Nagarjuna's Middle Finger | VarnVlog

Just another reminder of how deregulation works so well (yes, that's sarcasm).

As part of Thursday’s launch, OpenAI announced two new model variants: a lightweight gpt-5-mini and an even faster, cheaper, gpt-5-nano (which is only in the API). According to OpenAI, free users will get access to GPT-5 and gpt-5-mini, while the Plus subscription includes the same models with “significantly higher” usage limits. OpenAI says that the $200 a month Pro tier offers unlimited GPT-5 access, along with GPT-5-pro, a more powerful version of the model, and GPT-5-thinking, which allows the model to process a query for longer than usual. Pro users will still have access to pick through legacy models. Most users will no longer need to choose between models, as the chat interface now automatically routes to the right version depending on the complexity of the query and the user’s subscription tier.

Sure seems like ChatGPT will no longer let you know what model you're using unless you pay $200 a month!

The original post is hilarious with the whole "-en/-ian" turn for people trying to celticize names given names from families that would historically named everyone John or Charles between 1890-2005

I have been MIA because of medical and personal crises, but I will and do check in. Also, I will be looking for interesting people to interview for my show here.

one of my fav things to do with a launch like GPT-5 is read how many places say it's "available for all users now" then immediately go and try and use it, it is exceedingly rare that the thing in question is actually available

There are some very old episodes in the archive where I talk about Adorno that touch on it

Everyone's favourite Bauhaus.

Is SoftBank Still Backing OpenAI? Earlier in the week, the Wall Street Journal reported that SoftBank and OpenAI's "$500 billion" "AI Project" was now setting a "more modest goal of building a small data center by year-end." To quote...

Premium newsletter: Based on my research, the majority of SoftBank and OpenAI’s partnership - Stargate and the $3bn-a-year SB OpenAI Japan - does not appear to exist, and as it stands, SoftBank does not appear capable of funding OpenAI’s $30 billion round.
www.wheresyoured.at/softbank-openai/

Origin story for an Dark Souls boss

YouTube video by C. Derick Varn Varn Vlog: Adam Turl On Gothic Capitalism and The Arts

youtu.be/2SsCZokD-TA?...

The Life and Thought of Alexandre Kojève - Northwestern University Press A fresh and vivid reappraisal of one of the most influential intellects of the modern era   Alexandre Kojève is one of the twentieth century’s most seduc...

"Kojève – the Russian-born philosopher of mastery and recognition, the French diplomat, the spy, prophet, and photographer of the end of history – has entranced and mystified intellectuals of the Left and the Right. In this towering biography, Filoni sets the discussion on entirely new ground."

YouTube video by C. Derick Varn Varn Vlog: W. Thomas Pepper on Non-Buddhism, Ideology, and Other Somewhat Important Things

youtu.be/7_FYbr6Vml0?...

Diving into the Wreckage: Communization w/ C. Derick Varn | The Antifada Get more from The Antifada on Patreon

~Diving into the Wreckage: Communization~

@varnvlog.bsky.social and Sean revisit how their political histories led them to the communization current and how it holds up in 2025

www.patreon.com/posts/134105...

YouTube video by C. Derick Varn Varn Vlog Solo: Socialist Accountability

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgAm...

125 Best Films from the Past 25 Years Since folks have been sending me the New York Times “Century’s Best Movies” list, I decided to make my own. There is some overlap, of course, but my list is better, in my humble opinion. My process ...

www.shalonvantine.com/secondasfarc...

You claim to hate communism but you keep getting publicly owned

YouTube video by Science Fiction with Damien Walter The Butlerian Jihad is NOT a warning against AI

youtu.be/4f1UumjWTa0

Because we were making a joke about this warhammer quote

Counterinsurgent Aesthetics ft. Dr. Kerry Sinanan

Counterinsurgent Aesthetics ft. Dr. Kerry Sinanan

In politics, both the nay-sayer and the naive boaster are ultimately avoiding the implication that the work is theirs and the movement or event to be seized is theirs, not for someone else to do for them.

The worse approach is to neither crush your enemy nor give them a way to incorporate with you. This approach, however, has been politically dominate for a while.

YouTube video by C. Derick Varn Varn Vlog Nicolas D Villarreal on Semiotics, AI, and the "Soul of a New Type"

Great discussion I had with @varnvlog.bsky.social about my book on Semiotics and AI, as well as discussing rationalism a bit
youtu.be/Qd73MphsCUo?...

Count no person a hero until they are dead, because only then can their actions be assessed in total, no matter how heroic their actions. This is an ancient maxim.

YouTube video by C. Derick Varn Varn Vlog Solo: A System is Not Just a Thermostat

youtu.be/i2vosAeiiz0?...

Spengler is in some ways weirder

E294: Hot Communist Summer (full) w/ C. Derick Varn | The Antifada Get more from The Antifada on Patreon

~E294: Hot Communist Summer~

As history repeats, we dissect w @varnvlog.bsky.social Mamdani's stunning victory that sent shockwaves and sparked what hedge fund CEO Dan Loeb dubbed "Hot Commie Summer."

www.patreon.com/posts/e294-h...

Tuberville says ‘inner city rats’ live off the American taxpayers: Trump should send them ‘back home’ "These inner city rats, they live on the federal government," Tuberville said in the interview.

Of the 50 states, Alabama is one of the most dependent on federal revenue. Alabamians receive far more from Washington than they send. Is this Alabama senator even aware of that? www.al.com/politics/202...

AAP will continue to publish its own vaccine recommendations after CDC advisers sow distrust The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices plans to form a work group to review child and adolescent immunization schedules despite them undergoing constant review in real time.

The American Academy of Pediatricians bluntly telling us the current CDC can't be trusted, and of course they are absolutely correct

publications.aap.org/aapnews/news...

YouTube video by C. Derick Varn Radical Engagements: "150 years since the Critique of the Gotha Programme" by Michael Roberts

youtu.be/MAMSB2MamJY?...