large language marge
@mcdonalds.help
privacy, security, and compliance; university administration; the liberal arts
Pinned
large language marge
@mcdonalds.help
· Oct 14
it's not good for a profession when the highest mark of seriousness is pretending to be stupid
every liberal institution bought so fully into pseudo-empiricist marginalism that they've completely lost the ability even to comprehend a course of action that isn't already proven or that can't demonstrate an immediate payoff in a small trial with no meaningful resource commitment.
Why can't people who think like this be in charge of the whole Democratic Party? I genuinely believe that if we could substitute genuine do-something, try-everything liberals for the current inert leadership things wouldn't be one quarter as bad in the good ol' US of A.
I love this. Instead of liberals simply whining about all the bad stuff Trump is doing to take over media, here's ACTUAL CREATIVE LEGAL THINKING ABOUT HOW TO FIGHT BACK.
This is exactly what we need! Will all this stuff work? No! But we need to TRY THINGS.
counterpunch.news/p/nexstar-go...
This is exactly what we need! Will all this stuff work? No! But we need to TRY THINGS.
counterpunch.news/p/nexstar-go...
December 5, 2025 at 4:20 AM
every liberal institution bought so fully into pseudo-empiricist marginalism that they've completely lost the ability even to comprehend a course of action that isn't already proven or that can't demonstrate an immediate payoff in a small trial with no meaningful resource commitment.
the comments on every northern soul song are like this and it's my favorite thing on the internet
December 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM
the comments on every northern soul song are like this and it's my favorite thing on the internet
the idea that the purpose of college is to teach "specific job skills" is going to be the death of college, and the death of a labor force that has the preparation to learn advanced job skills.
Poll: In a dramatic shift, Americans no longer see four-year college degrees as worth the cost www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...
November 29, 2025 at 5:22 PM
the idea that the purpose of college is to teach "specific job skills" is going to be the death of college, and the death of a labor force that has the preparation to learn advanced job skills.
Reposted by large language marge
and coming right on the heels of Evanstonians putting it all on the line fighting CBP and ICE. We're about to see entirely new depths town/gown relations can sink to.
November 29, 2025 at 1:30 AM
and coming right on the heels of Evanstonians putting it all on the line fighting CBP and ICE. We're about to see entirely new depths town/gown relations can sink to.
the replies to this are full of people confidently recommending doing the exact thing that causes this injury. I'll never understand why people want to accomplish such an easy task by accelerating a knife directly toward their palm with nothing but the world's oiliest vegetable in the way
the risk to reward ratio of stabbing an avocado pit while you’re holding it in your hand is WAY off, imo
I'm in EMT school right now. Pretty common cause of 911 calls/ER visits around holidays is people just not even trying to use knives properly. Lemme just slice this avocado while HOLDING IT IN MY HAND...
Please. Use cutting boards. They exist for a reason.
Please. Use cutting boards. They exist for a reason.
November 27, 2025 at 6:38 PM
the replies to this are full of people confidently recommending doing the exact thing that causes this injury. I'll never understand why people want to accomplish such an easy task by accelerating a knife directly toward their palm with nothing but the world's oiliest vegetable in the way
What he did may not have been criminal but it was absolutely a blatant Title IX violation. Harvard is affirmatively required by law to respond to reported sexual discrimination and harassment by investigating it and taking interim measures to reduce risk of ongoing harm
November 20, 2025 at 3:45 PM
What he did may not have been criminal but it was absolutely a blatant Title IX violation. Harvard is affirmatively required by law to respond to reported sexual discrimination and harassment by investigating it and taking interim measures to reduce risk of ongoing harm
Reposted by large language marge
for a brief time Cincinnati had a public health initiative where they went around sprinkling water on horse manure in the streets to keep it moist when the weather was hot and dry, the theory being that when it dried and became powdery it aerosolized and created miasmatic air
November 20, 2025 at 3:16 AM
for a brief time Cincinnati had a public health initiative where they went around sprinkling water on horse manure in the streets to keep it moist when the weather was hot and dry, the theory being that when it dried and became powdery it aerosolized and created miasmatic air
A little heuristic I use is that when a company blandly asserts that their product is "secure" multiple times in their ad copy without linking to compliance information, you should be suspicious. That goes double if they conflate security with privacy, and triple for OpenAI specifically.
November 19, 2025 at 8:53 PM
A little heuristic I use is that when a company blandly asserts that their product is "secure" multiple times in their ad copy without linking to compliance information, you should be suspicious. That goes double if they conflate security with privacy, and triple for OpenAI specifically.
the Dutch Famine, caused by a Nazi blockade and embargo in 1944-45, ended up being the natural experiment that formed the basis for the study of the long-term effects of acute hunger later in the life cycle. Survivors continued to suffer the medical effects for the rest of their (shortened) lives.
your movement has to be like 8 levels removed from reality to think that some of the starving kids in gaza also having serious medical conditions makes Israel look better. it's completely insane. they just think because it's an additional fact it's somehow exonerating.
Jewish Federations applauds Olivia Reingold, a staff writer at Bari Weiss's Free Press, as she victory laps her (ghoulish and erroneous) reporting that some of the children Israel was starving to death and denying medical aid to in Gaza had pre-existing conditions.
November 19, 2025 at 6:09 PM
the Dutch Famine, caused by a Nazi blockade and embargo in 1944-45, ended up being the natural experiment that formed the basis for the study of the long-term effects of acute hunger later in the life cycle. Survivors continued to suffer the medical effects for the rest of their (shortened) lives.
I suppose the government could theoretically try to structure a fiscal stimulus to achieve something like this by, for example, forgiving student loans.
Q: Would a $2,000 tariff dividend check going to people be inflationary?
Bessent: Maybe we could persuade Americans to save that.
Bessent: Maybe we could persuade Americans to save that.
November 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I suppose the government could theoretically try to structure a fiscal stimulus to achieve something like this by, for example, forgiving student loans.
hoo boy. Just got a Dynata issue poll and I gotta say, much as I appreciate some policy entrepreneurship... yeah dunno about this one in particular
November 18, 2025 at 9:41 PM
hoo boy. Just got a Dynata issue poll and I gotta say, much as I appreciate some policy entrepreneurship... yeah dunno about this one in particular
okay, it's like this: think of a health insurance plan as like a soybean futures contract
was not expecting the most financialized country on earth to have to reinvent the concept of insurance from first principles
November 16, 2025 at 4:47 PM
okay, it's like this: think of a health insurance plan as like a soybean futures contract
people on this site were warned that real housewives of salt lake city was the apotheosis of modern political culture and no that's not a joke, and marjorie taylor greene is here to prove it
November 16, 2025 at 4:11 PM
people on this site were warned that real housewives of salt lake city was the apotheosis of modern political culture and no that's not a joke, and marjorie taylor greene is here to prove it
The text messages are really where it's at, but figuring out the exact amount these people were joking/bullshitting/idly musing at any given moment is impossible for anybody just perusing them, as entertaining as that is to do
November 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The text messages are really where it's at, but figuring out the exact amount these people were joking/bullshitting/idly musing at any given moment is impossible for anybody just perusing them, as entertaining as that is to do
all these updates about whose name is mentioned most in the epstein documents are kind of meaningless because the non-epstein participants in the text messages aren't named, and that's where all the good stuff is
November 14, 2025 at 10:00 PM
all these updates about whose name is mentioned most in the epstein documents are kind of meaningless because the non-epstein participants in the text messages aren't named, and that's where all the good stuff is
it's really kind of a problem that aside from specialist press and sometimes local outlets, only the right-wing media picks up stories like this.
November 14, 2025 at 8:32 PM
it's really kind of a problem that aside from specialist press and sometimes local outlets, only the right-wing media picks up stories like this.
it would make all universities and pretty much all STEM professors ineligible for federal grant support, and since it's retroactive, there would be no possibility of coming into compliance. If everyone is in violation, everyone is dependent on extortionary "deals," which is how a mafia state works.
This has gotten surprisingly little attention — it's not even on the front page of @science.org right now — but it's really hard to describe what the SAFE Research Act would do to US science and scientists without sounding insane
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
November 14, 2025 at 6:11 PM
it would make all universities and pretty much all STEM professors ineligible for federal grant support, and since it's retroactive, there would be no possibility of coming into compliance. If everyone is in violation, everyone is dependent on extortionary "deals," which is how a mafia state works.
Reposted by large language marge
a newspaper should not try to be arch and elliptical. that is what the new yorker is for
September 27, 2024 at 10:42 PM
a newspaper should not try to be arch and elliptical. that is what the new yorker is for
one of my more unpopular opinions is that I don't think neologisms are effective at promoting gender equality and it's much better to simply shift the connotation of an existing word. chicagoans stopped having a problem electing women to the city council even when they were still called aldermen.
Very niche Chicago complaint but ... I hate the pivot to "alders" in discussing the city council
November 14, 2025 at 4:27 PM
one of my more unpopular opinions is that I don't think neologisms are effective at promoting gender equality and it's much better to simply shift the connotation of an existing word. chicagoans stopped having a problem electing women to the city council even when they were still called aldermen.
elite american culture has come to see solar power and electrification in general as culturally chinese just as raging sinophobia has completely taken over both parties
the astonishing thing about this wave of denialism is that we have more or less decidedly hit the point where clean energy is the *cheaper* option by some distance
I'm kind of baffled how the "moderates" have apparently all decided to turn against climate policy at once, just as China reaches green electrostate liftoff mode. I thought these people were all about National Greatness and making Hard Choices
November 14, 2025 at 4:12 PM
elite american culture has come to see solar power and electrification in general as culturally chinese just as raging sinophobia has completely taken over both parties
The fact that the opposition to this insanity from Democrats on the committee and from AAU/APLU is articulated entirely in the language of national security, with virtually no attention given to academic freedom and human rights, is a terrible sign for the future of universities in this country.
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The fact that the opposition to this insanity from Democrats on the committee and from AAU/APLU is articulated entirely in the language of national security, with virtually no attention given to academic freedom and human rights, is a terrible sign for the future of universities in this country.
Reposted by large language marge
the classic economics pundit error is mistaking an accounting identity for a causal relationship. a less classic error is to try to abolish the accounting identity
November 14, 2025 at 2:01 PM
the classic economics pundit error is mistaking an accounting identity for a causal relationship. a less classic error is to try to abolish the accounting identity
Reposted by large language marge
I like how chomsky was like "what you should know is that i, noam chomsky, author of 85 books about US foreign policy, relied on jeffrey epstein to explain the global financial system to me"
November 13, 2025 at 10:13 PM
I like how chomsky was like "what you should know is that i, noam chomsky, author of 85 books about US foreign policy, relied on jeffrey epstein to explain the global financial system to me"
social engineering is by far the weakest infosec defense point. to address this we will make the entire system vulnerable to social engineering attacks
November 13, 2025 at 7:22 PM
social engineering is by far the weakest infosec defense point. to address this we will make the entire system vulnerable to social engineering attacks
All these articles are very weird because they don't address the fact that it's already too late. The 2026 plans are set. They're designed for the expected risk pools they'll get with the unsubsidized premiums. Even if they extend the subsidies, they'll have to do a new round of open enrollment.
NEW: As health insurance bills rise, Republicans are still seeking an Obamacare alternative
There is no legislative product yet.
No consensus in the party about a plan.
But top GOP lawmakers and policy figures on Capitol Hill have begun discussing concepts.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
There is no legislative product yet.
No consensus in the party about a plan.
But top GOP lawmakers and policy figures on Capitol Hill have begun discussing concepts.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
As health insurance bills rise, Republicans are still seeking an Obamacare alternative
Premiums for millions of Americans in red and blue states are expected to more than double on average next year unless Congress finds a solution.
www.nbcnews.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:48 PM
All these articles are very weird because they don't address the fact that it's already too late. The 2026 plans are set. They're designed for the expected risk pools they'll get with the unsubsidized premiums. Even if they extend the subsidies, they'll have to do a new round of open enrollment.