@mad-science-guy.bsky.social
And I think people confuse “weird” (let’s just say they mean avant-garde in some way) with “important” because so much stuff that was considered odd aged well (forgetting about the 90% of stuff that was just bad)
December 16, 2025 at 1:03 AM
And I think people confuse “weird” (let’s just say they mean avant-garde in some way) with “important” because so much stuff that was considered odd aged well (forgetting about the 90% of stuff that was just bad)
I would also submit that defining what is weird is a bit fraught, no? Some Mozart and Beethoven was considered quite odd in its day (both were seen as their time’s equivalent of the Velvet Underground, to the extent that analogy even works)
December 16, 2025 at 1:01 AM
I would also submit that defining what is weird is a bit fraught, no? Some Mozart and Beethoven was considered quite odd in its day (both were seen as their time’s equivalent of the Velvet Underground, to the extent that analogy even works)
Didn’t make it last night but this is ours, NYC
December 15, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Didn’t make it last night but this is ours, NYC
To be fair once we get to the last 10k years or so we have larger communities- Jericho probably had several thousand people, as did Çatalhöyük, tho your point about how terrible that many dead would be to a neolithic person (or the average medieval village dweller) is well taken.
December 15, 2025 at 1:49 AM
To be fair once we get to the last 10k years or so we have larger communities- Jericho probably had several thousand people, as did Çatalhöyük, tho your point about how terrible that many dead would be to a neolithic person (or the average medieval village dweller) is well taken.
Generative AI isn't even really generative; it's a pastiche machine, and it can't by definition be anything else.
December 15, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Generative AI isn't even really generative; it's a pastiche machine, and it can't by definition be anything else.
I know "The Nam" was designed to be realistic; it was written by an actual veteran of the conflict (just as Kirby was) but the realism was a very different editorial decision. I don't know of any equivalent for WW II or Korea. (There probably is one I don't know of).
December 15, 2025 at 1:01 AM
I know "The Nam" was designed to be realistic; it was written by an actual veteran of the conflict (just as Kirby was) but the realism was a very different editorial decision. I don't know of any equivalent for WW II or Korea. (There probably is one I don't know of).
I was thinking that a lot of WW II-era settings were written in the 70s, and at that point the war itself is 25 years in the past. It might be really interesting (I don't know if you or someone else has done this already) to compare those with Marvel's attempt at tackling Vietnam in the 80s.
December 15, 2025 at 12:57 AM
I was thinking that a lot of WW II-era settings were written in the 70s, and at that point the war itself is 25 years in the past. It might be really interesting (I don't know if you or someone else has done this already) to compare those with Marvel's attempt at tackling Vietnam in the 80s.
So I see them now, and even knowing what they can be about, even though I get ticked off at the Orthodox folks for all kinds of reasons, I recall that night and sometimes, I engage with them, in a friendly way because it seems right in a world that is one horror after another. /end
December 14, 2025 at 11:10 PM
So I see them now, and even knowing what they can be about, even though I get ticked off at the Orthodox folks for all kinds of reasons, I recall that night and sometimes, I engage with them, in a friendly way because it seems right in a world that is one horror after another. /end
I thanked him. Took it home. When Chanukah came I lit the thing.
And I felt better. Which was kind of a big deal for me then.
/7
And I felt better. Which was kind of a big deal for me then.
/7
December 14, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I thanked him. Took it home. When Chanukah came I lit the thing.
And I felt better. Which was kind of a big deal for me then.
/7
And I felt better. Which was kind of a big deal for me then.
/7
He just gave it to me. Handed it over. No questions.
“You look like you could use it.” He said. /6
“You look like you could use it.” He said. /6
December 14, 2025 at 11:03 PM
He just gave it to me. Handed it over. No questions.
“You look like you could use it.” He said. /6
“You look like you could use it.” He said. /6
And he says “Would you like a menorah?”
Just some thin metal thing pressed out of aluminum. Came with a candle box.
“I can’t pay for it” I said. /5
Just some thin metal thing pressed out of aluminum. Came with a candle box.
“I can’t pay for it” I said. /5
December 14, 2025 at 11:01 PM
And he says “Would you like a menorah?”
Just some thin metal thing pressed out of aluminum. Came with a candle box.
“I can’t pay for it” I said. /5
Just some thin metal thing pressed out of aluminum. Came with a candle box.
“I can’t pay for it” I said. /5
I bad almost no freaking money and was feeling it. Rice was getting a little old. I felt like a failure, because all my J-school friends had jobs or cool internships. I had jack.
And I pass by a Lubavitcher. I slowed down, he had a bunch of Chanukah stuff. Pamphlets. /4
And I pass by a Lubavitcher. I slowed down, he had a bunch of Chanukah stuff. Pamphlets. /4
December 14, 2025 at 11:00 PM
I bad almost no freaking money and was feeling it. Rice was getting a little old. I felt like a failure, because all my J-school friends had jobs or cool internships. I had jack.
And I pass by a Lubavitcher. I slowed down, he had a bunch of Chanukah stuff. Pamphlets. /4
And I pass by a Lubavitcher. I slowed down, he had a bunch of Chanukah stuff. Pamphlets. /4
*winter of. Dammit.
Anyhow it was depressing to not get even a bite, an interview, and I was feeling pretty awful. It was late, probably 9 pm and I was hitting the Kinko’s because that was the only place open, down near the Empire State building. /3
Anyhow it was depressing to not get even a bite, an interview, and I was feeling pretty awful. It was late, probably 9 pm and I was hitting the Kinko’s because that was the only place open, down near the Empire State building. /3
December 14, 2025 at 10:58 PM
*winter of. Dammit.
Anyhow it was depressing to not get even a bite, an interview, and I was feeling pretty awful. It was late, probably 9 pm and I was hitting the Kinko’s because that was the only place open, down near the Empire State building. /3
Anyhow it was depressing to not get even a bite, an interview, and I was feeling pretty awful. It was late, probably 9 pm and I was hitting the Kinko’s because that was the only place open, down near the Empire State building. /3
So yeah, it’s a tad annoying when you are on your way from work or when I am thinking of the huge political differences I usually have with them. But let’s go back to the winger of 1995 or so. I was unemployed and making tons of paper resume and clips copies to send every goddamned place. /2
December 14, 2025 at 10:56 PM
So yeah, it’s a tad annoying when you are on your way from work or when I am thinking of the huge political differences I usually have with them. But let’s go back to the winger of 1995 or so. I was unemployed and making tons of paper resume and clips copies to send every goddamned place. /2
Because a small number of us decided that the right to kill people they found “threatening” was more important than literally anything else.
Many people who say they need a right to bear arms are actually just itching to kill. They *want* horrific violence so they can live out their fantasies.
Many people who say they need a right to bear arms are actually just itching to kill. They *want* horrific violence so they can live out their fantasies.
December 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Because a small number of us decided that the right to kill people they found “threatening” was more important than literally anything else.
Many people who say they need a right to bear arms are actually just itching to kill. They *want* horrific violence so they can live out their fantasies.
Many people who say they need a right to bear arms are actually just itching to kill. They *want* horrific violence so they can live out their fantasies.
Nor do they seem to understand that people aren’t clamoring to see docs every second, or that you simply can’t “shop” for lifesaving care. It’s like they are aliens sharing a planet with normal humans.
December 14, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Nor do they seem to understand that people aren’t clamoring to see docs every second, or that you simply can’t “shop” for lifesaving care. It’s like they are aliens sharing a planet with normal humans.
You don’t need to be an economist to understand that, for example, people “overusing” doc visits and catching many ailments early is cheaper than treating them later. But I have met no mainstream (non health) economists who acknowledge this simple fact.
December 14, 2025 at 4:50 PM
You don’t need to be an economist to understand that, for example, people “overusing” doc visits and catching many ailments early is cheaper than treating them later. But I have met no mainstream (non health) economists who acknowledge this simple fact.
I think the people creating "AI" tools know that. And that is precisely why they are working hard to undermine trust.
I mean, we have an entire industry, and dare I say it, field of study absolutely dominated by dudes (always dudes) in a state of arrested development that embarrasses teen me.
I mean, we have an entire industry, and dare I say it, field of study absolutely dominated by dudes (always dudes) in a state of arrested development that embarrasses teen me.
December 14, 2025 at 4:01 AM
I think the people creating "AI" tools know that. And that is precisely why they are working hard to undermine trust.
I mean, we have an entire industry, and dare I say it, field of study absolutely dominated by dudes (always dudes) in a state of arrested development that embarrasses teen me.
I mean, we have an entire industry, and dare I say it, field of study absolutely dominated by dudes (always dudes) in a state of arrested development that embarrasses teen me.
I just wish, as a former journalist, that people writing about this stuff would refer to these machines as what they *are* -- language models. Or expert systems. Or neural net simulators, or whatever. "AI" has become a term designed to obfuscate.
December 14, 2025 at 3:56 AM
I just wish, as a former journalist, that people writing about this stuff would refer to these machines as what they *are* -- language models. Or expert systems. Or neural net simulators, or whatever. "AI" has become a term designed to obfuscate.