Jeremy Merrill
@jeremybmerrill.com
dad, a reporter, data reporter (writing about tech at The Washington Post)
I don't have digital; I don't have diddly squat.
Linguistics, NLP, news, Jews, Atlanta, crypto regs/politics, ads, fraud, etc.
I don't have digital; I don't have diddly squat.
Linguistics, NLP, news, Jews, Atlanta, crypto regs/politics, ads, fraud, etc.
There’s no more Gulf of Mexico Division of the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s now the Gulf of America Division. As of Wednesday, the agency has also renamed the body of water even on obscure pages about mangrove swamps.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
February 7, 2025 at 12:45 AM
There’s no more Gulf of Mexico Division of the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s now the Gulf of America Division. As of Wednesday, the agency has also renamed the body of water even on obscure pages about mangrove swamps.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Elon Musk's total view count on Twitter is way way bigger (16x) than that of Congress as a whole.
chart by @kevinschaul.bsky.social
chart by @kevinschaul.bsky.social
December 19, 2024 at 6:17 PM
Elon Musk's total view count on Twitter is way way bigger (16x) than that of Congress as a whole.
chart by @kevinschaul.bsky.social
chart by @kevinschaul.bsky.social
Elon Musk has a political megaphone unmatched in modern society. He got a total of 133 billion views since July, and ~1/3 of his posts are about politics.
His typical tweet gets more than 2.4 million views in just one hour, according to our novel view-count time-series dataset.
🎁: wapo.st/3VLjlI6
His typical tweet gets more than 2.4 million views in just one hour, according to our novel view-count time-series dataset.
🎁: wapo.st/3VLjlI6
December 17, 2024 at 8:26 PM
Elon Musk has a political megaphone unmatched in modern society. He got a total of 133 billion views since July, and ~1/3 of his posts are about politics.
His typical tweet gets more than 2.4 million views in just one hour, according to our novel view-count time-series dataset.
🎁: wapo.st/3VLjlI6
His typical tweet gets more than 2.4 million views in just one hour, according to our novel view-count time-series dataset.
🎁: wapo.st/3VLjlI6
I like this chart. It tells a story. It's a bimodal distribution, which is my favorite kind of chart. It tells me that I've got two kinds of things: A bunch of the things on the right, centered at 0.8 and some of the things on the left, around 0.1 to 0.2.
December 2, 2024 at 6:39 PM
I like this chart. It tells a story. It's a bimodal distribution, which is my favorite kind of chart. It tells me that I've got two kinds of things: A bunch of the things on the right, centered at 0.8 and some of the things on the left, around 0.1 to 0.2.
TikTok's algorithm is super personalized -- and super opaque.
So, my colleagues and I asked 1,000 people to send us their browsing histories, and we found:
Most people get about 8% politics in their feeds, but a few get as much as 30%.
gift link: wapo.st/40uSUJG
So, my colleagues and I asked 1,000 people to send us their browsing histories, and we found:
Most people get about 8% politics in their feeds, but a few get as much as 30%.
gift link: wapo.st/40uSUJG
November 13, 2024 at 7:27 PM
TikTok's algorithm is super personalized -- and super opaque.
So, my colleagues and I asked 1,000 people to send us their browsing histories, and we found:
Most people get about 8% politics in their feeds, but a few get as much as 30%.
gift link: wapo.st/40uSUJG
So, my colleagues and I asked 1,000 people to send us their browsing histories, and we found:
Most people get about 8% politics in their feeds, but a few get as much as 30%.
gift link: wapo.st/40uSUJG
Sham trials for the real president
Real trials for the sham president (but he says they're sham trials)
Real trials for the sham president (but he says they're sham trials)
October 2, 2023 at 9:54 PM
Sham trials for the real president
Real trials for the sham president (but he says they're sham trials)
Real trials for the sham president (but he says they're sham trials)
Happy almost Sukkot, folks.
September 29, 2023 at 4:51 PM
Happy almost Sukkot, folks.
The ultimate rubric for a champagne phrase? a sham word is an adjective and a pain word is a frequent, common noun with a negative meaning that, when their pronunciations are combined (fudging the phonology), make a champagne compound word with non-negative meaning.
Here are some more. (spoiler!)
Here are some more. (spoiler!)
September 27, 2023 at 4:17 PM
The ultimate rubric for a champagne phrase? a sham word is an adjective and a pain word is a frequent, common noun with a negative meaning that, when their pronunciations are combined (fudging the phonology), make a champagne compound word with non-negative meaning.
Here are some more. (spoiler!)
Here are some more. (spoiler!)
This analysis depends on NLTK, WordNet, GLoVe, a 333k-wordlist and the (criminally underused) Carnegie Mellon Pronouncing Dictionary.
No ChatGPT, no LLMs, no generative AI. In fact, ChatGPT's were TERRIBLE.
No ChatGPT, no LLMs, no generative AI. In fact, ChatGPT's were TERRIBLE.
September 27, 2023 at 4:16 PM
This analysis depends on NLTK, WordNet, GLoVe, a 333k-wordlist and the (criminally underused) Carnegie Mellon Pronouncing Dictionary.
No ChatGPT, no LLMs, no generative AI. In fact, ChatGPT's were TERRIBLE.
No ChatGPT, no LLMs, no generative AI. In fact, ChatGPT's were TERRIBLE.
I had to take the car in for a recall and chose the dealer that is right next to the terminus of a bike trail that goes to a wildflower-covered monadnock called Arabia Mountain.
September 26, 2023 at 7:51 PM
I had to take the car in for a recall and chose the dealer that is right next to the terminus of a bike trail that goes to a wildflower-covered monadnock called Arabia Mountain.
Back in 2013, the New York Times was in such bad financial shape (our 401K match was paid in company stock), that office coffee wasn't free, but cost $0.75 for a shitty knockoff-Keurig packet called Flavia that I've seen NOWHERE ELSE but this car dealership I'm at right now.
It's still bad.
It's still bad.
September 26, 2023 at 5:58 PM
Back in 2013, the New York Times was in such bad financial shape (our 401K match was paid in company stock), that office coffee wasn't free, but cost $0.75 for a shitty knockoff-Keurig packet called Flavia that I've seen NOWHERE ELSE but this car dealership I'm at right now.
It's still bad.
It's still bad.
This week is Stand with Crypto Day. (This whole week, apparently.)
September 25, 2023 at 9:03 PM
This week is Stand with Crypto Day. (This whole week, apparently.)
So close, WSJ, so close...
September 20, 2023 at 6:26 PM
So close, WSJ, so close...
This competition between hypothesized rules inside babies' brains, Yang says, explains how Old French where verbs always came second (like modern German) first let speakers skip the subject (like modern Spanish), which made the verb-second rule no longer as good -- so French became no longer V2.
September 19, 2023 at 10:19 PM
This competition between hypothesized rules inside babies' brains, Yang says, explains how Old French where verbs always came second (like modern German) first let speakers skip the subject (like modern Spanish), which made the verb-second rule no longer as good -- so French became no longer V2.
This is the explanation I would've wanted in undergrad: Languages change when toddlers, learning their first language in a two-dialect environment, choose a rule that explains most of what they hear, regardless of the dialect.
From Charles Yang's The Infinite Gift.
#linguistics
From Charles Yang's The Infinite Gift.
#linguistics
September 19, 2023 at 10:17 PM
This is the explanation I would've wanted in undergrad: Languages change when toddlers, learning their first language in a two-dialect environment, choose a rule that explains most of what they hear, regardless of the dialect.
From Charles Yang's The Infinite Gift.
#linguistics
From Charles Yang's The Infinite Gift.
#linguistics
Drop something blue from your gallery
September 8, 2023 at 12:43 AM
Drop something blue from your gallery
update: the CFTC and a gold IRA company called Safeguard Metals "have reached a settlement in principle" on liability.
The CFTC had sued Safeguard for allegedly defrauding its customers out of many millions of dollars of retirement savings.
The CFTC had sued Safeguard for allegedly defrauding its customers out of many millions of dollars of retirement savings.
August 1, 2023 at 2:04 PM
update: the CFTC and a gold IRA company called Safeguard Metals "have reached a settlement in principle" on liability.
The CFTC had sued Safeguard for allegedly defrauding its customers out of many millions of dollars of retirement savings.
The CFTC had sued Safeguard for allegedly defrauding its customers out of many millions of dollars of retirement savings.
Nothing is diagonal in Colorado.
July 16, 2023 at 8:36 PM
Nothing is diagonal in Colorado.
Here's a picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains my dad took while we were hiking a week ago on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.
July 12, 2023 at 12:19 AM
Here's a picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains my dad took while we were hiking a week ago on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.
Facebook's group-recommendation algorithm is pushing me to join these RFK Jr. supporter groups.
Facebook has previously said it would "permanently" stop recommending political groups.
🤷
Facebook has previously said it would "permanently" stop recommending political groups.
🤷
July 10, 2023 at 2:32 PM
Facebook's group-recommendation algorithm is pushing me to join these RFK Jr. supporter groups.
Facebook has previously said it would "permanently" stop recommending political groups.
🤷
Facebook has previously said it would "permanently" stop recommending political groups.
🤷
aww yeah I still got it baybeeee
psst, want to know the secret? it's a little CSS magic trick I call float: left
psst, want to know the secret? it's a little CSS magic trick I call float: left
July 6, 2023 at 8:41 PM
aww yeah I still got it baybeeee
psst, want to know the secret? it's a little CSS magic trick I call float: left
psst, want to know the secret? it's a little CSS magic trick I call float: left
Hiked 26 miles of the Appalachian Trail with my dad over the past three days, from Hogpen Gap to Cooper Gap.
Saw a deer, some turkeys and a diamondback rattlesnake.
More pictures in thread ->
Saw a deer, some turkeys and a diamondback rattlesnake.
More pictures in thread ->
July 4, 2023 at 10:54 PM
Hiked 26 miles of the Appalachian Trail with my dad over the past three days, from Hogpen Gap to Cooper Gap.
Saw a deer, some turkeys and a diamondback rattlesnake.
More pictures in thread ->
Saw a deer, some turkeys and a diamondback rattlesnake.
More pictures in thread ->
ain't no rule that says a pizza can't be an astronaut pizza deliveryman
June 28, 2023 at 8:37 PM
ain't no rule that says a pizza can't be an astronaut pizza deliveryman
the Bud Light theme is STILL going strong on the right wing.
At least 69 influencers talked about it last week. This week, 45 influencers mentioned it, including Donald Trump, who sent a fundraising email listing Bud Light as a bad guy alongside the Chinese Communist Party and Dominion.
At least 69 influencers talked about it last week. This week, 45 influencers mentioned it, including Donald Trump, who sent a fundraising email listing Bud Light as a bad guy alongside the Chinese Communist Party and Dominion.
June 23, 2023 at 10:51 PM
the Bud Light theme is STILL going strong on the right wing.
At least 69 influencers talked about it last week. This week, 45 influencers mentioned it, including Donald Trump, who sent a fundraising email listing Bud Light as a bad guy alongside the Chinese Communist Party and Dominion.
At least 69 influencers talked about it last week. This week, 45 influencers mentioned it, including Donald Trump, who sent a fundraising email listing Bud Light as a bad guy alongside the Chinese Communist Party and Dominion.