Mads
@madsjesty.bsky.social
She/her. Arts, puns, makes computers do Stuff for a living (via Typescript, predominantly), and soon to decamp to the world of Dragon Age
Reposted by Mads
One bit In my new environment design book is demonstrating staging techniques, now live on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/190...
October 27, 2025 at 5:38 PM
One bit In my new environment design book is demonstrating staging techniques, now live on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/190...
Reposted by Mads
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
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🐏 New Absolute Units 🐏
Same-sex relationships have always been part of rural England, but they've been underrepresented in our collections.
In the first of 2 episodes, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares his work tracing queer rural lives in The MERL archives.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
Same-sex relationships have always been part of rural England, but they've been underrepresented in our collections.
In the first of 2 episodes, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares his work tracing queer rural lives in The MERL archives.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
October 16, 2025 at 9:35 AM
🐏 New Absolute Units 🐏
Same-sex relationships have always been part of rural England, but they've been underrepresented in our collections.
In the first of 2 episodes, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares his work tracing queer rural lives in The MERL archives.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
Same-sex relationships have always been part of rural England, but they've been underrepresented in our collections.
In the first of 2 episodes, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares his work tracing queer rural lives in The MERL archives.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
Reposted by Mads
basically if you do not have an extremely resilient sense of self/theory of mind and a strong willingness to repeatedly impose behavioral rules on the agent, extended interaction with the free tier of chatgpt is designed to make you psychotic. its psycho-affectively akin to licking a car battery
June 15, 2025 at 10:49 PM
basically if you do not have an extremely resilient sense of self/theory of mind and a strong willingness to repeatedly impose behavioral rules on the agent, extended interaction with the free tier of chatgpt is designed to make you psychotic. its psycho-affectively akin to licking a car battery
Reposted by Mads
Reposted by Mads
AAUP v. Rubio is out, and look at how it starts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
September 30, 2025 at 4:37 PM
AAUP v. Rubio is out, and look at how it starts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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September 7, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I need to go back to my roots. Be the bitch I wish to see in the world.
September 26, 2025 at 7:03 AM
I need to go back to my roots. Be the bitch I wish to see in the world.
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I was part of a working group on AI and Fraternity assembled by the Vatican. We met in Rome and worked on this over two days. I am happy to share the result of that intense effort: a Declaration we presented to the Pope and other government authorities
coexistence.global
coexistence.global
September 23, 2025 at 5:33 PM
I was part of a working group on AI and Fraternity assembled by the Vatican. We met in Rome and worked on this over two days. I am happy to share the result of that intense effort: a Declaration we presented to the Pope and other government authorities
coexistence.global
coexistence.global
Reposted by Mads
What an expertly called shot
September 10, 2025 at 2:55 PM
What an expertly called shot
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These are spreads for McCall's magazine by Andy Virgil, 1959. Each spread was paying about $1,500 at that time. Today that would be between $9,000-$12,000. The average price of a brand new car in 1959 was $2,200.
August 17, 2025 at 7:04 PM
These are spreads for McCall's magazine by Andy Virgil, 1959. Each spread was paying about $1,500 at that time. Today that would be between $9,000-$12,000. The average price of a brand new car in 1959 was $2,200.
Reposted by Mads
I’m not an Absolute Coffee Guy so maybe Mr Cena is full of it but this absolutely cracked me up.
August 22, 2025 at 2:52 AM
I’m not an Absolute Coffee Guy so maybe Mr Cena is full of it but this absolutely cracked me up.
Reposted by Mads
GOOD NEWS! Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a UNIVERSAL vaccine that dramatically BOOSTS the immune system’s ability to fight tumors- even WITHOUT targeting a SPECIFIC cancer type. It has the potential to do away with chemotherapy, surgery AND radiation treatment.
August 21, 2025 at 4:00 PM
GOOD NEWS! Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a UNIVERSAL vaccine that dramatically BOOSTS the immune system’s ability to fight tumors- even WITHOUT targeting a SPECIFIC cancer type. It has the potential to do away with chemotherapy, surgery AND radiation treatment.
Reposted by Mads
Norwegian home invasion.
August 17, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Norwegian home invasion.
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I keep catching strays from "technology is neutral" people, so let's set things straight.
1) Technology is not neutral, especially the subset of technology called "algorithms"
2) The form-factor that makes a technology into a tool is not neutral
3) How tools are productized is not neutral
[rant]
1) Technology is not neutral, especially the subset of technology called "algorithms"
2) The form-factor that makes a technology into a tool is not neutral
3) How tools are productized is not neutral
[rant]
April 29, 2025 at 2:21 PM
I keep catching strays from "technology is neutral" people, so let's set things straight.
1) Technology is not neutral, especially the subset of technology called "algorithms"
2) The form-factor that makes a technology into a tool is not neutral
3) How tools are productized is not neutral
[rant]
1) Technology is not neutral, especially the subset of technology called "algorithms"
2) The form-factor that makes a technology into a tool is not neutral
3) How tools are productized is not neutral
[rant]
Reposted by Mads
"There is Death in the Pot" — front cover for an early 19th-century book on culinary poisoning.
July 26, 2025 at 1:47 AM
"There is Death in the Pot" — front cover for an early 19th-century book on culinary poisoning.
Reposted by Mads
Final comment is a reminder that this exists, which attempts to track down your internet footprint so you can manage it. It also does NSFW sites optionally for adult performers
It’s buggy and there’s false positives; going to try to improve it soon. There’s also an issue with Russian clone sites.
It’s buggy and there’s false positives; going to try to improve it soon. There’s also an issue with Russian clone sites.
Social Scout
Find your accounts across hundreds of platforms to clean up your online presence
assisted.site
July 25, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Final comment is a reminder that this exists, which attempts to track down your internet footprint so you can manage it. It also does NSFW sites optionally for adult performers
It’s buggy and there’s false positives; going to try to improve it soon. There’s also an issue with Russian clone sites.
It’s buggy and there’s false positives; going to try to improve it soon. There’s also an issue with Russian clone sites.
Reposted by Mads
Read this interview with a personal hero, Professor @daniellecitron.bsky.social: "we have essentially presumed that data collection is a good...We have long ignored this important inclination that collection itself is endangering our privacy and civil liberties" www.politico.com/newsletters/...
5 questions for Danielle Citron
www.politico.com
July 26, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Read this interview with a personal hero, Professor @daniellecitron.bsky.social: "we have essentially presumed that data collection is a good...We have long ignored this important inclination that collection itself is endangering our privacy and civil liberties" www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Mads
Something lovely for the weekend! A 1,800 year-old Roman glass flask shaped like a little mouse 🐭 💙
The Met 📷 by me www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
The Met 📷 by me www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
July 26, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Something lovely for the weekend! A 1,800 year-old Roman glass flask shaped like a little mouse 🐭 💙
The Met 📷 by me www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
The Met 📷 by me www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
Reposted by Mads
💯💯💯
Many ancient homes all over the world had no private kitchens/food prep spaces, period! Especially if you were poor!
This is why the discovery of a largely-intact "fast food" shopfront in Pompeii was such a huge deal, a few years ago. These places rarely survive the passage of time.
Many ancient homes all over the world had no private kitchens/food prep spaces, period! Especially if you were poor!
This is why the discovery of a largely-intact "fast food" shopfront in Pompeii was such a huge deal, a few years ago. These places rarely survive the passage of time.
July 26, 2025 at 9:35 AM
💯💯💯
Many ancient homes all over the world had no private kitchens/food prep spaces, period! Especially if you were poor!
This is why the discovery of a largely-intact "fast food" shopfront in Pompeii was such a huge deal, a few years ago. These places rarely survive the passage of time.
Many ancient homes all over the world had no private kitchens/food prep spaces, period! Especially if you were poor!
This is why the discovery of a largely-intact "fast food" shopfront in Pompeii was such a huge deal, a few years ago. These places rarely survive the passage of time.
Reposted by Mads
In Renaissance Italy (my specialty) many small apartments had a fireplace for heat but no oven or food prep space. One could buy bread, a chunk of meat, and “sauce” to take home and roast the meat on a spit, very like buying a microwave meal today. For complex things (stews, veggies, pies) takeout.
July 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
In Renaissance Italy (my specialty) many small apartments had a fireplace for heat but no oven or food prep space. One could buy bread, a chunk of meat, and “sauce” to take home and roast the meat on a spit, very like buying a microwave meal today. For complex things (stews, veggies, pies) takeout.
Reposted by Mads
Authoritarians love "Gen AI" because it
- Sounds confident even when factually wrong
- Broadly conforms to & reproduces their biases, off the shelf
- Lets them create bespoke realities (text, audio, moving & still image) which agree w/ their biases
- Degrades trust in knowledge/evidence/expertise…
- Sounds confident even when factually wrong
- Broadly conforms to & reproduces their biases, off the shelf
- Lets them create bespoke realities (text, audio, moving & still image) which agree w/ their biases
- Degrades trust in knowledge/evidence/expertise…
April 24, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Authoritarians love "Gen AI" because it
- Sounds confident even when factually wrong
- Broadly conforms to & reproduces their biases, off the shelf
- Lets them create bespoke realities (text, audio, moving & still image) which agree w/ their biases
- Degrades trust in knowledge/evidence/expertise…
- Sounds confident even when factually wrong
- Broadly conforms to & reproduces their biases, off the shelf
- Lets them create bespoke realities (text, audio, moving & still image) which agree w/ their biases
- Degrades trust in knowledge/evidence/expertise…
Reposted by Mads
I see grocery/takeout shaming discourse going around again, so this is your periodic historian reminder that cooking from scratch daily while working has never been sustainable, and for millennia everyone either relied on takeout & restaurants or ate in huge households w/ big dorm-like group dining.
July 25, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I see grocery/takeout shaming discourse going around again, so this is your periodic historian reminder that cooking from scratch daily while working has never been sustainable, and for millennia everyone either relied on takeout & restaurants or ate in huge households w/ big dorm-like group dining.
Reposted by Mads
Background paintings from Castle in the Sky (1986), dir. Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli
Pieces painted by Nizo Yamamoto, Toshiro Nozaki and Mutsuo Koseki
Pieces painted by Nizo Yamamoto, Toshiro Nozaki and Mutsuo Koseki
July 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Background paintings from Castle in the Sky (1986), dir. Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli
Pieces painted by Nizo Yamamoto, Toshiro Nozaki and Mutsuo Koseki
Pieces painted by Nizo Yamamoto, Toshiro Nozaki and Mutsuo Koseki