Richard Williams

Personally I like being able to see who has cited my work and spot checking how they have used it. Am I one of 10 sources cited in a single sentence, or have I had a significant impact on the work? Using # of citations as a way of assessing your work may be another matter.

I've seen a lot of terrible quotes attributed to Kirk but they don't cite their sources. I like this article because it does. If there are other pieces that do a great job of citing their sources I'd love to see them.

Charlie Kirk’s killing was a tragedy. But we must not rewrite his life | Moira Donegan In the wake of horror, honest accountings of his life have not only become rare – they have also become dangerous

I wrote a column responding to Ezra Klein’s eulogy for Charlie Kirk, and argued that democracy depends not just on civil disagreement, but on the civic equality that Kirk passionately opposed.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

My course AI policy is at

academicweb.nd.edu/~rwilliam/AI...

Major points:

* Research shows that AI can be inferior to more traditional learning approaches
* AI frequently and sometimes dangerously hallucinates
* AI can harm the environment
* Nonetheless, there is hope for AI in the classroom

Why I hate AI Reason # 1,723

I'll add that neither Grover Cleveland nor his presidential library kept the Statue of Liberty after he left office.

Robert Aluka A real question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’ THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en....

Powerful. Very powerful.

www.facebook.com/robert.aluka...

Lots of schools are doing things like this, including Notre Dame. I am sure Trump couldn't care less, but the hope is that university leadership will be prodded to show the same leadership Harvard has.... If the document said UW alumni too, I would proudly sign it!

Sociologist Wonders If That Old-Time Religion Is Now Extinct If church isn't the same experience as your parents, well...it isn't. People are leaving, but there's a book saying now that it doesn't matter at all.

Is organized religion obsolete? ✝️ Sociologist Christian Smith says yes—and backs it with data. ⛪ Church decline isn’t just local, it’s cultural. What’s next for faith in America?🇺🇸

#Faith
#ChurchDecline
#FaithTrends
#Christianity
#GenZFaith
#SpiritualShift
#Patheos

✍️
www.patheos.com/blogs/closet...

Opinion | Hillary Clinton: This Is Just Dumb (Gift Article) The Signal group chat is only the latest in a string of self-inflicted wounds by the new administration.

The world would be so much better off if Hillary had won in 2016. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/o...

We’re Finally Seeing the “Evidence” Against the Migrants Deported by Trump. It’s Unbelievable. The Trump admin said a soccer player had a gang tattoo. It’s a tattoo of Real Madrid’s logo.

Trump has done so many terrible horrible awful things. But right now, I think this has to be near the top of the list.

slate.com/news-and-pol...

Opinion | Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True. (Gift Article) A journey through the front lines of global poverty shows that when the world’s richest men slash aid for the world’s poorest children, the result is sickness, starvation and death.

This is heartbreaking. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Chaos and confusion as the statistics arm of the Education Department is reduced to a skeletal staff of 3 Acting stats chief booted after only 15 days in the job; fate of the Nation’s Report Card unclear

This is heartbreaking. Chaos and confusion as the statistics arm of the Education Department is reduced to a skeletal staff of 3 hechingerreport.org/proof-points...

I ask my students how many people in the room have had measles. I am the only one who raises their hand. I hope it stays that way but I fear it won't.

Opinion | A Reminder of What Pre-Vaccine America Was Like (Gift Article) The worst manifestations of preventable diseases have faded from public memory.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

15 Lessons Scientists Learned About Us When the World Stood Still (Gift Article) The pandemic gave researchers a rare opportunity to study human behavior. Their work offers lessons about loneliness, remote work, high heels and more.

Interesting summary of the research on the impact of the Covid pandemic. Unfortunately, some of the good things that came out of the pandemic have since been rolled back.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

When I had a dog, I walked her frequently. Many times I was asked what the dog's name was. Nobody ever asked me what my name was. Apparently the people in the neighborhood just called me The Guy With the Dog.

An Explosion of Lies The Musk Administration chokes on the truth

Paul Krugman: "All in all, what we’ve just witnessed is a stunning display of incompetence, dismissal of critical federal workers by people with no idea of what they do and why it matters."

open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Hopefully you have Social Explorer at your university. It saved me some years ago when Census data disappeared during a government shutdown. Social Explorer is actually much easier to use anyway. (But I don't know what it will do if it can't get new Census and ACS data.)

The very definition of evil.

Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order (Gift Article) The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.

“In interviews, scientists… described agonizing choices: violate the stop-work orders and continue to care for trial volunteers, or leave them alone to face potential side effects and harm.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...

Statement on Federal Data Access

www.populationassociation.org/blogs/paa-we...

How the World Is Reeling From Trump’s Aid Freeze (Gift Article) President Trump’s order to halt most foreign aid has intensified humanitarian crises and raised questions about the United States’ reliability as a global leader.

There are a lot of contenders but this may be the most horrible thing Trump has already done www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/w...

I don't know if this is good or bad for me personally. But I do like the idea of all these mega-billionaires taking a hit, at least the ones who are cozying up to Trump.

don't threaten me with a good time

YouTube video by CNN Hear ex-Capitol officer's message to Trump voters after Trump pardoned men who attacked him

youtu.be/AwSuAH7B9-Y?...

Opinion | Trump’s Opening Act of Contempt (Gift Article) To open his term with such an act of contempt toward the legal system is audacious, even for Mr. Trump.

This currently ranks #1 on my list of terrible horrible awful things Trump has already done. But, I fear his immigration sweeps could soon take over the top spot.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/o...

As a Notre Dame fan, I am trying to look at the bright side: At least the Irish football team won’t be getting invited to Trump’s White House.

How Jay Graber Is Making Sure Bluesky Never Turns Into Elon Musk’s X Since Elon Musk torpedoed Twitter, Bluesky has seen a stunning surge. CEO Jay Graber is working on “billionaire-proofing” social media against any similar takeover.

Let us hope it succeeds.

www.forbes.com/sites/emilyb...

But if it is not accurate, the value of the product can be greatly reduced. There are horror stories of lawyers using AI and citing cases that didn't exist. The judge was not happy. AI must learn not to hallucinate. My guess is that, in the near future, its accuracy will greatly improve.