K. Chen
@tznkai.bsky.social
Heartless humanist, unmovable automaton, fount of terrifying knowledge and purveyor of Collegey Velveteen Discourse. Creative, slightly off-putting, entirely accurate. Insightful and painful enough to be the germ of something really excellent.
Pinned
K. Chen
@tznkai.bsky.social
· Nov 8
I think I'll use this thread as a table of content for my health insurance and personal finance explainers, but with clickbait titles
IR must be maddening right now, like being an economist discovering new degrees of irrationality and a lawyer discovering the law is even more fake than anticipated.
It’s genuinely wild that the United States spent decades building an elaborate rules-based international order which de facto cemented its permanent status as the dominant global hegemon, sustained by ideology rather than might, and now is just blowing it all up for literally no reason
January 6, 2026 at 12:59 AM
IR must be maddening right now, like being an economist discovering new degrees of irrationality and a lawyer discovering the law is even more fake than anticipated.
Reposted by K. Chen
It’s genuinely wild that the United States spent decades building an elaborate rules-based international order which de facto cemented its permanent status as the dominant global hegemon, sustained by ideology rather than might, and now is just blowing it all up for literally no reason
January 6, 2026 at 12:35 AM
It’s genuinely wild that the United States spent decades building an elaborate rules-based international order which de facto cemented its permanent status as the dominant global hegemon, sustained by ideology rather than might, and now is just blowing it all up for literally no reason
I don't know if Americans will accept that oil could need subsidization.
TRUMP: MAY SUBSIDIZE OIL COMPANIES REBUILDING IN VENEZUELA: NBC
January 5, 2026 at 11:36 PM
I don't know if Americans will accept that oil could need subsidization.
Reposted by K. Chen
Yeah but also the vibe shift wasn’t _just_ the wave it was the vibe shift in reality from trump winning
It sorta feels like that’s the big thing no one’s bringing up in this discourse, like of course online sucks *gestures at offline*
It sorta feels like that’s the big thing no one’s bringing up in this discourse, like of course online sucks *gestures at offline*
January 5, 2026 at 11:27 PM
Yeah but also the vibe shift wasn’t _just_ the wave it was the vibe shift in reality from trump winning
It sorta feels like that’s the big thing no one’s bringing up in this discourse, like of course online sucks *gestures at offline*
It sorta feels like that’s the big thing no one’s bringing up in this discourse, like of course online sucks *gestures at offline*
Reposted by K. Chen
Are you a real father if you've not been vomited all over after playing with your baby despite being warned they had just eaten?
I'm sorry I am at my most masculine when I am flinging my youngest into the air while she laughs and my wife disapproves.
I am more and more convinced that right-wingers are like this because they surround themselves with sociopaths to the point they don't know when they're broken inside because they're the same as the people they are regularly around.
Traumatized people traumatizing their kids.
Traumatized people traumatizing their kids.
January 5, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Are you a real father if you've not been vomited all over after playing with your baby despite being warned they had just eaten?
I'm sorry I am at my most masculine when I am flinging my youngest into the air while she laughs and my wife disapproves.
I am more and more convinced that right-wingers are like this because they surround themselves with sociopaths to the point they don't know when they're broken inside because they're the same as the people they are regularly around.
Traumatized people traumatizing their kids.
Traumatized people traumatizing their kids.
January 5, 2026 at 9:27 PM
I'm sorry I am at my most masculine when I am flinging my youngest into the air while she laughs and my wife disapproves.
Reposted by K. Chen
I think we should be able to grow McRibs in a vat and it should be super cheap.
The lawsuit claims McDonald’s is deceiving customers who “reasonably believe the ‘McRib’ will include at least some actual pork rib meat.”
The plaintiffs allege the sandwich is made up of ground-up portions of pork shoulder, heart and scalded stomach.
#BlackskyNews
www.live5news.com/2026/01/05/c...
The plaintiffs allege the sandwich is made up of ground-up portions of pork shoulder, heart and scalded stomach.
#BlackskyNews
www.live5news.com/2026/01/05/c...
Class-action lawsuit claims McDonald’s McRib doesn’t actually contain rib meat
A lawsuit claims the McDonald's McRib does not actually contain rib meat.
www.live5news.com
January 5, 2026 at 8:38 PM
I think we should be able to grow McRibs in a vat and it should be super cheap.
Don't commit crimes in full view during a conference at which you are a speaker, but
A hacker known as Martha Root broke in and deleted three white supremacists websites at the end of a talk during the annual hacker conference Chaos Communication Congress in Germany.
Hacktivist deletes white supremacist websites live on stage during hacker conference | TechCrunch
A hacker known as Martha Root broke in and deleted three white supremacists websites at the end of a talk during the annual hacker conference Chaos Communication Congress in Germany.
techcrunch.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Don't commit crimes in full view during a conference at which you are a speaker, but
Historians will one day write about the Trump administration's revival and alteration of the Monroe Doctrine and I hope they notice that this has all been *extremely stupid* above and beyond any disagreements with the doctrine itself
“for this is a war which we all wage, this time, not for our German people alone, it is a war for all of Europe and with it, in the long run, for all of mankind.” - Adolf Hitler, 1942
January 5, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Historians will one day write about the Trump administration's revival and alteration of the Monroe Doctrine and I hope they notice that this has all been *extremely stupid* above and beyond any disagreements with the doctrine itself
There's a hope found in evolution. If we get out of this, necessarily we will have created in the public a robust devotion to things like public broadcasting, investments in science, and a functioning federal bureaucracy.
But requirements aren't a guarantee of results in an evolutionary system.
But requirements aren't a guarantee of results in an evolutionary system.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved, ending its 58 years as the primary funder for PBS, NPR and local TV and radio stations
Corporation For Public Broadcasting Is Dissolved After 58 Years Of Service
www.huffpost.com
January 5, 2026 at 8:54 PM
There's a hope found in evolution. If we get out of this, necessarily we will have created in the public a robust devotion to things like public broadcasting, investments in science, and a functioning federal bureaucracy.
But requirements aren't a guarantee of results in an evolutionary system.
But requirements aren't a guarantee of results in an evolutionary system.
Reposted by K. Chen
Americans don't be weird about eating meat processing by-products challenge: IMPOSSIBLE
The lawsuit claims McDonald’s is deceiving customers who “reasonably believe the ‘McRib’ will include at least some actual pork rib meat.”
The plaintiffs allege the sandwich is made up of ground-up portions of pork shoulder, heart and scalded stomach.
#BlackskyNews
www.live5news.com/2026/01/05/c...
The plaintiffs allege the sandwich is made up of ground-up portions of pork shoulder, heart and scalded stomach.
#BlackskyNews
www.live5news.com/2026/01/05/c...
Class-action lawsuit claims McDonald’s McRib doesn’t actually contain rib meat
A lawsuit claims the McDonald's McRib does not actually contain rib meat.
www.live5news.com
January 5, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Americans don't be weird about eating meat processing by-products challenge: IMPOSSIBLE
I regret to inform you this is most likely going to work because you're not the customer of O/M365, your CIO is.
Microsoft is so fucking stupid.
Microsoft renamed Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot App
I'm not joking
Microsoft renamed Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot App
I'm not joking
January 5, 2026 at 7:56 PM
I regret to inform you this is most likely going to work because you're not the customer of O/M365, your CIO is.
Putting aside causation for a moment, I think the substance of the difference is that there's a large contingent of anti-AI posters who act as if it is their *duty* to hold the line. To kill off AI adoption via zero tolerance or to die trying.
Every specialty faces some version of “sea lions with machine guns” nonsense, but in my (admittedly limited) experience, it’s uniquely toxic in the ML/AI/stats policy space.
January 5, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Putting aside causation for a moment, I think the substance of the difference is that there's a large contingent of anti-AI posters who act as if it is their *duty* to hold the line. To kill off AI adoption via zero tolerance or to die trying.
Looking forward to having to specify which version number of the CDC guidelines I want my kids' pediatrician to follow.
BREAKING: CDC announces an unprecedented overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule, a significant shift that recommends fewer shots for all kids.
CDC overhauls childhood vaccine schedule to resemble Denmark in unprecedented move
The new U.S. guidelines recommend all children get vaccines for 11 diseases, compared with the 18 previously on the schedule.
nbcnews.to
January 5, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Looking forward to having to specify which version number of the CDC guidelines I want my kids' pediatrician to follow.
Reposted by K. Chen
Lina Khan really did run the FTC. It really did happen. The NLRB was in the news. The IRA got passed.
January 5, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Lina Khan really did run the FTC. It really did happen. The NLRB was in the news. The IRA got passed.
This is sponsored content and all, but "that does sound like something an AI agent would do" is a genuinely brilliant shorthand for the problem of both AI agents and hardening your inputs.
Junior eng learns what an API is (collab with @postman )
YouTube video by Alberta Tech
www.youtube.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:02 PM
This is sponsored content and all, but "that does sound like something an AI agent would do" is a genuinely brilliant shorthand for the problem of both AI agents and hardening your inputs.
I think this is a strong argument but I don't think it's dispositive. User input into AI *does* shape output and it does so mechanically if not totally predictably. Adding randomness should not by itself change whether the user is considered the author.
230 is about moderation of user content, and while the user is responsible for the prompt, they have no control over the output of Grok. When Grok replies, the company is simply publishing their own content.
January 5, 2026 at 6:15 PM
I think this is a strong argument but I don't think it's dispositive. User input into AI *does* shape output and it does so mechanically if not totally predictably. Adding randomness should not by itself change whether the user is considered the author.
"And if they don't, they're gonna feel the heat from their constituents." is the entire point of this. The basic task and power of the minority is to make the majority unpopular. That's it.
Schumer: "Republicans must -- if there was ever a time, they must step up to the plate. This is the time. And if they don't, they're gonna feel the heat from their constituents."
January 5, 2026 at 5:12 PM
"And if they don't, they're gonna feel the heat from their constituents." is the entire point of this. The basic task and power of the minority is to make the majority unpopular. That's it.
On the one hand LLMs are mostly proving that education uses methods that have always been bad just optimized for scale and on the other hand education has always been primarily a challenge of scale.
I think a fundamental problem in 2026 is the good solutions require smaller first year classes where we can create new assessment methods (oral presentations, digital research projects, etc). LLMs break the assignments that worked OK with big groups. But no one is investing in hiring professors.
January 5, 2026 at 1:49 PM
On the one hand LLMs are mostly proving that education uses methods that have always been bad just optimized for scale and on the other hand education has always been primarily a challenge of scale.
Outsourcing your judgement is often bad but I maintain we're still better off not interacting with people who outsource their judgement.
The alternative to being blocked via a spurious blocklist or labeler is not all the otherwise subscribers becoming judicious. It is them calling you a Nazi.
The alternative to being blocked via a spurious blocklist or labeler is not all the otherwise subscribers becoming judicious. It is them calling you a Nazi.
seems like people probably shouldn't use a nazi blocklist run by a petty asshole who adds anyone he doesn't like to it.
January 5, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Outsourcing your judgement is often bad but I maintain we're still better off not interacting with people who outsource their judgement.
The alternative to being blocked via a spurious blocklist or labeler is not all the otherwise subscribers becoming judicious. It is them calling you a Nazi.
The alternative to being blocked via a spurious blocklist or labeler is not all the otherwise subscribers becoming judicious. It is them calling you a Nazi.
On top of everything in this thread, being an incumbent that viciously defends your place in the face of new entrants correlates strongly with age and this site is getting older and thus boomier.
I see a lot of people being like "what's the deal with the deranged bluesky elders" and basically it's that in the before times there were a lot of people who made it their mission to drive people they didn't like off the platform & that's how they got their following
January 5, 2026 at 1:24 PM
On top of everything in this thread, being an incumbent that viciously defends your place in the face of new entrants correlates strongly with age and this site is getting older and thus boomier.
Reposted by K. Chen
Plus everyone just feels bad now. Shit sucks!
January 5, 2026 at 5:06 AM
Plus everyone just feels bad now. Shit sucks!
Reposted by K. Chen
This is why a US abandonment of these things is damaging to our interests (ignoring the fact that it is also morally damaging to the country). We have been exceptionally good at maintaining alliances and good relations in ways that benefit us immensely. We burn that at our own peril.
January 4, 2026 at 7:40 PM
This is why a US abandonment of these things is damaging to our interests (ignoring the fact that it is also morally damaging to the country). We have been exceptionally good at maintaining alliances and good relations in ways that benefit us immensely. We burn that at our own peril.
Reposted by K. Chen
This dynamic builds in all sorts of communities. The childfree and dogfree subreddits are full of people who have negatively polarized themselves into the worst human beings because they had to one up each other in complaints.
that sometimes begins with a relatively mild complaint - 'so and so is annoying talking about X' and then builds from there as a kind of group catharsis, where it's not just the target's *actual behavior* that's obsessed over, but things that they've imagined the target is the kind of person to do
January 5, 2026 at 12:42 PM
This dynamic builds in all sorts of communities. The childfree and dogfree subreddits are full of people who have negatively polarized themselves into the worst human beings because they had to one up each other in complaints.
SMAC SMAC SMAC
Quote this with your favourite game from 1999 NOW, and what your favourite was THEN (if you had one)
Localisations/expansions count, remasters/ports don't. Remakes depend.
Two-way ties count.
For a fuller refresher: backloggd.com/games/lib/po...
- PSA: Metal Gear Solid and Half-Life were 1998 -
Localisations/expansions count, remasters/ports don't. Remakes depend.
Two-way ties count.
For a fuller refresher: backloggd.com/games/lib/po...
- PSA: Metal Gear Solid and Half-Life were 1998 -
January 5, 2026 at 12:47 PM
SMAC SMAC SMAC