Adam T. Whitten
@adamtwhitten.bsky.social
For some reason they let me teach the law. Aspiring unemployed writer.
Pinned
Adam T. Whitten
@adamtwhitten.bsky.social
· Nov 20
I guess I should have a first post. So it’ll be the one most dear to my heart at the old place. An important question I never received an answer to, even after 5 years:
Does anyone know whether Jason Momoa can eat 50 hard boiled eggs in one hour?
Does anyone know whether Jason Momoa can eat 50 hard boiled eggs in one hour?
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things
December 15, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
State Dept. source speculated to me in March that the purpose of making fentanyl a WMD "is a combination of designating fentanyl cartels as terrorist organizations and creating justification for conducting military operations in Mexico and Canada" and "deporting drug users who are not citizens."
Trump to declare 'illicit' fentanyl 'Weapon of Mass Destruction,' per draft EO
A copy of the draft was obtained and reviewed by The Handbasket.
www.thehandbasket.co
December 15, 2025 at 9:36 PM
State Dept. source speculated to me in March that the purpose of making fentanyl a WMD "is a combination of designating fentanyl cartels as terrorist organizations and creating justification for conducting military operations in Mexico and Canada" and "deporting drug users who are not citizens."
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
“AI”: A Dedicated Fact-Failing Machine, or, Yet Another Reason Not to Trust It For Anything
I search my name on a regular basis, not only because I am an ego monster (although I try not to pretend that I’m not) but because it’s a good way for me to find reviews, end-of-the-yea…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 13, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
A quick thread on the academic freedom angle to the OU situation:
First, grading is part of academic freedom b/c it involves instructors applying their disciplinary expertise - both when they set assignments, and when they grade student work
First, grading is part of academic freedom b/c it involves instructors applying their disciplinary expertise - both when they set assignments, and when they grade student work
December 1, 2025 at 6:19 PM
A quick thread on the academic freedom angle to the OU situation:
First, grading is part of academic freedom b/c it involves instructors applying their disciplinary expertise - both when they set assignments, and when they grade student work
First, grading is part of academic freedom b/c it involves instructors applying their disciplinary expertise - both when they set assignments, and when they grade student work
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
The thing frustratingly not talked often about with AI is what its true costs will be. Companies are operating at such a GARGANTUAN loss right now, that even if they got AI working 100%, the cost to break even could prevent common implementation by a generation or two. It just may not be feasible.
December 11, 2025 at 9:26 PM
The thing frustratingly not talked often about with AI is what its true costs will be. Companies are operating at such a GARGANTUAN loss right now, that even if they got AI working 100%, the cost to break even could prevent common implementation by a generation or two. It just may not be feasible.
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
"To attempt to find useful information and instead take part in the solidification of the internet as an ad-delivery business, where you’re given no option but to be the product."
Revised Definitions of the Verb “To Google”
1. To look something up quickly and then spend twenty minutes fact-checking the AI summary, only to find out that it was absolutely wrong. 2. To se...
buff.ly
December 11, 2025 at 3:00 AM
"To attempt to find useful information and instead take part in the solidification of the internet as an ad-delivery business, where you’re given no option but to be the product."
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
This is actually a good example of why the customer model is wrong.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
If you are providing me with an education that is low utility in the world then it’s a disservice. My composition class spent four weeks on poetry. I’m sorry, but that only would’ve been useful if I wanted to be a poet. I don’t need to know iambic pentameter in order to be a victim advocate.
December 9, 2025 at 7:17 PM
This is actually a good example of why the customer model is wrong.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
sing the song with me:
🎶 that's because AI super sucks, people are better than robots, so with any fuckin luck, AI will die and be left to rot 🎶
🎶 that's because AI super sucks, people are better than robots, so with any fuckin luck, AI will die and be left to rot 🎶
"US Census Bureau data show that AI adoption by companies with more than 250 employees may have *already peaked and began declining or flattening out this year.* Most businesses still don’t see a significant return on their investment when trying to use the latest generative AI tools"
December 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
sing the song with me:
🎶 that's because AI super sucks, people are better than robots, so with any fuckin luck, AI will die and be left to rot 🎶
🎶 that's because AI super sucks, people are better than robots, so with any fuckin luck, AI will die and be left to rot 🎶
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
This is awesome. Print is such a good way to get around a bunch of distribution (and surveillance!) mechanisms that seem otherwise mandatory in this very gross economy. It is really nice to see it spelled out like this.
It works great for us, and it'll work great for other places!
It works great for us, and it'll work great for other places!
404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it:
www.404media.co/404-media-is...
www.404media.co/404-media-is...
404 Media Is Making a Zine
We are publishing a risograph-printed zine about the surveillance technologies used by ICE.
www.404media.co
December 8, 2025 at 3:48 PM
This is awesome. Print is such a good way to get around a bunch of distribution (and surveillance!) mechanisms that seem otherwise mandatory in this very gross economy. It is really nice to see it spelled out like this.
It works great for us, and it'll work great for other places!
It works great for us, and it'll work great for other places!
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
It's the 160th anniversary of the United States' refounding, the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
December 6, 2025 at 12:38 PM
It's the 160th anniversary of the United States' refounding, the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
This really is grotesque: they went through years-long citizenship processes and are now being denied simply because if the country they are from. It’s formalized bigotry.
“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.”
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide
Trump administration is pausing naturalizations for immigrants from 19 countries.
www.wgbh.org
December 6, 2025 at 12:32 AM
This really is grotesque: they went through years-long citizenship processes and are now being denied simply because if the country they are from. It’s formalized bigotry.
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
will the tax deduction pay for the $100K in cancer treatment
also do you have to itemize to get the deduction
is rfkjr going to insist that ivermectin be deductible
also do you have to itemize to get the deduction
is rfkjr going to insist that ivermectin be deductible
Hawley is pitching his colleagues — and Trump — on a new health care plan that would allow all tax payers to deduct up to $25K/person in medical expenses.
Hawley told us he recently discussed the idea with Trump: “I said...'no taxes on tips, no taxes on health care’, and he goes ‘oh I like that."
Hawley told us he recently discussed the idea with Trump: “I said...'no taxes on tips, no taxes on health care’, and he goes ‘oh I like that."
Hawley pitches new health care tax plan
The Missouri Republican is proposing making it easier for more tax payers to deduct medical expenses — and has pitched Donald Trump on the idea.
www.politico.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:36 PM
will the tax deduction pay for the $100K in cancer treatment
also do you have to itemize to get the deduction
is rfkjr going to insist that ivermectin be deductible
also do you have to itemize to get the deduction
is rfkjr going to insist that ivermectin be deductible
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
I'm done with teaching for the semester, but I'm in the middle of grading. To procrastinate grading the book reviews that I require for my American Legal History course I'm gonna make a thread of all the books that the students reviewed.
December 5, 2025 at 12:35 AM
I'm done with teaching for the semester, but I'm in the middle of grading. To procrastinate grading the book reviews that I require for my American Legal History course I'm gonna make a thread of all the books that the students reviewed.
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
I wrote a bit for McSweeney's about Isaac Chotiner interviewing Santa Claus. Just a little something for the holiday season. Enjoy!
The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner Interviews Santa Claus
For several centuries, Santa Claus has been one of the most prolific mythical gift-givers in the world. Formerly known as Saint Nicholas of Myra, a...
www.mcsweeneys.net
December 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I wrote a bit for McSweeney's about Isaac Chotiner interviewing Santa Claus. Just a little something for the holiday season. Enjoy!
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
They called them Near Abroad Direct Action Operations, NADA Ops. The "joke" in the CalSec cafeterias, which made its way out later in the hearings was that "What does the operator say when asked if there are civilians in the area? Nada...oops!". Even decades later, Arizona didn't find it funny.
October 31, 2025 at 1:16 AM
They called them Near Abroad Direct Action Operations, NADA Ops. The "joke" in the CalSec cafeterias, which made its way out later in the hearings was that "What does the operator say when asked if there are civilians in the area? Nada...oops!". Even decades later, Arizona didn't find it funny.
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
Not that you asked, but here's a thread of intriguing (real!) food facts to amuse/bore your friends and family.
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
November 25, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Not that you asked, but here's a thread of intriguing (real!) food facts to amuse/bore your friends and family.
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
the grinch in the genre of romance: thread
November 27, 2025 at 2:59 AM
the grinch in the genre of romance: thread
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
November 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
I’m not forcing anything specific. Instead, I’m cutting down times between TV seasons. I got an entire Arrowverse in 11 years, but 42 episodes of Stranger Things takes nine years. (Yes, I know production values are different. I can be flexible for that. But also Lost was six years and 121 episodes).
If you were a despotic president, what movie would you force Hollywood to make? I want to see Quentin's Star Trek movie or maybe Kill Bill Vol 3.
November 25, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I’m not forcing anything specific. Instead, I’m cutting down times between TV seasons. I got an entire Arrowverse in 11 years, but 42 episodes of Stranger Things takes nine years. (Yes, I know production values are different. I can be flexible for that. But also Lost was six years and 121 episodes).
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
With every passing day, America needs a bigger third reconstruction.
November 21, 2025 at 1:51 PM
With every passing day, America needs a bigger third reconstruction.
Reposted by Adam T. Whitten
Cheers to the person who leaked the initial changes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as “potentially divisive” under guidelines set for release next month.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Cheers to the person who leaked the initial changes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...