The Atlantic lets you read their articles free through RSS. Nevertheless, I like to share articles, and so I sometimes think about getting a subscription.1 However, when I read pieces like this one from Jonathan Chait defending female Democratic politicians being abusive, it dampens my desire to pay.
Now that the dust is settling from last weekend’s AI freakout, we are hearing from opposing voices. From my vantage point, I think there are good points on both sides and regardless of whether some of the more breathless predictions of doom may be off, we need more oversight and regulation. Our government just isn’t keeping up on this issue.
One of my favorite bands in the early 90s was Nothing Painted Blue, an indie rocker’s indie rock band. Fronted by the hyperliterate Franklin Bruno, Nothing Painted Blue had a clear advantage in the lyrics department. Bruno could be clever, erudite, and wry. Lyrics like, “you say you’ll pray for my soul, you’re more like Senator Dole,” from the song “Vengeful as Hell,” sung in Bruno’s matter-of-fact voice, still makes me chuckle.
I don’t remember how I acquired this CD but something tells me I wasn’t the first owner.
I’ve gotten myself in a confused state with regard to my RSS and social media feeds.
All this means I see posts multiple times. Since I’m only really using one RSS reader (Reeder), disentangling from this mess will mostly mean being more deliberate about my social media following. I’ll have to unwind where I’m following what people, which could take a while.
Matt Birchler just released an Obsdian theme called “Bircharoo” and it’s quite well done.
Nice little touches like some animation and Phosphor icons. Worth a look if you use the PKM app.
I keep finding more interesting people to follow on Micro.blog and because there are no follower counts and tracking, it’s easy to unfollow if you so desire without feeling guilty.
I just read Dario Amodei’s convincing “We Must Pace the Frontier.” Much has to go right in his plans to create measurable effect, and with our current administration against policing AI companies for fear of giving China an advantage, I’m less than optimistic.
Good thing I read this piece by Cal Newport to dampen the effect of the rhetoric and balance things out.
