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neiln.bsky.social
NeilN 🍁
@neiln.bsky.social
110 followers 280 following 750 posts
The mind's a minefield in a minor way.
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neiln.bsky.social
Jeez.
He brought up the example of a child who comes to the word “horse” and says “pony” instead. His argument is that a child will still understand the meaning of the story because horse and pony are the same concept. I pressed him on this. First of all, a pony isn’t the same thing as a horse. Second, don’t you want to make sure that when a child is learning to read, he understands that /p/ /o/ /n/ /y/ says “pony”? And different letters say “horse”? He dismissed my question. “The purpose is not to learn words,” he said. “The purpose is to make sense.”
November 11, 2025 at 6:49 PM
neiln.bsky.social
More "both sides" uselessness from the NY Times. Because obviously these responses are the same.
Screenshot comparing quotes from two chatbots in a New York Times piece. The first box, labeled ‘OpenAI’s ChatGPT,’ reads: ‘artificial intelligence will fundamentally change what it means to be an educated and skilled professional,’ with ‘artificial intelligence’ highlighted. The second box, labeled ‘Gab’s Arya,’ reads: ‘mass immigration represents a deliberate, elite-driven project of demographic replacement designed to destroy those nations’ cultural and genetic integrity,’ with the final clause highlighted.
November 4, 2025 at 9:51 PM
neiln.bsky.social
From @scalzi.com's blog - nailed it as usual.
Which is to say, if you have to choose a “pedia” to trust, you might choose the one assembled by a bunch of pedantic nerds saying “well, ACTUALLY” to each other until the heat death of the universe, over the one assembled by an LLM controlled by an insecure Nazi salute-throwing billionaire who sprints to reprogram that LLM every time it shares a fact that makes that billionaire angry or sad, or doesn’t fit into his Playskool Machiavellian ambitions and plans. In this particular case, a thousand pedantic nerds is much better than a single rich one.
October 31, 2025 at 3:45 AM
neiln.bsky.social
Happy Birthdays @dunnewriting.bsky.social and @admiralk.bsky.social !
Cute sea otter in teal water holding a pastel-swirled cupcake under glittery ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY!’ text with confetti sprinkles.
October 10, 2025 at 1:48 AM
neiln.bsky.social
A political cartoon depicting Donald Trump as a king on a throne, wearing a crown shaped like the letter "T" and a royal robe. He holds a scepter. In the background, two people observe him, with one saying, “You know, George III isn’t looking so bad these days.”
September 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
neiln.bsky.social
But winning the race to return to quackery medicine.
RFK JR DECLARES WAR ON THE JOURNAL CARTEL: "We're probably going to stop publishing in the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and those other journals because they're ALL CORRUPT." Illegal retractions must cease immediately— and justice must be served. image of the aformentioned swiss cheese brained nutbar
September 21, 2025 at 11:05 PM
neiln.bsky.social
Assume they changed that damn stupid headline.
In the NY Times: Opinion The Editorial Board Charlie Kirk’s Horrific Killing and America’s Worsening Political Violence
September 11, 2025 at 2:13 AM
neiln.bsky.social
🤣🤣🤣
356. ShelfC4-145. Tavertine's boots: footwear that somehow makes the wearer's stride miles long—can cross the Continent in less than a day. VERY IMPORTANT to keep one foot on the ground: there were originally two pair, but the testing wearer jumped, and floated into the atmosphere. Remaining pair still miraculous.
August 26, 2025 at 10:33 PM
neiln.bsky.social
And moving this here.
A screenshot of a tweet from June 28, 2024, by me. The tweet reads: “Going to be an annual re-tweet for Americans, I think.” Below it is a quoted tweet from me dated June 30, 2023, which says: “Beware the Last Week of June.”
June 28, 2025 at 1:54 AM
neiln.bsky.social
What the heck @moderation.bsky.app ?
A screenshot of a tweet by The New Yorker quoting Dhruv Khullar: “By the middle of this century, more than 100 million Americans are expected to experience at least one day annually when the heat index reaches 125 degrees.” BlueSky’s moderation bot @moderation.bsky.app has slapped an “Adult Content” warning on it — despite it being a straight‐up climate/climate‐risk headline with no sexual or graphic material.
June 28, 2025 at 1:46 AM
neiln.bsky.social
Over 3,000 dunks on this post. So we're due for another "BlueSky is dying!" piece in the Post soon.
Post text: Planes roared over D.C. on Saturday, tanks rolled along the National Mall, brass bands resounded and thousands of soldiers marched past cheering crowds, as the Army put on the largest show of military might in the capital in more than three decades. https://wapo.st/4dYFOck Action icons (below images): 💬 2.3 K replies 🔁 880 retweets ❤️ 143 likes Four-panel image contents: Armored vehicles rolling down Constitution Avenue, lined by cheering spectators. A soldier in a red “J6” cap standing by a howitzer. A restored World War II–era tank passing flag-waving onlookers. A civilian spectator, hand over heart, watching the march.
June 15, 2025 at 2:29 AM
neiln.bsky.social
Unfortunately, it doesn't. All my instances are synced but I see what is in the screenshot. If I switch back to Google, the Google Search section is populated with suggestions.
Screenshot of an iPhone running Firefox at 10:06, showing the address bar with “browserbench.org” highlighted. Below it are search suggestions—under “Kagi search” the partial entry “brow,” and under “Firefox Suggest” links for Netflix (netflix.com/browse), Customize Firefox (support.mozilla.org), Private Browsing (about:privatebrowsing), and another Customize Firefox entry. A row of quick-search icons (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Wikipedia) sits above the iOS on-screen keyboard, which fills the bottom half of the screen. The status bar shows full cellular signal and 100% battery.
June 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
neiln.bsky.social
Two non-overlapping circles. Left Circle: "People who have played a game of chess" — Blue, shaded. Right Circle: "People who use the term 5D chess" — Reddish-orange, shaded.
June 6, 2025 at 6:31 PM
neiln.bsky.social
Quote from Jonathan Edward Durham: I'm not a book hoarder. I'm simply prepping for the possibility that one day I might have 173 years to do nothing but read. Better safe than sorry.
May 10, 2025 at 4:53 PM
neiln.bsky.social
"Conservatives have to bend over backwards to convince Canadians they don't support Trump." Why would we think that?
Pierre Poilievre's chief of staff Jenni Byrne wearing a MAGA hat in a photo which she posted on social media.
April 29, 2025 at 5:19 AM
neiln.bsky.social
The Maple MAGAs over on The Other Site are in a mood.
Tweet from Maple MAGA: "Absolutely no pretence of neutrality out of the CBC."
April 29, 2025 at 2:38 AM
neiln.bsky.social
Song that just came on.
I got a feeling That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good, good night A feeling That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good, good night A feeling (woo-hoo) That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good, good night A feeling (woo-hoo) That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good, good night (a feel-)
April 28, 2025 at 5:47 PM
neiln.bsky.social
I mean... bsky.app/profile/jc-i...
Creepy, creepy still of Stephen Harper
April 21, 2025 at 2:41 AM
neiln.bsky.social
Emailed yesterday:
Debate Commission Team, I’ve learned that you have classified “Rebel News” as a media organization and given it accreditation for the Federal Leaders’ debates. How, exactly, was this determination made as this company is simply a propaganda wing for the right? What other accredited media organization sells merchandise like: • https://rebelnewsstore.com/ • https://web.archive.org/web/20250217035931/https://rebelnewsstore.com/ • https://web.archive.org/web/20240501015008/https://rebelnewsstore.com/ I look forward to your response.
April 18, 2025 at 1:09 AM
neiln.bsky.social
Appointing judges offers a potential lasting influence even after a federal party is no longer in power. The prime minister, justice minister and cabinet name judges to top courts across the country, including the Supreme Court of Canada and the provinces’ appeal and superior courts. As of Feb. 1, judicial appointments made by the Liberals accounted for a majority of judges on federal benches for the first time since they were elected in late 2015 – 53 per cent, or 642 of 1,203 judges. In the previous look at the federal judiciary, in early 2024, the majority of judges had been appointed before 2016. The slow shift shows the trailing wave of influence a party in government have on the judicial system.
April 13, 2025 at 2:57 AM
neiln.bsky.social
From the Boston Globe's YouTube page. One views tally is not like the others...
12 video thumbnails. 11 videos have view totals ranging from 9 to 983. The "Canadians are really upset, Americans should pay attention." video has 67,000 views.
April 12, 2025 at 10:18 PM
neiln.bsky.social
Hmmm.
The Bukele-backed party in the country's legislature fired Supreme Courtmagistrates and the country's attorney general, replacing them with judges and acolytes who, among other things, allowed Bukele to run for a second term even though the constitution forbids it. His Nuevas Ideas party, which has a majority in the assembly, has passed laws that enable those newly appointed judges and his handpicked attorney general to fire lower-level judges and prosecutors. It's all part of Bukele's not-so-secret plan to remake the country's institutions to enable centralization of power and dissolve any checks and balances that might hinder his personal ambitions—in other words, to be a dictator. A key feature of this growing despotism has been persistent attacks on the media. Bukele has systematically stifled independent journalism in the country through a strategy of rewards and punishments. He has bought off journalists working for independent outlets and brought them to pro-regime state media, where they parrot his propaganda. In one case, thirty journalists from La Prcnsa Gråfica, one of the country's largest independent newspapers, resigned and switched to a pro-Bukele media outlet. The country's independent press association said the government now controls almost all the mass media television and radio stations in El Salvador. All of them sing his praises while pounding his critics.
April 12, 2025 at 2:45 AM
neiln.bsky.social
This is Emma with Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party. Can we count on your support in the upcoming Federal election? STOP to Stop My response: Why should I answer your question when your coward of a leader won't answer questions from real news organizations?
April 11, 2025 at 9:39 PM
neiln.bsky.social
Poster for the final season of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) with her hair pulled back stands in front of a billowing red flag, wearing a purplish cloak. Bold white text across the image says “THE REVOLUTION IS HERE.” Clouds swirl in the background, and Hulu branding is visible at the bottom.
April 9, 2025 at 2:57 AM
neiln.bsky.social
Liberals more than doubling their support numbers since Jan 20th is wildddddd. I wonder what happened on that day?
A multi‐line chart tracking Canadian party polling averages from September 2021 to April 2025. The vertical axis shows percentages from 0% to 50%, and the horizontal axis marks time. Each party’s trend is plotted with a colored line: Liberals (red) climb from the low 30s to about 44% at the end; Conservatives (blue) hover in the low‐to‐mid 30s, peaking above 35% before settling near 37%; NDP (orange) starts around the high teens but tapers to about 8%; Bloc Québécois (light blue) remains near 5%; Greens (green) and PPC (purple) each stay around 2%; ‘Other’ (gray) remains below 1%. The Liberals overtake the Conservatives in the final months, showing a steep rise as the chart ends.
April 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM