PattyCatty Stokes

The most delightful of all afflictions.

But only for a few minutes a day. Or, in the case of my portly orange tabby girl, a few minutes a week.

Taylor Swift’s music is not my style at all, but I think she’s talented, insanely devoted to her work, and a decent human being. That’s a trifecta in my book!

And now I will go back to listening to Phish, with nothing but love in my heart for her and her fans. ♥️

Dang! I knew that I should’ve put my two sons in the freezer lo these 20-odd years ago!

(Emphasis on the “odd“)

Please fight this like hell. 😬 I’m not a Virginia resident, but my state, Ohio, is in the same auction pool for electricity, and we will be screwed too.

Once the data centers are built, my understanding is they won’t generate many ongoing jobs. I don’t have data but I’m sure it’s out there.

3 panel comic Panel 1: Blue Guy and Pink Guy. Pink Guy: Ai will change EVERYTHING. Just give me a Shitload of money Blue Guy: okey Panel 2: Blue Guy hands over a massive stack of cash and says “How will it change everything?” Panel 3: Pink Guy is running away as fast as he can with the money. He says “It’s a secret”

buying into AI

a gray cat looks deep into your eyes, seeming to question why you have lied to her and for what gain

cats thought they made a deal with us thousands of years ago: keep the rodents under control in exchange for food and shelter. but we added stipulations. now they have to get weighed at the vet. and the rodents are behind a glass wall.

they've been betrayed. they're not going to take it forever.

This one is obsessed with laying on top of this empty Cheerios box….so now I have an empty Cheerios box that moves from room to room in my house. 🤦‍♀️

Gonna start wilding here in Appalachian Ohio

I grew up in AI North Dakota, where the AI distances from TV stations were so great that AI rabbit ears would not work. By necessity, my AI family used an AI antenna.

This was in the 1970s, which might well have been a simulation, who knows

If Moscow really did have video of Trump with little kids or getting peed on by hookers, NATO would’ve ceased to exist six years ago

None of that story could have transpired if Bowie and Sinatra moved in the entirely separate worlds.

A sweeter, less complex story is the collaboration between Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett.

Paul McCartney venerated mid-20th century music.

The stories are endless.

People tend to massively overestimate boundaries between musical genres. The best in any genre usually respect their counterparts in other genres.

You can see this sometimes even when respect curdles. Bowie was mad because Sinatra did not pick his My Way lyrics. He wrote Life on Mars in revenge!

We have every reason to think that Trump still wants to build a Trump tower in Moscow. That’s a long-standing ambition, silly as it is.

I’m excited about the couch version tbh but maybe I’m just old (specifically, one year and one day older than Trey)

So disheartening! I didn’t try for tickets but damn the whole thing is so broken

This particular sub-species of male chauvinist pigs is still pretty marginal, but it’s growing and now has a beachhead in the federal government.

I don’t actually wish Jordan Peterson ill, but this just tickled me

A single complaint is unlikely to result in firing. But AI has turbocharged cheating. Some who’re caught will retaliate.

The new law also incentivizes students taking a class together to make bad trouble and try to get a prof fired. The second prof in the Alabama case faced coordinated action.

You only need to read ~20 pages to see the coercion applied to faculty. Here in Ohio, we have a similar law that kicks in this fall.

I teach about “controversial“ topics and am bracing for vexatious complaints. I can be 100% fair. But if a student wants a higher grade or is caught cheating? 😿🤢

This is ruling rejects a preliminary injunction, which ought to require a low bar. That’s ominous. But it’d have to proceed through a couple layers before potential SCOTUS review.

That said: faculty at Alabama public universities are feeling the chill. The process is already the punishment.

There are big distinctions between higher ed and K-12. This ruling impacts higher ed, where numerous other federal courts have held that faculty enjoy 1A protections in the classroom. This case flies in the face of those prior rulings, which is why the issue is probably headed to Scotus.

I had hoped to continue until age 70. Currently not quite 62. Ohio has a really terrible law that already has us running scared if we teach about controversial stuff, as I do. AI cheating is widespread and still on the increase. It is so dispiriting!

I grew up in the 1970s and God help me I view Watergate with nostalgia! At least there were consequences

I'm going to publish the entirety of an exchange I just had with the press office of the DOJ. I want you to see how they are talking about truth.

of all the things you hear about this situation, there are only two that matter: first, it happened bc an idiot who calls himself Big Balls got beat up by a girl, and second, this:

CEO: AI has made your job obsolete

me: oh no, is your job is safe?

CEO: yes i make hard decisions that optimize the company’s productivity and profit

me: like firing me?

CEO: well, AI decided that

me: for free?

CEO: hm

Republicans are waging a generalized war on science, but I think many of them don’t fully grok that RFK isn’t at war with science alone or per se: he’s at war with sick people, and of the view that only the lucky should be allowed to survive into old age. They are know nothings, he is Mengele.

If we were a more serious country actually concerned about things like 🇺🇸 power, rising 🇨🇳, & <insert int'l security threat/issue ______," this would be a national crisis & a presidency-ending scandal. But since we just like to pretend we care about this stuff & glorify the military, here we are.

I’m at an Ohio public university, btw. Sadly, my adopted state can give NC a run for the money when it comes to gerrymandering. We also have a draconian new higher ed law squelching academic freedom. I’m a non-tenure-eligible prof with too much skin in this supremely stupid game.