Matt Parfitt
@mattparfitt.bsky.social
I teach Rhetoric at Boston University. Interests include Natural Language Generation, PHP Laravel, Ashtanga Yoga, opera, sailing, and whatever I’m forgetting. Canadian 🇨🇦🇨🇦 Also British. 🇬🇧🇬🇧 Radiate hope.
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Other countries have agency & domestic politics, too 🇨🇦
US wine exports to Canada fell 93% in April. Canada is its largest customer, and this contributed to a 41% global decline. www.bloomberg.com/news/article... #econsky
June 19, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Other countries have agency & domestic politics, too 🇨🇦
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
It makes me sad that America is a country where an assassin can take out a few political opponents and nobody’s like “how did this freak get a gun?” because the answer is “he effortlessly purchased it at the store that sells things for killing people”
June 15, 2025 at 2:46 AM
It makes me sad that America is a country where an assassin can take out a few political opponents and nobody’s like “how did this freak get a gun?” because the answer is “he effortlessly purchased it at the store that sells things for killing people”
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Gotta love an 86-year-old woman with the heart of a poster
June 10, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Gotta love an 86-year-old woman with the heart of a poster
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Jonathan Joss--voice actor of John Redcorn from King of the Hill, and Ken Hotate from Parks and Rec--was killed in a homophobic hate crime today.
I'm so angry.
I'm so angry.
June 2, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Jonathan Joss--voice actor of John Redcorn from King of the Hill, and Ken Hotate from Parks and Rec--was killed in a homophobic hate crime today.
I'm so angry.
I'm so angry.
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
May 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Huh. Looks like Plato was right.
A new paper shows all language models converge on the same "universal geometry" of meaning. Researchers can translate between ANY model's embeddings without seeing the original text.
Implications for philosophy and vector databases alike. arxiv.org/pdf/2505.12540
A new paper shows all language models converge on the same "universal geometry" of meaning. Researchers can translate between ANY model's embeddings without seeing the original text.
Implications for philosophy and vector databases alike. arxiv.org/pdf/2505.12540
May 23, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Huh. Looks like Plato was right.
A new paper shows all language models converge on the same "universal geometry" of meaning. Researchers can translate between ANY model's embeddings without seeing the original text.
Implications for philosophy and vector databases alike. arxiv.org/pdf/2505.12540
A new paper shows all language models converge on the same "universal geometry" of meaning. Researchers can translate between ANY model's embeddings without seeing the original text.
Implications for philosophy and vector databases alike. arxiv.org/pdf/2505.12540
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
We know. They gave you immunity.
May 16, 2025 at 9:33 PM
We know. They gave you immunity.
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
It's almost as if granting a criminal blanket immunity was a bad idea.
Rule of law is ‘endangered,’ chief justice says
Speaking at Georgetown Law, Chief Justice John Roberts denounced “ad hominem” criticism of the justices.
www.politico.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:54 PM
It's almost as if granting a criminal blanket immunity was a bad idea.
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
For academics that are skeptical about AI's ability to provide perceptive & useful results, a fast way to test your assumptions is to give one of your papers as a PDF to o3 (or Gemini 2.5 but it lacks some tools), with the prompt:
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
May 11, 2025 at 1:56 AM
For academics that are skeptical about AI's ability to provide perceptive & useful results, a fast way to test your assumptions is to give one of your papers as a PDF to o3 (or Gemini 2.5 but it lacks some tools), with the prompt:
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
“ This is arguably the biggest grift in modern history” - @profgalloway.com
May 10, 2025 at 4:14 PM
“ This is arguably the biggest grift in modern history” - @profgalloway.com
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
These boxes are not moving. A mind-bending optical illusion by Japanese artist Jagarikin.
May 7, 2025 at 1:03 AM
These boxes are not moving. A mind-bending optical illusion by Japanese artist Jagarikin.
RIP Ruth Buzzi (July 24, 1936-May 1, 2025)
May 2, 2025 at 8:38 PM
RIP Ruth Buzzi (July 24, 1936-May 1, 2025)
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
May 2, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
This is one of the most-shared posts on Bluesky in the past day and it's just completely false. You might think ChatGPT is a *bad* search engine, or prefer another search engine. But it has had integrated web search since last year.
May 1, 2025 at 5:26 PM
This is one of the most-shared posts on Bluesky in the past day and it's just completely false. You might think ChatGPT is a *bad* search engine, or prefer another search engine. But it has had integrated web search since last year.
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
How do you use a 'red card'?
Hold it up to a window, from *inside* your house.
-The side facing outward, in English, tells the authorities that you know your rights.
-The side facing inward, in Spanish, tells you how to declare those rights.
More here: www.ilrc.org/red-cards-ta...
Hold it up to a window, from *inside* your house.
-The side facing outward, in English, tells the authorities that you know your rights.
-The side facing inward, in Spanish, tells you how to declare those rights.
More here: www.ilrc.org/red-cards-ta...
May 1, 2025 at 3:05 AM
How do you use a 'red card'?
Hold it up to a window, from *inside* your house.
-The side facing outward, in English, tells the authorities that you know your rights.
-The side facing inward, in Spanish, tells you how to declare those rights.
More here: www.ilrc.org/red-cards-ta...
Hold it up to a window, from *inside* your house.
-The side facing outward, in English, tells the authorities that you know your rights.
-The side facing inward, in Spanish, tells you how to declare those rights.
More here: www.ilrc.org/red-cards-ta...
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
University leaders need to understand: they are holding INCREDIBLY good cards.
It is so rare in today's polarized era to have the support of 70+ percent of the public against the Trump admiministration on anything. Universities have that—AND winning legal arguments.
It is so rare in today's polarized era to have the support of 70+ percent of the public against the Trump admiministration on anything. Universities have that—AND winning legal arguments.
April 27, 2025 at 5:29 AM
University leaders need to understand: they are holding INCREDIBLY good cards.
It is so rare in today's polarized era to have the support of 70+ percent of the public against the Trump admiministration on anything. Universities have that—AND winning legal arguments.
It is so rare in today's polarized era to have the support of 70+ percent of the public against the Trump admiministration on anything. Universities have that—AND winning legal arguments.
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
This and more from a February teach-in here at Princeton.
Know your rights. That means everyone: noncitizens, citizens, judges...know your rights. docs.google.com/presentation...
Know your rights. That means everyone: noncitizens, citizens, judges...know your rights. docs.google.com/presentation...
April 25, 2025 at 7:01 PM
This and more from a February teach-in here at Princeton.
Know your rights. That means everyone: noncitizens, citizens, judges...know your rights. docs.google.com/presentation...
Know your rights. That means everyone: noncitizens, citizens, judges...know your rights. docs.google.com/presentation...
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
People in the US are reading for pleasure less and less, despite it being linked to better sleep, improved mental health and even a longer life
Reading for pleasure has plummeted over the past 20 years
People in the US are reading for pleasure less and less, despite it being linked to better sleep, improved mental health and even a longer life
www.newscientist.com
April 26, 2025 at 12:06 AM
People in the US are reading for pleasure less and less, despite it being linked to better sleep, improved mental health and even a longer life
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Sen. Murphy: “[Trump] is applying tariffs to basically…every company… He’s going to tell those companies, ‘If you want tariff relief, then this is what you have to do for me’… It’s not actually intended to create jobs… It’s just intended to increase his political power.”
April 24, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Sen. Murphy: “[Trump] is applying tariffs to basically…every company… He’s going to tell those companies, ‘If you want tariff relief, then this is what you have to do for me’… It’s not actually intended to create jobs… It’s just intended to increase his political power.”
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Paul Krugman - “McDonald’s workers in Denmark are paid more than Honda workers in Alabama.”
April 14, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Paul Krugman - “McDonald’s workers in Denmark are paid more than Honda workers in Alabama.”
Reposted by Matt Parfitt
Requiring REAL IDs and passports and birth certificates to vote?!?
Imagine if these were required to buy a gun.
Imagine if these were required to buy a gun.
April 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Requiring REAL IDs and passports and birth certificates to vote?!?
Imagine if these were required to buy a gun.
Imagine if these were required to buy a gun.