Henry Gerlits
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henrygerlits.bsky.social
Henry Gerlits
@henrygerlits.bsky.social
Applied Linguist ~ Cheerful Futurist ~ Zen Minimalist ~ Stoic Classicist ~ Frontier Romanticist
https://youtube.com/@RealHenryGerlits
I still don't understand a "situationship".
Teen relationships are on the decline—for both good reasons and sad ones, Faith Hill wrote in March.

Spend time with one of The Atlantic’s most-read stories of 2025: theatln.tc/b4HDwWgS
December 27, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Chart: The Peak of American Civilization
youtube.com/shorts/Aqefo...
Can you guess what this chart represents? No peeking at the end of the video! Everyone's got a theory of cultural decline these days; here's my totally not flying spaghetti monster take.
Chart: The Peak of American Civilization
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
No need to follow the Romans - let's keep our republic.
News Analysis: In his first year back in the White House, President Trump has greatly expanded executive power while embracing the trappings of royalty. In both pageantry and policy, he has established a new, more audacious version of the imperial presidency.
Trump Takes America’s ‘Imperial Presidency’ to a New Level
In his first year back in the White House, President Trump has greatly expanded executive power while embracing the trappings of royalty in ways not seen in the modern era.
nyti.ms
December 22, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Winter Solstice: Shortest day but not coldest - why?
youtube.com/shorts/AycYK...
Why is the winter solstice the shortest day of the year, but the coldest time of year is in late January? Why it hottest at 3 PM, not noon when the sun is at its highest? TIL about thermal inertia.
Winter Solstice: Shortest day but not coldest - why?
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM
We need to stop trying for digital classroom efficiency and help students think clearly without distractions.
December 20, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Supernormal Nostalgia

youtube.com/shorts/oUonF...

Think you're immune to AI art and music? Think again! We've all got a weakness of some sort, it's only a matter of time before it comes for ya.
Supernormal Nostalgia
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Courage, wisdom, justice, and prudence - all are needed, especially these days.
Republican state senators in Indiana may just have been being smart politicians when they voted against a gerrymandering bill. But they also set a heartening example of courage in public life
A vote against gerrymandering shows why political courage is rare
Yet it is particularly valuable now
econ.st
December 19, 2025 at 3:13 PM
breathe deep - curate the feed - seek peace
youtube.com/shorts/mcfNE...
Many people don't interact with their short form video feed - they just swipe to the next one. We talk about the importance of mindfully curating your feed to encourage learning. @chrismadden.bsky.social
breathe deep - curate the feed - seek peace @ChrisMadden_
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:06 PM
An Appealing Banana Joke
youtube.com/shorts/4-g1B...
A dad joke leads to a needlessly in-depth linguistics investigation of the a-prefix phenomenon.
An Appealing Banana Joke
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 17, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I'm usually wary of these types of top-down measures but I have enormous respect for Haidt. Interested to see the data on how this pans out for Australia.
The Australia social media age limit policy is the most significant measure to protect children from social media harms — and other countries are already planning similar measures
www.heraldsun.com.au/news/nationa...
www.heraldsun.com.au
December 17, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Are Teachers the Weakest Link? Why America is Sliding Toward Illiteracy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHi...

Are teachers the weakest link—or are they trapped in a system that punishes high standards? I explain why incentives, not intentions, are driving America’s decline.
Are Teachers the Weakest Link? Why America is Sliding Toward Illiteracy
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
www.youtube.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Infinite power travel life hack ??
youtube.com/shorts/eTgqN...
Go infinite with solar panels, EV truck, and truck camper
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Are humans obsolete? The current state of fully AI-produced video with @chrismadden.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/8sD6Z...
Are humans obsolete? The current state of fully AI-produced videos @ChrisMadden_
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 16, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Data annotation as a subject-matter expert is a growing side hustle.
AI is creating demand for new roles to train agents, embed them in organisations and ensure that they behave. Many of these jobs, moreover, require uniquely human skills
Job apocalypse? Humbug! AI is creating brand new occupations
Most needed: human skills
econ.st
December 16, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I'm excited that a new generation will be exposed to one of the most seminal stories in Western civ!
In 2026, Odysseus the wanderer returns—though this time arriving in cinemas, rather than a ship. Bronze-age Greece is, clearly, not the modern era. But there are parallels
Homer’s “Odyssey” offers lessons for navigating 2026
Christopher Nolan’s version of Homer’s “The Odyssey” opens in July. The story offers advice to those navigating the ups and downs of 2026
econ.st
December 15, 2025 at 3:59 PM
We had a religious cultural script for forgiveness in Christianity. What about for our current secular era?
Homer’s 'Iliad' offers an understanding of anger and grief that helps us think about our own strained relationships and political divides, writes Spencer Klavan for The Free Press.
Things Worth Remembering: When Enemies Forgive Each Other
Homer’s 'Iliad' offers an understanding of anger and grief that helps us think about our own strained relationships and political divides, writes Spencer Klavan for The Free Press.
bit.ly
December 14, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Financial discipline was easier in 2025
youtube.com/shorts/7i58g...
Budget survived 4 MTG sets - until Lorwyn Eclipsed
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 14, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Agreed! Machine learning will form the groundwork for even more advanced studies in that area.
I agree that we don’t already know how to teach “AI literacy” well. But I also think literacy is too modest a goal. College students should graduate knowing how ML works; it’s liberal knowledge analogous to RNA or trig, not search-engine skills or Excel. And we do know how to teach it in that way.
Opinion | Stop Pretending You Know How to Teach AI
Colleges are racing to make students ‘fluent.’ One problem: No one knows what that means.
www.chronicle.com
December 14, 2025 at 4:35 PM
8 Ways Classical Education Could Reinvigorate the Modern Classroom

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZMu...

From heroes to virtue, grammar to logic and rhetoric, history and philosophy to culture and civilization - illustrated by the best fine art from the Renaissance, Neo-classical, and Baroque periods.
8 Ways Classical Education Could Reinvigorate the Modern Classroom
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
www.youtube.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Should schools even cover current events in an age of such extreme political polarization? Seems that time could be better spent elsewhere.
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

The war in Gaza turned California school districts into battlegrounds over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Leighton Woodhouse writes in a guest essay. “What is being lost in the tumult is the basic purpose of education: teaching students to think for themselves.”
Opinion | Teachers Became Activists, and Censorship Followed
Gaza has turned California classrooms into political battlegrounds.
nyti.ms
December 13, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I feel old whenever I see ads for Kalshi or other gambling sites. When did this become socially mainstream?
The effects of legalising sports-betting has been intense on college campuses. But the mental and financial costs are hard to ignore econ.st/48LfD6L
December 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
This looks like the beginning. With a Spotify membership you are able to listen to any song in the Spotify library - wonder if in the future, with a Sora membership, you'll be able to generate videos with any IP in the Sora library? And platforms will compete with membership models like this?
Disney announced an agreement to bring its characters to Sora, OpenAI’s short-form video platform. Videos made with the tech will be available to stream on Disney+ under the three-year deal, which does not include any talent likeness or voices. nyti.ms/4rOyYN4
December 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
We Can't Change Biology - Reaching the Limits of Human Processing
youtube.com/shorts/QMhWg...
Chris Madden acknowledges our biological limits, while introducing ideas of how AI can work with these limits to help boost productivity. But should we? @chrismadden.bsky.social
We Can't Change Biology - Reaching the Limits of Human Processing @ChrisMadden_
YouTube video by Henry Gerlits
youtube.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Traditional education is often criticized for being teacher-centered, memorization-heavy, and non project-based. But given the declining state of American schools and student achievement, I wonder if there's elements of classical education that could revitalize our classrooms?
December 10, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Beautiful
Minimalism in Winter
As I’m printing this image as full panorama for a client, I just remembered how I shot it out in the cold. Back in 2021 we had the perfect conditions for my favourite kind of photography: black and white minimalism here in my home region.
December 10, 2025 at 4:11 PM