Brandon Barker

my basic “should I use generative AI” rules:

* the 3 D’s of automation are Dirty, Dull, & Dangerous, and Dull is the only one applicable—so stick to that

* dont use it for any task where doing it yourself would improve your skill at that task

* “hard to guess, easy to check” format + ALWAYS CHECK

This piece is about CS conferences, but it speaks to a larger trend. What are we, as individual researchers and scholarly communities, doing to prevent epistemic poison? What can we do to preserve and maintain the quality of our knowledge in this era of bullshit and slop?

⚗️ 🧪 #SciComm #Ethics

BU COM dean corresponded extensively with Jeffrey Epstein in 2014 and 2015, files show Mariette DiChristina, dean of Boston University’s College of Communication, corresponded extensively with Jeffrey Epstein in 2014 and 2015. The two set up a one-on-one meeting, had “phone dates” and D...

It’s infuriating and dispiriting how cozy scientists and science communicators were with Epstein. Not just creeps like Krauss and Horner, but former SciAm editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina corresponding with Epstein in 2014-2015. “He’s done so much for science, I think that deserves some fun!”

The academy continues to impress

Through detroit!!!

Here we go again

God I missed Detroit

Heading to god honoring Michigan … maybe the worst day of the year to fly (had cancellations..) but god I miss it

Me sitting with snowboard on; in pain

Traded code crashes for snowboard crashes

command line app called chat (subtitle “is this real”) that takes a number at the command line and prints yes if real false if complex

Hi #aas247 people! Just saw some slides from an education session about astronomy majors across the country that looks super relevant to the new astro program we’re trying to start in Oregon. Anyone know where the full report lives, or can share the full slides? 🔭

But it’s okay because this will make the next refactor / expansion ever so slightly easier actually

Rewrite 🤡

Rewrite substantial parts of technically functional (albeit ugly, outgrown its scope) code or implement features necessary to make a production capable product? Easy

He had slept through helms deep

Cat in cowboy hat

Cats have had a good Christmas haul

Lord of the rings

Christmas Day is finally here, and that means two things: Lord of the Rings (extended) and a day full of hobbit meals

Tamales in a pot

Christmas time

This year in GitHub: 72 merged PRs for a total of 912 commits — and more to come (and more uncounted on gitlab). Not too bad but pushing for more next year!

I’ve met a few full time nano users

broke it

How it feels when optimizing code

Monday night

Someone taking a nap outside in the Michigan winter

Michigan lake in the winter

Went to Michigan over thanksgiving and got to take a god honoring nap

im not much of a football fan but i feel strongly that we need the weaker teams regularly playing in the snow

A beer

DTW brewery crawl

It feels perverse but feels good when it works, which is maybe still perverse

No it’s actually an elite level code development strategy that i left that unused variable there. The warnings tell me “finish implementing this” every time i compile

Two weeks into a new program that gives New Mexico children free childcare, officials are opening up about the surge that happened day one & how it’s been moving forward. In just a short time, the state said thousands of children are now enrolled in free childcare, & daycares are lining up to join.

PBS always serving the public good