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medievalmvb.bsky.social
medievalmvb
@medievalmvb.bsky.social
2.1K followers 1.6K following 2.1K posts
medievalist (researching climate in medieval literature) | working remotely at Durham University, UK | lost decade at The SunBreak & Seattlest | outdoor photographer see https://mikevanbaker.myportfolio.com/work
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medievalmvb.bsky.social
As a courtesy for time-starved readers, I have distilled the interaction more efficiently.

I’m not exaggerating when I say had I done something like this I would have deleted all traces and only reemerged with a new pfp and handle.
OP: Al-generated presentation slides make me question your attention to detail. Quote-skeet guy: I dunno, look at this! Surprisingly accurate! I see no obvious errors. Commenters: Your 2nd slide with exactly one datapoint callout? It's wrong. QSG: Oops well it's editable so you could fix that. But I could never cartoon like this. Ron Howard VO: Literally copies of XKCD stick figures.
December 3, 2025 at 2:04 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
this is in *reply* to someone saying they use the presence of AI-generated slides in presentations as a proxy for “unreliable” and it’s just perfect

“I don’t see any obvious errors or typos” is immediately followed by ppl pointing out an obvious error. (There’s also a typo: extra hyphen)
Screenshot: skeet text says, “For fun, I asked that the slides be in the style of xkcd. I was astounded at the quality of the results. I don't see any obvious errors or typos. And, some of the slides are exceptionally well-made. This slide is a bit goofy, but it's surprisingly accurate. 2/“ And this is followed by artwork example. Next skeet: “This slide simplified a graph from the text and added a nice callout label. 3/“ As commenters immediately point out, the graph was in fact copied incorrectly.
December 3, 2025 at 12:57 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
I went back and got a better photo of the Robson Square ice skating rink, longer exposure to get motion blur and also giant SKA to get you to hallucinate the Might Mighty Bosstones
Photo: Robson Square ice rink, foreground right is a 3-foot tall SKA (TE cropped off), above is geometric (triangles) translucent ceiling, rink is lined with benches and a handrail, on the ice are 5 or so blurry skaters, including a woman (left) using a sort of ice-friendly walker that keeps newbies from falling on their faces, kind of genius
December 2, 2025 at 11:21 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
IBM’s Arvind Krishna doing the math that AI tends to struggle with

This is from an interview with @reckless.bsky.social on @theverge.com
So, let's ground this in today's costs because anything in the future is speculative. It takes about $80 billion to fill up a one-gigawatt data center. That's today's number. If one company is going to commit 20-30 gigawatts, that's $1.5 trillion of CapEx. To the point we just made, you've got to use it all in five years because at that point, you've got to throw it away and refill it. Then, if I look at the total commits in the world in this space, in chasing AGI, it seems to be like 100 gigawatts with these announcements. That's $8 trillion of CapEx. It's my view that there's no way you're going to get a return on that because $8 trillion of CapEx means you need roughly $800 billion of profit just to pay for the interest.
December 2, 2025 at 7:47 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
I meant to circumnavigate Stanley Park on the hotel’s loaner bike but there was a fun run I didn’t want to cross paths with so I improvised, only 10 miles
Map screenshot of north Vancouver BC with red lines of bike ride showing I almost circumnavigated this whole bit except for the shoreline from English Bay to like Hornby Street where I went inland, not bad for just following bike path signage, good for Vancouver
November 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
Vancouver-ing via Amtrak, stopped in at #VanArtGallery for cat art and then circled the Sunken Skating Place looking for a shot
Out-the-window iPhone photo from Amtrak Cascades train: foreground is gravel & low, scrubby ground cover, then a line of driftwood logs, then an expanse of gray-blue water lightly ruffled by wind, clouds are low and dark, on the horizon a bit of orange peeps through from setting sun Photo: it’s a blobby-loaf ceramic cat by Thomas Takamitsu Kakinuma, light scratches give fur direction, it’s a beige-light orange except for dark brown ears, and three odd-sized brown splotches on its shoulders and back, whiskers are three umber lines each side of an almost human button nose, eyes look very much like buttons pressed on, it’s a little chonky and is looking up slightly Photo: Robson Square holiday ice skating rink, Vancouver BC, foreground left is the Xmas-light sculpture of a stag with antlers (cropped to head & shoulders), top half of photo is geometric plastic roof, then middle ground right are ice skaters—it’s not a great shot, really vexing set-up, thought maybe the stag would add something but meh
November 30, 2025 at 1:25 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
*forest ogre checks his email*

Ah, how nice!
Email text reads: “In an atmosphere of optimism and 'Joie de vivre', we look forward to welcoming you back at L'Hermitage Hotel and creating many more wonderful memories with you.”
November 29, 2025 at 4:41 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
hummingbird thanksgiving
iPhone photo: an Anna’s hummingbird waiting patiently on a branch, wings folded, dark hood and iridescent green back iPhone photo: same Anna’s hummingbird at the go-juice feeder, blur of wings, beak inside the plastic yellow stamen
November 28, 2025 at 8:47 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
an absurdist “all the pretty little horses” from Michael Maslin @newyorker.com
New Yorker cartoon by Michael Maslin: three cowboys on the plains in the gloaming, stars out, a jagged one-line stretch of mountains off in the distance, two are seated, leaning against their saddles, one (left) possibly roasting a marshmallow over a tiny fire (two also wearing impossibly tall-crowned cowboy hats), and one cowboy (right) is standing, looking back to the other two, saying “Wow—the horses are really little tonight” and indeed there are three tiny horses the size of terriers looking at him with their little ears forward.
November 28, 2025 at 7:03 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
Skeletor with speech bubble so that he appears to be saying the quoted skeet
November 27, 2025 at 10:59 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
whoever the dp is for ‘Piste Noire’ (Prime), they still believe in cinema, even working on a French Alps* policier

*the police have discussed fondue, raclette, and cow v. goat cheese
Scene from Piste Noire TV show: it’s an interior overhead shot, way up, at the police station, looking down at the desk that two police people are sitting at, both leaning back in their chairs with their legs up on the desk, desk is angled diagonally toward top left and bottom right, everything is therefore a bit askew and subtitle says “This is like chaos theory”
November 26, 2025 at 3:59 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
this was my little mom’s nightmare scenario and I’d always argue and say “come on how could that even happen” 👀
BBC News screenshot: Thai woman's cremation stopped as knocking on coffin heard, temple staff say. The general manager of a Buddhist temple was startled to see her "opening her eyes" as the coffin opened, AP news agency says.
November 25, 2025 at 9:30 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
this seems like a good day for this
screenshot text reads “Humiliating to Everyone Involved”
November 18, 2025 at 4:48 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
this is a clear “sign (flag) is not the signifier” instance
AP map of U.S. lynchings: “5,000-plus known lynchings. Each dot locates a county where a victim was killed by mobs enforcing white supremacy, 1850-1964. Some dots represent multiple victims. Phillips Co., Ark., reports over 200 lynchings.” The dots are concentrated remarkably heavily in the South.
November 17, 2025 at 8:31 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
Wallace Shawn VO: You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?

They just scraped it from LA Opera.
Screenshot: LA OPERA Rodolfo is a struggling poet burning his manuscripts to keep out the winter chill. Mimi is a fellow tenant with big dreams and a deadly illness. A chance meeting has them falling in love, but when you're at the bottom of Parisian society, every day could be your last. Puccini's blockbuster opera returns to our stage starring Janai Brugger as the sweet but suffering Mimi and Oreste Cosimo as the lovestruck Rodolfo, with Gihoon Kim and Erica Petrocelli as the on-again-off-again lovers Marcello and Musetta.
November 17, 2025 at 1:10 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
Studio still of Dabney Coleman as the star of the wonderful sitcom “Buffalo Bill,” 3/4 profile portrait in black and white in front of a painting of a buffalo
November 16, 2025 at 6:57 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
Friday's elephant never forgets
Photo: it's an adult wild elephant in greater Kruger National Park, South Africa. It's standing in profile to the camera, cropped so it fills the frame, on some bare dirt in a dry thicket, eating some of the very dry, woody, thorny branches, it's heavily wrinkled hide is covered with orange dust, especially its fan-like ears, trunk is looped as one end is tucking food into its mouth, the back right leg is not firmly planted, as if the vibe is a little carefree and it's sort of humming to itself as it munches (it was not humming literally, that I know of).
November 14, 2025 at 11:03 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
cast him as Bond, you cowards
Fake movie poster where Matt Berry’s character Toast is James Bond, so he’s in close-up on left, mustached, white streak in long hair, holding a pistol with silencer, top of poster says “007 is back” and bottom reads “and this time Bond is Toast” just above an Aston Martin with British flag art on bonnet
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
having a conversation with the Amazon AI chatbot, so lifelike!
Chat screenshot: Amazon bot: Thank you for your patience. Just to confirm have you tried any troubleshooting steps for this issue? Me: Uh it arrived broken? AB: I'm sorry to hear that. Please no worries I'll help you with this. Just to confirm the item is in usable condition? Me: No because it is broken AB: Thank you for confirming. Me: I use to word broken to indicate that it is unusable
November 11, 2025 at 1:16 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
‘Driftwood’ by Travis

#heron
Photo: a great blue heron stands on a driftwood log in placid blue water, back to the camera but looking left to keep an eye on photographer, its large wings are folded neatly away and long neck extended, with a shock of dark blue hair atop its head
November 10, 2025 at 9:22 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
Adam Sacks on design review
iPhone photo of a New Yorker cartoon by Adam Sacks: two ancient Greeks (one less ancient, beardless) in togas are standing at the foot of a hill atop which a crane is assembling a stone pillar and the older bearded Greek says: “Oh great, just what this polis needs, another hilltop post-and-lintel temple.”
November 9, 2025 at 6:48 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
What a difference a day makes
Screenshot of search results for “jobs” in the Wall Street Journal: NOVEMBER 05, 2025 12:05 PM U.S. Private Sector Added 42,000 Jobs in October, Says Payroll Processor NOVEMBER 06,2025 8:42 AM Employers Cut More Than a Million Jobs This Year
November 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
Sundar Pichai on Alphabet's Q3 earnings call:

"AI Overviews drive meaningful query growth ... as users continue to learn that Google can answer more of their questions."

Huh. Let's ask Google AI Overview!

82% are skeptical of the information provided? Gosh.
Screenshot from Google AI Overview: Key User Sentiments • Mixed Trust and Utility: While about half of users find the summaries at least "somewhat helpful," trust is mixed. Many users (around 82%) are skeptical and only "sometimes trust" the information provided. • Accuracy Concerns: A significant number of users (over 70% in one survey) report personally experiencing at least one significant mistake, such as misleading health advice or factual errors, leading to a general lack of confidence in the feature. • Generational Divide: Younger users (Gen Z and Millennials) are more enthusiastic and find the feature more useful and trustworthy, whereas older generations are more skeptical and tend to skip the summaries. • Desire for Control: A majority of users (over 55%) would like the option to turn off Al Overviews, at least for some queries, indicating a preference for traditional search results in many cases.
November 4, 2025 at 2:22 AM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
chat is this good? 🧐
Chart from FRED showing that the Fed just dumped about $30 billion into overnight repos, after a recent $10 billion surge, with nothing comparable since the COVID shutdown (a $60 billion dump)
November 1, 2025 at 9:23 PM
medievalmvb.bsky.social
see this? See how it’s 98% “Mamdani hijab 9/11”? There is no way to repost this with a tiny “lmao” up top that doesn’t more efficiently pass along “Mamdani hijab 9/11” to readers who respond viscerally to that messaging (not you, you’re too smart, other people)
October 28, 2025 at 5:49 PM