If you use LLMs to do your data analysis, or if you listen to people who do, you should read this kucharski.substack.com/p/real-signa...
Real signals or artificial stereotypes?
Adventures with a cultural Copilot
kucharski.substack.com
Di Eats Toast
@dieatstoast.bsky.social
Interested in art, nature, economics and neurodiversity. She.
A(nother) cautionary tale... read to the end!
Accented Cinema@accentedcinema.bsky.social · 4mo agoWhy do the Japanese like their buns askew (2026)
Golden retriever runs 15 feet after owner mimes throwing tennis ball
I think if I were to send the head of legal at Grammarly a note that said I broke into his house and took his wallet, but in future, he could opt out of me stealing his wallet, that would go great and they would be fine with that 👍🏻
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 5mo ago“Now, Grammarly has finally addressed the backlash — but not by apologizing, and not by walking the feature back. For now, it will graciously give us the chance to opt-out of something we didn’t know it was doing to begin with.”
The paradox of work timharford.com/2026/02/the-... This one is quite a journey...
The paradox of work
In the late 1930s, the Roosevelt administration embarked on a curious project. Officials hired thousands of unemployed writers to produce guidebooks, children’s books, local histories, collections …
timharford.com
I'm trying my hardest and not doing badly. It's also making me think about if I really need things or not when I can't find things elsewhere easily enough. I'm a big fan of World of Books. They are signed up to the second hand book royalty scheme which is ace. 😊
Just ordered a book from my local Waterstones. Click and collect so I’ll get it on way home tonight. As cheap as Amazon. Also bought an instant camera earlier this week from Argos, cheaper than on Amazon. It’s proving very easy not to use the evil billionaire’s website. More of you should try it.
Listen to this. Not a penny more for this. Abolish and prosecute anyone who had anything to do with it.
Dave Vetter@davidrvetter.bsky.social · 6mo ago"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue
www.businessinsider.com/tech-ai-boyc...
'Unsubscribe' and 'opt out': A new Big Tech boycott to protest ICE starts February 1
Small businesses struggled to observe the national shutdown to protest ICE. Here's why a boycott of companies like OpenAI and Amazon could be easier and more effective.
businessinsider.com
Walz: "I couldn't help but think, and it scares me a bit -- 'The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive.' It certainly feels like that in this moment."
Great post. And actually for all of us thinking a bit harder, a bit earlier, about what life is for and what gives us value would help all of us lead happier lives. And by "earlier" I mean before we ourselves become disabled, which most of us will if we are lucky enough to live long enough.
Shannon Rosa@shannonrosa.bsky.social · 8mo agoAutistic and other disabled people have always been and likely will always be part of our societies, and are valuable human beings who deserve unqualified love, acceptance, and access to supports. Truth from an older article, since I don't write so much anymore: www.buzzfeed.com/shannonrosa/...
I always think this when I pass through Tring Station - really not very close to Tring - but why not build houses here so it's close to something? There is so much space and many trains....
Jonn Elledge@jonnelledge.bsky.social · 9mo ago"It would mean more people could benefit from those frequent Central Line services. It is exactly what I hoped this Labour government might do. "And I almost missed it, because they instead won’t shut up about being horrible to foreigners."
Interesting thread with lots of pretty charts to make my heart happy...
Ben Ansell@benansell.bsky.social · 10mo agoOn the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Ignore the haters, London is the 🐐
"You can’t eradicate autism without eradicating autistic people. It’s genocidal rhetoric against us that’s justified by 'autism destroys families. It destroys children.' No, it doesn’t. It’s bias against autistic people." From an interview at @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
RFK Jr. says there aren't autistic poets. We asked an autistic poet.
"I will challenge RFK Jr. to write a poem as good as me any day of the week."
motherjones.com
Anti-autism campaigner, Karen Hoyland, 40, commented: “I love my child but I hate his autism. The other day I came home to find him lining up his guns, instead of playing with them like a normal kid.”
Country with bullet vending machines makes preventing autism a priority
Headline by Sarah Amero A country that distributes bullets like they’re chocolate bars has decided that eradicating autism is one of its top priorities, it has been reported. The USA, where you can p...
thedailytism.com
"Let’s just say Bronze’s story will probably resonate a lot more than Wallace’s with the many, many autistic people quietly exhausting themselves trying to decipher and comply with all the unspoken etiquette of office life." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Yes, the problem is men like Gregg Wallace – but it’s also those who should stop them and don’t | Gaby Hinsliff
Agents, employers, board members all have a moral and legal duty to make people behave decently. If not now, when, asks Gaby Hinsliff
theguardian.com
Caring for stationery in hot weather, a brief guide: - pop pencils in a jar of cool water to prevent wilting - lie erasers somewhere dark, under a damp cloth - vintage stamps will curl, pop into an envelope & under a book - paperclips warping? Refrigerate. - bury wax crayons, note location
BBC muzzling one of its best presenters from making an excellent, wholly factual programme because heat pumps are “controversial”. An organisation badly in need of new leadership.
Ask yourself: If you wanted to bring manufacturing to the US, would you reduce tariffs on smartphones and computers that are fully made abroad, or cut tariffs on the intermediate inputs used by American manufacturers?
The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.
