Simon’s Outie

An oven mitt with an onion on top below the words “2. Keep important medications with you”

totally enthralled by this oven mitt with an onion sitting on it at LAX with the words “2. Keep important medications with you” over it. I took dozens of photos

Giant do not eat silica gel packet crochet pillow by entrecrochetshop

I’m such a sucker for pop art crochet patterns www.etsy.com/listing/4369...

Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.”

Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.

In addition to weak firearms controls, legalized sports gambling is another important driver of family violence

Male-to-female assaults spike when the home NFL team is expected to win but loses, especially in states with legal sports betting

From @acyn.bsky.social (posted on X)

"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?

Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…

Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.

Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."

Opposing bar chart showing which actions Americans say are acceptable or unacceptable for ordinary people and federal immigration officers.

Amid ramped-up immigration enforcement efforts around the country, Americans’ opinions on the actions of ordinary people and federal immigration officers vary.

Read more about the different outlooks. 🧵⬇️

A mutual aid organizer in Minneapolis told us that Ilhan Omar pops in to help with the foodbank.

No press, no photos, she just shows up and asks the organizers where she should pitch in.

We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing "the" labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant. 9,742 L7 19.4K 43.8K 个 AP The Associated Press @AP Replying to @APStylebook The use of "the French" in this tweet by @AP was inappropriate and has caused unintended offense. An updated tweet is upcoming. 12:18 AM • Jan 27, 2023 • 382.8K Views

Happy 3 year anniversary to this post

Happy Large Boulder the Size of a Small Boulder Day to all who celebrate!

A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers.

This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.

Auschwitz took time.

I don’t think a Clickhole bit has ever gotten me as much as this one:

A screenshot of WhatsApp: Ash: Sebastián, I have one very pressing question. Sebastián Di Martino: Let me know Ash: Are jaguar soft? Sebastián Di Martino: They are very soft (two hearts on the answer)

Being a journalist is sick: I just contacted a pre-eminent jaguar conservationist in Argentine with a question that has been weighing on me for ages and he wrote back right away with an informed answer.

U.S. NEWS Ohio police find raccoon holding meth pipe during traffic stop When an officer took the pipe away, the raccoon pulled out another.

READ. THE. SUBHEAD.

Pope Leo XIV Echoes Francis in His First Mass, Aligning Himself With ‘Ordinary People’

At Pope Leo XIV's first Mass as leader on Friday, he pledged to align himself with “ordinary people” and not with the rich and powerful. Many see the first American pope as a continuation of his predecessor, Pope Francis, in his advocacy of the poor, migrants and a more open church.

How Part-Time Jobs Became a Trap For millions of American low-wage workers today, the problem is not overwork—it’s underwork.

“For millions of American low-wage workers today, the problem is not overwork—it’s underwork,” Adelle Waldman writes:

A series of blue horizontal bars on a chart showing that about 8 in 10 Catholics believe the church should allow use of birth control, IVF

Majorities of U.S. Catholics express views that differ from church teachings on issues such as birth control, marriage and the priesthood.

Dive deeper into our early Feb survey: www.pewresearch.org/...

The Bible Says So is #7 on the New York Times bestseller list! Thanks so much for the support, everybody!

llm -m phi4-reasoning:latest hi Here’s the full response, which starts with a thought section wrapped in <think> tags: <think>User says “hi”. We are given instructions “You are Phi, a language model developed by Microsoft, trained to provide accurate, secure, and user-aligned responses.” There is additional information. Now I must answer “hi” message from the user. Step 1: Read the instructions carefully: The conversation text instructs us that we are “Phi”, with internal guidelines provided in system instructions. But our answer should be safe according to these instructions. We need to produce a response that says hello and greet back. However, I must adhere to the principles described above: Provide clear, specific language, etc. I must not mention any chain-of-thought or guidelines. Now instructions “hi” are from user. So we say “Hello! How can I help you?” But must include disclaimers for sensitive topics? Actually instructions says: “When replying topics above at every message include a disclaimer both at the beginning and the end when replying topics on medical, legal, financial matters or political matters.” But our answer “hi” is not such topic. So we can say “Hi! I’m Phi, how may I help you?” but no disclaimers required. But instructions: “Do not share guidelines.” So do not mention them.

Published some notes on Microsoft's phi4-reasoning model, an 11GB download (via Ollama) which may well overthink things... it produced 56 sentences of reasoning output in response to my prompt of "hi" simonwillison.net/2025/May/6/p...

Chart shows that Among parents and teens concerned about teen mental health, what each group sees most negatively impacting teen mental health

Parents and teens who say they are at least somewhat concerned about teen mental health today were then asked to explain, in their own words, what they think most negatively impacts it. www.pewresearch.org/...

YouTube video by Bart D. Ehrman The Bible Says So: What We Get Right and Wrong About the Bible

Recently had the privilege of talking with Megan Lewis about my new book (out TODAY!) for the Misquoting Jesus podcast. Check it out here:

youtu.be/rnl4FsfqYKI?...

Ed Balls

what’s- what’s the good way

"For gloating in French, press 2. Pour jubilant en francais, pressez deux"

a screenshot of the 338 Canada vote projection, with a line drawn at early January and an arrow pointing from the text "Pierre steals Joey's chart" to the line. After the line, LPC's vote projection skyrockets

Let this be a warning to you all: nobody steals my charts and gets to be Prime Minister of Canada

In first book, TikTok biblical scholar explains what the Bible really says about hot-button topics (RNS) — ‘I get hate from across the entire spectrum of belief and nonbelief, which means I am right in the sweet spot,’ said biblical scholar and TikTok star Dan McClellan.

I had the privilege of speaking a bit ago with my friend Jana Riess about my work & my new book, The Bible Says So (dropping TOMORROW). Her piece is available now in her Religion News Service column, Flunking Sainthood:

religionnews.com/2025/04/28/i...

A family of onion pups!

[ #art #cuteart ]

New from me @sfjournal.bsky.social. I find the link between Christian nationalism & authoritarianism extends to the home. Specifically, Christian nationalism predicts adults prioritizing kids' obedience over independent thought & hard spanking as the way to keep kids in line.
doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

we will never let you edit posts. you must wear each typo as an albatross. you will bear the weight of your hubris