Rob von Thaden
@rvontha.bsky.social
Denizen of the North Coast who cogitates about cognition, sacred texts, and other sundries. Should be writing about Galatians. (Views are my own)
LLM-based gen AI for writing, audio, art, and video are "digital vultures bloated on stolen books [and other human-made things] which they churn together and vomit out in imitations of words from actual thinking, feeling brains."
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Basement adventures showed me why ChatGPT can only ever be garbage.
In The British Library. Photo by Surekha Davies. Hallo readers, First, a news flash: Join me for a virtual book launch for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY...
buttondown.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
Peter Hotez: For all practical purposes measles is back, now whooping cough on the rise, next domino to fall. What’s next? Hib meningitis? Polio? All to benefit a corrupt wellness influencer industry and phony MAHA ideologies. Congress, the White House asleep. Americans should be outraged.
Is the US at risk of losing its measles elimination status?
More than 1,700 measles cases have been confirmed so far in the U.S. this year.
www.yahoo.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Peter Hotez: For all practical purposes measles is back, now whooping cough on the rise, next domino to fall. What’s next? Hib meningitis? Polio? All to benefit a corrupt wellness influencer industry and phony MAHA ideologies. Congress, the White House asleep. Americans should be outraged.
A harbinger of what’s to come for K-12 schools if it is infiltrated by AI. Fake teachers grading fake work and accusing student work of being fake while faking their work— all in service of billionaires and their profit and political goals.
"Potentially fake accounts crying at other potentially fake accounts that they aren’t real, all while refusing to acknowledge that they themselves aren’t who they say they are—a Russian nesting doll of bullshit." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
November 26, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
But it’s NOT a bubble or worthless tech
OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates on.ft.com/4ij0yh8
OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates
A burning platform
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:02 PM
But it’s NOT a bubble or worthless tech
There is NO FUCKING EXCUSE for this to be happening.
I had a baby die in my arms of pertussis some fifty years ago. It was a HORRIBLE death. But my fellow nurses said to me, "It's almost stamped out now, they're all getting the shots, we won't be seeing this again."
HOW THE FUCK ARE WE HERE. 😡
I had a baby die in my arms of pertussis some fifty years ago. It was a HORRIBLE death. But my fellow nurses said to me, "It's almost stamped out now, they're all getting the shots, we won't be seeing this again."
HOW THE FUCK ARE WE HERE. 😡
A third infant has died in Kentucky, KYDPH adds:
“These are Kentucky’s first pertussis deaths since 2018. None of the infants nor their mothers received the recommended pertussis vaccinations during pregnancy or early infancy.”
s3.amazonaws.com/nursing-netw...
“These are Kentucky’s first pertussis deaths since 2018. None of the infants nor their mothers received the recommended pertussis vaccinations during pregnancy or early infancy.”
s3.amazonaws.com/nursing-netw...
November 25, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
@melodyschreiber.com gets to the horror of the fact that the glamorous aesthetics of the attempt to rehabilitate and elevate Nuzzis reputation, also works as a mask for the real human suffering RFK jr is causing/will cause
Those ‘Great American Writer’ style photoshoots should sicken all of us.
Those ‘Great American Writer’ style photoshoots should sicken all of us.
This is an excellent piece that you should read and also, I think there's something so much bigger going on on top of all this, which is that we have become so utterly numbed to dead kids in this country that we think just a couple kids dying of a horrible preventable disease isn't a big deal
November 25, 2025 at 10:48 PM
@melodyschreiber.com gets to the horror of the fact that the glamorous aesthetics of the attempt to rehabilitate and elevate Nuzzis reputation, also works as a mask for the real human suffering RFK jr is causing/will cause
Those ‘Great American Writer’ style photoshoots should sicken all of us.
Those ‘Great American Writer’ style photoshoots should sicken all of us.
👇👇
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 10:17 PM
👇👇
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
dumbest fucking apocalypse
After two infants died, the Louisiana Dept of Health under the leadership of the new incoming deputy director of the CDC, delayed notifying the public for months of a whooping cough outbreak. Instead, he ordered DOH to stop promoting vaccines. Pertussis is currently a national health crisis.
Louisiana officials waited months to warn public of whooping cough outbreak
After a whooping cough outbreak killed two infants, Louisiana health officials waited months to officially alert physicians or do public outreach. That's not the typical public health response.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 10:01 PM
dumbest fucking apocalypse
Pretending to be Henry David Thoreau at Walden's pond so my mom and sister will bring me lunch.
November 25, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
This is a late ancient (5-7th c.?) Greek account of the life of a rich woman who was raised Jewish, converted to Christianity when her parents died, lived for 20 years as a male monk named John, was discovered & made head of a woman's monastery, & was later martyred
well, what the heck. it's the tuesday before thanksgiving, and whoever is on here deserves a treat: the first new translation I've posted in a long while: the Life and Martyrdom of Susanna:
andrewjacobs.org/translations...
andrewjacobs.org/translations...
Life and Martyrdom of Susanna
andrewjacobs.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:27 PM
This is a late ancient (5-7th c.?) Greek account of the life of a rich woman who was raised Jewish, converted to Christianity when her parents died, lived for 20 years as a male monk named John, was discovered & made head of a woman's monastery, & was later martyred
Ended the last new content day in my Sacred Texts class by finishing our discussion of the Book of Mormon (and other Mormon texts) as an example to tie a number of threads of the class together -- including how sacred texts get used within communities.
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November 25, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Ended the last new content day in my Sacred Texts class by finishing our discussion of the Book of Mormon (and other Mormon texts) as an example to tie a number of threads of the class together -- including how sacred texts get used within communities.
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Page One in Cincinnati:
“.. I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent.”
#ICE
“.. I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent.”
#ICE
November 25, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Targeting Kelly is one of those “this is why we’ll win” moments, bc it shows how politically impetuous this admin is.
There’s clearly no adult in the room to say “wait, maybe don’t go after the charismatic war hero turned literal astronaut who ran after his wife was a victim of political violence.”
There’s clearly no adult in the room to say “wait, maybe don’t go after the charismatic war hero turned literal astronaut who ran after his wife was a victim of political violence.”
Mark Kelly: "My wife, Gabby Giffords, meeting with her constituents, shot in the head. Six people killed around her, a horrific thing. She spent six months in the hospital. We know what political violence is and we know what causes it too, The statements that Donald Trump made incites others."
November 25, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Mavis Staples - "Sad and Beautiful World"
YouTube video by ANTI- Records
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
Scientists have a whole new understanding of how the overlooked lichen helped plants turn Earth's land green. Which means, ahem! Please lichen subscribe to our excellent news stories!!! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...
This Fossil Is Rewriting the Story of How Plants Spread across the Planet
An enigmatic group of fossil organisms has finally been identified—and is changing the story of how plants took root on land
www.scientificamerican.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Scientists have a whole new understanding of how the overlooked lichen helped plants turn Earth's land green. Which means, ahem! Please lichen subscribe to our excellent news stories!!! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...
Falling Vaccination Rates are Likley Behind Rise in Whooping Cough Cases (ya think?) www.discovermagazine.com/falling-vacc...
Falling Vaccination Rates are Likley Behind Rise in Whooping Cough Cases
Learn more about whooping cough and how a decline in vaccination rates may be contributing to a spike in cases.
www.discovermagazine.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Cannot overstate how, from my perch as a national-security reporter, this would have been an earth-shattering scandal in a prior era.
Billionaire Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, pardoned by Donald Trump, has been accused of facilitating millions of dollars’ worth of payments to Hamas in the wake of its attack on Israel on October 7 2023. Zhao also financed the Trump family's entrance into the cryptocurrency market.
November 25, 2025 at 7:43 AM
An endless theme of my millennial life is perpetual bailouts for irresponsible and reckless corporations.
Dude who just got the SV Bank bailout two years ago is back banging the cup. It’s a tell.
November 25, 2025 at 6:35 AM
My short Elements book "Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature" is now available on Cambridge Core. It was a lot of fun to learn from the exciting scholarship that's been happening and I hope that it's a useful resource for people. www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature
Cambridge Core - History of Religion - Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature
www.cambridge.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
The Central Mediterranean Penal Heritage Project (CMPHP) is an important project using remote-sensing methods to scan premodern prisons. They have now found medieval graffiti on Sicily & game boards etched by prisoners archaeologymag.com/2025/11/anci... Publication: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Ancient prison graffiti in Sicily reveals games and fears of Early Modern inmates
Graffiti from a Sicilian castle prison reveals gameboards and ship carvings that shed light on Early Modern inmates’ daily lives.
archaeologymag.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:04 AM
The Central Mediterranean Penal Heritage Project (CMPHP) is an important project using remote-sensing methods to scan premodern prisons. They have now found medieval graffiti on Sicily & game boards etched by prisoners archaeologymag.com/2025/11/anci... Publication: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
🤣🤣🤣
November 25, 2025 at 1:34 AM
🤣🤣🤣
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
An absolute classic of the “stating Trump/GOP policies in simple factual terms will have people laughing you out of the room” genre right now is “the US is about to invade Venezuela”
November 25, 2025 at 12:48 AM
An absolute classic of the “stating Trump/GOP policies in simple factual terms will have people laughing you out of the room” genre right now is “the US is about to invade Venezuela”
Any time corporate executives are in a room together and don't know they're being recorded, the transcript is like: "Christ, I hate our customers. We're agreed that we all hate our customers? Let's lie to the IRS, criminally. Did I mention the Holocaust never happened? Put more lead in our soda."
Campbell's soup VP caught on tape trashing his own brand. Oof. www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2...
November 25, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Rob von Thaden
I do appreciate that they've completely dropped the pretense.
Rep. Salazar on Venezuela: "We're about to go in ... we need to go in ... Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day"
November 24, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I do appreciate that they've completely dropped the pretense.
One explanation for economic populism in the US is the recurring cycle of bubbles and bailouts that happens without any democratic input
November 24, 2025 at 11:16 PM