Maximum Mary

So it's Minority Report but Tom Cruise can't count the number of r's in "strawberry". Awesome.

They planned to use it again?

once again, it is a core belief of people on the american right that it should be illegal for you not to like them or want to be around them or work with them

I hate how regional accents have become “wrong” pronunciations.

The difference between "people like me - who share my beliefs - should be in charge " and "we - my friends and I specifically - should be in charge"

Knew a professor who believed the true crisis of modernity is that human evolution did not prepare us for a world where we knew what we looked like. We are supposed to be creatures with completely interior self perception. Photography ruined that and we pretended nothing changed.

Cuomo Tells Business Leaders He Doesn’t ‘Personally’ Want to Fight Trump

Consider the Democratic freakout over Mamdani in the context of this headline.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/n...

(Plz tell me it is widely understood that throwing sex toys at women while they are literally on the clock at work or truly any other time is sexual harassment, right?)

In the abstract there's no inherent connection between crypto and being a malevolent, transgressive asshole. But the two things run together with remarkable consistency.

I remember friends saying to put a dog bed in mom and dad’s room for toddlers to sleep in.

Younger generations have many advantages over their elders, but they will never know the exquisitely agonizing thrill of watching all three hours of a blockbuster movie edited for TV on a Sunday night even though they have a final exam the next day and haven't even THOUGHT about studying.

It's so crazy we live in a world where female athletes are striking for better wages and dodging sex toys being thrown at them, while trans athletes are being accused of evil scheming so they can play women's sports, which pays well and is highly dignified. It's almost like someone's full of shit

And movies chopped down to 90 minutes, including ads, for The Afternoon Matinee. Saw a lot of Hammer Horror that way.

Every WNBA player should be allowed to shove a dildo into the nostril of the crypto grubboy of their choosing.

Last week I gave a talk at a Center for Civic Futures conference called "What You Need To Know Now about AI." I wrote it down after the fact as is my custom and will post some version of it somewhere eventually. But for now, a tangential thing I realized after talking to people there: The blockchain feeding frenzy shows us a possible future for "AI." The fundamental dumbness of blockchain (incredibly slow, expensive, riddled with scams) was never overcome. No one is seriously even trying anymore. Because it didn't matter. Blockchain created a smoke cloud that allowed finance bros to do what they want to do anyway, which is evade 150 years of market regulation and go back to wildcat banks. That's its actual purpose, and it's up and running. You could have created exactly the same industry if enough podcasters and QVC-quality youtubers and internet clowns suddenly started promoting magic beans or Disney dollars or Monopoly money. Likewise, "AI" doesn't have to even work on its own terms, let alone solve any actual problem, for it to kick up a smoke cloud that allows the titans of industry to implement the workforce and product enshittification they want to do anyway. That's its actual purpose, and it's up and running. All of the technical criticisms that people like me have can be correct, and not matter. The purpose of a system is what it does.

Some commentary I found smart: www.linkedin.com/posts/mikeyd...

Al Overview Willem Dafoe is not in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but he has appeared in other Star Wars films, including The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).

I honestly can’t believe there are still any AI skeptics out there. This tech is obviously revolutionary

I’m from Virginia, which requires physical education through most of high school, so that’s what our coaches taught. They should do that everywhere. Or have them teach PE at the elementary schools.

Facebook reminded me of this meme

Could we get a list, please?!?

An all AI movie from prompts would probably make that War of the Worlds movie in the discourse look like a masterpiece.

people are acting like AI is out here doing the things AI companies say they will do one day. it is not! the disruption has not happened! Industries being completely gutted because carnival barkers told CEOs their magic 8 ball will do everything for them

Illinois is the first state to ban AI therapists Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed a bill banning AI therapists into law, the first in the nation.

Illinois has banned AI therapy, making it the first state to regulate the use of AI in mental health services.

www.engadget.com/ai/illinois-...

Which sucks in its own way, but it means it doesn’t fuck up the education system K-undergrad.

There was a HS in Texas in a budget crunch. Decided to dump sports, instead exercise programs all could do. Violence & absenteeism down, grades & scores up. Much better experience for all. In Texas!

What sucks is how many parents don’t realize that and spend the money they should be saving for college into travel teams for their semi talented child. And even if the kid gets a “scholarship” the money for 2 or however many is split among many team members.

@govpritzker.illinois.gov: "I led the effort to build the IL Holocaust Museum. What I know is that in 53 days, Nazis tore down the constitutional republic in Germany in the 1930s. It doesn't take much. We're seeing pieces of that sort of authoritarian activity happening right now in this country."

"fairness in sports" is this decade's "integrity in games journalism": a bullshit thing that nobody really cares about but that the right wing has managed to turn into a gotcha question for liberals who are desperate to never be unpopular.

It’s amazing the glare you get from ed reform types when you point out that no other country has athletic scholarships or the sort of youth sports fanaticism we do.

I have no problem with authors taking time to write a book! It just seems that even after the book is written, it’s so long until the book is actually released. Especially when people are saying how much they enjoyed reading it

But the “natural” ones cause allergic reactions! It’s trading tested as safe, but people waving hands about possible dangers, for something we know causes harm to some people.

I understand why the extended timelines, but books take too damn long to come out.