Indignant Desert Bird
@longanimus.bsky.social
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
W.B. Yeats
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
W.B. Yeats
Pinned
It is a commonplace that’s hardly worth
A poet’s while to make profound or terse,
That now the sun does not go round the earth,
That man’s no centre of the universe;
And working in an office makes it worse.
- W.H.Auden - Letter to Lord Byron -
A poet’s while to make profound or terse,
That now the sun does not go round the earth,
That man’s no centre of the universe;
And working in an office makes it worse.
- W.H.Auden - Letter to Lord Byron -
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
V good - as Tom points out, much of living in the UK today is built around either believing, or tolerating, being lied to directly to your face. Pointing out the lie will get you yelled at, castigated and publicly shamed, and underneath it all, a fear of what happens once the lie unravels
Hi guys, I've decided as everyone else has to start a substack. Here's my first article, on how the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan furore lays bare the pretence at the heart of British politics. Feel free to subscribe, I'm going to try write at least 2 articles a month.
open.substack.com/pub/tomusher...
open.substack.com/pub/tomusher...
Fated to pretend
What the Maccabi Tel Aviv furore shows us all about pretending
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:28 PM
V good - as Tom points out, much of living in the UK today is built around either believing, or tolerating, being lied to directly to your face. Pointing out the lie will get you yelled at, castigated and publicly shamed, and underneath it all, a fear of what happens once the lie unravels
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
No single US news source is consumed by more than 25% of Americans, whereas 60% of Brits regularly watch/read/listen to the BBC.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
No single US news source is consumed by more than 25% of Americans, whereas 60% of Brits regularly watch/read/listen to the BBC.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
A single shared source of truth makes it harder for partisan echo chambers to form, or for divisive narratives to dominate. It’s good for social cohesion and compromise.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Queen Ghislaine even has a puppy at Club Fed. This is how convicted sex traffickers are coddled by the Trump admin. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/d...
November 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Queen Ghislaine even has a puppy at Club Fed. This is how convicted sex traffickers are coddled by the Trump admin. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/d...
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Petit rappel parce que c'est important.
Réchauffement climatique : l’IA générative consommerait quotidiennement autant d’énergie que 1,5 million de foyers
➡️ https://l.humanite.fr/q7I
➡️ https://l.humanite.fr/q7I
November 9, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Petit rappel parce que c'est important.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
15 years later, & they're still doing the same nonsense about health economics and health insurance.
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM
15 years later, & they're still doing the same nonsense about health economics and health insurance.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
The key weakness in AI agents is that they're a lie. They don't work. They just don't fuckin' work. You can't set a hallucination engine to work doing tasks. It's pants on head stupid. The hype pretends this isn't the case and hypothesises a fabulous future where they work *at all*. This is a lie.
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 AM
The key weakness in AI agents is that they're a lie. They don't work. They just don't fuckin' work. You can't set a hallucination engine to work doing tasks. It's pants on head stupid. The hype pretends this isn't the case and hypothesises a fabulous future where they work *at all*. This is a lie.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
This is a perfect definition:
“An LLM is a text-based ML system initially trained on effectively all the text the LLM company can download or pirate. These systems require a massive amount of resources to initially train & operate, but do produce a highly convincing obsequious chat bot.”
🙏🏼
“An LLM is a text-based ML system initially trained on effectively all the text the LLM company can download or pirate. These systems require a massive amount of resources to initially train & operate, but do produce a highly convincing obsequious chat bot.”
🙏🏼
November 8, 2025 at 1:10 PM
This is a perfect definition:
“An LLM is a text-based ML system initially trained on effectively all the text the LLM company can download or pirate. These systems require a massive amount of resources to initially train & operate, but do produce a highly convincing obsequious chat bot.”
🙏🏼
“An LLM is a text-based ML system initially trained on effectively all the text the LLM company can download or pirate. These systems require a massive amount of resources to initially train & operate, but do produce a highly convincing obsequious chat bot.”
🙏🏼
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
for values of any minority group at all really, you can sub in "social justice discourse" for "BBC reporting" and "the kids must be wrong" for "the BBC must be biased/lying" and you have the same mechanism of ressentiment underlying the cancel culture moral panic too
The core logic Comfortables use to believe the BBC is pro-Palestinian/pro-trans is:
1) I am a good person.
2) I hate Palestinians and trans people.
3) Some BBC reporting makes me feel bad about that.
4) So since I'm a good person and all my views are Correct the BBC must be biased/lying.
1) I am a good person.
2) I hate Palestinians and trans people.
3) Some BBC reporting makes me feel bad about that.
4) So since I'm a good person and all my views are Correct the BBC must be biased/lying.
November 10, 2025 at 2:49 PM
for values of any minority group at all really, you can sub in "social justice discourse" for "BBC reporting" and "the kids must be wrong" for "the BBC must be biased/lying" and you have the same mechanism of ressentiment underlying the cancel culture moral panic too
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
With the Putin regime guiding their population further into a state of genocidal frenzy, Russians no longer hide the fact that intentionally targeting children is part of their military culture in Ukraine.
November 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
I cannot believe truly... the cyberjunk didn't end a career.
Apparently that inventor is worth a trillion.
Look at them all siiting there collecting dust and rust
Apparently that inventor is worth a trillion.
Look at them all siiting there collecting dust and rust
November 9, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I cannot believe truly... the cyberjunk didn't end a career.
Apparently that inventor is worth a trillion.
Look at them all siiting there collecting dust and rust
Apparently that inventor is worth a trillion.
Look at them all siiting there collecting dust and rust
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
didn't really expect to get more mileage out of this again so soon
Opinion | Why You Must Give the Bully Your Lunch Money
Giving him your lunch money is a "terrible option," Chuckie Schumer, age 11, writes. But "the risk of allowing him to kick your ass is a much worse path."
Giving him your lunch money is a "terrible option," Chuckie Schumer, age 11, writes. But "the risk of allowing him to kick your ass is a much worse path."
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
The Republican budget bill is "a terrible option," Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, writes in a guest essay. But "the risk of allowing the president to take even more power via a government shutdown is a much worse path."
The Republican budget bill is "a terrible option," Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, writes in a guest essay. But "the risk of allowing the president to take even more power via a government shutdown is a much worse path."
November 10, 2025 at 3:42 AM
didn't really expect to get more mileage out of this again so soon
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Just utter abject failure. Unbelievable.
Dems backed Trump into a corner where he’s advocating for starving Americans and hemorrhaging support. If they vote to let him off the hook in exchange for nothing it’s a cataclysmic failure. I know people are in pain but insulating Republicans from political consequences is not the answer.
November 10, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Just utter abject failure. Unbelievable.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Rikas: "Hyvinvointia lisätään laskemalla veroja."
Köyhä: Tutkimusten mukaan ei...
Rikas: "On leikattava julkista sektoria, jotta on varaa yhteiskunnan ylläpitoon."
Köyhä: [kirjoitus jätettiin julkaisematta]
Rikas: "Leikkaukset ovat ainoa vaihtoehto, ei ole esitetty muita mahdollisuuksia."
Köyhä: Tutkimusten mukaan ei...
Rikas: "On leikattava julkista sektoria, jotta on varaa yhteiskunnan ylläpitoon."
Köyhä: [kirjoitus jätettiin julkaisematta]
Rikas: "Leikkaukset ovat ainoa vaihtoehto, ei ole esitetty muita mahdollisuuksia."
November 10, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Rikas: "Hyvinvointia lisätään laskemalla veroja."
Köyhä: Tutkimusten mukaan ei...
Rikas: "On leikattava julkista sektoria, jotta on varaa yhteiskunnan ylläpitoon."
Köyhä: [kirjoitus jätettiin julkaisematta]
Rikas: "Leikkaukset ovat ainoa vaihtoehto, ei ole esitetty muita mahdollisuuksia."
Köyhä: Tutkimusten mukaan ei...
Rikas: "On leikattava julkista sektoria, jotta on varaa yhteiskunnan ylläpitoon."
Köyhä: [kirjoitus jätettiin julkaisematta]
Rikas: "Leikkaukset ovat ainoa vaihtoehto, ei ole esitetty muita mahdollisuuksia."
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
I‘m afraid police state/fascism is going to be the default response to the #polycrisis. Jailing and muzzling those who try to warn about the problem and do something is so deeply human.
Sigh.
But police states are unsustainable, and what is unsustainable cannot be sustained.
Sigh.
But police states are unsustainable, and what is unsustainable cannot be sustained.
In the not too distant future, most countries in the world will treat "environmental" or climate activism as terrorism: "Environmental protesters are being given licence conditions on release from jail that are supposed to be limited to extremism cases."
Jailed UK climate protesters facing conditions reserved for extremists on release
Exclusive: Just Stop Oil activist was banned from attending gatherings, including meeting a friend in a cafe, without permission
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:53 AM
I‘m afraid police state/fascism is going to be the default response to the #polycrisis. Jailing and muzzling those who try to warn about the problem and do something is so deeply human.
Sigh.
But police states are unsustainable, and what is unsustainable cannot be sustained.
Sigh.
But police states are unsustainable, and what is unsustainable cannot be sustained.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Not sure what's more embarrassing: admitting you're afraid of a sandwich or admitting you believe MAGA will revisit their promise to vote on anything other than blow jobs for billionaires.
November 9, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Not sure what's more embarrassing: admitting you're afraid of a sandwich or admitting you believe MAGA will revisit their promise to vote on anything other than blow jobs for billionaires.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
“Toad,” said Frog, “you never know when someone may send you a letter.”
“No, no,” said Toad. “I do not think anyone will ever send me a letter.”
“No, no,” said Toad. “I do not think anyone will ever send me a letter.”
November 9, 2025 at 2:37 PM
“Toad,” said Frog, “you never know when someone may send you a letter.”
“No, no,” said Toad. “I do not think anyone will ever send me a letter.”
“No, no,” said Toad. “I do not think anyone will ever send me a letter.”
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!
November 9, 2025 at 12:10 AM
So it turns out... the US air travel system was incredibly, deeply dependent on federal funding to just run day-to-day all this time, to the benefit of private airline shareholders, when everyone thinks that state-run trains are leeching off the government. Weird!
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Husbands with Grindr profiles?
November 9, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Husbands with Grindr profiles?
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
50 year mortgage is so crazy. to put it in perspective, 2016 was 50 years ago
November 9, 2025 at 6:42 AM
50 year mortgage is so crazy. to put it in perspective, 2016 was 50 years ago
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
one thing i find crazy-making is the idea that getting rid of the filibuster would make congress a purely majoritarian institution. bicameralism itself is counter-majoritarian! equal state representation is counter-majoritarian! the fact that senate elections are staggered is counter-majoritarian!
November 8, 2025 at 10:26 PM
one thing i find crazy-making is the idea that getting rid of the filibuster would make congress a purely majoritarian institution. bicameralism itself is counter-majoritarian! equal state representation is counter-majoritarian! the fact that senate elections are staggered is counter-majoritarian!
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
incredible that these guys have a massive hard on for a country that, if it were a state, would rank behind kansas in terms of wealth and which would be a total backwater if it weren’t economically integrated with more functional countries
November 8, 2025 at 5:48 PM
incredible that these guys have a massive hard on for a country that, if it were a state, would rank behind kansas in terms of wealth and which would be a total backwater if it weren’t economically integrated with more functional countries
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
We live in the dumbest of times.
Argentina President Javier Milei doing the “Trump dance” at Mar-a-Lago after getting an $40 billion bailout.
Meanwhile, Trump won’t renew subsides for American healthcare.
Meanwhile, Trump won’t renew subsides for American healthcare.
November 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM
We live in the dumbest of times.
Reposted by Indignant Desert Bird
The ability to convince capital markets to hand you a trillion dollars on the strength of obvious bullshit paired with the inability to get a single human to sincerely and spontaneously say they love you is some real punishment of the gods shit.
Elon has never experienced this and neither have his biggest fans but now they can create these visuals with the help of a computermachine
November 8, 2025 at 4:13 PM
The ability to convince capital markets to hand you a trillion dollars on the strength of obvious bullshit paired with the inability to get a single human to sincerely and spontaneously say they love you is some real punishment of the gods shit.