Pete
@wellsenkind.bsky.social
A dark forest. Christian anarchist. Lapsed social scientist.
This is admirably detailed reporting on the erasure of Palestinian life, from the NYT of all places. But I notice that the comments on this article are turned off. I wonder why that would be? 🤔 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Land Grab: Inside Israel’s Escalating Campaign for Control of the West Bank (Gift Article)
Israeli seizure of Palestinian lands in the West Bank, often brutally, has accelerated, raising doubts about the prospects of a peaceful solution to the conflict.
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:14 AM
This is admirably detailed reporting on the erasure of Palestinian life, from the NYT of all places. But I notice that the comments on this article are turned off. I wonder why that would be? 🤔 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Bari Weiss paid $1B to produce a historical re-enactment of Falwell Snr. v Flynt (1981).
Comfort TV for the over-60 undiagnosed dementia set. Thats “innovation.”
Comfort TV for the over-60 undiagnosed dementia set. Thats “innovation.”
Like Ross Douthat versus Stephen Pinker is the least illuminating, least inspiring lineup you could possibly assemble for a debate about the role of religion in public life. And that's before we even get to "we asked two influencers to figure out whether women are worse off having rights."
December 21, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Bari Weiss paid $1B to produce a historical re-enactment of Falwell Snr. v Flynt (1981).
Comfort TV for the over-60 undiagnosed dementia set. Thats “innovation.”
Comfort TV for the over-60 undiagnosed dementia set. Thats “innovation.”
I know everyone is on the schadenfreude train with Jake Paul but the Guardian reports he’ll probably make $70M for that broken jaw, which severely limits how much pleasure I can take in his self inflicted suffering.
December 21, 2025 at 2:35 AM
I know everyone is on the schadenfreude train with Jake Paul but the Guardian reports he’ll probably make $70M for that broken jaw, which severely limits how much pleasure I can take in his self inflicted suffering.
Future generations will talk about the poisoning of Google Scholar the same way we talk of the Library of Alexandria burning. www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Future generations will talk about the poisoning of Google Scholar the same way we talk of the Library of Alexandria burning. www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
The roads analogy here is perfect because the wealthy deployed capital to make roads, a previously public space, a wholly private one. Cars were given “right of way” legally and pedestrians criminalised so that cars ultimately become a necessity. But it wasn’t inevitable.
I believe they said the same thing when people were forced to use cash and abandon their horses and drive on roads. Doing banking via phone in general is excellent for the overwhelming majority of people. Cest la vie.
December 20, 2025 at 11:31 AM
The roads analogy here is perfect because the wealthy deployed capital to make roads, a previously public space, a wholly private one. Cars were given “right of way” legally and pedestrians criminalised so that cars ultimately become a necessity. But it wasn’t inevitable.
Always amazed that people are okay with moving services wholesale to expensive and fragile digital infrastructure that imposes monetary and privacy costs on the end user, as opposed to cash which is very cheap for the end user but imposes the costs on the people who want you to pay the fees.
Lots of people aren’t ’digital first’: elderly, many people with disabilities, CALD communities. I love using online services, but I believe policy should meet communities where they’re at, not just serve a mainly rich white demographic. Gvt payment platform should always accept all legal tender
December 20, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Always amazed that people are okay with moving services wholesale to expensive and fragile digital infrastructure that imposes monetary and privacy costs on the end user, as opposed to cash which is very cheap for the end user but imposes the costs on the people who want you to pay the fees.
My current theory is that 80% of the hype around 'AI' is a kind of Gell-Mann amnesia effect where people see outputs that are blatantly nonsense for fields in which they have expertise, acknowledge it is garbage, and then ask a question outside their circle of competence and accept the answer.
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
“AI”: A Dedicated Fact-Failing Machine, or, Yet Another Reason Not to Trust It For Anything
I search my name on a regular basis, not only because I am an ego monster (although I try not to pretend that I’m not) but because it’s a good way for me to find reviews, end-of-the-yea…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:22 AM
My current theory is that 80% of the hype around 'AI' is a kind of Gell-Mann amnesia effect where people see outputs that are blatantly nonsense for fields in which they have expertise, acknowledge it is garbage, and then ask a question outside their circle of competence and accept the answer.
36 Months being run by gambling ad agency staff makes total sense now.
It took an extra few days but as of this morning, all Australian YouTube accounts with a date of birth aging them under 16 have now been closed, meaning no more parental controls and mandatory ad viewing even if parents pay for YouTube Premium Family. Insane decision.
December 12, 2025 at 5:32 AM
36 Months being run by gambling ad agency staff makes total sense now.
Next week the headline will be: “Why are there gangs of kids loitering everywhere?“
With a picture of a horde of goths outside the Queen Street Hungry Jacks like its 2005.
With a picture of a horde of goths outside the Queen Street Hungry Jacks like its 2005.
December 9, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Next week the headline will be: “Why are there gangs of kids loitering everywhere?“
With a picture of a horde of goths outside the Queen Street Hungry Jacks like its 2005.
With a picture of a horde of goths outside the Queen Street Hungry Jacks like its 2005.
It's time to complete the Alan Sparhawk triangle and get BJ Burton to produce a Trampled by Turtles album. I demand banjos and a huge decaying wall of sound.
December 7, 2025 at 5:05 AM
It's time to complete the Alan Sparhawk triangle and get BJ Burton to produce a Trampled by Turtles album. I demand banjos and a huge decaying wall of sound.
The Albanese govt cuts CSIRO jobs on advice from Treasury & Finance; now seems determined to create robodebt from scratch with their AI-managed NDIS plans. Maybe we were wrong to assume the problem was the Morrison government; maybe the problem is the senior leadership of the APS.
December 3, 2025 at 5:33 AM
The Albanese govt cuts CSIRO jobs on advice from Treasury & Finance; now seems determined to create robodebt from scratch with their AI-managed NDIS plans. Maybe we were wrong to assume the problem was the Morrison government; maybe the problem is the senior leadership of the APS.
Last night west BNE got hit with the worst storm I’ve seen in a decade. 100mm in 15 minutes. Flash flooding everywhere. New BOM site said it was moderate rainfall the entire time. Their new data design will kill people.
The BOM have destroyed their website - no current observations by weather station available anymore for example. Royal Commission now. I want people sacked.
October 27, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Last night west BNE got hit with the worst storm I’ve seen in a decade. 100mm in 15 minutes. Flash flooding everywhere. New BOM site said it was moderate rainfall the entire time. Their new data design will kill people.
More like land of the oppressed and home of the cowardly, am I right?
September 18, 2025 at 6:14 AM
More like land of the oppressed and home of the cowardly, am I right?
My apparently most controversial opinion working in tech is that we should maintain cash as a viable form of payment, regardless of cost, in order to ensure the robustness of our payment systems and the Australian economy. Digital payments are exponentially more complex.
Fiscally physical: why I’m not letting go of cash | Fiona Katauskas
Fiscally physical: why I’m not letting go of cash | Fiona Katauskas
Those of us who still prefer analogue money are seen as eccentric at best and desperately uncool at worst – but change is always possible
“Oh my God! You still use cash?!”
If I had a dollar for every time someone said that to me, I’d have about $1,326, and it’d all be in the cold hard stuff. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
September 3, 2025 at 5:08 AM
My apparently most controversial opinion working in tech is that we should maintain cash as a viable form of payment, regardless of cost, in order to ensure the robustness of our payment systems and the Australian economy. Digital payments are exponentially more complex.
Bandcamp Clubs seems like a great addition to their product lineup. I love Record Clubs but I struggle to justify the cost when there are a) already so many records I know I love that I'd like to own and b) the cost of vinyl makes getting albums you don't enjoy more painful (1/?)
September 1, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Bandcamp Clubs seems like a great addition to their product lineup. I love Record Clubs but I struggle to justify the cost when there are a) already so many records I know I love that I'd like to own and b) the cost of vinyl makes getting albums you don't enjoy more painful (1/?)
Reposted by Pete
Academics (including the journal’s founder) told Wiley to pound sand, started an open access journal, and Wiley just surrendered. I think more academics should tell academic publishers to pound sand. They are vampires.
Wiley officially closes the Journal of Political Philosophy, which was abandoned by its editorial team and shunned by academics after Wiley attempted moves that would have compromised the journal's editorial independence.
Journal of Political Philosophy Officially Ends - Daily Nous
"The Journal of Political Philosophy will cease publication effective January 1, 2026." That's from an email sent by the journal's publisher, Wiley, earlier today, calling the move "a difficult decisi...
dailynous.com
July 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Academics (including the journal’s founder) told Wiley to pound sand, started an open access journal, and Wiley just surrendered. I think more academics should tell academic publishers to pound sand. They are vampires.
I read a paper 3 years ago that predicted based on trends we'd hit $50/kWh wholesale around 2030. We're five years ahead of schedule. If we can get this kind of pricing for home batteries we'll transform our energy economy.
Battery storage just hit a watershed moment: $51/kWh in China, down 30% in 12 months. While fossil fuels get slower & pricier, batteries are getting cheaper and better. This isn’t a trend—it’s now a rupture. Solar + storage is now the default for new energy. Everywhere. ⚡📉 #BESS #EnergyTransition
“Watershed moment:” Big battery storage prices hit record low in huge China auction
Huge China auction delivers another stunning fall in battery storage prices. It is being hailed as a potential tipping point for “round the clock” renewables.
reneweconomy.com.au
July 10, 2025 at 6:28 AM
I read a paper 3 years ago that predicted based on trends we'd hit $50/kWh wholesale around 2030. We're five years ahead of schedule. If we can get this kind of pricing for home batteries we'll transform our energy economy.
Reposted by Pete
Good god. Meta is using their AI licensing deals with John Cena, Disney, and others to peddle sex chat bots to kids. Burn this company to the fucking ground. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta...
April 27, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Good god. Meta is using their AI licensing deals with John Cena, Disney, and others to peddle sex chat bots to kids. Burn this company to the fucking ground. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta...
Reposted by Pete
The student paper at the college at which I teach reports a "tsunami of takedown requests" from international students terrified of being targeted for innocuous, legitimate op-eds & opinions.. Many ask in person--leave no trace in writing. Reminds me of my father's account of studying in the USSR.
April 15, 2025 at 5:37 PM
The student paper at the college at which I teach reports a "tsunami of takedown requests" from international students terrified of being targeted for innocuous, legitimate op-eds & opinions.. Many ask in person--leave no trace in writing. Reminds me of my father's account of studying in the USSR.
Australians can’t be too shocked by Salvadoran gulags when we perfected its precedent in Nauru.
April 15, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Australians can’t be too shocked by Salvadoran gulags when we perfected its precedent in Nauru.
Will Jordan Peterson promote the inevitable Latino Gulag Archipelago we get from this atrocity? Or is it only literature if a white guy writes it? This and other questions you already know the answer to coming up.
April 15, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Will Jordan Peterson promote the inevitable Latino Gulag Archipelago we get from this atrocity? Or is it only literature if a white guy writes it? This and other questions you already know the answer to coming up.
I don't think we can call these new genetically modified wolves direwolves.
They're gattacawolves.
They're gattacawolves.
April 9, 2025 at 12:58 AM
I don't think we can call these new genetically modified wolves direwolves.
They're gattacawolves.
They're gattacawolves.
Dutton can’t even stand for his own ideas but will *totally* stand up to Trump.
A Coalition promise to send public servants back to the office has been jettisoned, and plans to cut 41,000 Commonwealth jobs walked back significantly, in a mid-campaign backflip.
Coalition commits extraordinary about-face on 'end' to work from home
A Coalition promise to send public servants back to the office has been jettisoned, and plans to cut 41,000 Commonwealth jobs walked back significantly, in a mid-campaign backflip.
www.abc.net.au
April 6, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Dutton can’t even stand for his own ideas but will *totally* stand up to Trump.