Shirley Siluk
@ebishirl.bsky.social
Writer/editor and former journalist. Author of "News Speak: How Language Can Manipulate Meaning in What We Read, Watch and Listen to" and "Prove It!: Fact-Finding Secrets of a Fanatical Online Researcher."
Or the pizza restaurant from the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, minus the murderous animatronics that come to life.
February 10, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Or the pizza restaurant from the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, minus the murderous animatronics that come to life.
Yes, this. It makes me laugh bitterly, given how many, many stories we've seen for years about the "productivity crisis" and how few have focused on the idea that there's a "labor compensation crisis."
February 10, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Yes, this. It makes me laugh bitterly, given how many, many stories we've seen for years about the "productivity crisis" and how few have focused on the idea that there's a "labor compensation crisis."
American Authors' Best Day of My Life
February 10, 2026 at 1:23 AM
American Authors' Best Day of My Life
What vibrant and wonderful language.
February 8, 2026 at 5:10 PM
What vibrant and wonderful language.
What a great - and important - piece: thanks for the gift link. And wishing the best to all the WaPo journalists who contributed to this piece only to lose their jobs in Bezos' act of vandalism a few days ago. Reporting like this is vital to provide a record of disappeared art and knowledge.
February 8, 2026 at 5:06 PM
What a great - and important - piece: thanks for the gift link. And wishing the best to all the WaPo journalists who contributed to this piece only to lose their jobs in Bezos' act of vandalism a few days ago. Reporting like this is vital to provide a record of disappeared art and knowledge.
"Oxford comma, em dash, % - or not?"
February 8, 2026 at 1:11 AM
"Oxford comma, em dash, % - or not?"
Love this piece, and the inclusion of the lovely recording of "Les haricots ne sont pas salés." New Orleans has been special to me for decades, and I've lost count of how many times I've been there. It really does have an exotic feel like no other city. And immigration is at the root of its magic.
February 6, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Love this piece, and the inclusion of the lovely recording of "Les haricots ne sont pas salés." New Orleans has been special to me for decades, and I've lost count of how many times I've been there. It really does have an exotic feel like no other city. And immigration is at the root of its magic.
Nice! Adding this to my resource list, thanks.
February 6, 2026 at 3:51 AM
Nice! Adding this to my resource list, thanks.
Unfortunately, it seems that a MAGA-friendly publisher intends to make a profit from selling it in paperback or ebook format.
February 5, 2026 at 4:16 AM
Unfortunately, it seems that a MAGA-friendly publisher intends to make a profit from selling it in paperback or ebook format.
Excellent, thanks! I've added that link (and credited you) as a resource in my own blog post about the World Factbook shuttering or, as you correctly describe it, "vandalism": shirleymsiluk.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/s....
Spotlighting the World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell
Feb. 4, 2026 — “One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset. The World Factbook served the Intelligence Community and the general publi…
shirleymsiluk.wordpress.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:14 AM
Excellent, thanks! I've added that link (and credited you) as a resource in my own blog post about the World Factbook shuttering or, as you correctly describe it, "vandalism": shirleymsiluk.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/s....
Thanks too for the Internet Archive link. I made an interesting discovery (shirleymsiluk.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/s...): paperback and ebook versions of the 2025-2026 CIA World Factbook are being offered for sale by Skyhorse Publishing, which offers titles such as The Maha Cookbook.
Spotlighting the World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell
Feb. 4, 2026 — “One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset. The World Factbook served the Intelligence Community and the general publi…
shirleymsiluk.wordpress.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:26 AM
Thanks too for the Internet Archive link. I made an interesting discovery (shirleymsiluk.wordpress.com/2026/02/04/s...): paperback and ebook versions of the 2025-2026 CIA World Factbook are being offered for sale by Skyhorse Publishing, which offers titles such as The Maha Cookbook.
Reading this now and loving it. It summarizes so well the many mistaken assumptions that have led people who should know better into accepting LLM outputs as signs of intelligence - which, as you and others have noted, is itself a term that is fraught with biases and impossible to define.
February 3, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Reading this now and loving it. It summarizes so well the many mistaken assumptions that have led people who should know better into accepting LLM outputs as signs of intelligence - which, as you and others have noted, is itself a term that is fraught with biases and impossible to define.
Bingo: "This wasn’t a breakdown in the system. It was the system functioning exactly as designed... [C]laims do not need to be true to be consequential. They need to be useful... for mobilizing anger, for signaling belonging, or for justifying actions that were already under consideration."
February 3, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Bingo: "This wasn’t a breakdown in the system. It was the system functioning exactly as designed... [C]laims do not need to be true to be consequential. They need to be useful... for mobilizing anger, for signaling belonging, or for justifying actions that were already under consideration."
It's a really comprehensive and chilling analysis of how this monstrous meme was evolved and weaponized. And now the architects are ready to move on to the next step: a real-life immigration assault on a community.
February 3, 2026 at 1:08 AM
It's a really comprehensive and chilling analysis of how this monstrous meme was evolved and weaponized. And now the architects are ready to move on to the next step: a real-life immigration assault on a community.
This is great - can't wait to read it. And looking forward to seeing the printed copy in my mailbox soon.
February 2, 2026 at 4:20 PM
This is great - can't wait to read it. And looking forward to seeing the printed copy in my mailbox soon.
This is spectacular - beautiful!
February 2, 2026 at 3:49 PM
This is spectacular - beautiful!
This almost had me doing one or two spit takes. Nothing like following up an exchange about "Triumph of the Will" with the question: "Are you going to do Heat 2?"
February 2, 2026 at 12:19 AM
This almost had me doing one or two spit takes. Nothing like following up an exchange about "Triumph of the Will" with the question: "Are you going to do Heat 2?"
I understand the thinking, but Jeanne Dielman is quite the choice.
February 1, 2026 at 2:16 AM
I understand the thinking, but Jeanne Dielman is quite the choice.
Re: the professor who's using using the film Jeanne Dielman to help students redevelop long modes of attention. "I'm not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, Lou."
February 1, 2026 at 2:05 AM
Re: the professor who's using using the film Jeanne Dielman to help students redevelop long modes of attention. "I'm not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, Lou."