Alton B.H. Worthington
@abhw.bsky.social
Social Science Shop Teacher in the vocational training division of a sports entertainment and medical services conglomerate. Views expressed represent nobody, even myself. ∃ RPs ∉ {Endorse} ∧ ∀ Posts ⊂ {Nonsense}. PV=NRT. "Car weirdo."
Pinned
signing off to do some grading and watch a youtube documentary about some madlads who did a 1000-mile pylon air race in a DC7, g'night
February 18, 2026 at 4:19 AM
signing off to do some grading and watch a youtube documentary about some madlads who did a 1000-mile pylon air race in a DC7, g'night
Also, good excuse to post a paper I've enjoyed:
www.coxlydia.com/papers/Acost...
(honorable mention to a new paper from Clausing and Obstfeld:
www.nber.org/system/files...)
www.coxlydia.com/papers/Acost...
(honorable mention to a new paper from Clausing and Obstfeld:
www.nber.org/system/files...)
February 18, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Also, good excuse to post a paper I've enjoyed:
www.coxlydia.com/papers/Acost...
(honorable mention to a new paper from Clausing and Obstfeld:
www.nber.org/system/files...)
www.coxlydia.com/papers/Acost...
(honorable mention to a new paper from Clausing and Obstfeld:
www.nber.org/system/files...)
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
It's hard to believe that you could be the trade representative for a major power and not know that tariffs are regressive.
My econ 101 students know what the word regressive means, and that tariffs are regressive. Many could even cite studies on the subject.
My econ 101 students know what the word regressive means, and that tariffs are regressive. Many could even cite studies on the subject.
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on tariffs: "It's not regressive. Most consumption in America is done by the wealthiest people. So the idea it's somehow regressive is just wrong."
February 18, 2026 at 2:50 AM
It's hard to believe that you could be the trade representative for a major power and not know that tariffs are regressive.
My econ 101 students know what the word regressive means, and that tariffs are regressive. Many could even cite studies on the subject.
My econ 101 students know what the word regressive means, and that tariffs are regressive. Many could even cite studies on the subject.
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
I hate that we have to now pretend that "Globalists" are an actual thing. Absolutely terrible article in Foreign Affairs btw.
February 18, 2026 at 2:03 AM
I hate that we have to now pretend that "Globalists" are an actual thing. Absolutely terrible article in Foreign Affairs btw.
"Signal 30" audio also used in an absolute wild track by Public Service Broadcasting (here's the live performance on KEXP): youtu.be/0obMOfvCN5k
February 18, 2026 at 2:50 AM
"Signal 30" audio also used in an absolute wild track by Public Service Broadcasting (here's the live performance on KEXP): youtu.be/0obMOfvCN5k
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
This language on the TrumpRx site.
February 18, 2026 at 1:07 AM
This language on the TrumpRx site.
thread up and down, imo, but as a "computers are best when they are deterministic" person, coming to grips w this aspect of LLMs is... complicated.
One thing that examples like this show is that this mode of thinking is out the window with LLMs. In traditional computing world, when output is produced, it means your instructions were followed and, as long as your instructions were right, the output is correct. Not so with LLMs, evidently.
February 17, 2026 at 10:03 PM
thread up and down, imo, but as a "computers are best when they are deterministic" person, coming to grips w this aspect of LLMs is... complicated.
the worst market trend you know just made a great point
AI driven RAM pricing forcing developers to get better at resource use is a very funny outcome
February 17, 2026 at 10:01 PM
the worst market trend you know just made a great point
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
In the large: Mortality in France, 1816-2016.
February 17, 2026 at 9:56 PM
In the large: Mortality in France, 1816-2016.
1) honestly curious about the remit given to the composer, as it's a kinda convex combination of european-and-some-americas anthems, imo
2) it does seem weird to ask folks to stand for an anthem for an "unstate", but the flag is weirder
3) instrumental of "one shining moment" would have been fun
2) it does seem weird to ask folks to stand for an anthem for an "unstate", but the flag is weirder
3) instrumental of "one shining moment" would have been fun
they used to use the Olympic Anthem for athletes competing under neutral flags, but then they decided they didn't want the Russian/Belarussians to get the Olympic Anthem, so ahead of 2024 they wrote a special Individual Neutral Athletes anthem that they'll use if any of them win
February 17, 2026 at 9:52 PM
1) honestly curious about the remit given to the composer, as it's a kinda convex combination of european-and-some-americas anthems, imo
2) it does seem weird to ask folks to stand for an anthem for an "unstate", but the flag is weirder
3) instrumental of "one shining moment" would have been fun
2) it does seem weird to ask folks to stand for an anthem for an "unstate", but the flag is weirder
3) instrumental of "one shining moment" would have been fun
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
It’s just so depressing how corporations (because of course they did) trained LLMs to produce bullshit designed to exploit their users while making them dependent on the experience. Social media but even more insidious.
We know that the Oligarchs exploit our every vulnerability and yet we type our most sensitive questions into their "please exploit my vulnerabilities" machines.
February 17, 2026 at 9:43 PM
It’s just so depressing how corporations (because of course they did) trained LLMs to produce bullshit designed to exploit their users while making them dependent on the experience. Social media but even more insidious.
TIL learned the ice cream barge was a concrete hull.
February 17, 2026 at 7:47 PM
TIL learned the ice cream barge was a concrete hull.
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
eternally doomed to be the only person in the world who remembers trumps first term
February 17, 2026 at 6:51 PM
eternally doomed to be the only person in the world who remembers trumps first term
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
IMO, some of the biggest use cases for AI for non-SWEs/non-data scientists will be information extraction: web scraping, OCRing documents, extracting tables, etc.
Stuff that, as recently as 5 years ago, involved hours of mindless grunt work
Stuff that, as recently as 5 years ago, involved hours of mindless grunt work
my big takeaway from experimenting with claude code is that a lot of coding for me, so far, is finding ways to get around anti-bot scraping tech embedded in the web
February 17, 2026 at 7:27 PM
IMO, some of the biggest use cases for AI for non-SWEs/non-data scientists will be information extraction: web scraping, OCRing documents, extracting tables, etc.
Stuff that, as recently as 5 years ago, involved hours of mindless grunt work
Stuff that, as recently as 5 years ago, involved hours of mindless grunt work
let it be known that the We Built This Yesterday was part of the "Screw It, Good Enough"-class Ice Cream Makers, and that mentality was honestly a big difference between US and German design strategies
Also don’t forget the ice cream ship serving everyone on board the USS We Built This Yesterday.
To kick this off: everyone who crows about German technological superiority should explain how the Allies could develop 6 different 4-engine bombers (3 US, 3 UK) and the Germans couldn’t even develop one
February 17, 2026 at 7:00 PM
let it be known that the We Built This Yesterday was part of the "Screw It, Good Enough"-class Ice Cream Makers, and that mentality was honestly a big difference between US and German design strategies
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
I do not have the time to dig through my files to show you that these arguments are pretty much the same as were made prior to the ratification of the 19th Amendment so please just take my word for it. And also I'll probably break down and find examples anyway.
I’ve seen this person get retweeted by MAGA influencers like Benny Johnson. He’s not kidding. This is a real political goal he is pursuing. He has 425,000 followers on Facebook.
February 17, 2026 at 5:23 PM
I do not have the time to dig through my files to show you that these arguments are pretty much the same as were made prior to the ratification of the 19th Amendment so please just take my word for it. And also I'll probably break down and find examples anyway.
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
Tl;dr the “liberal international order” was great for American power and global welfare because it meant others weren’t subject to the caprice of strongmen. Republicans today stand for little more than the caprice of their strongman and they’re going after all the domestic and international limits.
“Spheres of influence only produce stability when great powers mutually recognize each other’s claims, and that recognition relies on Trump’s temperament, not institutional buy-in.”
You Got Your Multipolar World. Now What?
For years Putin has demanded a new global order. Now he has to live in one.
hegemon.substack.com
February 17, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Tl;dr the “liberal international order” was great for American power and global welfare because it meant others weren’t subject to the caprice of strongmen. Republicans today stand for little more than the caprice of their strongman and they’re going after all the domestic and international limits.
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
I've got a piece out today @theatlantic.com with @dashunwang.bsky.social on how the Republican Party in Congress continues to fund science, pushing back against the Trump Administration's most anti science funding proposals. (gift link)
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The Republicans Made Peace With Science
The Trump administration’s hostility to science is real, but it isn’t matched by the rest of the GOP’s.
www.theatlantic.com
February 17, 2026 at 5:53 PM
I've got a piece out today @theatlantic.com with @dashunwang.bsky.social on how the Republican Party in Congress continues to fund science, pushing back against the Trump Administration's most anti science funding proposals. (gift link)
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
i ordered one for a friend's birthday because it slaps and also it helps support science education
btw, this project and projects like it are funded by t-shirts like this one (and you should buy one at SquidFacts.net, they're super cute)
February 17, 2026 at 6:06 PM
i ordered one for a friend's birthday because it slaps and also it helps support science education
I had noticed the uptick in youtube computing folks doing demos of locally-run agents on mac hardware last year, so i guess I should have seen this one coming... unified memory is rad, honestly
February 17, 2026 at 6:06 PM
I had noticed the uptick in youtube computing folks doing demos of locally-run agents on mac hardware last year, so i guess I should have seen this one coming... unified memory is rad, honestly
"just use AI to do it"
thanks, i'll have to because I don't have VC funding my computing budget so I can't afford to store the data to do it myself
thanks, i'll have to because I don't have VC funding my computing budget so I can't afford to store the data to do it myself
WD and Seagate confirm: Hard drives for 2026 sold out
WD and Seagate confirm: Hard drives for 2026 sold out
Hyperscalers are tearing hard drives out of the hands of manufacturers. Prices are therefore also rising for SSDs.
www.heise.de
February 17, 2026 at 5:57 PM
"just use AI to do it"
thanks, i'll have to because I don't have VC funding my computing budget so I can't afford to store the data to do it myself
thanks, i'll have to because I don't have VC funding my computing budget so I can't afford to store the data to do it myself
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
I love how the entire economy is now oriented around “fuck you personally for being poor and living in society”
WD and Seagate confirm: Hard drives for 2026 sold out
WD and Seagate confirm: Hard drives for 2026 sold out
Hyperscalers are tearing hard drives out of the hands of manufacturers. Prices are therefore also rising for SSDs.
www.heise.de
February 17, 2026 at 5:55 PM
I love how the entire economy is now oriented around “fuck you personally for being poor and living in society”
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
This is really good analysis. Basically all the job growth is in caring for the elderly.
February 17, 2026 at 3:55 PM
This is really good analysis. Basically all the job growth is in caring for the elderly.
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
Once thronged with congregants; now sadly out of fashion as everyone attends the Church of the Collider instead.
February 17, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Once thronged with congregants; now sadly out of fashion as everyone attends the Church of the Collider instead.
Reposted by Alton B.H. Worthington
What in the world? The US Air Force operates a fleet of VIP transport aircraft, not least but also not only Air Force One 747s but 757s, 737s, Gulfstreams, etc., and none of them are like *this*. In 'normal' times I can only imagine the scandal if DOD were buying these to fly 4 stars around
The interior of Kristi Noem’s new billionaire-class luxury jet is complete with two bidets and a wet bar with a wine chiller. It will be purchased on our dime from the slush fund Congress approved in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
open.substack.com/pub/newsnotn...
open.substack.com/pub/newsnotn...
Let Them Fly First Class: Kristi Noem’s DHS Luxury Jet Scandal
Inside Noem's flying palace. Plus: Pentagon demands obedient, deadly AI. The race to deploy untested nuclear reactors. Lawmakers move to rein in presidential pardons. And remembering Robert Duvall.
open.substack.com
February 17, 2026 at 4:13 PM
What in the world? The US Air Force operates a fleet of VIP transport aircraft, not least but also not only Air Force One 747s but 757s, 737s, Gulfstreams, etc., and none of them are like *this*. In 'normal' times I can only imagine the scandal if DOD were buying these to fly 4 stars around