Anne

we sing it at Mass sometimes and I think about it a lot. it gets at something really profound in such simple language

“My country's skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight shines on clover leaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight too and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine”

Explainer: How frontline protesters' toolkit has evolved over Hong Kong's long summer of dissent | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP The tools, equipment, clothing and communication methods used by Hong Kong’s anti-extradition law protesters have captured headlines around the world. Protesters have often hit the streets in “full ge...

Good time to remember Hong Kong’s excellent protest gear:
Helmet, goggles, gloves, sleeves, long pants. Masks (one on your face, at least one sealed in a zip bag or still in the wrapper. More if you can.) Pocket umbrella.

hongkongfp.com/2019/08/09/e...

This constant call for feedback on the most mundane transaction is excessive. I don’t need to give feedback for a muffin and a coffee and it’s wrong to give your employee a thing else to worry about with their performance.

there should be a consumer electronics review site called does it beep dot com and the sole criteria it uses to judge kitchen appliances, cars, washing machines, etc is whether it beeps at you and if so how annoying the beeps are

This is some Secret Lives of Mormon Wives-style soda mixing abomination

What an extraordinary, beautiful thing. Sometimes the only sensible response to scientific discovery is wonderment and awe.

Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

FBI using polygraph tests to identify sources of internal leaks Trump administration has been cracking down on people who leak information to the media since January

Let me remind everyone that polygraphs are, in practice, pseudoscience interrogation tools not ‘lie detectors.’

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Furthermore, use of polygraphs enables interrogators (knowingly or otherwise) to launder their own biases & bullshit thru the machine.

the conclave/Eurovision overlap is going to be a wild time specifically for me and @starinthetitle.bsky.social, who each have a longtime hyperfixation on exactly one of those things but mostly know the second through each other

I’m sorry. I’m stuck on the team name being “the Nuts” 😆

Gru with a large white pad that says "First we get a book". In the next panel it says "Then, we get another book". In the next panel it says "And then we say no more books". In the next panel it says "But then, we see another book". In the last panel Gru looks excited and it says "So we get two more books!"

Me on Independent Bookstore Day

The Gleeful Cruelty of the White House X Account Welcome to the 4chan administration.

I wrote about the White House X account — which is steeped in the sociopathic posting style of far-right extremists — and seems to get more sinister and cruel with its posts each week of the administration. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

And now we move to the dismantling and defunding of museums, libraries, & any remaining public space that promotes education, joy and togetherness, or an evidence-based sense of history without having to spend money. The destruction of community culture itself for the enrichment of a despicable few.

As someone who spends a lot of time talking to Congressional staff, some perspective:

- Staffers are exhausted. It’s chaos. Things change w/o warning bc of shit flowing down from the WH.
- Republican staffers too.
- Staffer pay is shit. Most are there because they have a sense of civic duty.

Try the Roxie Market on Kirkham! I’m always able to find Taytos, proper rashers, and kerrygold there.

Yes. If DHS can barge in, say your visa was revoked, be told you have a green card, say it's revoked too, and then disappear you so that neither your lawyer nor your family can find you, then all the guardrails are gone. There is no policy, practice, or law protecting anyone.

can't believe it's 2025 and i'm stressed about tariffs and measles, like am i a character in an american girl book

AI chatbots unable to accurately summarise news, BBC finds The BBC's head of news and current affairs says the developers of the tools are "playing with fire."

our hugely over-valued, energy-sucking bullshit machines still curiously can't do the basics

The blithe tone of this headline and deck is chilling.

Oh noooo. This is not the historical reenactment vibe we’re going for.

I don't know how many of y'all are watching the migration of American TikTokers to RedNote, but it's the most fascinating thing I've EVER SEEN HAPPEN ONLINE.

🧵

Apple opts everyone into having their Photos analyzed by AI Homomorphic-based Enhanced Visual Search is so privacy-preserving, iPhone giant activated it without asking

Apple has opted iOS and MacOS users into an AI photo scanning feature which tries to extract landmarks from your photos called Enhanced Visual Search by default with little notice.
www.theregister.com/2025/01/03/a...

There's actually an appendix in Let This Radicalize You about what to do if the feds come to your door, written by a movement lawyer (along with an appendix section on treating pepper spray and tear gas exposure), but yes, the short version is plz shut the fuck up. Never talk to them w out a lawyer.

When you pose the question to a language model, what you are really asking is, “Given the statistical distribution of words in the vast public corpus of text, what are the words most likely to follow the sequence ‘what country is to the south of Rwanda?’” Even if the system responds with the word “Burundi,” this is a different sort of assertion with a different relationship to reality than the human’s answer, and to say the AI “knows” or “believes” Burundi to be south of Rwanda is a category mistake that will lead to errors and confusion.

This is one of the most well-written explanations of certain kinds of AI errors I’ve seen to date. (The whole article is great too.)

www.theverge.com/c/24300623/a...

Really don't understand how there are people who don't like Irish trad or folk. It's the only kind of music that alternates between making me want to dance, cry, and chase a redcoat over the bog with a pike

Me (as if I am having an epic realization that executive functioning does more than propel capitalism): maybe I still need to take my adhd meds on non-work days if I have enough multipart tasks to juggle?
Partner: yep. Could have told you that.
Me: 👀👀👀
Partner: I helped you move. Nuff said.

The views on my commute home never fail to stop me in my tracks. I love my hometown 😍