Shoveliere
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thedansimonson.bsky.social
Shoveliere
@thedansimonson.bsky.social
#nlproc phd. computational linguiost. disaster artist. computer wizard. bike commuter. opinion haver. under constr
Reposted by Shoveliere
This is excellent & draws out something the rest of the media is ignoring: among other things, the Epstein files have made it super, super clear that the entire "anti-woke" cultural hysteria was engineered by powerful men averse to accountability.
February 7, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Shoveliere
Man Who Lost Everything In Crypto Just Wishes Several Thousand More People Had Warned Him https://theonion.com/man-who-lost-everything-in-crypto-just-wishes-several-t-1848764551/
February 3, 2026 at 11:00 PM
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i made a version of wikipedia you can doomscroll
xikipedia.org
February 1, 2026 at 11:43 PM
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There's actually a rational history to people saying "we don't actually know how & why AI works". But it's been getting twisted into suggesting we don't know how neural networks work, which is nonsense.

What we don't understand are things about *language*. 1/n
February 5, 2026 at 3:52 PM
All these guys who think they’re tougher than Minnesota wine moms are the same guys who think they could beat a grizzly bear in unarmed single combat.
February 5, 2026 at 2:33 PM
JD Vance: “look, I was watching. They were clearly chanting ‘fun guys’ because they were so excited to see these guys wrestle and have fun. If it weren’t for the ridiculous fake news media, no one would have misinterpr
February 5, 2026 at 3:35 AM
I feel like if God were real, he'd be insulted by the idea of a church. like, have you seen the night sky in the truly dark? what the fuck do you need a church for when you have that?

"but tbt the weather's not always good" yea I think that's a sign from God that it's a bad time for church
February 4, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Shoveliere
El Zangarrón de Montamarta, Zamora, one of the extraordinary range of masked celebrations across the Iberian Peninsula, esp NW, most pre-Roman+pagan in origin, to have survived the ravages of the Inquisition and more recent Francoist repression. Image wiki
February 4, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Freedom and democracy are the same. You are not free without power and self-determination.

Thiel's statement is, on the surface, contradictory but revealing. What he means by "freedom" isn't freedom to be, to do, and to associate, but rather to claim things as property and to use and abuse them
Yes, Peter decided that the continued existence of our democracies isn't compatible with his desired level of personal freedom.

An absolute enemy of humanity.
February 3, 2026 at 1:57 AM
idk if anyone wants to stand behidn him since he poops his pants
Nocturnal musings of a wanna be dictator
February 3, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Reposted by Shoveliere
Well, what does it mean for AI to be "fake?" Language evokes intelligence - in the reader. It's a powerful illusion. A reasonable critic sees that computation at scale can fuse language w/math in ways that do things. That is not "intelligence," and the problems that come that error are bountiful.
You can totally point out that some aspects of AI are overhyped, you can believe that AGI is not possible, you can criticize how the companies and governments developing AI are using or being coopted by these tools. There is a lot to criticize.

But "it doesn't work and is fake" is just wrong now.
February 2, 2026 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Shoveliere
Another gloss on this: LLMs and AI have made it trivially easy to produce the “slick vaporware product demo” with asymptotically high production values for completely substance-less drek, and this is absolutely blowing people’s minds who still haven’t caught up with this being the new reality.
February 2, 2026 at 6:06 PM
It hasn’t been above 20F here for like a month, maybe the easiest weather call of all time
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil is said to have seen his shadow, predicting 6 more weeks of winter weather.
February 2, 2026 at 4:12 PM
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there are two types of conspiracy theory:

1) racism
2) stuff the cia has literally admitted to doing
December 31, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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Also saw the greatest plate I’ve ever seen in a thrift store, I think this should be our new national motto
February 2, 2026 at 2:19 AM
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ancient Romans instead but i recently read this series by @bretdevereaux.bsky.social and i highly recommend it
February 1, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Shoveliere
some good news buried among the horrible behavior listed:

“The third woman said federal agents at her hotel are subsisting on microwavable bowls of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, because it’s become so difficult for them to find restaurants willing to serve them.”
I visited hotels all over Minneapolis, went into back rooms & talked to the staff.

They're afraid.

One told me she resents how her undocumented coworkers spend their days cleaning the rooms of agents who are “hunting down their family members.”

@notus.com:

www.notus.org/immigration/...
Minneapolis’ Hotel Workers Are on Edge
Staff across the city told NOTUS how their lives have changed since the start of the federal immigration operation. “It's frightening,” one said.
www.notus.org
January 30, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Shoveliere
Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning.

Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.
February 1, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Trump in here just describing himself
Trump on Mpls: "Do these people really want to have rapists and drug dealers and people from prisons and murderers, do they really want to have them in the community? It's really insurrectionists and agitators and they're paid ... everybody has a beautiful sign with brand new wood. Leather panels."
January 31, 2026 at 9:44 PM
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For Liam.
January 30, 2026 at 7:04 AM
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Joker Expands Power of His Crew to Kill People During Robberies.
ICE Expands Power of Agents to Arrest People Without Warrants
www.nytimes.com
January 31, 2026 at 4:41 AM
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took at university.

Classical Mechanics
Roman Provinces
Astrophysics
Information Extraction & Retrieval
Discourse Analysis: Narrative
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took at university.

Avoiding English/Ling/Music courses (Majors/Minor)...

Intermediate Jogging
19th Century Russian Literature
Chekhov
Political Philosophy
The Medieval Church
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took at university.

Typography
Glassblowing
Painting
Packaging
Great Works of The Arts & Crafts Movement
January 31, 2026 at 4:08 AM
Reposted by Shoveliere
Very interesting research paper that shows that using AI with programming can significantly reduce mastery over topics. Perhaps unsurprising, but the lack of significant speed gains in this exercise are remarkable

www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
January 31, 2026 at 12:23 AM