Elizabeth Lopatto
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lopatto.bsky.social
Elizabeth Lopatto
@lopatto.bsky.social
46K followers 470 following 920 posts
internet typist at the verge, known cat lady, zevon stan. she/hers/hesher

tip me: liz@theverge.com
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lopatto.bsky.social
I hate to be the one who breaks it to you all buuuuut ismercuryinretrograde.com
text from ismercuryinretrograde.com: YES! That may account for the weirdness. Mercury turns direct on Saturday, November 29, 2025. Mercury turned retrograde on November 9, 2025
November 22, 2025 at 1:39 AM
lopatto.bsky.social
he didn't miss all of them
a screen shot from MIT's report on Jeffrey Epstein's donations. Highlighted is the line "The earliest gift was $100,000 given in 2002 to support the research of the late Professor Marvin Minsky."
November 18, 2025 at 10:14 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
cover of tori amos's album "little earthquakes"
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
lopatto.bsky.social
hell yeah sierra hbd
a tuxedo cat lounges in a bed. her ears are very large and she looks relaxed. pink nose, big whiskers.
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 AM
lopatto.bsky.social
the face of a creature who has rearranged my linen closet (again) so she can have her own personal nap pod
A lovely tuxedo cat, with a pink nose and green eyes, is lying down atop a pile of towels. One has been shoved off the top, and she is leaning against it. She looks cozy.
November 4, 2025 at 9:44 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
the ever-benevolent cat has forgiven me
Close up of a tuxedo cat. She had a white garlic bulb pattern in her nose and looks content. In the background, a hand holds a mug of coffee
October 31, 2025 at 3:01 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
tripped over my cat while making coffee and now she’s sulking. poor unloved creature
A tuxedo cat, looking glossy, sits near the wall, near the corner of a room (baby in a corner), bread loaf-style. She looks at the camera with green eyes, reprovingly
October 31, 2025 at 2:54 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
just joined a crowd in singing “happy birthday” to Susan Orlean at her book event
The writer Susan Orlean, sitting up in the holy part of a Presbyterian church, wearing a tiara and feather boa, and looking absolutely tickled
October 31, 2025 at 2:54 AM
lopatto.bsky.social
the creature is lurking while I read
A tuxedo cat cuddles with a blanket, under which is a human leg belonging to the author of this post
October 30, 2025 at 4:29 AM
lopatto.bsky.social
sickos dot jpg
Photograph of the cover of Thomas Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket
October 30, 2025 at 4:10 AM
lopatto.bsky.social
(for ref) www.theverge.com/news/807825/...
In a statement sent after this article was published, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, “AI is not the reason behind the vast majority of reductions,” without citing specifics.
October 29, 2025 at 5:18 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
whether or not a recession is coming, I think it's odd that we're suddenly getting AI as an excuse for this. Amazon's statement doesn't attribute the cuts to AI and Amazon directly told us the cuts weren't due to AI productivity gains, and yet the big anecdote to support this is a Whole Foods worker
Behind the wave of white-collar layoffs, in part, is the embrace by companies of artificial intelligence, which executives hope can handle more of the work that well-compensated white-collar workers have been doing. Investors have pushed the C-suite to work more efficiently with fewer employees. Factors driving slower hiring include political uncertainty and higher costs.
October 29, 2025 at 5:17 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
you're gonna have to work harder than that to fool me, sandra. I am publicly over the age of 25
a screenshot of an account that has followed me. it has a picture of leonardo di caprio as its avatar and has "leonardo dicaprio" as its username. its handle is "sandra97-05.bksy.social."
October 27, 2025 at 11:56 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
a teen's parents filed a wrongful death suit against openai after their kid had "lengthy conversations" with chatgpt about his intention to kill himself. how did the company respond? with harassing subpoenas www.ft.com/content/47b0...
Lawyers for the Raines told the Financial Times that OpenAI had requested a full list of attendees from Adam’s memorial, which they described as “unusual” and “intentional harassment”, suggesting the tech company may subpoena “everyone in Adam’s life”. OpenAI requested “all documents relating to memorial services or events in the honour of the decedent including but not limited to any videos or photographs taken, or eulogies given . . . as well as invitation or attendance lists or guestbooks”, according to the document obtained by the FT. “This goes from a case about recklessness to wilfulness,” Jay Edelson, a lawyer for the Raines, told the FT. “Adam died as a result of deliberate intentional conduct by OpenAI, which makes it into a fundamentally different case.” OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment about documents it sought from the family.
October 22, 2025 at 9:16 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
www.theverge.com/policy/79051...
pull quote from The Verge: We are surrounded, one might say, by everyday anti-fascists
October 20, 2025 at 5:40 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
bugs bunny says no meme
October 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
if only someone could have predicted this www.theverge.com/business/793...
The media reporters are already circling you like a pack of wolves. Like, take your opening memo to the news division, the one about "the same core journalistic values that defined this profession from the beginning," which for some reason includes using "all the tools of the digital era." Not only could it have been better edited, and based on actual journalistic history, but you might have held off on insinuating you intend to incorporate Al slop into the work process until sometime after your first day. Consider all the people you now lead who have actual reporting experience. Do you think they are going to do something other than call their favorite media reporter the moment you interject yourself into a story or impose some nonsensical Al "bias meter" review?
October 19, 2025 at 2:59 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
so here’s the thing, Bari, you’re running an organization full of weapons-grade gossips who hate you www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/b...
Now in a position of power at the network, Ms. Weiss is the one concerned about leaks. She has complained that her comments at private CBS meetings keep turning up in media reports, asking if the company can identify the leakers, according to three people familiar with her remarks.
October 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
new trove of jeffrey epstein emails just dropped www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/b...
The two men had been personally entwined for more than two decades. When a former girlfriend accused Mr. Black of sexual assault, he turned to Mr. Epstein for advice about paying her millions of dollars to keep it quiet, according to an email reviewed by The Times and court records. Another woman said in a lawsuit that Mr. Black had raped her at Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. She eventually dropped the lawsuit. And, for reasons that are unknown, Mr. Black wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to at least three women who were associated with Mr. Epstein, according to court documents and notes taken by congressional investigators that were shared with The Times. Mr. Epstein introduced Mr. Black to several young women, according to people familiar with their relationships, as well as court documents. Some of the women later accused Mr. Black of abusing them. In 2002, for example, Mr. Epstein arranged for Mr. Black to meet Cheri Pierson, whom Mr. Epstein had paid for massages, according to a lawsuit Ms. Pierson filed years later and eventually withdrew. She met Mr. Black at Mr. Epstein’s townhouse, where Mr. Black raped her in the massage room, the lawsuit said. Mr. Black denied the claim and said he had never met Ms. Pierson. In early 2003, Mr. Black was among the friends who contributed to a book celebrating Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday. Mr. Black’s entry, a handwritten poem, referred to Mr. Epstein’s “unique tax strategy” and his interest in women: “Blonde, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically / With this net of fish, Jeff’s now ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’” One of Mr. Black’s other financial advisers had created “a really dangerous mess,” Mr. Epstein wrote in an email to Mr. Black. Another was “a waste of money and space.” He even attacked Mr. Black’s children as “retarded” for supposedly making a mess of his estate. The typo-strewn tirade was one of dozens of previously unreported emails reviewed by The New York Times in which Mr. Epstein hectored Mr. Black, at times demanding tens of millions of dollars beyond the $150 million he had already been paid. The pressure campaign appeared to work. Mr. Black, who for decades was one of the richest and highest-profile figures on Wall Street, continued to fork over tens of millions of dollars in fees and loans, albeit less than Mr. Epstein had been seeking.
October 18, 2025 at 4:12 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
thank you, @olbermann.bsky.social! youtu.be/hSbxBCsGNtM?...
October 13, 2025 at 5:55 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
just as good as the last time I saw them (in 2012 lol)
A photo of a band, aggressively lit. A backdrop with a rainbow and a mouse and frog embracing, captioned TVOTR (TV on the Radio)
October 13, 2025 at 6:47 AM
lopatto.bsky.social
my beautiful perfect idiot daughter found the go kit I assembled in case of emergencies, ripped open the bag of her dry food, and started snacking on it. she has plenty of food - I guess she just wanted variety? look at this creature
A tuxedo cat with a pink nose and wide green eyes looks mildly affronted to be photographed.
October 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
now Thompson admirably gives us all the evidence we need as readers to see through her, among them Diana penning a Hitler apologia well after the war. but here’s the funniest bit: please compare pages 248 and 235
Page 248: This was the central relationship of the Mitford girls, this push-and-pull between Nancy and Diana. For Nancy, denunciation was a means to even the score with one quick, almighty stroke. Yet it seems that the first attempt had not quite achieved her aim: in November 1943, when the Mosleys were released under house arrest, Nancy strode briskly into MI5 to tell them that the Home Secretary's decision was wrong. Diana, she reminded them, sought 'the downfall of England and democracy generally. It is impossible that she should have believed this, although many others did. Page 235, from Diana’s interrogation transcripts: Explaining herself as she did, there was no sense in which Diana could ‘win' her arguments, yet she did score one intriguing victory. Do you, she was asked, 'have a great contempt for democracy?’ 'Yes.' 'And so has Hitler?' 'Yes.' How can you say then that he admires this country, which is a democratic country? 'Because he admires England tremendously for its general characteristics.’
October 11, 2025 at 5:43 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
it's friday so I gave her the nip early
a tuxedo cat is sticking out her tongue, looking silly. she has little white gloves on her little feets
October 10, 2025 at 5:11 PM
lopatto.bsky.social
ok I forgive the new republic for not doing their preview as this is very good. JCO is one of the all-time posters and I am only sorry her poison ivy hiking-in-sandals feet tweet wasn't mentioned.) newrepublic.com/article/2015...
Jens Liljestrand, Nobel watcher, novelist, and longtime friend of this column, had this to say about Krasznahorkai: “Very expected. Very popular name among critics. Also very typical Academy choice: serious, epic, dark-but-humanistic narrator of the apocalyptic European 20th century.” Not only that, but Liljestrand already knows who next year’s winner will be: The new Swedish Academy has reliably rotated between awarding men and women, which means we can get started on next year’s column right now, a piece in celebration of 2026 Nobel Prize–winner Joyce Carol Oates. (The 2026 prize will be specifically awarded for Oates’s tweets about ISIS and dinosaur hunting and “wan little husks,” masterpieces of deadpan humor that were, like all great art, misunderstood upon first appearance. There will be no mention of any of her 157 books—or the fact that she is the greatest boxing writer ever.)
October 9, 2025 at 9:14 PM