abenomicon
LightNews LightNews
abenomicon.bsky.social
abenomicon
@abenomicon.bsky.social
180 followers 480 following 570 posts
proud graduate of Macgoblin university
Posts Replies Media Videos
abenomicon.bsky.social
senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347... actually I take it back, the MPM_ij (a matrix of variables) which will predict remedial math enrollment probably either through linear regression or not, based on high school rank in some way, seems fine, it seems simpler and fairer than standardized testing
Whereas before 2021 standardized testing helped with identifying incoming students unprepared for majors with high math content, we no longer see test scores from many of our incoming students.10 Administering the math placement test before admission decisions is logistically impossible. Therefore, we propose a statistical model, which we refer to as the Math Index, to how the math index is calculated
November 19, 2025 at 4:15 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
this feels like goodhart's law in a nutshell -- students can't use any score as a metric because every score is a target. and so useful feedback is delayed until AP season

solution feels obvious (secret objective feedback earlier) which makes me think I don't understand the actual problem
“My exam results when I was teaching it were mostly: One student (who actually has most of the prerequisite skills) gets a five and maybe one more ekes out a three and everyone else gets ones and twos,” the teacher told me. “I wasn’t allowed to grade in a way that would hold them accountable.” “What would happen,” I asked, “if you did grade based on their actual mastery of calculus?” “If I was failing all the kids who weren’t doing on-level work, that would be almost all,” she told me. “The kids would all be trying to drop the class to preserve their GPAs, because that is the set of kids that cares about class rank. And if all the kids drop, they just won’t run the class at all.”
November 19, 2025 at 3:24 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
related, unions opposed training WPA employees -- jensen 1989 has a story of the AFL president touring a civilian conservation corps site to show they weren't competing with union skills
only two days of poorly supervised, dead-end work each week. The WPA decided not to provide training for the millions of men it employed. The chief obstacle was intense opposition from organized labor. Although unions Roosevelt had personally to escort President William Green of the AFL through the first CCc camp to demonstrate that the forestry skills the boys learned would not help them compete with union members for real jobs.
November 15, 2025 at 7:21 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
let them eat cake DONT let them eat cake
image of beautfiul princess in ski gear instructing two lads 'ow to get that kid off my ice you little wankers
November 11, 2025 at 2:13 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
oh no
nitric acid chemical formula ON(=O)=O
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
not sure I understand what 'grok based feed' means? I skimmed an LLM recommenders survey arxiv.org/abs/2410.19744 and it seems like it amounts to vanilla embedding similarity, maybe some retraining, maybe some 2-stage filtering w/ LLM 2nd stage

cursed version would be replace FYP with chat box
llm-based recommenders flowchart not that different from standard vector similarity to my eye
October 27, 2025 at 1:17 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
my ianal layperson read is that the language in 2 usc 25 seems to bind the speaker, not to regulate the swearing-in process or taking of seats?

like the final clause isn't even clearly attached to 'by the speaker'

given where things are, why not just use a notary like coolidge
At the first session of Congress after every general election of Representatives, the oath of office shall be administered by any Member of the House of Representatives to the Speaker; and by the Speaker to all the Members and Delegates present, and to the Clerk, previous to entering on any other business; and to the Members and Delegates who afterward appear, previous to their taking their seats.
October 17, 2025 at 3:16 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
the greatest political compass of all time
you should learn how to say it
October 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
this is not my area and correct me if I'm wrong, but a plain reading of 2 USC 25 www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/... says that the speaker must do it but doesn't say only the speaker can. if the speaker refuses to do it, the speaker is in violation of section 25
At the first session of Congress after every general election of Representatives, the oath of office shall be administered by any Member of the House of Representatives to the Speaker; and by the Speaker to all the Members and Delegates present, and to the Clerk, previous to entering on any other business; and to the Members and Delegates who afterward appear, previous to their taking their seats.
October 8, 2025 at 7:56 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
arendt on molotovs
the gap between state violence and what people can muster by themselves -- from beer bottles to molotovs -- has always been so enormous that technical improvements make no difference. in a contest of violence the superiority of government is absolute, but lasts only as long as the power structure is intact -- that is, the army and police are prepared to use their weapons
September 4, 2025 at 4:25 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
hate it when 40% of roughly 20 operatives are under 36 and some of them have an average salary of either 10k or 12k, which is *exactly* the 2023 average nyc household income
Out of roughly 20 operatives in Mamdani’s inner circle, eight are under 36 years old. Three of those politicos have ties to Soros, the progressive activist and investor — and about half a dozen grew up in million-dollar pads, according to Zillow estimates, with access to celebrities and private schools. The median salary in the Big Apple is about $58,000 a year — but many of Mamdani’s top confidantes rake in an average of $10,000 to $12,000 a month, a review of campaign finance records found.
September 3, 2025 at 9:19 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
ah, the classic usage of the color red, 'not actually prohibited'
Task Force 51 troops were orally instructed that the four functions listed in red—security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, and riot control—were subject to a so- called constitutional exception to the Posse Comitatus Act
September 2, 2025 at 1:55 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
I read theory
hunter s thompson daily routine
September 2, 2025 at 5:06 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
common thread from dumezil through foucault is the difficulty of harnessing power to knowledge

robert cover's 'violence and the word' makes a similar point, law must unify people unwilling to do violence with people who would use it irresponsibly
We have seen that in order to do that violence safely and effectively, responsibility for the violence must be shared; law must operate as a system of cues and signals to many actors who would otherwise be unwilling, incapable or irresponsible in their violent acts
September 1, 2025 at 7:34 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
my take from reading a history of the war powers resolution scholarship.law.columbia.edu/cgi/viewcont... was that congress *failing* to lose their shit is the source of a lot of tricky grey areas
Ely writes that the War Powers Resolution was enacted by Con- gress in an effort to lock itself into a certain role in war policy, so that in future conflicts Congress would not dodge the issue (p. 48). He analogizes Congress's action to Ulysses's lashing himself to the mast to avoid being seduced by the Sirens' song (p. 53). Ely blames the failure of the Resolution partially on the fact that the role Congress had writ- ten for itself was one that it had not been eager to assume in the recent past. In addition, he repeatedly quotes the judgments of observers, notably Thomas Eagleton, who have concluded that Congress really does not want to be a part of these decisions (p. 49).
August 28, 2025 at 2:46 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
sorry, you're right, I clipped that. the article also quotes secret service saying they handed him over
The video clip did not show the man being detained, but the Secret Service confirmed he had been taken into custody. "On August 25 at approximately 6:15 p.m., the U.S. Secret Service detained an individual in Lafayette Park for igniting an object," the agency said. "The individual was subsequently turned over to U.S. Park Police as they have jurisdiction. We'd refer you to U.S. Park Police for any charges or additional questions." The Park Police confirmed that the individual was arrested after being reached for comment by Newsweek, saying, "At about 6:30 p.m., the United States Park Police arrested one person in Lafayette Park for a violation of 36 CFR 2.13(a)(1), prohibited fire. All units have cleared the scene."
August 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
that's kalecki's position as well

> under a regime of permanent full employment, the 'sack' would cease to play its role as a disciplinary measure
Indeed, under a regime of permanent full employment, the 'sack' would cease to play its role as a disciplinary measure. The social position of the boss would be undermined, and the self-assurance and class-consciousness of the working class would grow.
August 22, 2025 at 3:14 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
posted without comment (originally from x.com/theotheredmu... I think)
August 21, 2025 at 1:15 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
violets are blue roses have hips,
Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips
August 21, 2025 at 12:48 AM
abenomicon.bsky.social
primo levi was obsessed with the limits of memory

> For us to speak with the young becomes ever more difficult. We see it as a duty and, at the same time, as a risk: the risk of appearing anachronistic, of not being listened to.
For us to speak with the young becomes ever more difficult. We see it as a duty and, at the same time, as a risk: the risk of appearing anachronistic, of not being listened to. We must be listened to: above and beyond our personal experiences, we have collectively witnessed a fundamental, unexpected event, fundamental precisely because unexpected, not foreseen by anyone. It took place in the teeth of all forecasts; it happened in Europe; incredibly, it happened that an entire civilized people, just issued from the fervid cultural flowering of Weimar, followed a buffoon whose figure today inspires laughter, and yet Adolf Hitler was obeyed and his praises were sung right up to the catastrophe. It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere. I do not intend to nor can I say that it will happen; as I pointed out earlier, it is not very probable that all the factors that unleashed the Nazi madness will again occur simultaneously but precursory signs loom before us. Violence, “useful” or “useless,” is there before our eyes: it snakes either through sporadic and Private episodes, or government lawlessness, both in what we call the first and the second worlds, that is to say, the parliamentary democracies and countries in the Communist bloc. In the Third World it is endemic or epidemic. It only awaits its new buffoon (there is no dearth of candidates) to organize it, legalize it, declare it necessary and mandatory, and so contaminate the world, Few countries can be considered immune to a future tide of violence generated by intolerance, lust for power, economic difficulties, religious or political fanaticism, and racialist attritions. It is therefore necessary to sharpen our senses, distrust the prophets, the enchanters, those who speak and write "beautiful words" unsupported by intelligent reasons.
August 15, 2025 at 5:19 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
innocent millionaire tuxedo dentist
He truly did not deserve any of this and was not involved in any aspect of this awful, life altering, deeply damaging and just plain bizarre ordeal. The innocent millionaire tuxedo Dentist and his flakey socialite wife living in an East Avenue mansion were easy prey to exploit. Just ask Bob Lonsberry. Who
August 12, 2025 at 4:42 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
what
In Summary : If this list of questions and answers sounds as if I am an angry and bitter person, it is because I truly am. It has been difficult but therapeutic for me to write this Q and A and to be able to express what happened to us, why it happened and who all was involved.
August 12, 2025 at 3:48 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
see also e jean carroll's day in the life of hunter s thompson
3:00 p.m. rise 3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills 3:45 cocaine 3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill 4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill 4:15 cocaine 4:16 orange juice, Dunhill 4:30 cocaine 4:54 cocaine 5:05 cocaine 5:11 coffee, Dunhills 5:30 more ice in the Chivas 5:45 cocaine, etc., etc. 6:00 grass to take the edge off the day 7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jig­gers of Chivas) 9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously 10:00 drops acid 11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass 11:30 cocaine, etc, etc. 12:00 midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write 12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies. 6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo 8:00 Halcyon 8:20 sleep
August 6, 2025 at 1:30 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
I mean let whoever has never helped [the friend] even though [he] had no intention of doing it cast the first stone
August 1, 2025 at 5:11 PM
abenomicon.bsky.social
this one is also striking (on the causes of smoking cessation, rather than the positive outcomes)
from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK294...
chart, Figure 2.1Adult* per capita cigarette consumption and major smoking and health events, United States, 1900–2012
July 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM