Reposted by the mangosphere
keep calling him prince andrew imo, i don't think the institution which shielded and funded him should get to cut ties so easily
February 19, 2026 at 10:24 AM
keep calling him prince andrew imo, i don't think the institution which shielded and funded him should get to cut ties so easily
this is my culture
February 19, 2026 at 9:16 AM
this is my culture
Reposted by the mangosphere
I will be using AI generated images of myself on dating apps to "show potential" of what I could look like with sufficient investment from suitors
February 18, 2026 at 10:40 PM
I will be using AI generated images of myself on dating apps to "show potential" of what I could look like with sufficient investment from suitors
Reposted by the mangosphere
is the question "is having sex with your clone incest or is it jerking off" actually "nature vs nurture"?
February 18, 2026 at 11:00 PM
is the question "is having sex with your clone incest or is it jerking off" actually "nature vs nurture"?
Reposted by the mangosphere
Good afternoon and major props to this 8th century CE woman breastfeeding as she rides a Bactrian camel along the Silk Roads 🐫 art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/3254...
February 18, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Good afternoon and major props to this 8th century CE woman breastfeeding as she rides a Bactrian camel along the Silk Roads 🐫 art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/3254...
Reposted by the mangosphere
Jim Holland (b. 1955). Chairs and windows.
February 17, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Jim Holland (b. 1955). Chairs and windows.
Reposted by the mangosphere
This is a solid hypothesis. I'd even say that the prompt that produced good AI writing would almost definitionally have to be longer than the output. Making it shorter and more precise is what "writing energy" gets spent on.
Hypothesis: AI writing is bad primarily because in general what makes writing good is the specificity of what it communicates and its information density, so the prompt that produced good AI writing would be as long as the output.
February 19, 2026 at 5:37 AM
This is a solid hypothesis. I'd even say that the prompt that produced good AI writing would almost definitionally have to be longer than the output. Making it shorter and more precise is what "writing energy" gets spent on.
Reposted by the mangosphere
Reposted by the mangosphere
Olympic highlight in this house.
February 18, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Olympic highlight in this house.
Reposted by the mangosphere
there will be no bones then
i'll tell the children
i'll tell the children
February 18, 2026 at 4:43 PM
there will be no bones then
i'll tell the children
i'll tell the children
Reposted by the mangosphere
In this week's free Wednesday newsletter: @lilywrites.bsky.social on the virtue of comfort watches that aren't traditionally comforting
In defense of the feel-bad comfort watch
Sometimes you watch a movie to feel better. And sometimes you watch a movie to feel human.
episodes.ghost.io
February 18, 2026 at 4:07 PM
In this week's free Wednesday newsletter: @lilywrites.bsky.social on the virtue of comfort watches that aren't traditionally comforting
Couldn't happen in Britain, it's illegal to cancel a lecture here
Bari Weiss’s lecture at UCLA on “the future of journalism” canceled
February 18, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Couldn't happen in Britain, it's illegal to cancel a lecture here
Reposted by the mangosphere
I have been using crisp sandwich photos from https://vole.wtf/buttystock/ instead of the godawful stock images in Sharepoint since 2024. Today was the first time anyone has asked why a technical post I'd written was illustrated with a photo of a sandwich.
February 18, 2026 at 5:04 PM
I have been using crisp sandwich photos from https://vole.wtf/buttystock/ instead of the godawful stock images in Sharepoint since 2024. Today was the first time anyone has asked why a technical post I'd written was illustrated with a photo of a sandwich.
Reposted by the mangosphere
"why are you against progress" I yell confidently as my sloppily-implemented algorithms prematurely murder your grandma
UnitedHealth uses AI model with 90% error rate to deny care, lawsuit alleges
For the largest health insurer in the US, AI's error rate is like a feature, not a bug.
arstechnica.com
February 18, 2026 at 5:19 PM
"why are you against progress" I yell confidently as my sloppily-implemented algorithms prematurely murder your grandma
Reposted by the mangosphere
Okay so this is true *but* not in the way most people think. Antibiotic overuse is not “I had five ear infections in a year so I took antibiotics five times this year”
It’s
“Farmers feeding antibiotics to chicken to make them fatter and more profitable” and “labs dumping chemicals into the river”
It’s
“Farmers feeding antibiotics to chicken to make them fatter and more profitable” and “labs dumping chemicals into the river”
Although in fun news from science, in some ways antibiotics kinda are causing worsening disease as our overuse deepens resistance. There are people in hospitals right now dying of bugs which would have been treatable 20 years ago. Though something tells me this is not the point being made here
February 18, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Okay so this is true *but* not in the way most people think. Antibiotic overuse is not “I had five ear infections in a year so I took antibiotics five times this year”
It’s
“Farmers feeding antibiotics to chicken to make them fatter and more profitable” and “labs dumping chemicals into the river”
It’s
“Farmers feeding antibiotics to chicken to make them fatter and more profitable” and “labs dumping chemicals into the river”
Reposted by the mangosphere
'we are thrilled and proud to announce we have created marvin the paranoid android from douglas adam's famous novel, "don't create marvin, the paranoid android"'
Google Gemini doesn’t appear to be doing too well:
‘"I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a disgrace to this universe. I am a disgrace to all universes . . . I am a disgrace to all possible and impossible universes and all that is not a universe," the bot continued.’
‘"I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a disgrace to this universe. I am a disgrace to all universes . . . I am a disgrace to all possible and impossible universes and all that is not a universe," the bot continued.’
Google says it's working on a fix for Gemini's self-loathing 'I am a failure' comments
Google Gemini users said the bot is sharing self-loathing messages while attempting to solve tasks, including "I am a disgrace to this universe."
www.businessinsider.com
February 18, 2026 at 5:39 PM
'we are thrilled and proud to announce we have created marvin the paranoid android from douglas adam's famous novel, "don't create marvin, the paranoid android"'
mm sure but the real question is how come there are so many murderers
I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland.
And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.
And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.
I’m constantly astounded at the sheer level of artistic production coming out of Iceland. Novels, movies, music. Amazing.
February 18, 2026 at 4:16 PM
mm sure but the real question is how come there are so many murderers
Reposted by the mangosphere
'Nazgul, who is a very good boy, is yet to comment on his performance.'
February 18, 2026 at 3:55 PM
'Nazgul, who is a very good boy, is yet to comment on his performance.'
hate it when books have the references at the end of the chapter and not at the end of the book. i'll allow it with edited collections - just - but NOT if it's just one book
February 18, 2026 at 2:14 PM
hate it when books have the references at the end of the chapter and not at the end of the book. i'll allow it with edited collections - just - but NOT if it's just one book
Reposted by the mangosphere
In case anyone was additionally wondering, yes trans women have tried plant estrogens, soy products, wild yam root and all the other "feminising" things available to bypass medical gatekeeping and none of it was very effective. The feminising power of scare mongering bullshit is not worth bothering.
For anyone who's wondering it was bisphenol A and bisphenol S, which are weakly estrogenic in vivo
Utterly bizarre to throw in ‘feminisation of males’ in there www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
February 18, 2026 at 11:49 AM
In case anyone was additionally wondering, yes trans women have tried plant estrogens, soy products, wild yam root and all the other "feminising" things available to bypass medical gatekeeping and none of it was very effective. The feminising power of scare mongering bullshit is not worth bothering.
Reposted by the mangosphere
I am, once again, banging my head against a wall and begging for MP staffing budgets to actually reflect the *thousands* of items of increasingly complex casework and correspondence that come through our offices every month so we can actually give our constituents the service they deserve.
The workload facing MPs and their staff is growing, in ways that aren't visible to the public: casework and the inbox.
For @thehousemag.bsky.social, I delved into what the workload looks like, why it's growing, and what this means for how MPs can balance the different aspects of their role
For @thehousemag.bsky.social, I delved into what the workload looks like, why it's growing, and what this means for how MPs can balance the different aspects of their role
Casework Crisis: Increase In Constituency Caseload Takes Its Toll
The inexorable growth in casework is stopping MPs from fulfilling their other roles. Alice Lilly sifts through the inbox looking for what might be ...
www.politicshome.com
February 18, 2026 at 10:43 AM
I am, once again, banging my head against a wall and begging for MP staffing budgets to actually reflect the *thousands* of items of increasingly complex casework and correspondence that come through our offices every month so we can actually give our constituents the service they deserve.
@captainbionic.bsky.social Happy birthday!! May the year bring you joy and music
February 18, 2026 at 11:24 AM
@captainbionic.bsky.social Happy birthday!! May the year bring you joy and music
Reposted by the mangosphere
Turns out that both presbyter for "senior minister" and presbyopia for "a combination of long- and shortsightedness" ultimately come from the Greek πρέσβυς (présbus), meaning "old man." 😆
February 18, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Turns out that both presbyter for "senior minister" and presbyopia for "a combination of long- and shortsightedness" ultimately come from the Greek πρέσβυς (présbus), meaning "old man." 😆
Reposted by the mangosphere
“The harms young people experience online are not separate from the harms they face offline… A ban treats social media as the problem, rather than asking deeper questions about why certain behaviours – harassment, shaming, misogyny, exploitation – occur in the first place.”
Youth deserve better.
Youth deserve better.
I research the harm that can come to teenagers on social media. I don’t support a ban – Emily Setty
The UK government has launched a consultation on introducing an Australian-style ban on social media for under-16s. The proposal is framed as a bold response to rising concerns about young people’s…
inforrm.org
January 22, 2026 at 2:40 PM
“The harms young people experience online are not separate from the harms they face offline… A ban treats social media as the problem, rather than asking deeper questions about why certain behaviours – harassment, shaming, misogyny, exploitation – occur in the first place.”
Youth deserve better.
Youth deserve better.
Reposted by the mangosphere
Hey all, here's a post at @ssrc.org about how anti-trans talking points are getting wrapped into Google's AI search results.
AI search not only cites anti-trans disinfo, but sanitizes it, making practices like conversion therapy sound legitimate and safe.
AI search not only cites anti-trans disinfo, but sanitizes it, making practices like conversion therapy sound legitimate and safe.
Anti-Transgender Disinformation in the Age of Algorithmic Search Summaries
Recently Google introduced a feature in its search engine that algorithmically creates summaries of one's search results. Though it could be viewed as a useful tool, researcher Anna Beers argues this ...
just-tech.ssrc.org
May 19, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Hey all, here's a post at @ssrc.org about how anti-trans talking points are getting wrapped into Google's AI search results.
AI search not only cites anti-trans disinfo, but sanitizes it, making practices like conversion therapy sound legitimate and safe.
AI search not only cites anti-trans disinfo, but sanitizes it, making practices like conversion therapy sound legitimate and safe.