Will Slack
@wslack.bsky.social
Decatur GA native, prev USDS/18F & hospital tech around the US. Opinions mine; RTs/likes/follows ≠ endorsements. 🆇: @wslack 🐘: wslack@infosec.exchange
Reposted by Will Slack
From NOAA Satellites:
The arctic blast that put much of Florida into a deep freeze also created these mesmerizing cloud streets caught by bsky.app/profile/noaa.gov 's GOESEast.
Learn more in our #SatelliteSnapshot: bit.ly/3NVBiT5
The arctic blast that put much of Florida into a deep freeze also created these mesmerizing cloud streets caught by bsky.app/profile/noaa.gov 's GOESEast.
Learn more in our #SatelliteSnapshot: bit.ly/3NVBiT5
February 4, 2026 at 12:14 AM
From NOAA Satellites:
The arctic blast that put much of Florida into a deep freeze also created these mesmerizing cloud streets caught by bsky.app/profile/noaa.gov 's GOESEast.
Learn more in our #SatelliteSnapshot: bit.ly/3NVBiT5
The arctic blast that put much of Florida into a deep freeze also created these mesmerizing cloud streets caught by bsky.app/profile/noaa.gov 's GOESEast.
Learn more in our #SatelliteSnapshot: bit.ly/3NVBiT5
Reposted by Will Slack
www.nytimes.com/interactive/... Unpopular opinion: Meme law is bad and if you have the New York Times movie and poetry critic writing your legal analysis it’s still the bad place even if the outcome is righteous.
Annotating the Judge’s Decision in the Case of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE
Our critic annotates the barbed wordplay of a decision challenging the Trump administration’s theory of executive power.
www.nytimes.com
February 4, 2026 at 12:01 AM
www.nytimes.com/interactive/... Unpopular opinion: Meme law is bad and if you have the New York Times movie and poetry critic writing your legal analysis it’s still the bad place even if the outcome is righteous.
Sore winners sure miss the mechanism of why they won and what's now expected with the victory.
February 1, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Sore winners sure miss the mechanism of why they won and what's now expected with the victory.
Reposted by Will Slack
Nobody seems to think the Heckler’s Veto cuts both ways. It’s basically a corollary of the face-eating leopards.
January 30, 2026 at 11:31 PM
Nobody seems to think the Heckler’s Veto cuts both ways. It’s basically a corollary of the face-eating leopards.
Reposted by Will Slack
and by the way, i’m not just saying this as rhetoric. that is actually what the numbers are, and i’m qualified to say that, as someone in the field
i can think of maybe a handful—like, five—people who have saved more human lives than bill foege. he deserves a couple minutes of your time to read about and remember.
January 26, 2026 at 4:56 AM
and by the way, i’m not just saying this as rhetoric. that is actually what the numbers are, and i’m qualified to say that, as someone in the field
Reposted by Will Slack
Reposted by Will Slack
A family member deleted their TikTok account today. I asked why? They said, "I read the new terms of service".
January 24, 2026 at 11:41 PM
A family member deleted their TikTok account today. I asked why? They said, "I read the new terms of service".
Reposted by Will Slack
Alex from our time working together, while he was in nursing school. Later, he moved to ICU, working as a nurse to support critically ill Veterans. He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now
January 24, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Alex from our time working together, while he was in nursing school. Later, he moved to ICU, working as a nurse to support critically ill Veterans. He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now
Reposted by Will Slack
A few days ago, I stood in the graveyard of an 1100 year old church, getting damper and damper in the drizzling rain.
A woman walked into the graveyard, waved, said hello, and, as we had previously arranged, handed me a paper bag full of human bones.
The life of a churchwarden is a strange one...
A woman walked into the graveyard, waved, said hello, and, as we had previously arranged, handed me a paper bag full of human bones.
The life of a churchwarden is a strange one...
January 23, 2026 at 11:44 AM
A few days ago, I stood in the graveyard of an 1100 year old church, getting damper and damper in the drizzling rain.
A woman walked into the graveyard, waved, said hello, and, as we had previously arranged, handed me a paper bag full of human bones.
The life of a churchwarden is a strange one...
A woman walked into the graveyard, waved, said hello, and, as we had previously arranged, handed me a paper bag full of human bones.
The life of a churchwarden is a strange one...
Reposted by Will Slack
Let's talk about Cold Air Damming (CAD), specifically in reference to the southern Appalachians. Let's also talk about some struggles models have with simulating both the strength and the erosion of CAD. You will commonly read/hear CAD referred to as "the Wedge" in the south. Long chain incoming.
January 22, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Let's talk about Cold Air Damming (CAD), specifically in reference to the southern Appalachians. Let's also talk about some struggles models have with simulating both the strength and the erosion of CAD. You will commonly read/hear CAD referred to as "the Wedge" in the south. Long chain incoming.
Reposted by Will Slack
I am, once again, asking reporters to please link bill text/etc in stories that are specifically about new releases 🙏🏼
www.nextgov.com/modernizatio...
www.nextgov.com/modernizatio...
Funding bill extends TMF and cyber measures through September
The authorization for the Technology Modernization Fund had lapsed in December, leaving its leadership unable to make new investments.
www.nextgov.com
January 21, 2026 at 3:46 AM
I am, once again, asking reporters to please link bill text/etc in stories that are specifically about new releases 🙏🏼
www.nextgov.com/modernizatio...
www.nextgov.com/modernizatio...
Reposted by Will Slack
The Court of Appeals of Georgia is closed today to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of one our greatest Georgians and Americans: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 19, 2026 at 12:43 PM
The Court of Appeals of Georgia is closed today to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of one our greatest Georgians and Americans: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
h/t @donmoyn.bsky.social. All of this past year and the reckless spending is still accelerating - and this is adjusted for inflation, so the constant dollar values are worse.
January 16, 2026 at 12:57 PM
h/t @donmoyn.bsky.social. All of this past year and the reckless spending is still accelerating - and this is adjusted for inflation, so the constant dollar values are worse.
The best war exhibit I've ever seen was "A Distant War" at the Danish War Museum (Krigsmuseet) in Copenhagen, recreating a Danish military camp in Afghanistan.
It showed the experience of the soldiers on the ground as they honored the alliance we now dishonor.
It showed the experience of the soldiers on the ground as they honored the alliance we now dishonor.
January 16, 2026 at 2:36 AM
The best war exhibit I've ever seen was "A Distant War" at the Danish War Museum (Krigsmuseet) in Copenhagen, recreating a Danish military camp in Afghanistan.
It showed the experience of the soldiers on the ground as they honored the alliance we now dishonor.
It showed the experience of the soldiers on the ground as they honored the alliance we now dishonor.
Reposted by Will Slack
Had the realization a while back that I basically code switch in Slack between typing like this
and typing like this depending on who i'm talking to and how they type lol
and boy is that untenable once everyone's suddenly in this same channel
and typing like this depending on who i'm talking to and how they type lol
and boy is that untenable once everyone's suddenly in this same channel
I have a theory that those of us who were raised on IRC or AIM are absolutely insufferable in Slack to those who were not, because instead of writing a three-paragraph thing, we'll break that up into 15 comments.
January 15, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Had the realization a while back that I basically code switch in Slack between typing like this
and typing like this depending on who i'm talking to and how they type lol
and boy is that untenable once everyone's suddenly in this same channel
and typing like this depending on who i'm talking to and how they type lol
and boy is that untenable once everyone's suddenly in this same channel
Reposted by Will Slack
Increasingly it's clearer to a lot of people what i have been saying for a while: people use "inflation" and "prices" to talk about their own difficulty making ends meet or affording big ticket items once "inflation" became a big media news story. It's not actually about CPI or even increases.
New YouGov polling shows more people say inflation is their #1 issue now than said the same at any point in 2023-2024 today.yougov.com/politics/art...
January 12, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Increasingly it's clearer to a lot of people what i have been saying for a while: people use "inflation" and "prices" to talk about their own difficulty making ends meet or affording big ticket items once "inflation" became a big media news story. It's not actually about CPI or even increases.
On social media, there is no equivalent to a story on page A15. Either you are A1 front page or you are nowhere.
Leaders who can fill that front page with content of their choice can effectively blockade anything they don’t want to get attention
Leaders who can fill that front page with content of their choice can effectively blockade anything they don’t want to get attention
January 13, 2026 at 12:08 AM
On social media, there is no equivalent to a story on page A15. Either you are A1 front page or you are nowhere.
Leaders who can fill that front page with content of their choice can effectively blockade anything they don’t want to get attention
Leaders who can fill that front page with content of their choice can effectively blockade anything they don’t want to get attention
The normalization of weaponized gerrymandering is going to continue to harm us all more and more as politicians follow their new incentives and become more responsive to the primary electorate vs the general electorate.
January 2, 2026 at 10:19 PM
The normalization of weaponized gerrymandering is going to continue to harm us all more and more as politicians follow their new incentives and become more responsive to the primary electorate vs the general electorate.
Reposted by Will Slack
Reposted by Will Slack
This is your regular reminder that viewing a systems problem as a morality play is both dangerous and counterproductive.
December 17, 2025 at 3:43 AM
This is your regular reminder that viewing a systems problem as a morality play is both dangerous and counterproductive.
Reposted by Will Slack
Text-based LLMs were trained on human speech and writing patterns. That means the interface looks like giving it human speech and writing and the output looks like human speech and writing. But none of this means there is any actual thinking happening. That seems to be hard for people to remember.
December 16, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Text-based LLMs were trained on human speech and writing patterns. That means the interface looks like giving it human speech and writing and the output looks like human speech and writing. But none of this means there is any actual thinking happening. That seems to be hard for people to remember.
Reposted by Will Slack
It’s good to see papers start to address LLMs as structural plagiarism — provenance, more hidden than the original words or training data. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
LLM use in scholarly writing poses a provenance problem
Nature Machine Intelligence - LLM use in scholarly writing poses a provenance problem
www.nature.com
December 14, 2025 at 11:13 AM
It’s good to see papers start to address LLMs as structural plagiarism — provenance, more hidden than the original words or training data. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
English is full of wonderful words as we have entirely too many o them but "creo que" is a beautiful turn of phrase.
December 12, 2025 at 2:45 AM
English is full of wonderful words as we have entirely too many o them but "creo que" is a beautiful turn of phrase.
Reposted by Will Slack
This is fascinating, as an example of where an AI tool, used properly and carefully, can help people understand things. This is why I get annoyed at the people who insist that there are no positive uses of AI tools. Yes, many use it poorly. But used well, it can be very useful.
A lifetime of strange sensory symptoms finally made sense only when an AI was allowed to think about medicine the way no clinician has time to. My story: markatwood.substack.com/p/the-seven-...
The Seven-Minute Visit Cannot Understand a Human Body
A lifetime of strange sensory symptoms finally made sense only when an AI was allowed to think about medicine the way no clinician has time to.
markatwood.substack.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:27 PM
This is fascinating, as an example of where an AI tool, used properly and carefully, can help people understand things. This is why I get annoyed at the people who insist that there are no positive uses of AI tools. Yes, many use it poorly. But used well, it can be very useful.
Listening to journalists try to describe the inner workings of AI systems is painful. LLM’s today do not think, have emotions, or “try to get us” to do things.
They are pattern matching, mimicking, or remixing their training data using what others said in the past. That isn’t actual intelligence.
They are pattern matching, mimicking, or remixing their training data using what others said in the past. That isn’t actual intelligence.
November 24, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Listening to journalists try to describe the inner workings of AI systems is painful. LLM’s today do not think, have emotions, or “try to get us” to do things.
They are pattern matching, mimicking, or remixing their training data using what others said in the past. That isn’t actual intelligence.
They are pattern matching, mimicking, or remixing their training data using what others said in the past. That isn’t actual intelligence.