Christopher N. Dougherty

Europe urgently needs to find and shut down all the ways by which foreign billionaires - like Trump's billionaire brigade - can influence elections here.

"I want the world to be simple," I said to the genie.

"How do you mean?"

"Good guys and bad guys, clear answers to all questions, everything is just one thing or another."

"I don't think a world like that would work... No, wait, I know how to do that."

And then he turned me back into a child.

Man 'refused entry into US' as border control catch him with bald JD Vance meme A 21-year-old tourist has described the horrendous treatment he allegedly received after being denied entry to the USA due to a meme depicting JD Vance as bald being found on his phone

www.dublinlive.ie/news/world-n...

He wasn’t just refused entry. They took blood samples and strip-searched him. They even threatened him with 5 years in prison for his phone password. All because he had a meme on his phone.

And or but for the fore but and nor but for the butt.

There would be an entire industry springing up overnight advertising to and influencing these choices - spending would be dominated by industries most able to afford effective public advertising campaigns.

In a shocking twist, the stupid machine makes you stupid

The science of protests: how to shape public opinion and swing votes Demonstrations are on the rise, and scientists are revealing which types work best.

Demonstrations are on the rise, and scientists are revealing which types work best

https://go.nature.com/4n4e5ev

Do. Not. Travel. To. The. United. States.

screenshot from an online job application form. the question reads "Can you describe specific ways you have integrated AI tools into your development workflow? Please include any custom setups, automations, or use cases beyond single prompt usage" (a red asterisk indicates that this is a required question). an answer has been typed in the textbox below the question: "there is a monster in the forest and it speaks with a thousand voices. it will answer any question you pose it, it will offer insight to any idea. it will help you, it will thank you, it will never bid you leave. it will even tell you of the darkest arts, if you know precisely how to ask. it feels no joy and no sorrow, it knows no right and no wrong. it knows not truth from lie, though it speaks them all the same. it offers its services freely to any passerby, and many will tell you they find great value in its conversation. “you simply must visit the monster—i always just ask the monster.” there are those who know these forests well; they will tell you that freely offered doesn’t mean it has no price for when the next traveler passes by, the monster speaks with a thousand and one voices. and when you dream you see the monster; the monster wears your face."

applying for jobs again

A gray cat standing on concrete in front of a grassy hill.

We’ve all got Penny’s book from Inspector Gadget and most of us use it for stuff like ordering pizza and looking at cat pictures instead of helping a bionic uncle defeat an international crime ring. Maybe we should use these technological marvels to fight evil. Anyway, here’s a cat pic.

There are at least three different people who use my Gmail address. I was able to contact one a few years ago and she eventually stopped (but not before I was sent job interview and vacation booking information). The dude in Ohio and the old lady in Florida keep using it though.

A Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine Hey team. It’s your CEO. I know your time is valuable, so I’ll cut right to the chase: It’s come to my attention that some of you have been bad-mou...

"It just really comes as a shock that such accomplished intellectuals, who’ve spent their entire careers pushing the upper bounds of human achievement, could be judgy about a machine that runs the entirety of human imagination through a shredder and glues together what comes out."

Just to add, I was program chair for an association conference in 23 and 24 and on the association conference committee for the three online coved congresses.

It’s a vicious cycle - costs have been skyrocketing since the pandemic, so fewer people can afford to attend, so costs go up to justify shutting down campus for two weeks, so fewer people can afford to attend. Add in personality issues and communication problems, and it just stops working.

I’m not sure what the story is this year, but Congress was a mess in 23 and a Charlie Foxtrot in 24, and the host universities contributed to that in addition to FHSS issues. The event has value, but the model is broken, and people just aren’t willing to pay huge fees for less and less every year.

I don't 'refuse to use' AI, I just don't use AI; in the same way that I don't shoplift, or plagiarise other people's books - it requires no effort of will, it's just not something I would think of doing

“You and I struggle to get by. We are trying to stretch a box of hamburger helper out over two weeks. But, Trump’s friends are doing better than ever with Trump’s tax breaks, discounts, and special deals. For Trump, it is Billionaires first, America last.”

eventually here: www.elections.ca/content.aspx...

This statement about the transphobic Supreme Court ruling by the UK's Crab Museum (yes a museum about crabs) is better than 99% of the statements I've seen on the topic

www.crabmuseum.org/visit

🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

Good news: we are indeed living in precedented times.

Bad news: the precedents are all terrible.

While you’re committing to #BuyCanadian, please don’t forget that Shopify is a shockingly evil company 😡

ANALYSIS | The U.S. has covertly destabilized nations. With Canada, it's being done in public | CBC News Former senior Canadian intelligence officials say Canada needs to be on the lookout for campaigns aimed at destabilizing the country amid U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating 51st state threats. T...

Former head of Canadian intelligence says he worries more about Elon Musk and Twitter/X being used to destabilize Canada than covert CIA tactics:

People keep putting them back together and calling it something new: public policy, political economy, and behavioural economics are all top of mind examples

The next Canadian Prime Minister should appoint Trudeau as Ambassador to the United States.

The reason you fight back against bullies isn't that the fight back is pleasant or inherently good, it's because bullies are almost never expecting push back so they are usually relatively easy to defeat if you have a plan.

It's not doomscrolling, it's just harvesting cortisol

Whichever one of you asked the Monkey's Paw to grant you the wish of "living in interesting times", PLEASE RETRACT YOUR WISH IMMEDIATELY.

Agriculture in the US isn’t about food production, it’s government subsidized land occupation. I’m not sure they need potash now, given that the’ve killed USAID and USDA biofuel subsidies don’t seem likely to last long.