PresentTense
@presenttense.bsky.social
Husband and father. Elder millennial. Foodie and gin enthusiast. Critter, Jedi, Pokémon trainer, AFOL, LLama. DMs closed by the state. He/him.
Secret ninth (neinth?) episode of the Mighty Nein dropping tonight? #MightyNein #CriticalRole
December 24, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Secret ninth (neinth?) episode of the Mighty Nein dropping tonight? #MightyNein #CriticalRole
Reposted by PresentTense
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
November 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
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During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.
It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.
He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’
During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...
chicago.suntimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.
It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.
He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Reposted by PresentTense
"Why don't they just apply for citizenship?"
This is a question often directed toward undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
But the pathway to American citizenship for the vast majority is long, complex, and financially draining.
This is a question often directed toward undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
But the pathway to American citizenship for the vast majority is long, complex, and financially draining.
Why Is It So Hard to Become a US Citizen? - American Immigration Council
“Why don’t they just get in line?" It's a question often directed toward undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org
September 17, 2025 at 8:29 PM
"Why don't they just apply for citizenship?"
This is a question often directed toward undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
But the pathway to American citizenship for the vast majority is long, complex, and financially draining.
This is a question often directed toward undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
But the pathway to American citizenship for the vast majority is long, complex, and financially draining.
Reposted by PresentTense
Happy (rainy) Tuesday, #Boulder. I've got a new story for you all about a new temperature-stable, single-injection rabies vaccine developed by @colorado.edu researcher Ted Randolph.
www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...
www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...
New single-dose, temperature-stable rabies vaccines could expand global access
CU Boulder engineers have developed a new method for making vaccines that combines multiple, timed-release doses into a single injection that doesn't require
www.colorado.edu
September 23, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Happy (rainy) Tuesday, #Boulder. I've got a new story for you all about a new temperature-stable, single-injection rabies vaccine developed by @colorado.edu researcher Ted Randolph.
www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...
www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...
Reposted by PresentTense
Reposted by PresentTense
chatgpt is much like an improv comedy group
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
This is fascinating: www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/s/I...
Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…
Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…
From the OpenAI community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the OpenAI community
www.reddit.com
July 16, 2025 at 9:21 PM
chatgpt is much like an improv comedy group
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
1) you are the audience, giving it prompts
2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt
3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And
4) it has the factual accuracy of improv
5) it does not understand comedy
Streaming budget looking better without Disney+ and Paramount+.
September 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Streaming budget looking better without Disney+ and Paramount+.
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Fifteen years after Citizens United opened the floodgates of corporate and dark political money, the Center for American Progress has figured out how to slam them back shut.
CAP published its groundbreaking how-to report today: "The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant."
CAP published its groundbreaking how-to report today: "The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant."
The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant
By using their authority to define what corporations are—and what powers they hold—states can end the era of corporate and dark money in U.S. politics.
www.americanprogress.org
September 15, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Fifteen years after Citizens United opened the floodgates of corporate and dark political money, the Center for American Progress has figured out how to slam them back shut.
CAP published its groundbreaking how-to report today: "The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant."
CAP published its groundbreaking how-to report today: "The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant."
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I respect Anil so I want to talk seriously about harm reduction and public health messaging.
First let me acknowledge that yes, many regular, not-super-online people are trying out AI tools. Of course they are! It's been aggressively pushed into everything and given heavy institutional support.
First let me acknowledge that yes, many regular, not-super-online people are trying out AI tools. Of course they are! It's been aggressively pushed into everything and given heavy institutional support.
this is the really ineffective head-in-the-sand reaction a lot of folks on Bluesky tend to have if you talk about any harm reduction-based approach to the reality that millions of people are using AI tools today. The current approach to critiquing AI is obviously not working, but they don't care.
September 8, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I respect Anil so I want to talk seriously about harm reduction and public health messaging.
First let me acknowledge that yes, many regular, not-super-online people are trying out AI tools. Of course they are! It's been aggressively pushed into everything and given heavy institutional support.
First let me acknowledge that yes, many regular, not-super-online people are trying out AI tools. Of course they are! It's been aggressively pushed into everything and given heavy institutional support.
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Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 6, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Reposted by PresentTense
Reposted by PresentTense
One long sentence is all it takes to make LLMs misbehave
One long sentence is all it takes to make LLMs misbehave
Chatbots ignore their guardrails when your grammar sucks, researchers find
Security researchers from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 have discovered the key to getting large language model (LLM) chatbots to ignore their guardrails, and it's quite simple.…
dlvr.it
August 26, 2025 at 8:39 AM
One long sentence is all it takes to make LLMs misbehave
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On a Tuesday in March, Rümeysa Öztürk writes, “I was thrust into a nightmare.”
For VF, the Fulbright scholar details what she witnessed in the six and a half weeks she spent inside a South Louisiana ICE detention center.
For VF, the Fulbright scholar details what she witnessed in the six and a half weeks she spent inside a South Louisiana ICE detention center.
“Even God Cannot Hear Us Here”: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison
Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk opens up about her 45 days in a South Louisiana processing facility—and the generous and compassionate women she met.
www.vanityfair.com
July 17, 2025 at 11:59 AM
On a Tuesday in March, Rümeysa Öztürk writes, “I was thrust into a nightmare.”
For VF, the Fulbright scholar details what she witnessed in the six and a half weeks she spent inside a South Louisiana ICE detention center.
For VF, the Fulbright scholar details what she witnessed in the six and a half weeks she spent inside a South Louisiana ICE detention center.
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Media outlets can't pivot to AI to save themselves. It's not a business strategy and it's not going to work. The only path forward is for journalists to lean into their humanity, to do things AI can't, and to make clear they are writing for people, not algorithms:
www.404media.co/the-medias-p...
www.404media.co/the-medias-p...
The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work
AI is not going to save media companies, and forcing journalists to use AI is not a business model.
www.404media.co
July 14, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Media outlets can't pivot to AI to save themselves. It's not a business strategy and it's not going to work. The only path forward is for journalists to lean into their humanity, to do things AI can't, and to make clear they are writing for people, not algorithms:
www.404media.co/the-medias-p...
www.404media.co/the-medias-p...
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Musk, who think he’s humanity’s savior, will likely be remembered as the man who caused the deaths of 15 million people www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality
across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates
show that, unless the a...
www.thelancet.com
July 1, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Musk, who think he’s humanity’s savior, will likely be remembered as the man who caused the deaths of 15 million people www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
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Starship Was Doomed From The Beginning
The fatal flaw SpaceX can't overcome.
open.substack.com
March 11, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Describe your favorite movie in the most misleading way possible.
The batteries are loose again.
The batteries are loose again.
June 12, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Describe your favorite movie in the most misleading way possible.
The batteries are loose again.
The batteries are loose again.
The quiz du jour has ruled that I am Ben Wyatt, so I suppose I am now required to watch Parks and Recreation (for the first time). openpsychometrics.org/tests/charac...
Statistical "Which Character" Personality Quiz
Test matching your answers to the crowd-sourced profiles of fictional characters.
openpsychometrics.org
May 26, 2025 at 1:51 PM
The quiz du jour has ruled that I am Ben Wyatt, so I suppose I am now required to watch Parks and Recreation (for the first time). openpsychometrics.org/tests/charac...
In before the Trump tariffs!
April 5, 2025 at 12:45 AM
In before the Trump tariffs!
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This is blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief.
Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs.
What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?
Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs.
What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?
American war planning usually takes place in highly secure facilities. But the Trump administration planned its strikes on the Houthis using a group chat—and accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. theatln.tc/IuULQFiY
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
theatln.tc
March 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
This is blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief.
Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs.
What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?
Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs.
What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?
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Another extraordinary exchange just now about "animus" in the court hearing on trasngender members of the military:
February 18, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Another extraordinary exchange just now about "animus" in the court hearing on trasngender members of the military:
Reposted by PresentTense
One thing about me is that I will fight Nazis until I’m six feet in the ground.
January 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM
One thing about me is that I will fight Nazis until I’m six feet in the ground.
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I understand that ChatGPT is down and fortunately this is not a problem for me as I have spent considerable time developing a local language model that I am able to run autonomously, fueled by Coke Zero and snacks
January 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I understand that ChatGPT is down and fortunately this is not a problem for me as I have spent considerable time developing a local language model that I am able to run autonomously, fueled by Coke Zero and snacks
Reposted by PresentTense
The moral arc of the universe doesn’t bend toward justice on its own. Grab that shit and pull.
January 22, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The moral arc of the universe doesn’t bend toward justice on its own. Grab that shit and pull.