using a computer is much easier than using a smart phone

Hampshire College to close permanently after fall 2026 semester Emma McCorkindale

While Hampshire’s case is in some ways unique, it is amazing to think that in a single lifetime - about 70 years - the US founded the greatest public and liberal arts college system in the world and then destroyed it, to build prisons, give tax cuts to the rich, and own the libs

Once again: despite what you might read in The Argument, most opposition to new housing development comes from the right. Not from the left.

On substack, I put up a slightly improved version of my post on how a recent @matt-levine.bsky.social column on a hypothetical algae-energy company is a perfect illustration of the Keynesian vision of investment and of a central argument of Against Money. jwmason.substack.com/p/on-algae-a...

But... he did? He ran a more progressive general election campaign than his primary campaign. Responding to the times: George Floyd and COVID hadn't happened when he started running.

I Feel So Sorry for My A.I. Sunglasses

"So what do my miraculous sunglasses tell me? Many things. They inform me, in the voice of Princess Anna from “Frozen,” that my dog is a golden retriever mix (he is not) and that a tree I am looking at is probably an oak (it is not)."

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/m...

"When will Democrats finally campaign on economic issues, appeal to swing voters and reject social justice issues!?"

And here I've been saying that he worships Moloch instead, apologies Mr. President!

Fantastic!

Happy Ruination Day to all who celebrate

Pottery cup fragment from Roman Peterborough (Durobrivae) depicting a magnificent hare. Now part of the collections at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery. 📸 My own. #RomanBritain #Peterborough

today is quintidi 25 Germinal in the year of the Republic CCXXXIV, celebrating the pigeon

Same goes for every "genius" academic or scholar.

Just when I thought I’d have to go without free identity monitoring services, lucky me, another data breach! They’re skipping the class action suit and going straight to free monitoring.

Smokey the Bear says: "Only Livable Wages Can Prevent Warehouse Fires." While standing in front of that one fire.

Feels like your society is not in a great path if it feels like the only reliable and well-paying career route left is “running scams”

Why they think that is because reality is socially constructed and they are pickled in an evil social order, and partly because they are lazy thinkers who are morally compromised, and finally because they’re bad! Just plain bad.

The world (work, life, globe) has a lot of problems that everyone agrees are bad. These problems have a lot of causes. What the proponents of turbocharging GenAI suppose is that the answer to all of these problems is exponentially increasing their causes.

And taxing the rich in this city is going to be the fight of our lives and many more people are going to join the fight.

This is totally the Keynes “sound banker” observation, better to go down with the herd than be right too early. It’s only acceptable to know things if they are generally accepted by the group, otherwise you are a crank, forever.

gotta get your beat sweeteners in before it happens

Tulips in a clear vase on a table top in our dining room. There are orange tulips with yellow centers and big frilly petals and white tulips with green. The tulips are ragged and open wide. The base is clear and you see thick stalks. There are some tea lights in ornate holders flanking the vase. Happy spring.

Here have some flowers (they’re on the way out but looking wild and magnificent anyway)

The point of the university as a concept is that it's been here for a thousand years and meant to be here another thousand. Turning education over to producing what the market needed five years ago is never going to work well.

Should be a fun day in the great arbitrage machine. Sending thoughts and prayers to the team assigned to use AI to generate a statement that will sufficiently juice the stonks for lord Jesus resurrected as a failson.

Two data points from a recent drive thru rural Virginia. 1. Many lawn signs saying "No new data centers," "Vote no on data centers," etc. 2. The classic rock channel promoted itself as "Every song chosen by a real human - no AI."

Drop some BATHTUBS

The inevitable wailing of “How could anyone have known” when GenAI flops will be deafening.