Joseph Howley
@illdottore.bsky.social
“imagine a classics professor” – The New Yorker
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Vahid Abedini has now been released.
November 25, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Vahid Abedini has now been released.
A wonderful essay by McNeil Taylor on Hellenism, Zionism, and the legacies of c19 Western European colonialism. www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/71/ta...
November 25, 2025 at 1:08 PM
A wonderful essay by McNeil Taylor on Hellenism, Zionism, and the legacies of c19 Western European colonialism. www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/71/ta...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Israel, which has obliterated most of Palestine’s archeological and heritage sites, including ancient churches, mosques, and temples, has suddenly discovered an urge to protect one from Palestinian ‘neglect’. It just so happens to be in the West Bank.
www.timesofisrael.com/israel-begin...
www.timesofisrael.com/israel-begin...
Israel begins seizing 1,800 dunams of West Bank land to develop archaeological site
Civil Administration says development legal, taking place amid 'neglect' of site by Palestinians; Peace Now: 'Government's lust for dispossession and annexation is insatiable'
www.timesofisrael.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Israel, which has obliterated most of Palestine’s archeological and heritage sites, including ancient churches, mosques, and temples, has suddenly discovered an urge to protect one from Palestinian ‘neglect’. It just so happens to be in the West Bank.
www.timesofisrael.com/israel-begin...
www.timesofisrael.com/israel-begin...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
What was ChatGPT? Now nearly three years old, we can look at OpenAI's LLM as a product of its time, optimized ever since to its earliest uses. While this period of deep disorientation and social isolation has been obscured from public memory, it remains embedded within the interface.
What Was ChatGPT?
A Chatbot Optimized for Social Distance
Three years after the launch of ChatGPT, we can finally speak in hindsight about what it was and how it came to be. Its meteoric rise shocked the world, gather...
mail.cyberneticforests.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:37 PM
What was ChatGPT? Now nearly three years old, we can look at OpenAI's LLM as a product of its time, optimized ever since to its earliest uses. While this period of deep disorientation and social isolation has been obscured from public memory, it remains embedded within the interface.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
harold's auto center, horizontal view, sinclair gas station, route 19, spring hill, florida, 1979
November 25, 2025 at 11:36 AM
harold's auto center, horizontal view, sinclair gas station, route 19, spring hill, florida, 1979
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Bracing analysis of the rise of the far-right in Germany: "there are widespread right-wing extremist networks within the security services, the police, and the armed forces. Europe-wide networks of fascists are operating unhindered. Something is brewing. If we don't react now, it will be too late."
»Wir haben vor der AfD gewarnt, als sie am Horizont auftauchte. Keine Reaktion. Im Gegenteil – ihre Vertreter:innen saßen in jeder Talkshow, bevor die AfD auch nur ein einziges Landtagsmandat hatte. Mit dem Erfolg, dass sie nun eine einflussreiche Partei ist.« www.blaetter.de/ausgabe/2024...
Rechtsextremismus: Wir haben Euch gewarnt
Ein brennendes Haus in Solingen. Eine vierköpfige Familie stirbt in den Flammen. Brandstiftung. Die Schlagzeilen sind nicht von 1993, sondern von jetzt. Schon wieder.
www.blaetter.de
November 25, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Bracing analysis of the rise of the far-right in Germany: "there are widespread right-wing extremist networks within the security services, the police, and the armed forces. Europe-wide networks of fascists are operating unhindered. Something is brewing. If we don't react now, it will be too late."
Reposted by Joseph Howley
“Don’t cite the Adversarial Poetry vs AI paper — it’s chatbot-made marketing ‘science’ – Pivot to AI”
https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/11/24/dont-cite-the-adversarial-poetry-vs-ai-paper-its-chatbot-made-marketing-science/
> They wrote a good headline, and then they faked the scientific process bit.
https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/11/24/dont-cite-the-adversarial-poetry-vs-ai-paper-its-chatbot-made-marketing-science/
> They wrote a good headline, and then they faked the scientific process bit.
November 25, 2025 at 9:41 AM
“Don’t cite the Adversarial Poetry vs AI paper — it’s chatbot-made marketing ‘science’ – Pivot to AI”
https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/11/24/dont-cite-the-adversarial-poetry-vs-ai-paper-its-chatbot-made-marketing-science/
> They wrote a good headline, and then they faked the scientific process bit.
https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/11/24/dont-cite-the-adversarial-poetry-vs-ai-paper-its-chatbot-made-marketing-science/
> They wrote a good headline, and then they faked the scientific process bit.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
![R. H. Bing (October 20, 1914 – April 28, 1986)[1] was an American mathematician who worked mainly in the areas of geometric topology and continuum theory.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cyyd366g3hrxp5rynixm2mm3/bafkreid62wy3dekb2kzbisjfdlimlb35j4rlgew5iof7vi32byfszmg26a@jpeg)
![Bing's father was named Rupert Henry, but Bing's mother thought that "Rupert Henry" was too British for Texas. Thus she compromised by abbreviating it to R. H.[5] Consequently, R. H. does not stand for a first or middle name.
When Bing was applying for a visa, he was requested not to use initials. He explained that his name was really "R-only H-only Bing", and ended up receiving a visa made out to "Ronly Honly Bing".](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cyyd366g3hrxp5rynixm2mm3/bafkreigmfj53q4uy33spga2bxdkllqm3ag5sffovg5g7ddmu3vqzkb6k24@jpeg)
More exciting news
I'm excited to announce that I have been asked to join the Mamdani Transition Team to work on community safety issues. A New Era for NYC.
November 25, 2025 at 9:08 AM
More exciting news
Exciting news
Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.
www.cbsnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Exciting news
Right before this, Daffy Duck uses, as an incidental proper name for an invisible kangaroo, an anti-Jewish slur that OED says is first attested about a decade later. Initial searching reveals no authoritative discussions of this. The slur is previously attested for Germans in 1941. It’s weird.
First attested in the 1840s, “pixilated” means crazed, deranged, afflicted by mischievous spirits (eg pixies). Which is why I just overheard Porky Pig tell Daffy Duck “You’re pixilated!” in a cartoon from 1948 that my kids were watching.
November 25, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Right before this, Daffy Duck uses, as an incidental proper name for an invisible kangaroo, an anti-Jewish slur that OED says is first attested about a decade later. Initial searching reveals no authoritative discussions of this. The slur is previously attested for Germans in 1941. It’s weird.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
First attested in the 1840s, “pixilated” means crazed, deranged, afflicted by mischievous spirits (eg pixies). Which is why I just overheard Porky Pig tell Daffy Duck “You’re pixilated!” in a cartoon from 1948 that my kids were watching.
November 24, 2025 at 9:59 PM
First attested in the 1840s, “pixilated” means crazed, deranged, afflicted by mischievous spirits (eg pixies). Which is why I just overheard Porky Pig tell Daffy Duck “You’re pixilated!” in a cartoon from 1948 that my kids were watching.
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
November 25, 2025 at 8:19 AM
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
It’s all happening @rossignol.bsky.social nymag.com/intelligence...
The Droids Taking Over One of England’s Strangest Towns
Want a glimpse of our robot-filled future? Just go to Milton Keynes.
nymag.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:56 AM
It’s all happening @rossignol.bsky.social nymag.com/intelligence...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Reposted by Joseph Howley
On Nov. 22, Vahid Abedini, an Iranian Studies professor at University of Oklahoma, was boarding a flight to attend the Middle East Studies Assn mtg in Washington, D.C. when he was detained by ICE.
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
November 24, 2025 at 10:33 PM
On Nov. 22, Vahid Abedini, an Iranian Studies professor at University of Oklahoma, was boarding a flight to attend the Middle East Studies Assn mtg in Washington, D.C. when he was detained by ICE.
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
OU Prof Joshua Landis says "he has been wrongfully detained because he has a valid H-1B visa."
First attested in the 1840s, “pixilated” means crazed, deranged, afflicted by mischievous spirits (eg pixies). Which is why I just overheard Porky Pig tell Daffy Duck “You’re pixilated!” in a cartoon from 1948 that my kids were watching.
November 24, 2025 at 9:59 PM
First attested in the 1840s, “pixilated” means crazed, deranged, afflicted by mischievous spirits (eg pixies). Which is why I just overheard Porky Pig tell Daffy Duck “You’re pixilated!” in a cartoon from 1948 that my kids were watching.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
Wealthy People Have Always Shaped Universities. This Time Is Different. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Wealthy People Have Always Shaped Universities. This Time Is Different.
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Wealthy People Have Always Shaped Universities. This Time Is Different. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Reposted by Joseph Howley
"Winning justice for Palestinians—and the enduring security that Jewish Israelis claim to want—will require reckoning with this entrenched national ethos of denial. Until we are finally willing to remember the horrors we’ve already wrought, there will surely be more to come."
"The past two years of continuous violence made Gaza impossible to ignore, requiring more active modes of forgetting—and now a concerted effort to solidify a whitewashed national narrative that exonerates Israel of wrongdoing."
jewishcurrents.org/israels-coll...
jewishcurrents.org/israels-coll...
Israel’s Collective Amnesia
Even as Israel continues killing Gazans, its liberals are ready to forget the genocide.
jewishcurrents.org
November 24, 2025 at 9:13 PM
"Winning justice for Palestinians—and the enduring security that Jewish Israelis claim to want—will require reckoning with this entrenched national ethos of denial. Until we are finally willing to remember the horrors we’ve already wrought, there will surely be more to come."
Reposted by Joseph Howley
The unity of students, faculty & staff powered our legal victories against the Trump admin!
Administrators & elected officials are not the ones filing the lawsuits against the Trump admin when our universities are under attack. Rather, faculty, students & staff are the ones defending higher ed.
Administrators & elected officials are not the ones filing the lawsuits against the Trump admin when our universities are under attack. Rather, faculty, students & staff are the ones defending higher ed.
November 23, 2025 at 7:39 PM
The unity of students, faculty & staff powered our legal victories against the Trump admin!
Administrators & elected officials are not the ones filing the lawsuits against the Trump admin when our universities are under attack. Rather, faculty, students & staff are the ones defending higher ed.
Administrators & elected officials are not the ones filing the lawsuits against the Trump admin when our universities are under attack. Rather, faculty, students & staff are the ones defending higher ed.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
One of the most colorful figures in the black market for ancient art has died. For @lrb.co.uk, I wrote about Jonathan Tokeley-Parry - a smuggler who made fake fakes to defeat border inspections to get Egyptian artifacts to the UK and US, whose downfall both changed and didn’t change the market.
‘By his own estimate, Jonathan Tokeley-Parry smuggled three thousand antiquities out of Egypt in 65 trips over six years. His success was down to his skill as a “fabricator”.’
Erin L. Thompson (@artcrimeprof.bsky.social) on the blog:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Erin L. Thompson (@artcrimeprof.bsky.social) on the blog:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Erin L. Thompson | Fake it till you make it
Jonathan Tokeley-Parry, who died last month, had a business card in the early 1990s that described him as ‘Jonty “...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 6:46 PM
One of the most colorful figures in the black market for ancient art has died. For @lrb.co.uk, I wrote about Jonathan Tokeley-Parry - a smuggler who made fake fakes to defeat border inspections to get Egyptian artifacts to the UK and US, whose downfall both changed and didn’t change the market.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
This one really is useful because you won’t see a more clear demonstration of one of the most damaging political phenomena of the era: the reactionary professional mind rejecting unacceptable reality, only able to process and comprehend it via something close to conspiracy theory.
Former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz says Jewish students shouldn’t have smartphones until they finish high school — so they don’t see the “carnage” Israel and the U.S. have carried out in Gaza.
Video: Mel via X (@Villgecrazylady)
Video: Mel via X (@Villgecrazylady)
November 24, 2025 at 9:06 AM
This one really is useful because you won’t see a more clear demonstration of one of the most damaging political phenomena of the era: the reactionary professional mind rejecting unacceptable reality, only able to process and comprehend it via something close to conspiracy theory.
Reposted by Joseph Howley
time to start cementing down solpersteins
November 24, 2025 at 3:32 PM
time to start cementing down solpersteins