I have lots of concerns about LLM training, but I think it’s better to think of the issue in terms of digital labor, not copyright. My blog is licensed for reuse, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less exploitative for someone to scrape it all to develop software that will make them rich off my work.

I have unexpectedly hit a point in my life where I associate the voice of Alec Guinness with George Smiley instead of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

I didn’t learn to swear until I was in my 30s, so I have a lingering suspicion that I wind up sounding like Captain Kirk in Star Trek IV.

Normalement, je me débrouille assez bien en français, mais quand il s’agit d’une conversation au téléphone, j’ai vraiment du mal !

One of my favorite perks of academia is finding a personally interesting book through the university library.

Two minutes into her first experience with a main-series Pokémon game, kiddo realized she could name her rival “Chicken,” so I’d say we’re off too a good start.

It’s that time of year where I have a text editor open alongside Canvas so that I can strip out all the extra HTML tags that LMSs like to add to my content.

It’s been a feature for ages, so I feel silly that I’m only now beginning to appreciate the ability to take Markdown notes in Things 3 tasks and projects.

My department has a copyright class on the books that’s never been taught—even when I offered to take it on after being hired. I understand why that offer wasn’t taken up, but I can’t help but think about all I could do in that class with Mickey Mouse this semester.

I don’t understand why Buc-ee’s has such a following. Every time I enter one, I feel like I’ve entered my personal hell.

Update: Kiddo’s learning binary led to bedtime stories being partially replaced by a discussion on how number systems work, binary and hex, and how Daddy used to pass notes encoded in base 3 to his best friend in middle school.

Kiddo surprised me today by learning how to count in binary from a library book. I’d checked out the book for her, but I wasn’t expecting such an immediate pay off. I’m skeptical of the “kids gotta learn CS” agenda, but I’m also proud of her when she does.

Shoutout to the girl who made an impromptu gift of a McNugget Buddy to my kid at tonight’s Christmas potluck. Didn’t even know those were a thing until kiddo became a recipient of one, but it was a cool thing to do.

I may run a one-shot for my siblings over the holidays and need to decide on system. I like the simplicity of Lasers and Feelings but also the improvisational collaboration of Ironsworn: Starforged. Wondering if I could hack them together…

I was invited this week to give a sermon in January for an online congregation from Toronto. Last time I preached there, I referenced a story from Astro City and got told in a YouTube comment that mixing comics and the Bible was bad taste. Tempted to double down in January, but that would be petty.

A while ago, a mental health counselor suggested I leave headphones behind while running and treat it as a mindfulness exercise, too. That’s been genuinely helpful, but it’s so darn cold this morning that if I don’t motivate myself with an actual play podcast, I won’t make it past the front door.

I love knowing that there’s a webcomic-to-children’s-book IP pipeline out there. Gives me some hope for humanity.

Kiddo’s grade is learning about how “other countries celebrate the holidays,” but I’m afraid the result will be reinforcing US Christian supremacy. Framing Hanukkah as Israeli suggests that it is foreign to the US, no? I also worry that there will be a class assigned to do Kwanzaa “from Africa.”

Kiddo learned what a bulletin board is from Stardew Valley’s quest mechanic and made one out of construction paper for asking for help with things around the house.

My rule is that if it’s a personal project, but I learn some regex and bookdown along the way, it still counts as professional development.

Cher.ère.s francophones, je n’ai rien contre vos emprunts de nos mots anglais (nous-mêmes, on a souvent emprunté des mots français). Pourtant, je ne comprendrai jamais pourquoi vous avez transformé notre “walkie talkie” en « talkie-walkie ».

Remembering my sister’s BYU roommate who called ketchup and mustard “toppings” because she was deeply uncomfortable pronouncing the first two syllables of the word “condiment.”

Kiddo has a very non-literal father and an atheist mother, so we pay close attention to what happens during Zoom children’s ministry. It’s always a bit tricky, but this week’s combination of Elf on the Shelf stories and non-critical approaches to the Book of Daniel was probably the hardest yet.

Merci à YouTube de me permettre un petit voyage en tramway grenoblois ce matin.

I know that video game adaptations of other properties are always dodgy, but how did they make Wreck-It Ralph’s so dang bad?