Mikell Taylor

I said, what’s more likely, that I’m lying about what we did on this project or that ChatGPT doesn’t have text describing what we did in its training data because we didn’t post anything publicly about it, while an alternative approach is well documented? But he took it as ChatGPT “reasoning”.

Instead of “search for” I think of it as “there hasn’t been a reason anyone needed to write out this out before”. Eg when I had a junior colleague argue with me about whether something was possible to do. I had done it in a previous job but we’d never posted about it. ChatGPT thus said impossible.

Ooooh good write up. I only realized my brain was weird about this like eight years ago, and only got the word for it a few years ago, and the ongoing research is fascinating.

SCREENCRAFT WHAT IS "MA"? In an interview with film critic Roger Ebert from 2002, Ebert tells Miyazaki he appreciates what he calls "gratuitous motion" in his films, adding that, "Instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are," said Ebert. Miyazaki answered with, "We have a word for that in Japanese," he said. "It's called Ma. Emptiness. It's there intentionally."

My piping hot take on PLURIBUS is that it’s one of the most Ghibli-esque shows on TV today, and people who think its pacing is too slow ought to really sit with and examine why they feel that slow pace = bad.

Its first season has several minutes worth of “mā”, and is much stronger for it, IMO

And in every case that I've been forced to use a new "AI-enhanced" version of something I had before, the experience is worse, the result is worse, and the task takes longer to complete

I still loled

Btw the technical term for AI bros is a tensorbro

Maryland health officials warn providers about an upsurge in mumps cases Maryland health officials are warning about an uptick in cases of mumps.

Measles is a bellwether. Because it’s the most contagious vaccine-preventable disease, when vaccination rates drop, it’s the first to start spreading.

Now we’ve got mumps rolling up.

Expect more.

This is just the beginning of RFK Jr.’s successful infectious disease reintroduction plan.

Hey UK folks:

A valentine from Public Health of Seattle and King County. A man shivers in bed while a smiling lady in a red mask shows off her bandage on her arm. Text: Noses are red Ice packs are blue I'm vaxed so miss me with severe symptoms of flu.

A valentine from Public Health of Seattle and King County. Two lady scientists shrug lackadaisically. Text reads: My love for you can't be explained by science. Just like the new federal vaccine guidelines.

A valentine from Public Health of Seattle and King County. Protesters in Minneapolis wear thick clothes and hold signs of support for immigrant neighbors. Text reads: To the health departments in the Twin Cities: Love unites us. Our hearts are with you.

Oh my GOD King County Public Health is just wilding out for Valentines Day (and a lovely one).

Pouring one out for everyone realizing that Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet was nearly 20 years ago 😬 #FeelingOld

Photo of a skull in a golden box on an altar

Roses are red,
They look nice on a shrine
Here is the skull,
Of St. Valentine.

(Photo taken in Rome’s Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin of the relic of the 3rd Century martyr, a cleric who ministered to persecuted Christians and could apparently restore sight to the blind.)

A pair of orange socks with yellow toes featuring a pattern of all NASA Mars rovers, from Sojourner to Perseverance, worn with grey pants against a grey wall.

They see me rovin', they hatin' 😎

Every NASA Mars rover ever is on these socks. From the microwave-sized Sojourner (1997) to the car-sized Perseverance (2021) 🤖

🔗 sciencesocks.co/prod...

#SocksOfTheDay 🔭🐡🧪🎨

if you don’t know this, I just haven’t hollered at you enough. get 1.5 mezcal palomas in me and I’ll tell everyone in the bar

I don’t know what this is called but I’m pretty sure it’s the cure for male loneliness

“But regulations get in the way of making money” yeah actually that’s the point and it’s a feature not a bug

I think this crisply highlights that fundamentally, regulatory controls on things are about incentives. We use them to check the “make more money at all costs” incentive of capitalism. The only way to incentivize any other behavior is to make not doing something hurt more than not making more $$.

boy even got ratio'd on the nazi site for this

Are you a science communicator attending the 2026 RoboSoft in Kanazawa, Japan? We’re inviting you to join the RAS Ambassador Team!
All are welcome to apply! Selected ambassadors get $1000 in travel support!
📅 Application Deadline: Feb 28
Apply: https://bit.ly/4rNbw1U

Should be more like chocolate melts - they’re medium fluidity so they have a low melting point and they’ll lose their shape quickly if you bake them into cookies BUT if your worst case scenario is very gooey cookies that doesn’t seem bad to me? You just need a recipe for a pretty solid cookie.

“It’s the economy, stupid!” except when it’s pedophiles and facism, honestly, we can carve out exceptions

I hope the Democratic leadership rightly outraged by Bondi’s “but the Dow!” when being questioned about Epstein survivors have a self reflective moment about the “Donald Trump hasn’t delivered cheaper eggs like he promised!” messaging they refused to move on from

They still got it

Probably. Amazon cut ties with him as hard as they could contractually though earlier on in the production, so not like he’d be on a press tour anyway.

Gender affirming treatment has an astonishingly high rate of satisfaction. You probably already know this, but I feel like we need to repeat it over and over.

"Does the role really require a woman?"

"No?"

"Or youth?"

"Er... No?"

"Is being royal or nobility a must?"

The dragon hesitated. "It's traditional..."

"We can mention that it's a position traditionally filled by a princess," the HR consultant said, "but we do welcome all applicants."

"Okay."

"Moderna's CEO announced the company will no longer invest in new Phase 3 vaccine trials for infectious diseases: 'You cannot make a return on investment if you don't have access to the U.S. market. Vaccines for Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and shingles have been shelved.” 9:12 AM Feb 12, 2026 604.8K Views

In terms of what cures are being lost:

- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

AGGGGHHHHH

A tech founder sent me an explanation of a meeting with Elon and asked for advice on what to do next. Here's how I replied, so everyone can benefit.