Joseph
@pelops.bsky.social
240 followers 510 following 1.7K posts
Mr. Satisfaction. High in the Custerdome
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pelops.bsky.social
It's wild that Ezra Klein thinks we should imitate the Republicans if Democrats want to win, while ignoring the fact that the Republicans won after defeat by refusing to imitate the Democrats. He's learning completely the wrong lesson, most likely because he actually prefers many Republican ideas.
pelops.bsky.social
user: whY foot hurt cold?
ChatGPT: Great question, you're thinking about this is a really smart way.
Reposted by Joseph
helldude.bsky.social
i keep saying this but what i hate most about the ezra kleins of the world is their insistence is that politics is about messaging and triangulating. its never about offering a compelling vision of the world, its about trying desperately to capitulate to whatever moment we are in
pelops.bsky.social
The Minority Report keeps coming up, very much in the zeitgeist.
pelops.bsky.social
A brilliant study of a man who was both exceptional and everyday in the worst possible ways.
pelops.bsky.social
"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal." (Eichmann in Jerusalem).
pelops.bsky.social
No this isn't written about the Democrats on Palestine, rather this is from Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem.
pelops.bsky.social
"It was at this time that a 'moderate wing'... came into existence, consisting of those who were stupid enough to believe that a murderer who could prove he had not killed as many people as he could have killed would have a marvelous alibi..."
pelops.bsky.social
Took a bike ride out to Yerba Buena Island
Selfie with background of the bay bridge and east bay
pelops.bsky.social
We should tax the wealthy, but overly suggesting the need to maintain a balanced budget historically does have that danger of implicitly supporting the need for austerity to make up for shortfalls. Something to consider!
pelops.bsky.social
It's commonly known that the US economy is not like a household budget, and that deficit spending can be fine. But a balanced budget does have a certain rhetorical appeal. Still, we should remember the better attack is against the reduction in social programs instead of the increase in the deficit
pelops.bsky.social
He also cut spending on social programs, but not as much as he increased other costs. Democrats took the bait and criticized the deficit, which switched them into the role of supporting austerity policies to balance the budget. As Bill Clinton did.
pelops.bsky.social
People liked the social welfare programs of the new deal and great society. But an interesting switch occured during the Reagan admin. He entered office with the promise of a balanced budget, but ballooned it with a double pronged attack-- tax cuts for the wealth and a massive military increase
pelops.bsky.social
Reading Melinda Cooper's excellent book Counterrevolution. One interesting point is about how Republicans and Democrats switched places on balancing the budget. Democrats had been the spenders leaving Republicans to try to balance things. This gave democrats an advantage
pelops.bsky.social
Baguettes #breadsky
pelops.bsky.social
Making some real progress on my baguettes #breadsky
pelops.bsky.social
Making progress with my baguettes, but they're definitely tricky to get right. #breadsky
Reposted by Joseph
hunterfelt.bsky.social
You're probably going to have to be slightly more specific than this.
owillis.bsky.social
SUBWAY GUY DID NOTHING WRONG
washingtonpost.com
AG Bondi says a DOJ employee has been fired after he was arrested for allegedly throwing a wrapped Subway sandwich at a federal law enforcement officer in Washington, D.C.

Following his arrest, the man allegedly told one of the arresting officers: “I did it. I threw a sandwich.” wapo.st/3Uq59TN
pelops.bsky.social
Ran the same experiment with Claude, who also failed beautifully. Another test I like to run is to ask the AI's to make photo realistic ascii art depictions of people, like this image of Lincoln that I had Claude label, in case it wasn't immediately obvious what was what.
A meaningless "ascii art" image that depicts nothing comprehensible but has labels of facial features next to various locations.
pelops.bsky.social
New ChatGPT doing great, definitely close to sentience and the singularity etc. etc.
screenshot of ChatGPT 5.0 conversation. The whole conversation reads:

ChatGPT said:
Here’s the list of U.S. states whose names do not contain the letter “O”:

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Illinois

Indiana

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Massachusetts

Michigan

Mississippi

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming
pelops.bsky.social
Baguette still needs work, first one in a long time.
pelops.bsky.social
Various breads I've baked recently (Baguette, Miso Rye, Whole Grain Wheat/Rye "Workday" Bread) #breadsky
Breads on a cutting board, a bread knife to the side and a jar with a sourdough starter at the edge of the frame.