Mike Paul (@mikepaul.com) Bsky

Richard Feynman's Notes For Self-Education "…I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and there are many things I don’t know anything about."

Richard Feynman's Notes For Self-Education
open.substack.com/pub/jillianh...

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Teacher Side Hustles That Actually Fit Your Life (From Someone Who Gets It) This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through one of them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The national average teacher salary is $74,200. That sounds okay until you account for the fact that most teachers spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket on classroom supplies each year, work 50+ hour weeks, and bring a graduate degree to a job that still can't cover the rent in most major cities. I've been in education long enough to know: the pay conversation isn't changing fast enough.

Teacher Side Hustles That Actually Fit Your Life (From Someone Who Gets It)

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through one of them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The national average teacher salary is $74,200. That sounds okay until you account for the…

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Book Review – The Lies of Locke Lamora There is a moment early in The Lies of Locke Lamora where Father Chains — the blind priest who is not actually blind, and not actually a priest — explains to a young Locke Lamora exactly what kind …

Book Review - The Lies of Locke Lamora mikepaul.com/2023/03/25/b...

4 days ago 1 0 0 0

How to Read and Take Notes Like a PhD Student (From Someone Near the Finish Line) Photo by Lina Kivaka on Pexels.com I wrote an earlier version of this post in 2023, partway through my doctoral program. Looking back at it, I can see the problem immediately: it reads like a summa…

How to Read and Take Notes Like a PhD Student (From Someone Near the Finish Line) mikepaul.com/2023/05/17/h...

4 days ago 1 0 0 0

You Can Just Print An Air Purifier I don't have the time right now, but when the ol' dissertation is done, I can easily see a 3D printer getting heavy usage around these parts... 3D printers are one of the few pieces of technology in the last 30 years that are as revolutionary as they were pitched. It is easy to miss that fact, in part because 3D printing itself is a dorky little habit that produces a lot of embarrassing trinkets with visible layer lines, a technology that launched a thousand Iron Man cosplay masks. But the quality and speed of these machines improves yearly, and you can get a fantastic printer that handles multiple colors for less than $600 dollars and even cheaper if you go with eBay or know someone who is moving at just the right time.

You Can Just Print An Air Purifier

I don't have the time right now, but when the ol' dissertation is done, I can easily see a 3D printer getting heavy usage around these parts... 3D printers are one of the few pieces of technology in the last 30 years that are as revolutionary as they were…

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Artemis II Astronauts Witnessed 6 Meteorites Colliding With the Moon | WIRED The shock and awe on the face of the folks at Mission Control as they chatted with the astronauts as this happened... During their flyby of the far side of the moon, the Artemis II astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft saw as many as six flashes emerging from the lunar surface. Surprisingly, they were witnessing small meteorites impacting the ground and producing brief flashes of light. NASA's control room recorded the team's surprise during the mission livestream, although the cameras did not pick up the flashes. According to the astronauts, the flashes were white or blue-white and lasted less than a second.

Artemis II Astronauts Witnessed 6 Meteorites Colliding With the Moon | WIRED

The shock and awe on the face of the folks at Mission Control as they chatted with the astronauts as this happened... During their flyby of the far side of the moon, the Artemis II astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft…

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Porting Mac OS X to the Nintendo Wii | Bryan Keller’s Dev Blog Since its launch in 2007, the Wii has seen several operating systems ported to it: Linux, NetBSD, and most-recently, Windows NT. Today, Mac OS X joins that list. Source: Porting Mac OS X to the Nintendo Wii | Bryan Keller’s Dev Blog

Porting Mac OS X to the Nintendo Wii | Bryan Keller’s Dev Blog

Since its launch in 2007, the Wii has seen several operating systems ported to it: Linux, NetBSD, and most-recently, Windows NT. Today, Mac OS X joins that list. Source: Porting Mac OS X to the Nintendo Wii | Bryan Keller’s Dev Blog

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The World’s Longest Outdoor Escalator Just Opened in China More impressive infrastructure coming out of China... The longest outdoor escalator system in the world is now running in Wushan County, China. At nearly 3,000 feet long, it carries pedestrians up 800 feet in elevation—around the height of an 80-story skyscraper. The system is known as the “Goddess” escalator, and it’s made of 21 individual escalators, 8 elevators, 4 moving walkways and several pedestrian bridges. Riding all of them takes roughly 21 minutes. “As far as I know, there are no similar projects nationwide, either exceeding or equal to ours, either under construction or already started,” project design lead Huang Wei, an engineer at China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, tells the Financial Times’ Thomas Hale and Wang Xueqiao. “It’s the first of its kind.”

The World’s Longest Outdoor Escalator Just Opened in China

More impressive infrastructure coming out of China... The longest outdoor escalator system in the world is now running in Wushan County, China. At nearly 3,000 feet long, it carries pedestrians up 800 feet in elevation—around the height of…

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AI doesn’t write well, but neither do most people Giles Turnbull has some thoughts on AI-generated writing: First of all, I’ll come clean about where I stand, generally speaking: I’m an AI sceptic, especially on using AI for writing. I can see it being useful for other things - but that’s because I’m a writer, right? I see AI generated text and most of the time, I think it’s rubbish. It’s dull, it’s derivative, it always sounds like a thousand other things I’ve read before. Because the AI has been trained on those thousands of things, all now easy to find on the internet.

AI doesn’t write well, but neither do most people

Giles Turnbull has some thoughts on AI-generated writing: First of all, I’ll come clean about where I stand, generally speaking: I’m an AI sceptic, especially on using AI for writing. I can see it being useful for other things - but that’s because…

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Artemis II Mobile Wallpapers Fear not, true believers. We can take our fascination with all things Artemis II on our phones. NASA has made a dozen mobile wallpapers available. Here are a couple I enjoyed: Source: Artemis II Mobile Wallpapers - NASA

Artemis II Mobile Wallpapers

Fear not, true believers. We can take our fascination with all things Artemis II on our phones. NASA has made a dozen mobile wallpapers available. Here are a couple I enjoyed: Source: Artemis II Mobile Wallpapers - NASA

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Never Ending School Reforms.. From Larry Cuban.. As students, professionals, and parents, in the 20th and early 21st centuries, I, and most readers, have been the objects of these reforms, their implementers, or simply observers. School reform, then, is not something distant or far removed from our lives. We have experienced school reforms repeatedly. So, for me, school reforms have been as normal as breathing, eating, walking, reading, and writing posts for this blog. Source: School Reform Again, Again, and Yet Again | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Never Ending School Reforms..

From Larry Cuban.. As students, professionals, and parents, in the 20th and early 21st centuries, I, and most readers, have been the objects of these reforms, their implementers, or simply observers. School reform, then, is not something distant or far removed from…

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Solar Eclipse from Dark of the Moon art002e009301 (April 6, 2026) – Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth. We see a glowing halo around the dark lunar disk. The science community is investigating whether this effect is due to the corona, zodiacal light, or a combination of the two.

Solar Eclipse from Dark of the Moon

art002e009301 (April 6, 2026) – Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly…

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VOLUMES: ONE (SELECTIONS FROM MUSIC CONCERTS 2019-2023 BON IVER 6 PIECE BAND) | Bon Iver 11 track album Finally got the chance to put this in my ears with the onset of Spring Break. Justin Vernon never ceases to amaze me with his inspired combination of analog and digital music tools. This is tons of fun, gotta pick up the vinyl soon. Source: VOLUMES: ONE (SELECTIONS FROM MUSIC CONCERTS 2019-2023 BON IVER 6 PIECE BAND) | Bon Iver

VOLUMES: ONE (SELECTIONS FROM MUSIC CONCERTS 2019-2023 BON IVER 6 PIECE BAND) | Bon Iver

11 track album Finally got the chance to put this in my ears with the onset of Spring Break. Justin Vernon never ceases to amaze me with his inspired combination of analog and digital music tools. This is tons…

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China Covered the ‘Sea of Death’ in Trees. Here’s What Happened. China’s Taklamakan Desert was an unforgiving landscape. Was is the operative word, since it isn’t as unforgiving anymore Source: China Covered the 'Sea of Death' in Trees. Here's What Happened.

China Covered the ‘Sea of Death’ in Trees. Here’s What Happened.

China’s Taklamakan Desert was an unforgiving landscape. Was is the operative word, since it isn’t as unforgiving anymore Source: China Covered the 'Sea of Death' in Trees. Here's What Happened.

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Poetic Outlaws (@poeticoutlaws) “So far as I can see, nothing good in the world has ever been done by well-rounded people. The good work is done by people with jagged, broken edges, because those edges cut things and leave an imprin...

substack.com/@poeticoutla...

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Google’s Stitch Update: “Vibe Design” and the Shrinking Distance Between Ideas and Tools Google recently announced a major update to its experimental design tool, Stitch. If you haven’t heard of it before, Stitch is an AI-powered interface design tool—but this update signals something bigger than just new features. Google is now describing Stitch as an “AI-native software design canvas”—a space where users can move from an idea to a high-fidelity interface using natural language, images, or even voice. That shift in language matters. What’s Actually New in This Update? Stitch isn’t new, but this version pushes it in a different direction. A few highlights stand out.

Google’s Stitch Update: “Vibe Design” and the Shrinking Distance Between Ideas and Tools

Google recently announced a major update to its experimental design tool, Stitch. If you haven’t heard of it before, Stitch is an AI-powered interface design tool—but this update signals something bigger than…

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The Greatest Baseball Catch You’ll Ever See And maybe the best superhero pose ever struck...

The Greatest Baseball Catch You’ll Ever See

And maybe the best superhero pose ever struck...

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To be clear: the SAVE Act does not simply require the identification voting ALREADY requires. It demands proof of CITIZENSHIP— a birth certificate with a name that matches yours now (bye, bye, married women), or a passport— both of which are expensive and take a long time to obtain.

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Jonathan Haidt promotes transphobic conspiracy theories (like the idea that girls are being "transed" by social media) so I guess it's not that surprising that he is the favorite pseudo-scientific pop psychologist cited by supporters of dangerous censorship legislation that will kill trans kids

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"“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it,” Gracen said with a cynical tone. “Those who do? We’re doomed to watch others repeat it around us while we try to hold things together." (Evan Currie, Archangel One)

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Get Birding with Sean Bean Episode 1 | The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch! | Birdwatching Podcast YouTube video by Get Birding

I'm no birder, but I've stumbled upon Get Birding with Sean Bean (he shouldn't die in this series) and I am ABSOLUTELY here for it.

youtu.be/m9aroePaO90?...

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"There are no leaders. There are only terrified souls trying to live till the day when She loses control and the machine turns on Her. Until that day, unless I find a distant hill where the final sleep will free me, I will tell my quiet lies. There is nothing more to it than that. There are no heroes of my generation. That role has yet to be filled. For my part, I am just the locust. I speak of dreams called nightmares. No more should be expected, at risk of driving the reflection so deep into the mirror it will never emerge again." (Harlan Ellison, Stalking the Nightmare)

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Seeing this quote today reminds me of something from Harlan Ellison, “Sat cito, sat bene: It is done quickly enough if it is done well.”

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AI as Co-Teacher or AI as Replacement? Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com “Empathy, evidently, existed only within the human community.”— Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? There’s a moment in Philip K. Dick’s novel when the line between human and machine doesn’t shatter—it thins. The androids aren’t clumsy metallic caricatures. They’re articulate. Quick. Convincing. They can simulate emotional response so well that distinguishing them from humans requires careful testing. The danger isn’t brute force. It’s indistinguishability. It’s the subtle shift where simulation becomes “good enough,” and we stop asking what’s been replaced.

AI as Co-Teacher or AI as Replacement?

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com “Empathy, evidently, existed only within the human community.”— Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? There’s a moment in Philip K. Dick’s novel when the line between human and machine doesn’t shatter—it…

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The danger isn’t that AI can’t teach. It’s that it can simulate teaching well enough that we stop asking what’s been replaced.

The danger isn’t that AI can’t teach. It’s that it can simulate teaching well enough that we stop asking what’s been replaced.

www.eclecticeducator.com/p/ai-as-co-t...

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"Classrooms in which deeper learning is the goal are ones where meaningful academic content is paired with engaging, experiential, and innovative learning experiences." (Kia Darling-Hammond and Linda Darling-Hammond, The Civil Rights Road to Deeper Learning)

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"Historically, the working class has often been more resistant to change than the class oppressing them.”" (Brandon Sanderson, Shadows of Self)

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AI Schools and the Illusion of Efficiency Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Pexels.com A recent investigation into Alpha School, a high-tuition “AI-powered” private school, revealed faulty AI-generated lessons, hallucinated questions, scraped cur…

AI Schools and the Illusion of Efficiency mikepaul.com/ai-schools-a...

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AI Schools and the Illusion of Efficiency Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Pexels.com A recent investigation into Alpha School, a high-tuition “AI-powered” private school, revealed faulty AI-generated lessons, hallucinated questions, scraped curriculum materials, and heavy student surveillance. Former employees described students as “guinea pigs.” That’s the headline. But the real issue isn’t whether one school deployed AI sloppily. The real issue is whether we are confusing technological acceleration with educational progress. The Seduction of the Two-Hour School Day Alpha’s pitch is simple and powerful: compress academic learning into two hyper-efficient hours using AI tutors, then free the rest of the day for creativity and passion projects.

AI Schools and the Illusion of Efficiency

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Pexels.com A recent investigation into Alpha School, a high-tuition “AI-powered” private school, revealed faulty AI-generated lessons, hallucinated questions, scraped curriculum materials, and heavy student surveillance. Former…

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Well, this was certainly a learning experience. Heck, it still is. I'm working on a couple more articles, so I guess I'm going to get more practice :)

Yes. I am now officially published. This was a team effort, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity.

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