Jon Wilson

What we know, 12:10am
[Now in 2 parts]

—Prop 50 wins
—VA Dems flip Gov, LG, AG
—Dems flip ≈13 seats in VA House
—Dems defend NJ-Gov + Assembly
—Dems win NJ+VA trifectas
—Mamdani wins
—PA Dems win supreme court
—ME vote-restricting measure loses
—GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices
—Krasner & Bragg win

AI companies: The future of humanoid robots is here

Humanoid robot:

Image from 1980’s He-Man cartoon showing Skeletor sitting in a throne-like chair as a small elf-like person brings him a bowl of hot soup.

WHERE THE SHIT IS MY SOUP okay it's here

[Pillsbury marketing meeting 1965]

Weird Carl: ok so the doughboy, what if we tickled him?

When he says “hit it, Joe”, I don’t think first time viewers are going to be prepared for just how hard Joe hits it.

Some graffiti has appeared on the Reform UK office in Caerphilly.

Following a by election last week which Reform lost someone has written “now you can fuck off home”.
Reform had made immigration a key issue in by election.

These pictures are the copyright of Matthew Horwood.

Bristol Rovers woke football flag

Honourable mention for this one

The woke football flags are so good. From the river to the key is incredible

thinking about big rice

The fact that this was the line, and not the repeated murders of schoolchildren, of democratically elected officials. It had to be a Republican celebrity for them to care.

Today has solidified how completely and utterly captured the media is by the Republican Party. They only care if it hurts them.

Talked to Tim Walz as he campaigned in Wisconsin. Thought his answer to one Q I'd had for Dems - if you come back in 2028, do you rebuild everything DOGE broke? - was interesting.

"I think it's an opportunity."
www.semafor.com/article/03/1...

I’m posting this to over 35,000 brilliant people who care about the NHS. If everyone donated £1, we’d hit our goal in 5 mins. Can we do this? Please help us hold politicians to account! 💙🚨
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/everydocto...

Discworld QOTD, from Maskerade

“Nanny Ogg was basically a law-abiding person when she had no reason to break the law, and therefore had that kind of person’s attitude to law-enforcement officers, which was one of deep and permanent distrust.”

‘Mr. Cig’ was a Tobacco industry mascot who went around promoting Cigarettes, often just handing out them out to members of the public.

Here he is doing just that at a Hospital in 1948.

Incredible.

[quoting a tweet by fractalcounty that reads, “today I learned that there are actual people irl who get genuinely upset if they catch you using chatgpt. like they view it as a serious moral failing in certain circles”]

If you're using AI to write essays, eulogies, a text to your wife, I do think less of you as a person. Ceding your mental and creative abilities to a machine is an embarrassing thing and people should be ashamed to admit doing it in public.

#FreePalestine 🇵🇸
Starmer hasn't impressed me one bit. Or anyone at this point.
open.substack.com/pub/nicktyro...

you're gonna wanna see this

I agree with this but - as Giles' post effectively goes on to say - there *is* a way out of this fiscal corner, it's called raising taxes, and I don't think it's as politically impossible as people make out

Hard (by Labour's own doing) but not impossible

First, welfare revolts tells us nothing...

Cor, those little rotters! Hopefully they'll leave room after all that jelly and ice cream (and a few cheeky ciggies!!!) for some nice leafy green veg! And a speedball

Sign in a deli, with the product visible beyond glass: "Pant based sausage rolls" They're £2.90 per item, if you're interested.

Don't call them trouser snakes, try:

Mushroom Cloud Hopefully Nothing Major

Mushroom Cloud Hopefully Nothing Major
theonion.com/mushroo...

If you had a 15 year old who said this to you and seemed to believe it, you’d be up all night panicking about what it’s going to cost you in tutors to get them into the 2nd-to-last ranked public university in your state.

Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations – disappeared not because the people of those nations disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion, government weakness, – weakness through lack of leadership in government. Finally, in desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the hope of getting something to eat.

Mamdani ending his victory speech with this quote from FDR. This is potentially a consequential moment for US politics.

i quit my job at the reptile house in favour of a more creative career. i just couldn’t stand staring at a monitor all day.

On LBC @zoejardiniere.bsky.social lists 3 previous instances where military aircraft have been targeted by campaigners in order to prevent them being used in war crimes, and she describes the govt banning Palestine Action as terrorists as an abuse of state power.

Well said.

AI sceptic Emily Bender: ‘The emperor has no clothes’ [FREE TO READ] The computational linguist on her motivations for taking on Big Tech, the dangers of chatbots — and why AI is just a ‘glorified Magic 8 Ball’

Emily Bender is AI sceptical. She explains why over sushi to George Hammond. Also her earrings are great on.ft.com/3ZGHAZW

It reminds me of an old Bette Midler joke, where she's in a lift with her boyfriend and he asks if she just farted. To which she responds: "Of course I farted! Do you think I always smell like this?"

Reggie Watts statement, 1 of 2: “I was disappointed to see that Thom's statement centers his hurt feelings and frames his fans' demands for him to speak up as a "social media witch hunt," instead of recognizing the urgency of their call for him to speak out against the world-historical humanitarian crisis in Palestine. I hope Thom will reflect and decenter himself from the public outcry against the genocide, because if he and his artistic legacy stand for love and humanity as he asserts, he can come to see his fans' actions as an act of loving solidarity with suffering people-a needed affirmation of our humanity in these dark times.”

Reggie Watts statement 2 of 2: “I also want to address Thom's repetition of a common rhetorical tactic of those who are devoted to maintaining the status quo, that one cannot speak up or demand an end to the genocide unless they fully understand the deep "complexity" of this historical conflict. I urge Thom's fans to reject this conviction-neutralizing, demobilizing sentiment and trust their hearts. You don't need to be a geopolitics scholar to know that starving children and slaughtering families is wrong. Your membership in the human family gives you authority and, indeed, responsibility to speak up. All positive change starts with conscious and loving people raising their voices and working together to bring a better world into existence. Please keep fighting until our sisters and brothers in Palestine are free.”

Reggie Watts addresses Thom Yorke’s statement on Palestine and it’s good

he looks like a trawlerman outwitted by a mollusc