EssayWells
@essaywells.bsky.social
Scientist, husband, parent, possibly a little too into Dungeons and Dragons. @essayWells on Twitter (Ex-Twitter?)
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If anyone is selling you the opportunity to make money, *you* are how *they* make money and the 'secret' they have is convincing people like you to pay them.
There will be a lot of smoke & mirrors to make it look like you have agency, but the product is your gullibility.
There will be a lot of smoke & mirrors to make it look like you have agency, but the product is your gullibility.
February 8, 2026 at 8:50 PM
If anyone is selling you the opportunity to make money, *you* are how *they* make money and the 'secret' they have is convincing people like you to pay them.
There will be a lot of smoke & mirrors to make it look like you have agency, but the product is your gullibility.
There will be a lot of smoke & mirrors to make it look like you have agency, but the product is your gullibility.
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To be very clear, that lady in the NYT article is not making any money with her hundreds of AI slop books.
She makes money by *convincing people* she makes money that way and getting them to pay her to teach them how to do it.
It's an evolved MLM, and the NYT is helping market it.
She makes money by *convincing people* she makes money that way and getting them to pay her to teach them how to do it.
It's an evolved MLM, and the NYT is helping market it.
February 8, 2026 at 8:03 PM
To be very clear, that lady in the NYT article is not making any money with her hundreds of AI slop books.
She makes money by *convincing people* she makes money that way and getting them to pay her to teach them how to do it.
It's an evolved MLM, and the NYT is helping market it.
She makes money by *convincing people* she makes money that way and getting them to pay her to teach them how to do it.
It's an evolved MLM, and the NYT is helping market it.
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Maybe a good time for this as well with norovirus making headlines.
I made this for our bathroom and a few “lucky” friends also got one as a gift.
As I’ve said before, it’s astonishing that I even have any friends at all.
I made this for our bathroom and a few “lucky” friends also got one as a gift.
As I’ve said before, it’s astonishing that I even have any friends at all.
February 8, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Maybe a good time for this as well with norovirus making headlines.
I made this for our bathroom and a few “lucky” friends also got one as a gift.
As I’ve said before, it’s astonishing that I even have any friends at all.
I made this for our bathroom and a few “lucky” friends also got one as a gift.
As I’ve said before, it’s astonishing that I even have any friends at all.
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Andre Ventura of Chega (change) running on anti-immigratiom slogans like "this isn't Bangladesh" and "Portugal is ours" has lost the Portugal presidential election in a landslide.
He was second on 23% to 31% in the first round but losing about 30-70 in the run-off to socialist António José Seguro
He was second on 23% to 31% in the first round but losing about 30-70 in the run-off to socialist António José Seguro
February 8, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Andre Ventura of Chega (change) running on anti-immigratiom slogans like "this isn't Bangladesh" and "Portugal is ours" has lost the Portugal presidential election in a landslide.
He was second on 23% to 31% in the first round but losing about 30-70 in the run-off to socialist António José Seguro
He was second on 23% to 31% in the first round but losing about 30-70 in the run-off to socialist António José Seguro
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The one positive thing about Keir Starmer having no ability to manage his own parliamentary party is that it produces on-the-record quotes like this
Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden has claimed there would be “no point” in removing Morgan McSweeney “if the Prime Minister stays”.
“In fact, I think if the Prime Minister stays there, I don’t think that would make any difference at all,” he said.
“In fact, I think if the Prime Minister stays there, I don’t think that would make any difference at all,” he said.
February 8, 2026 at 9:54 PM
The one positive thing about Keir Starmer having no ability to manage his own parliamentary party is that it produces on-the-record quotes like this
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The relevance of what McSweeney believed in 2020 to Labour's 2024 victory is not clear to me. I'd guess Johnson, Truss, Covid corruption, Partygate had a lot to do with it. But what's happened since 2024 can be attributed to McSweeney. And the evidence of what he's done since then speaks for itself.
On the other hand I think the wrongest of takes is the idea that McSweeney was incidental to the election victory that was all but guaranteed because of Tory collapse. He built a formidable election campaign- and was literally the only person you could find in 2020 who thought Labour could win.
February 8, 2026 at 9:26 PM
The relevance of what McSweeney believed in 2020 to Labour's 2024 victory is not clear to me. I'd guess Johnson, Truss, Covid corruption, Partygate had a lot to do with it. But what's happened since 2024 can be attributed to McSweeney. And the evidence of what he's done since then speaks for itself.
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The absolute pinnacle was 30 years ago when we all lost a whole month watching the Game of Life make funny little patterns and no modern AI will ever recapture that magic.
February 8, 2026 at 7:42 PM
The absolute pinnacle was 30 years ago when we all lost a whole month watching the Game of Life make funny little patterns and no modern AI will ever recapture that magic.
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Good morning. The President of the United States was in the middle of the most serious child sex trafficking ring of the last quarter century.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
February 8, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Good morning. The President of the United States was in the middle of the most serious child sex trafficking ring of the last quarter century.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
He is referenced not a dozen times in the case files. Not 100 times. Not 1,000 times. He’s referenced 38,000 times.
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They call it “persistent presence” and it’s a technique of war they have used in other parts of the world, notoriously in Somalia, which gives a new dimension to the cruelty of doing this to cities full of Somali refugees
In some cases they’re literally using the same Black Hawks even
In some cases they’re literally using the same Black Hawks even
You may ask yourself why helicopters fly over the Twin Cities so much and my best guess is it is to fuck with people.
Ugh. Looked up for a second only to see this guy buzz by my window.
February 8, 2026 at 2:43 PM
They call it “persistent presence” and it’s a technique of war they have used in other parts of the world, notoriously in Somalia, which gives a new dimension to the cruelty of doing this to cities full of Somali refugees
In some cases they’re literally using the same Black Hawks even
In some cases they’re literally using the same Black Hawks even
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Second time in 3 days I’m posting this Vonnegut quote wrt AI.
February 8, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Second time in 3 days I’m posting this Vonnegut quote wrt AI.
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An F-16 fighter jet of Ukraine's Air Force spectacularly shoots down a Russian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone in the skies over Ukraine.
📹 Telegram/AirTeam UA
📹 Telegram/AirTeam UA
February 8, 2026 at 8:08 PM
An F-16 fighter jet of Ukraine's Air Force spectacularly shoots down a Russian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone in the skies over Ukraine.
📹 Telegram/AirTeam UA
📹 Telegram/AirTeam UA
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6. Telling people off for being excited about something positive and productive in this time of relentless shit is not praxis. It’s being a miserable shitlord. I’m sure it feels great to tell people off online, but you’re being a dick.
February 8, 2026 at 7:21 PM
6. Telling people off for being excited about something positive and productive in this time of relentless shit is not praxis. It’s being a miserable shitlord. I’m sure it feels great to tell people off online, but you’re being a dick.
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Morgan McSweeney's genius is twofold: he is literally amazing at 1) despising the left and 2) giving exclusives to journalists who also despise the left. I can't believe those smarts didn't have staying power!
February 8, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Morgan McSweeney's genius is twofold: he is literally amazing at 1) despising the left and 2) giving exclusives to journalists who also despise the left. I can't believe those smarts didn't have staying power!
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the thing i'm waiting for with the ai romance novel lady is for another scammer to figure out that purely ai-generated material w no human authorship is generally not considered to be protected by copyright in the US rn, and saving themselves the 45 mins per book by reselling hers
February 8, 2026 at 6:06 PM
the thing i'm waiting for with the ai romance novel lady is for another scammer to figure out that purely ai-generated material w no human authorship is generally not considered to be protected by copyright in the US rn, and saving themselves the 45 mins per book by reselling hers
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consumer-facing llm chatbots must be stopped.
it's like crack to some people. worse, maybe, because they are being led to believe they're doing the smart thing by using "AI"
it's like crack to some people. worse, maybe, because they are being led to believe they're doing the smart thing by using "AI"
according to a pediatric ER doctor my wife follows on Instagram they have started to see children coming in sick because their parents are asking ChatGPT what the correct dosage is on over the counter medication instead of just looking at the instructions on the bottle
One of the easiest ways to shoot down the idea that "AI" is an expert is to show how it deals with something people know about.
Younger readers may not get this as most appliances come pre-wired, but anyone 35+ can see these are chaotic fire hazards.
From Mastodon, AI asked how to wire a plug:
Younger readers may not get this as most appliances come pre-wired, but anyone 35+ can see these are chaotic fire hazards.
From Mastodon, AI asked how to wire a plug:
February 8, 2026 at 4:44 PM
consumer-facing llm chatbots must be stopped.
it's like crack to some people. worse, maybe, because they are being led to believe they're doing the smart thing by using "AI"
it's like crack to some people. worse, maybe, because they are being led to believe they're doing the smart thing by using "AI"
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Why is a contributing editor to Harper's and a lecturer at Columbia Law cribbing independent journalist Marisa Kabas's posts word for word without attribution
February 8, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Why is a contributing editor to Harper's and a lecturer at Columbia Law cribbing independent journalist Marisa Kabas's posts word for word without attribution
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people who say that all creative endeavor can be replaced with AI probably need to reckon with the fact that all televised sports events with human athletes could easily be replicated by high-definition computer-animated simulations….and yet we don’t do this and no one seems to want to.
February 8, 2026 at 7:26 PM
people who say that all creative endeavor can be replaced with AI probably need to reckon with the fact that all televised sports events with human athletes could easily be replicated by high-definition computer-animated simulations….and yet we don’t do this and no one seems to want to.
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Sometimes I think “everyone is twelve” is overstated. Then I see the literal health secretary announcing that he will never eat his vegetables and you can’t make him.
RFK Jr on what he'll eat during the Super Bowl: "I am on a carnivore diet so I just eat meat and ferments, and I'm very happy with that. So I'm probably going to have yogurt."
February 8, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Sometimes I think “everyone is twelve” is overstated. Then I see the literal health secretary announcing that he will never eat his vegetables and you can’t make him.
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More than half the drugs on the TrumpRx site have a cheaper generic version on the market.
Pristiq, an antidepressant, is available with a TrumpRx coupon for ~$200 for a 30-day supply.
A generic version is on GoodRx for less than $30 and Mark Cuban's CostPlusDrugs for $16.65.
Pristiq, an antidepressant, is available with a TrumpRx coupon for ~$200 for a 30-day supply.
A generic version is on GoodRx for less than $30 and Mark Cuban's CostPlusDrugs for $16.65.
How TrumpRx drug prices compare to generic alternatives
Patients could save more buying non-branded copycat drugs, even if they don't have insurance.
www.axios.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:00 PM
More than half the drugs on the TrumpRx site have a cheaper generic version on the market.
Pristiq, an antidepressant, is available with a TrumpRx coupon for ~$200 for a 30-day supply.
A generic version is on GoodRx for less than $30 and Mark Cuban's CostPlusDrugs for $16.65.
Pristiq, an antidepressant, is available with a TrumpRx coupon for ~$200 for a 30-day supply.
A generic version is on GoodRx for less than $30 and Mark Cuban's CostPlusDrugs for $16.65.
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The point of the AI project is to provoke despair in creative people. They haven’t produced profits or anything anyone wants, just a steady stream of articles about how us artistic types can’t do the thing we’re already doing, making art. Jokes on them, we’re even better at despair than they are.
February 8, 2026 at 6:24 PM
The point of the AI project is to provoke despair in creative people. They haven’t produced profits or anything anyone wants, just a steady stream of articles about how us artistic types can’t do the thing we’re already doing, making art. Jokes on them, we’re even better at despair than they are.
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Buried in this piece is a throwaway line about how actually her real hustle is selling online courses to aspiring AI hacks, marking an extraordinary symbiosis of my two most hated internet poisons
“If I can generate a book in a day, and you need six months to write a book, who’s going to win the race?” God this is bleak
The New Fabio Is Claude
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 5:51 PM
Buried in this piece is a throwaway line about how actually her real hustle is selling online courses to aspiring AI hacks, marking an extraordinary symbiosis of my two most hated internet poisons
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Massie on Howard Lutnick: "He should just resign. Three people in Great Britain resigned for less than what we've seen Howard Lutnick lie about. He clearly went to the island, if we believe what's in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein."
February 8, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Massie on Howard Lutnick: "He should just resign. Three people in Great Britain resigned for less than what we've seen Howard Lutnick lie about. He clearly went to the island, if we believe what's in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein."
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"should the government kidnap 5 year olds and deport them? We asked seventeen ethics professors and they all just screamed"
February 8, 2026 at 5:42 PM
"should the government kidnap 5 year olds and deport them? We asked seventeen ethics professors and they all just screamed"
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One of my cherished roadtrip moments was walking past a rock shop that had a "mosasaur" skull in the window, causing Señor Maltese to give an impromptu lecture on mosasaur physiology for the employee and I.
This would be the first time I heard the phrase "more Moroccan folk art than fossil".
This would be the first time I heard the phrase "more Moroccan folk art than fossil".
Hahahaha oh lord look at this complete pile of shit.
And someone paid dollars for it.
And someone paid dollars for it.
February 8, 2026 at 5:54 PM
One of my cherished roadtrip moments was walking past a rock shop that had a "mosasaur" skull in the window, causing Señor Maltese to give an impromptu lecture on mosasaur physiology for the employee and I.
This would be the first time I heard the phrase "more Moroccan folk art than fossil".
This would be the first time I heard the phrase "more Moroccan folk art than fossil".
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Officials in authoritarian regimes frequently make absurd false statements in public to signal their loyalty
BASH: Is this measles outbreak a consequence of the administration undermining support for vaccines?
DR OZ: I don't believe so. Secretary Kennedy has been advocating for measles vaccines
BASH: Oh, come on
DR OZ: I don't believe so. Secretary Kennedy has been advocating for measles vaccines
BASH: Oh, come on
February 8, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Officials in authoritarian regimes frequently make absurd false statements in public to signal their loyalty