Tom Novak
@tomnovak.bsky.social
Denit Trust Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus, The George Washington University. Live in Leucadia, California.
I study people's relationships with smart things.
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IK6_rNQAAAAJ&hl=e
I study people's relationships with smart things.
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IK6_rNQAAAAJ&hl=e
The last thing I wanted to see in my Discover feed was a video from James Comey pleading his case. Plus with comments disabled because he doesn’t want to hear what anyone has to say.
it’s hard to get past how he screwed up the 2016 election. So it’s block and mute for him.
it’s hard to get past how he screwed up the 2016 election. So it’s block and mute for him.
September 26, 2025 at 12:44 AM
The last thing I wanted to see in my Discover feed was a video from James Comey pleading his case. Plus with comments disabled because he doesn’t want to hear what anyone has to say.
it’s hard to get past how he screwed up the 2016 election. So it’s block and mute for him.
it’s hard to get past how he screwed up the 2016 election. So it’s block and mute for him.
Have been looking for a list like this. And here it is!
If you have an extra $10 a month to spare, here's a list of worker-owned cooperative news sites you might want to support:
• 404 Media
• Defector
• The Flytrap
• Flaming Hydra
• The Appeal
• Aftermath
• Racket
• Hell Gate
• The 51st
• The Colorado Sun
• Range Media
• Discourse Blog
• Pop Heist
• 404 Media
• Defector
• The Flytrap
• Flaming Hydra
• The Appeal
• Aftermath
• Racket
• Hell Gate
• The 51st
• The Colorado Sun
• Range Media
• Discourse Blog
• Pop Heist
September 19, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Have been looking for a list like this. And here it is!
A 4-pack of 120 Ziploc gallon bags is $25.08 today on Amazon. It was $19.99 in November 2024.
It this 25% inflation? Tariffs? Or just corporate greed?
It this 25% inflation? Tariffs? Or just corporate greed?
September 18, 2025 at 7:56 PM
A 4-pack of 120 Ziploc gallon bags is $25.08 today on Amazon. It was $19.99 in November 2024.
It this 25% inflation? Tariffs? Or just corporate greed?
It this 25% inflation? Tariffs? Or just corporate greed?
What Bernie Sanders says about medical science is so obvious you think it doesn’t need to be said.
And yet it does.
And yet it does.
RFK Jr does not just reject vaccines. He rejects science and must step down | Bernie Sanders
Kennedy is unfit to be our nation’s leading public health official because he rejects the fundamental principles of modern science
www.theguardian.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:33 PM
What Bernie Sanders says about medical science is so obvious you think it doesn’t need to be said.
And yet it does.
And yet it does.
For some reason standard AI is priced at $20/month and premium AI is priced at $200/month.
Why?
Is this price based on rigorous consumer research, or was it pulled out of a random butthole?
Why?
Is this price based on rigorous consumer research, or was it pulled out of a random butthole?
August 30, 2025 at 5:23 PM
For some reason standard AI is priced at $20/month and premium AI is priced at $200/month.
Why?
Is this price based on rigorous consumer research, or was it pulled out of a random butthole?
Why?
Is this price based on rigorous consumer research, or was it pulled out of a random butthole?
Why does Google insist on showing its bad AI search results front and center?
Today it's telling me that Sonoma (version 14) is the latest MacOS.
Of course we are on Sequoia 15.5
Putting bad AI search result at the top of the search page hurts the credibility of everything that comes after.
Today it's telling me that Sonoma (version 14) is the latest MacOS.
Of course we are on Sequoia 15.5
Putting bad AI search result at the top of the search page hurts the credibility of everything that comes after.
August 9, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Why does Google insist on showing its bad AI search results front and center?
Today it's telling me that Sonoma (version 14) is the latest MacOS.
Of course we are on Sequoia 15.5
Putting bad AI search result at the top of the search page hurts the credibility of everything that comes after.
Today it's telling me that Sonoma (version 14) is the latest MacOS.
Of course we are on Sequoia 15.5
Putting bad AI search result at the top of the search page hurts the credibility of everything that comes after.
“So, how successful has the Norwegian EV strategy been?
Last year, according to the EV Association, 88.9 per cent of all new passenger cars sold in the country were fully electric.”
Meanwhile in the USA we’re burning gas and coal.
apple.news/Ae5beNXnQTqG...
Last year, according to the EV Association, 88.9 per cent of all new passenger cars sold in the country were fully electric.”
Meanwhile in the USA we’re burning gas and coal.
apple.news/Ae5beNXnQTqG...
Opinion: How Norway cracked the code for electric-vehicle adoption — The Globe and Mail
As Canada fails to implement compelling incentives for new-car buyers and commit to building EV infrastructure, it can look to Norway for a blueprint
apple.news
August 2, 2025 at 10:26 PM
“So, how successful has the Norwegian EV strategy been?
Last year, according to the EV Association, 88.9 per cent of all new passenger cars sold in the country were fully electric.”
Meanwhile in the USA we’re burning gas and coal.
apple.news/Ae5beNXnQTqG...
Last year, according to the EV Association, 88.9 per cent of all new passenger cars sold in the country were fully electric.”
Meanwhile in the USA we’re burning gas and coal.
apple.news/Ae5beNXnQTqG...
This has a little bit of a mid-century vibe. The new design looks way better to me than the hideous Cracker Barrel stores I associate with highway rest stops decades ago.
apple.news/A14CPow5PRJS...
apple.news/A14CPow5PRJS...
July 3, 2025 at 3:13 PM
This has a little bit of a mid-century vibe. The new design looks way better to me than the hideous Cracker Barrel stores I associate with highway rest stops decades ago.
apple.news/A14CPow5PRJS...
apple.news/A14CPow5PRJS...
If Musk had gone with liberals and the climate-concerned, every other car on the road would have been a Tesla. Can someone please explain the concept of product-market fit to him?
apple.news/A3UCouAzhSu6...
apple.news/A3UCouAzhSu6...
Trump escalates feud with Musk, threatens Tesla, SpaceX support — Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Elon Musk's companies receive from the federal government, in an escalation of the war of words b...
apple.news
July 1, 2025 at 5:43 PM
If Musk had gone with liberals and the climate-concerned, every other car on the road would have been a Tesla. Can someone please explain the concept of product-market fit to him?
apple.news/A3UCouAzhSu6...
apple.news/A3UCouAzhSu6...
Just another day in Oceanside!
May 22, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Just another day in Oceanside!
If the universe is a computer simulation, this would go a long way toward explaining why things are so screwed up in the US. We’ve arrived at a very dark and annoying level of the simulation game. Maybe the next level will be better?
www.sciencealert.com/the-universe...
www.sciencealert.com/the-universe...
The Universe Is 'Suspiciously' Like a Computer Simulation, Physicist Says
We have long taken it for granted that gravity is one of the basic forces of nature – one of the invisible threads that keeps the universe stitched together.
www.sciencealert.com
May 18, 2025 at 6:49 PM
If the universe is a computer simulation, this would go a long way toward explaining why things are so screwed up in the US. We’ve arrived at a very dark and annoying level of the simulation game. Maybe the next level will be better?
www.sciencealert.com/the-universe...
www.sciencealert.com/the-universe...
A day that begins with Deary’s vinyl EP arriving in the mail from the UK is a good day!
May 5, 2025 at 6:08 PM
A day that begins with Deary’s vinyl EP arriving in the mail from the UK is a good day!
Aloy in NYC in the style of Horizon Forbidden West, courtesy of Gemini Veo 2.
April 30, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Aloy in NYC in the style of Horizon Forbidden West, courtesy of Gemini Veo 2.
ChatGPT o3 deep research predicts new Deary LP in 2025.
"Based on Deary’s release history and the typical progression of a new band, we can expect news on a debut LP or at least new singles in the coming months."
#deary #dreampop #shoegaze
Full analysis:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gbaff...
"Based on Deary’s release history and the typical progression of a new band, we can expect news on a debut LP or at least new singles in the coming months."
#deary #dreampop #shoegaze
Full analysis:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gbaff...
April 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
ChatGPT o3 deep research predicts new Deary LP in 2025.
"Based on Deary’s release history and the typical progression of a new band, we can expect news on a debut LP or at least new singles in the coming months."
#deary #dreampop #shoegaze
Full analysis:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gbaff...
"Based on Deary’s release history and the typical progression of a new band, we can expect news on a debut LP or at least new singles in the coming months."
#deary #dreampop #shoegaze
Full analysis:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gbaff...
Using ChatGPT o3 for $20/month. After flailing around with deep research, not quite getting what I'm looking for, it tells me I'm almost out of deep research for the month. So sign up for the $200/month service.
I feel like I'm in the Black Mirror "Common People" episode w/ the Rivermind service.
I feel like I'm in the Black Mirror "Common People" episode w/ the Rivermind service.
April 22, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Using ChatGPT o3 for $20/month. After flailing around with deep research, not quite getting what I'm looking for, it tells me I'm almost out of deep research for the month. So sign up for the $200/month service.
I feel like I'm in the Black Mirror "Common People" episode w/ the Rivermind service.
I feel like I'm in the Black Mirror "Common People" episode w/ the Rivermind service.
The one thing alumni are looking at today as they think about their future contributions is how their school is responding to the assault on higher education.
My undergrad school, Oberlin College, signed the AACU statement. My grad institution, UNC, did not.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
My undergrad school, Oberlin College, signed the AACU statement. My grad institution, UNC, did not.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Over 150 US university presidents sign letter decrying Trump administration
Statement signed by Harvard, Princeton and Brown leaders denounces White House’s ‘undue government intrusion’
www.theguardian.com
April 22, 2025 at 3:47 PM
The one thing alumni are looking at today as they think about their future contributions is how their school is responding to the assault on higher education.
My undergrad school, Oberlin College, signed the AACU statement. My grad institution, UNC, did not.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
My undergrad school, Oberlin College, signed the AACU statement. My grad institution, UNC, did not.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Error of the day from Social Security.
"Bad"?
"Bad"?
April 4, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Error of the day from Social Security.
"Bad"?
"Bad"?
Here's the Social Security Website today.
April 3, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Here's the Social Security Website today.
Oh dear. Always heard that my town, Leucadia, was named in the 1870s by free thinking English spiritualists escaping persecution.
But this article says it was named in a marketing campaign by 1880's land developers, one a con man.
Talk about bursting my bubble.
scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...
But this article says it was named in a marketing campaign by 1880's land developers, one a con man.
Talk about bursting my bubble.
scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...
March 31, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Oh dear. Always heard that my town, Leucadia, was named in the 1870s by free thinking English spiritualists escaping persecution.
But this article says it was named in a marketing campaign by 1880's land developers, one a con man.
Talk about bursting my bubble.
scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...
But this article says it was named in a marketing campaign by 1880's land developers, one a con man.
Talk about bursting my bubble.
scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...
America is becoming a land of educated liberal women and uneducated conservative men.
“That creates a mismatch, because people prefer to date in terms of comparable education or income.”
One woman said,...“If I need companionship, I volunteer at the dog shelter.”
apple.news/APi_gmIjOR8G...
“That creates a mismatch, because people prefer to date in terms of comparable education or income.”
One woman said,...“If I need companionship, I volunteer at the dog shelter.”
apple.news/APi_gmIjOR8G...
March 27, 2025 at 3:42 PM
America is becoming a land of educated liberal women and uneducated conservative men.
“That creates a mismatch, because people prefer to date in terms of comparable education or income.”
One woman said,...“If I need companionship, I volunteer at the dog shelter.”
apple.news/APi_gmIjOR8G...
“That creates a mismatch, because people prefer to date in terms of comparable education or income.”
One woman said,...“If I need companionship, I volunteer at the dog shelter.”
apple.news/APi_gmIjOR8G...
Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West are good sources for non-mainstream names for girls and boys.
March 26, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West are good sources for non-mainstream names for girls and boys.
Now H5N1 is in sheep.
"risk to general public is very low"
Where have we heard that phrase before?
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
"risk to general public is very low"
Where have we heard that phrase before?
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
World’s first case of bird flu in sheep detected in England
H5N1 virus found in single animal in Yorkshire but risk to general public is very low, say experts
www.theguardian.com
March 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Now H5N1 is in sheep.
"risk to general public is very low"
Where have we heard that phrase before?
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
"risk to general public is very low"
Where have we heard that phrase before?
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
So now we know where the design of the Tesla truck was “borrowed” from.
India, if you’re listening… Some patent laws are in your favor.
March 14, 2025 at 5:59 PM
So now we know where the design of the Tesla truck was “borrowed” from.