John Laudun
@laudun.bsky.social
People get around thanks to information.
Information gets around thanks to people.
It's all people and information.
Information gets around thanks to people.
It's all people and information.
Reposted by John Laudun
🔥POWERFUL AD ABOUT ICE AGENTS: “What will you say when your kids ask you about your day? A mask can’t hide you from your neighbors, your family, God… you can walk away, but the shame will follow you home.”
November 27, 2025 at 9:43 PM
🔥POWERFUL AD ABOUT ICE AGENTS: “What will you say when your kids ask you about your day? A mask can’t hide you from your neighbors, your family, God… you can walk away, but the shame will follow you home.”
Much the same thing is happening in the USA, but R1s are not protesting since they gain from it.
The other problem with this is that research is a type of spread bet/lottery. You do lots of it and hope some of it pans out. If we had a perfect way of selecting which small bits of science and scholarship we "need", we'd have solved the funding problem. But we don't know this.
'Science minister Patrick Vallance has rejected concerns that focusing on “doing fewer things better” in research will lead to funding being concentrated in larger research-intensive universities from the Russell Group.' 1/3
November 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Much the same thing is happening in the USA, but R1s are not protesting since they gain from it.
Reposted by John Laudun
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
November 21, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
@zotero.org has many followers but has not posted anything? Mike check?
November 21, 2025 at 4:29 PM
@zotero.org has many followers but has not posted anything? Mike check?
@pbs.org's various Youtube channels are well worth checking it. Here's one from PBS Terra: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hxp...
These Ancient Footprints Rewrite North American History
YouTube video by PBS Terra
www.youtube.com
September 17, 2025 at 4:36 PM
@pbs.org's various Youtube channels are well worth checking it. Here's one from PBS Terra: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hxp...
I would like Apple News better if I could follow the WSJ reporting and never have to see a WSJ opinion. Anyone know how to do this?
September 5, 2025 at 12:25 PM
I would like Apple News better if I could follow the WSJ reporting and never have to see a WSJ opinion. Anyone know how to do this?
Loading a 482MB audiobook onto my phone, I thought to myself, "Well, that would have fit on a CD." And I realized I have a host of obsolete measurements in my head: 4.7GB on a DVD. 360k on a single-sided floppy. What measurements do others still carry around?
August 27, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Loading a 482MB audiobook onto my phone, I thought to myself, "Well, that would have fit on a CD." And I realized I have a host of obsolete measurements in my head: 4.7GB on a DVD. 360k on a single-sided floppy. What measurements do others still carry around?
Well played, Best Choice. Well played.
August 25, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Well played, Best Choice. Well played.
I remember Henry Glassie once exclaiming that the phone book — remember those? — should include the times one was available to be phoned. I am reminded after a series of texts from an eager grad student starting at 10:30 last night. Different bio-clocks; different assumptions.
August 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
I remember Henry Glassie once exclaiming that the phone book — remember those? — should include the times one was available to be phoned. I am reminded after a series of texts from an eager grad student starting at 10:30 last night. Different bio-clocks; different assumptions.
Yup.
LLMs are purely statistical engines that operate on purely formal objects (character strings). We can “train” an LLM to distinguish true from false or fact from opinion or warranted from baseless just as soon as we can figure out how to reduce semantics and epistemology to syntax (which is never)
August 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Yup.
Why oh why is it so hard to add an essay published in a collection (edited by someone other than the essay author) to @zotero.org? A "Book Section" does not have a separate field for author. What am I missing?
August 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Why oh why is it so hard to add an essay published in a collection (edited by someone other than the essay author) to @zotero.org? A "Book Section" does not have a separate field for author. What am I missing?
Helluva cover. I think I'm more interested in David Golumbia's book — because I think it offers greater insight — but that doesn't mean this book doesn't do some necessary work:
August 22, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Helluva cover. I think I'm more interested in David Golumbia's book — because I think it offers greater insight — but that doesn't mean this book doesn't do some necessary work:
For those not familiar with Knowledge Commons, they offer an impressive array of features — digital repository, blogging, microblogging, and more — and at little to no cost. And they are building a foundation for the long haul.
Fun fact: did you know Knowledge Commons is a fully academy-run project? 😀 We're a small team based out of Michigan State University, but our team is spread all across the globe. 🌎
Learn more about Knowledge Commons here: about.hcommons.org
Learn more about Knowledge Commons here: about.hcommons.org
Knowledge Commons - Your Home for Digital Scholarly Work
For researchers, by researchers
about.hcommons.org
August 22, 2025 at 2:52 PM
For those not familiar with Knowledge Commons, they offer an impressive array of features — digital repository, blogging, microblogging, and more — and at little to no cost. And they are building a foundation for the long haul.
Is it weird that I am regularly surprised that macOS can't remember where I prefer windows when I switch from the docked monitor to just the laptop. It's always just one screen, and I pretty much put my windows in the same place (and size). This is something the OS should just do. @sixcolors.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Is it weird that I am regularly surprised that macOS can't remember where I prefer windows when I switch from the docked monitor to just the laptop. It's always just one screen, and I pretty much put my windows in the same place (and size). This is something the OS should just do. @sixcolors.com
I've always enjoyed teaching Dick's "A Maze of Death" in my course where we explore disembodied AI. The readings stretch from Forster's "The Machine Stops" to Leinster's "A Logic Named Joe" through Ellison's "I Have No Mouth" and, of course, "The Forbin Project" to whatever texts are current.
Oh I see Philip K. Dick *is* the most relevant sci-fi author of the current moment. I'll have to look into this.
August 19, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I've always enjoyed teaching Dick's "A Maze of Death" in my course where we explore disembodied AI. The readings stretch from Forster's "The Machine Stops" to Leinster's "A Logic Named Joe" through Ellison's "I Have No Mouth" and, of course, "The Forbin Project" to whatever texts are current.
Reposted by John Laudun
Nathan is trying to create a sputnik panic single-handedly, and I am here for it even if I'm actually more scared of most of these logos than of China
I made a snarky Western list to show how far behind we are in fostering an ecosystem vis a vis China.
August 18, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Nathan is trying to create a sputnik panic single-handedly, and I am here for it even if I'm actually more scared of most of these logos than of China
This may be the article I now forward to people when they ask about AI/LLMs. (I'm assuming the author adopts the metaphor "bag of words" with full awareness of the term's history.)
www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-wor...
www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-wor...
Bag of words, have mercy on us
OR: Claude will you go to prom with me?
www.experimental-history.com
August 14, 2025 at 4:45 PM
This may be the article I now forward to people when they ask about AI/LLMs. (I'm assuming the author adopts the metaphor "bag of words" with full awareness of the term's history.)
www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-wor...
www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-wor...
I'm just going to pin this here: Microsoft Office's so-called "safe links" are a real PITA, especially in the era of Zoom meetings, etc. They mess that up regularly. (Purposefully?)
August 13, 2025 at 8:09 PM
I'm just going to pin this here: Microsoft Office's so-called "safe links" are a real PITA, especially in the era of Zoom meetings, etc. They mess that up regularly. (Purposefully?)
There's a new, and very distinguished CTO for the Library of Virginia. Is it @scottbot.bsky.social you ask? Why, yes, yes it is. Congrats!
July 30, 2025 at 10:42 PM
There's a new, and very distinguished CTO for the Library of Virginia. Is it @scottbot.bsky.social you ask? Why, yes, yes it is. Congrats!
I'm a folklorist in a film, or symbologist if in a Dan Brown novel, and I can instantly decode obscure characters and cryptic passages. I'm especially fast when I have absolutely no idea of the context.
Hello, I'm a historian in a film. My office is a massive space filled with Persian rugs, leather couches and massive wooden bookcases. There's a Tiffany lamp on my desk and an original Gutenberg Bible on a stand next to it. I am wearing a tweed suit with five layers.
Hello, I'm a historian in a film. I am teaching a college course in American history, and for a lecture midway through the semester I have written the words "Spanish-American War," "New Deal," and "17th Amendment" on the chalkboard, and nothing else.
July 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I'm a folklorist in a film, or symbologist if in a Dan Brown novel, and I can instantly decode obscure characters and cryptic passages. I'm especially fast when I have absolutely no idea of the context.
Conservatives can't decide: abolish the U.S. Department of Education or have it authorize the takeover of public higher education by the "right kind of people."
Republicans used to be for what made the country economically strong. They appear willing to sacrifice strength for "correctness."
Republicans used to be for what made the country economically strong. They appear willing to sacrifice strength for "correctness."
Louisiana to join conservative higher education accrediting body • Louisiana Illuminator
Louisiana will join six other university systems in the South to form a new alternative accrediting body favored by conservatives
lailluminator.com
July 24, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Conservatives can't decide: abolish the U.S. Department of Education or have it authorize the takeover of public higher education by the "right kind of people."
Republicans used to be for what made the country economically strong. They appear willing to sacrifice strength for "correctness."
Republicans used to be for what made the country economically strong. They appear willing to sacrifice strength for "correctness."
I'm really enjoying some of the interesting approaches to network analyses by @notdavidyt.bsky.social. This one on character appearances across a long-running series is very compelling: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIZn...
Every One Piece Character in One Massive Chart
YouTube video by Actually Not David
www.youtube.com
July 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I'm really enjoying some of the interesting approaches to network analyses by @notdavidyt.bsky.social. This one on character appearances across a long-running series is very compelling: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIZn...
It's not a story line (narrative framework?) that I find particularly compelling, but damn do I dig the vibe this game has …
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/j...
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/j...
Last Train to Bremen
A storytelling game of four doomed musicians and their poor decisions.
www.backerkit.com
July 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
It's not a story line (narrative framework?) that I find particularly compelling, but damn do I dig the vibe this game has …
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/j...
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/j...
Reposted by John Laudun
Must-watch: This admin is gutting everything good about America—our national parks, public lands, public trust.
What we cherish most is under attack.
🎥 youtube.com/watch?v=b7Wv...
What we cherish most is under attack.
🎥 youtube.com/watch?v=b7Wv...
Nick Offerman Is Sounding the Alarm: America’s National Parks Are Under Attack | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
youtube.com
July 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Must-watch: This admin is gutting everything good about America—our national parks, public lands, public trust.
What we cherish most is under attack.
🎥 youtube.com/watch?v=b7Wv...
What we cherish most is under attack.
🎥 youtube.com/watch?v=b7Wv...
I'm exploring the idea that different kinds of discourse modes (narrative, informative, argumentative, etc.) create different kinds of text worlds. Spelunking in a new(ish) intellectual history is always fun, especially when it pulls up stuff from your domain that you already knew about … 1/2
July 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
I'm exploring the idea that different kinds of discourse modes (narrative, informative, argumentative, etc.) create different kinds of text worlds. Spelunking in a new(ish) intellectual history is always fun, especially when it pulls up stuff from your domain that you already knew about … 1/2