red figure fish plate [detail] — attributed to the Binningen Painter, third quarter of 4th century bce ㅤ

I don't think I have an accomplishment that quite matches this, but, when I was in undergrad, I did get interviewed on NPR about a blog post I wrote in which I pointed out that the Latin motto on the front cover of a certain Fox News host's book was nonsense and clearly made using Google Translate.

Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · last mo.

what's your emily wilson onion accomplishment, mine is a peer-reviewed scholarly article with footnote to Dwayne The Rock

No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...

Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation

PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...

theonion.com

[repeated a thread from the other place] Five (ok, six) ways in which Nolan's Odyssey is Homeric. 1. Narrative structures: a thematic ring with multiple flashbacks and timelines that unfold and entwine. Hello Homer's Odyssey

There is no one original review of Nolan's Odyssey, they’re all the product of an oral tradition of going “hmm, not quite right" at Classics conferences.

Fire in the sky, political fracturing, a reduction in naval trade, economic uncertainty, agriculture is suffering due to plague, and the Odyssey is premiering? Welcome back, Greek Dark Ages.

My favorite depiction of the Trojan Horse, and the earliest known version. I love the windows, like an airplane, and that the windows go up the neck too.

“So did you like Nolan’s Odyssey?” Much like Odysseus himself, it’s complicated.

I wrote a thing! My take on Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is up at @foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/23/o...

Odysseus at the End of Civilization

Nolan’s film confronts the betrayal of the West’s own values.

foreignpolicy.com