Landscape painting. River, pelicans and other birds. Trees.

Pelicans on the Riverbank, Hugo Charlemont (1850-1939).

Deer on campus. No snow. Spring!

Signs of Spring!

something I hope we can impart upon young people who live in the effects of gwot but didn't experience its transformations is that the kind of instability and violence unleashed this week has already doomed them to a dramatically more dangerous and circumscribed future, at least IMO

Appreciate Ronan summarizing all the work I've done in the last 18 months.
prospect.org/economy/2024...
prospect.org/2025/12/02/p...

Anthropic safety researcher quits, warning ‘world is in peril’ Other AI safety researchers have also left leading firms, citing concerns about potentially catastrophic risks.

I "enjoy" the hybrid roles this sort of doomerism serves to simultaneously misrepresent what the technology is actually capable of, and misdirect attention away from the fact the real problem is a pretty traditional one: greedy, shitty people

I grew up with Alex Pretti The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs. The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Ambiguous announcement: is it the student and colleagues who get access to Copilot, or Copilot that gets access to the students and colleagues?

Carney reaches tariff-quota deal with China on EVs, canola | CBC News Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has reached a deal with China to allow tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles into the country in exchange for lower canola duties.

Great news to wake up to. These EV tariffs were always a terrible idea. The North American auto makers should learn to make competitive smaller electric cars, not have the government effectively force people into buying more expensive and more destructive.

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

#CdnPoli

Opinion: Ottawa is dangling money for American researchers. But what about our own? For hardworking and idealistic young Canadian scholars, the reality is bleak

“Ottawa’s preference for disgruntled American academics deemed stars may seem clever, politically satisfying even, but it could very well turn our biggest research universities into U.S. intellectual branch plants at our expense.“

i am rooting as much as is appropriate for mamdani to be an effective mayor because if he manages it, he will be an important model and national leader for american progressives — one part fiorello la guardia, one part robert la folette

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach. We need enthusiasm, imagination and the ability to face facts, even unpleasant ones, bravely. We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer. We need the courage of the young. Yours is not the task of making your way in the world, but the task of remaking the world which you will find before you. May every one of us be granted the courage, the faith and the vision to give the best that is in us to that remaking!

Oglethorpe University Address about The New Deal
Franklin D. Roosevelt
May 22, 1932

publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/re...

"Even after accounting for the upfront costs and delayed benefits, enrolling marginal applicants to public universities generates substantial net returns for society, the marginal students themselves, and the government budget."

Public Universities FTW!

Doctors Catch Cancer-Diagnosing AI Extracting Patients' Race Data and Being Racist With It A new study reveals an alarming bias present in four leading AI cancer screening tools, related to race, gender, and age.

A third of AI cancer pathology models introduced racial bias into their analysis even when they weren’t programmed to

futurism.com/health-medic...

Oh wow MS put the dumb copilot logo *over* the doc display in Word. You can't even see what you're writing unless you click on it!

I'm sure having every fucking politician in this stupid ass country talk down the benefits of a liberal arts education and slowly destroy universities - which young men already disproportionately avoid - will sure help things.

The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives

I am really excited that this week we are reading The Hamlet Fire by Bryant Simon, a tour de force if ever there was one. I love the feeling that words and thinking can transform us, and I hope, transform the world.

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

this is the craziest thing I've read in a long time???? Meta projected that 10% of its revenue last year, $16 billion, came from scams. Meta intentionally charges the scammers MORE and knows that people who click on scams are more likely to see more of them www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Canadian govt is committing money to recruit researchers from the US and elsewhere to Canadian universities. Includes grad students too!

Just remember, the Liberals supported this too. If they think this will attract more researchers to Canada, they are smoking the dope they legalized. And once again, just like animal research, why is it @picardonhealth.bsky.social who needs to raise this publicly and not @u15ca.bsky.social

Why Business Depends on Big Government - Public Seminar Photo Credit: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock ————— One of the most telling statements of our political era was made by...Read More

On the 20th anniversary of that debate, I wrote about that line from the debate for @publicseminar.bsky.social.
publicseminar.org/essays/why-b...

One thing i always remember about betting markets is that there used to be international spreads on teams (people betting on the home team) and that this is still a feature of the current markets

It is worth saying that putting “Africana studies” in scare quotes as if it’s a ridiculous concept is not a political argument. It’s just racism. “Africa is not worthy of a major” is the implication. Yeah dude you’re just racist. (From Gerard Baker at the WSJ today)

www.wsj.com/opinion/mamd...

And if you reckon banks have moderated their behaviour post-financial crisis, get this: US loans to private equity and credit funds have jumped by 60 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of this year. To almost half a trillion dollars.

Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when

When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.

Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Ghoulish, evil, intentional malice

I don’t care if a lot of recruits can’t run a mile but I do care that we don’t seem to have much for young people to dream of and work towards but enactor of state violence or grifter, and even the idea of putting in effort to achieve an outcome feels sour

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Chart showing beef prices relative to the Bloomberg Commodity Index since 1965

Beef is just crazy expensive rn, especially compared to other commodities