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David DeGusta

@davidwrites1.bsky.social

2.1K followers 460 following 1.5K posts

Writer / fiction / Iowa Writers’ Workshop / MacDowell / Yaddo | Ethiopia / literary translation from Amharic | Previously a paleoanthropologist. www.davidwrites.net Translator of the Ethiopian novel Oromay by Baalu Girma. www.davidwrites.net/oromay

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · Jan 9

The classic 1983 Ethiopian novel Oromay by Baalu Girma, translated from Amharic by myself & Mesfin Felleke, will be published in the UK Jan 16 by MacLehose and in the US Feb 4 by @sohopress.bsky.social.

All info at www.davidwrites.net/oromay including a list I made of other great Ethiopian books.

Images of the UK and US covers of the forthcoming English translation of the famous Ethiopian novel Oromay by Baalu Girma, originally published in 1983. Translation by David DeGusta and Mesfin Felleke Yirgu.

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 4d

“Fiction: Bringing Game Theoretic Predicaments to Life Since the Second Millennium BC”

Might still need to workshop that slogan a bit.

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 4d

And for those who might respond to such concerns with, “But AI is going to be way better soon,” it’s worth noting that OpenAI’s own researchers just released a research paper showing mathematically that errors (hallucinations) are inevitable in LLMs.

www.computerworld.com/article/4059...

OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws

In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...

www.computerworld.com

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 4d

It struck me as a fake thing that Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat would get a bunch of C-list comedians to agree to with all kinds of over-the-top requirements (“You must do one knock-knock joke - our leader really loves those. Knock knock, who’s there, hit squad! So funny!”).

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 4d

Fwiw, the article just says that the center will offer classes in digital content, so the poster seems to have invented the idea that they are adding a new degree/major. But yeah, the notion of something like “The Jake and Logan Paul Endowed Chair of Trolling” is pretty hilarious.

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 4d

The article just says the center will be offering courses, no mention of any new degrees or majors (which would typically come through a department rather than a center).

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you for mentioning Oromay!

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 6d

I probably shouldn’t admit this (note to other entities, this only applies to Scriptnotes!), but … it actually did prompt me to go back and re-listen to episode 633 with John Gatins on “dormant” projects. 🤷

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 6d

Admitting and correcting mistakes is exactly the kind of journalistic good practice* that one worries might be jettisoned under the rumored new leadership at CBS News.

* also good human practice.

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 7d

Jane Goodall was a gem. I only met her a few times, but was struck by how she had both a strong sense of purpose and real kindness - a rare combination.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91

www.nytimes.com

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 7d

Yes, I remember that from one of your early Valkyries newsletters and, being statistically minded, it struck me as an excellent and underappreciated point. Though I can understand how players and commentators might naturally resist that idea, at least emotionally.

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 7d

And there’s the free throw lane violation in Q3 by Natasha Howard that took a point off the board for Indy. Obviously a game that goes to OT means that every point in regulation mattered, and LV would have played differently down 1 at end of regulation, but free throw violations are really rare.

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 9d

Love it when someone digs into a minor local mystery and finds all kind of interesting tidbits behind it … it’s great that @coyotemedia.org and Reo Eveleth are on it.

COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 9d

For more than 45 years, three huge steel and bronze dandelion puffs reached for the sky outside Children’s Fairyland — only to disappear without a trace. COYOTE went on a quest to find them. www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-th...

Where did the Fairyland dandelions go?

For more than 45 years, three huge steel and bronze dandelion puffs reached for the sky outside Children’s Fairyland only to disappear without a trace. COYOTE went on a quest to find them.

www.coyotemedia.org

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 12d

More of this in life too please!

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Reposted by David DeGusta

Sewanee Writers' Conference @sewaneewriters.bsky.social · 13d

Come live and write with us in Sewanee! The Department of English & Creative Writing's is seeking applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Poetry position! Apply by Nov. 3.

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 13d

Also, support literary magazines, especially if you submit to them. As you are able, amplify them on social media, subscribe, or volunteer as a reader. I learned a ton reading for @themassreview.bsky.social. The lit mag ecosystem needs balance between submissions and readers, else the latter drown.

Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 13d

My way of coping with all of the madness is focusing on what I can do to make my community a little bit stronger. So excuse me for all of the earnestness, but I wrote about ways we can all pitch in to support a thriving literary culture. lithub.com/how-to-be-a-...

How to Be a Good Literary Citizen (in Seven Easy Steps)

Last Sunday I spent hours at the Brooklyn Book Festival, a too rare occasion for me to pull myself away from the internet for an entire afternoon. As I looked around at the crowd on their way to pa…

lithub.com

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 13d

Also, support literary magazines, especially if you submit to them. As you are able, amplify them on social media, subscribe, or volunteer as a reader. I learned a ton reading for @themassreview.bsky.social, and the lit mag ecosystem needs a balance between submissions and readers.

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 13d

Same!

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 13d

My “to read next” is a match …

The cover of the novel We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad.

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 15d

This should be a regular feature on McSweeney’s: “Isaac Chotiner Interviews Things That Aren’t People.”

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 15d

I’ve had the good fortune to have once been in the same workshop with @nafissa.bsky.social, and some of her observations have stuck with me to this day. If you have a chance to work with her, I highly recommend doing so.

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 15d

Earthquakes seem to happen on the same schedule as the low battery warning on smoke alarms.

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 16d

My prediction has been that Al, as implemented in LLMs, will fall far short of the hype. A common reply has been,
"but imagine how much better it will be in X years!" To which I say not all digital things improve exponentially (e.g. self-driving cars). Now a new study suggests LLMs have a ceiling.

Prof Mike Yearworth @mikeyearworth.bsky.social · 17d

"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."

www.computerworld.com/article/4059...

OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws

www.computerworld.com

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David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 17d

The post you quoted would make a good final exam question in a class on privacy law: “Is it still a HIPAA violation if you are lying about the personal medical information a healthcare provider supposedly disclosed?”

(and for the pedants in the back, yes, HIPAA applies after death, for 50 years)

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 17d

Jeremiah Tower dishing on the early days of Chez Panisse, sans editor? Yes please! (Not that I’d take it as gospel, but bound to be entertaining.)

David DeGusta @davidwrites1.bsky.social · 17d

I have such respect for people who acknowledge that they are fallible.