Am I tired, am I getting sick, or is it just Monday?
I like traditional hymns a lot, but yesterday’s service included two amazing Congolese choirs, and I’m starting to suspect that everything Mormonism taught me about guitars and drums not belonging in church is wrong.
Spending time at a local library, thinking about how much these institutions offer their communities, and bemoaning that there are politicians petty and cruel enough to want to undermine them.
One of my favorite webcomics is a long runner that began when I was just starting high school, so the archive binge I began this week is bringing back memories in multiple ways.
Mitch McConnell is the only one of my elected federal representatives to respond in any way to the concerns I phone or write in, but it’s always with super vague copypasta that makes me more angry than no response at all.
“Kentuckian” has long been an important part of my identity, but every time I watch the Kentucky Derby, the more it makes me mad.
When my post-bike commute helmet hair starts looking like Norman Osborn’s weird comics haircut, it might be time for a trim.
I doubt I have time today for a longer, more nuanced post, so please enjoy this subtweet: Anyone whose takeaway from the University of Zurich Reddit study is “AI is good at convincing people!” and doesn’t even mention the HUGE ethical issues in passing is missing the point.
That feeling when you write an article for a lesser journal’s special issue but actually find a home in a stronger journal after the special editors reject it.
Aw, heck yes, there’s a Eurovision internet radio station.
Today, a student from across campus explained that they used ChatGPT to identify me as a potential thesis committee member, and I am shallow enough to have had a very brief flicker of positive feeling toward the technology.
Ebike adventure of the day: Taking a speed bump so fast it disconnected an important cord, and I spend a couple minutes trying to figure out why I lost power.
Remaking Star Wars would be unpardonable, but once enough hits the public domain, I want alternate sequels and prequels. Riff on the original in new ways. Give me a follow up where Darth Vader was never Anakin Skywalker. Bring back human, Irish Jabba. Go wild.
Every fake ad in this month’s print issue of The Onion is making fun of Elon Musk. All of them. What a great news source.
Matthewdown is an implementation of Markdown that has cleaned up the Greek some and included some popular features from Qdown.
A good work day is one where a colleague asks if you have a d20 in your office (I did!) because you seem like the kind of person who would (I am!).
My dad just now, describing the other guests coming to Easter dinner: “Oh, I’d say they’re about your age. You know, around [lists some ages a full decade younger than me].”
Am I feeling excited about the Fantastic Four because the new trailer looks good? Or because the idea of Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds doesn’t sound so bad right now?
Not only did my e-bike’s battery charger short out but the slow leak in the rear tire also turned into a straight up flat soon thereafter. Thanks to the student-run bike workshop on campus, I still got home in time to pick up kiddo from school, but I remain grumpy.
Not thrilled about the faint burning plastic smell that was coming from the charger for my e-bike’s battery today. (I immediately unplugged it and have reluctantly added replacing it to today’s to-do list).
One of the most frustrating experiences I’ve ever had with a journal appears to be coming to a happy conclusion, and that’s not a bad way to start a Monday.
There was a Little Free Library just outside tonight’s restaurant, so kiddo’s working through a new book while we wait for food.
I admit to having peculiar tastes in fiction, but I’m completely serious in my belief that one of the best things Mormon literature has produced is a short story about unicorn-riding knights on Mars.
Bon, je regrette pas avoir commandé un livre depuis la Suisse juste avant l’annonce des taxes douanières, mais j’espère quand-même qu’il arrive avant la prochaine folie américaine.
How about a sequel to “The Measure of a Man” where some future tech bro (Trek bro?) uses the events of the original episode to argue that his LLM is sentient, and so Picard, Riker, and Data team up to respond “wtf, no.”
I think I’ve finished my IDW Star Trek comics binge. I was hoping to conclude with their TNG/Doctor Who crossover that I bought for Kindle years ago, but reading comics in that app is so much worse than I remember.
I hate doing anything that seems to give Skinner any credit—especially after seeing how critical of him Ellul has been—but associating cleaning off our breakfast bar with lighting a scented candle has worked some behaviorist magic on me.
One of my favorite tea brands is a local one that imports its own leaves. I think one of my weekend projects is going to be to bulk order from them to get ahead of tariffs.
Love a 2:30am tornado warning family huddle in the pantry during a week where I was already not getting enough sleep.
The NPR radio adaptation of Star Wars would be a lot worse if the movie’s sound design and music weren’t so dang good.
We keep talking about generative AI as though it’s a tool that can be used for good or bad when I think it’s better to think of it as an entire system that benefits some at the expense of others. It’s not that I want to put a tool back in a box—it’s that I want to live in a better world.
Unlike LDS General Conferences, Community of Christ World Conferences involve debate and voting, so you can’t just stream it. A European friend of mine has told me how panicked they and some other int’l delegates are feeling about travel to the U.S. right now. This all sucks.
C’est fou combien ça provoque de la nostalgie, voir la gare d’Aigle (VS) pendant quelques secondes dans un « cabride » sur YouTube. J’ai passé peu de temps à Aigle, et c’était il y a 15 ans ; je ne connais pas du tout la ville et pourtant…
Tfw you’re running late and your first meeting is running early, so his first impression of you is of someone bundled up in warm, neon clothes awkwardly carrying an ebike up the stairs because the elevator is out.
Whatever gets kids to read, I guess, but I have never encountered a less sympathetic protagonist than Greg in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”
Really wishing Jesus had told a converse version of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard that I could use for theological arguments against generative AI. You know: Bunch of volunteers make a beautiful community garden that a rich dude takes over to further his wealth.