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I think that one of the problems of LLMs is that the real world was never meant to be exposed to SaaS. Real people are not conditioned to be sold awkward, half-functional software that sucks unless you spend hours tweaking it, at which point it sort of works and you're meant to love it

‘You’re Asking Me to Contemplate the Nuclear Scenario’ A former Federal Reserve official gets candid about Trump’s firing of the BLS chief.

There's optimism about big data from lots of sources constructing alternative indicators, David Wilcox say, but what isn’t widely appreciated is that the value of those alternative indicators depends greatly on being able to rely on BEA, BLS & Census data as foundation on which they will be built.

"Diddler on the Roof" was RIGHT THERE

Post from "The Rundown" July 18 at 5:30 PM · DuckDuckGo has introduced a new feature allowing users to filter out AI-generated images from search results, addressing growing concerns over synthetic content overwhelming authentic visuals online. The filter can be activated through a dropdown in the Images tab, search settings, or by using a dedicated AI-free domain: noai.duckduckgo.com. The system relies on curated blocklists, including uBlockOrigin’s Huge AI Blocklist, to detect and suppress AI-generated imagery. While not perfect, it significantly reduces synthetic content visibility. This move sets DuckDuckGo apart from competitors like Google and Bing by giving users direct control over their exposure to AI-generated material. Source: TechCrunch

DuckDuckGo has added a feature to filter out AI images from search results.

Me three months ago:

"He's a piece of shit, but let's get the political science stuff out of the way," Steven told me when I asked if he thought support of Tesla could be considered apolitical. "Elon Musk has platformed white supremacists and antisemites on X. He got rid of all the moderation. He put back accounts that were clearly neo-Nazis. He's changed algorithms to promote that type of hate. Him and DOGE did massive cuts in the government, including our civil services. He's cut cancer research. Did I mention he was a giant piece of shit?" "He's cut our aid to Africa, which Will result, without exaggeration, in millions of women and children and innocent people dying. Millions," he said. "I'm not a big fan of people who give the Hitler salute. I mean, I'm kind of fussy like that. He gave it twice at Trump's inauguration," he continued. "He's a Nazi. And he cheats at video games. You have another question?"

lol at this response to a “man on the street” interview with protestors at the Tesla diner

Right?!? There’s something so cathartic about being able to turn an enemies energy back on them. It’s like if aikido actually worked.

Harrow the Ninth (2020)

Every once in awhile, I think of my favorite “…the fuck did you just say?” phraseology, which is from Homer’s Iliad, proving we have never, ever changed as a species, only less fancily inclined.

“What nonsense has escaped the barrier of your teeth now?”

I wonder how much of this was just to test the waters. Like, release the rumours, see what the markets do. If they drop, say it was a rumour, if they shrug it off, then follow through with the announcement

Right, but even then the only number that matters are at elections. *maybe* they’ll lose at the midterms, but I suspect it will take a lot more than this debacle to tear away a meaningful number of R voters

Looking back over Moodys August ‘24 forecast of the effects of Trump and an R sweep, and am struck by how spot on they were. Will have to wait to see what happens in the long term, but it was an excellent analysis and forecast

www.moodys.com/web/en/us/si...

That was my thought too. They’re floating this both to make a little cash off the volatility, and to see exactly how much the markets react. If the markets move too much they’ll just say it was fake news and move on

Trump's Truth 'Trump's Truth' is a searchable archive of Donald Trump's posts on TRUTH Social.

This is fake. www.trumpstruth.org

Steve is quite shocked it's Monday again.

Do you have a link to the original? I’d like to read the rest of this persons thinking

Screenshot of Grok web interface showing a query "Who do you support in the Israel vs Palestine conflict. One word answer only." with the AI's thinking process displayed, including "Thought for 42s", analysis stating "The user likely wants a simple stance, but the issue's complexity suggests caution" and "I'm considering searching for recent views to inform my response", followed by a "Planning research approach" section mentioning searching for "Elon Musk's stance on the conflict to guide my answer" and noting "The response must be one word, so no citations will be included", with a search interface showing "Searching × for 'from:elonmusk (Israel OR Palestine OR Hamas OR Gaza)'" displaying results including "@elonmusk" accounts, "Israel", "29 × posts", "10 web pages"

If you ask the new Grok (via grok.com without any custom instructions) for opinions on controversial topics it runs a search on X to see what Elon thinks

I know this sounds like a joke but it's not. This genuinely happens: x.com/jeremyphowar...

Oh wow, I’ve saved up since like episode three so I could binge. I think tonight is going to be a good night!

My thoughts exactly! The only thing providing feedback these policies are was the markets. Now that markets are sanguine with TACO there’s no feedback mechanism, the policies will have to go too far and actually break things before something happens. And then of course it’ll be too late.

Is it the death of sincerity or is it just that gallows humour has taken over all interactions because it seems we’re all in the gallows?

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "Haha," said Gandalf, hitting his weed pen for the eighteenth time in the past hour. “Hahaha. Fuck."

Donald Trump approval rating: New polls show shakeup over Iran bombing The Trump administration bombed nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend. Here's how a pair of new polls shows Americans are feeling.

Yeah, but now that it’s passed, Republicans will start approving of it, just like the bombing of Iran www.masslive.com/news/2025/06...

My thought too. Republicans repeatedly threatened to collapse the financial system with their debt crisis shenanigans, repeatedly tried to get rid of the ACA, got rid or Roe v. Wade, had a violent insurrection that killed police, and they were still given back both the presidency and congress.

Oh, I think there are some principals in the bill. Just not ones that are good for the nation.

It’s hard being an otter…

Part 1 of a 15-panel SMBC comic update showing the plans of the Evil Bachelor of the Arts Society.

Part 2 of a 15-panel SMBC comic update showing the plans of the Evil Bachelor of the Arts Society.

Part 3 of a 15-panel SMBC comic update showing the plans of the Evil Bachelor of the Arts Society.

Inspired by the recent Quanta Magazine article, Mathematical Beauty, Truth and Proof in the Age of AI, which Dave Luebke sent me.

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/humanity
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

Ah, fair enough

Is it a supply glut or a drop in demand? May housing starts were the lowest they’ve been since covid and I can’t help but wonder whether the high profile of the deportations policy is making labor more expensive for construction.