Basil
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zestybasilpizza.bsky.social
Basil
@zestybasilpizza.bsky.social
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xkcd.com
Geologic Core Sample

xkcd.com/3171/
Comic: Typical Geologic core sample. [Cylindrical core sample with labels for difference sections from top to bottom] Topsoil, till, granite bedrock, bottomsoil, roof of subway car, floor of subway car, more granite, municipal water main [gouge in core sample], slightly different granite, piece of screaming spelunker’s forearm, cool crystals with no resale value, mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt, some boring intrusive rock that’s basically granite but has a name like “diorite” or “Andalite” that you always have to look up, netherrack, Balrog wing. [break between next chunk of core sample] Granite, topsoil, cement, floorboards, carpet, possessions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere.
November 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
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cait.bsky.social
a few months ago I said "having generative AI handle absolutely anything with regards to healthcare is a nightmare and should be banned" and a bunch of people made fun of me and called me stupid. anyways,
r/ExpectationVsReality u/Additional-Simple858 • 3d Join Al 'doctor' said my back pain is depression, not a slipped disc. Now physical therapy won't get approved. Al Expectation We are reviewing claim #& submitted on 09/28/2025. Our records indicate the claim was filed under diagnosis code F32.9 (Depressive disorder, unspecified), while the corresponding prescription and referral history list treatment for lumbar disc herniation (back pain). Re: Incorrect Diagnosis in Record Hi Thank you for reaching out. We have reviewed your visit documentation and can confirm that the notes in question were generated using our Al scribe system. It appears the Al tool assigned diagnosis code F32.9 (Depressive disorder, unspecified), while your visit notes and treatment plan reference lumbar disc herniation (back pain). Per compliance policy, certain Al-generated fields cannot be manually updated by clinic staff and require vendor correction. We have escalated this to our vendor support team and opened ticket # . We'll notify you once we receive confirmation or correction from the vendor.
November 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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mollyroberts.bsky.social
The officer Sandwich Guy is charged with assaulting testifies that he could feel the impact of the sandwich through his ballistic vest, and it “exploded all over my uniform.” He says he could “smell the onions and the mustard.”
November 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
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malaiseforever.bsky.social
reading slaughterhouse 5 for the first time and i was absolutely knocked senseless by this passage, which is so true and relevant that it feels like it was pulled from a history book
“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register. Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
October 26, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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drandrealove.bsky.social
Protein powders aren’t poisoning you, but we need supplement regulation.

I wrote an article on the lead in protein powder headlines, actual science (spoiler: it ain’t prop 65 & consumer reports)

and what we should be discussing about supplements:

Read it here: news.immunologic.org/p/consumer-r...
October 16, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Reposted by Basil
propublica.org
Internal documents and former company executives revealed how Cigna doctors rejected patients’ claims without opening their files.

“We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said.

(Published March 2023 w/ @capitolforum.bsky.social)
How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them
Internal documents and former company executives reveal how Cigna doctors reject patients’ claims without opening their files. “We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said.
www.propublica.org
October 1, 2025 at 3:00 AM
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dieworkwear.bsky.social
I wrote something about respectability in dress over on Twitter. The topic is nuanced for me, so unfortunately the post had to be long. Since Bluesky (reasonably) has character limits, I can't easily import the text here. So I'm including screenshots, if you would like to read it.
ON RESPECTABILITY IN DRESS Every once in a while, people here will get mad at me. And it often involves the same issue: respectability in dress. Or its related cousin: dress codes. Judging someone's deeper, more important qualities based on attire often feels so natural; people get upset when I refuse to engage in the same judgment. To them, it feels as though I'm denying something so obvious, I'm dishonest. I've written about dress respectability no fewer than half a dozen times in my 15 years of writing about menswear, but never so thoroughly and comprehensively on Twitter. This post will be long, but I hope it is engaging. And I hope you stay with me because I find this sentiment to be so noxious — so antithetical to any notion of "good," whether religious or secular — that I hope I can convince a few people to resist such temptations. What is respectability in dress? It's the idea that you can show respect through clothes, such as wearing a suit to a wedding. Or the idea that people in certain clothes are more deserving of respect, such as a man in a suit versus another man in a hoodie. I will address each in turn. I believe dress is a form of social language. And thus, you can signal certain things through clothes. For instance, if I were to attend a wedding, I would wear a suit as an outward expression of a sentiment in my heart (e.g., "I'm happy for my hosts and wish to honor them on this day"). The suit is simply a representation of my sentiment, which already exists, even if I was in jeans. However, if I arrived at a wedding and saw someone not wearing a suit, I would not judge the person's more important qualities based on their attire. Perhaps they didn't have time to buy a suit. Perhaps clothes shopping gives them great anxiety. Perhaps they can't afford a suit that fits. If I wanted to know whether that person is of good character, I would judge this off their more direct actions, such as how they treat the people around them. Are they genial to g… In 1852, Cardinal John Henry Newman penned an essay, initially delivered as a university lecture, titled "Definition of a Gentleman." A gentleman, he says, is someone gentle and kind, considerate of others, humble in social relations, and respectful of boundaries. He compares a gentleman to "an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue." He writes: "The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast — all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favors while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring." There is notably nothing in his essay about clothes. It's impossible to judge a person's deeper, more important qualities based on clothes because people are often just following social conventions. To go back to the wedding example, many people wear a suit not because they hold a particular sentiment in their heart, but simply because a suit is protocol. A friend who works as a wedding photographer revels in telling me stories about suited guests getting into fistfights—certainly not a way to honor your hosts. The irony of dress codes is that the stronger the enforcement, the less you can tell about someone's character based on dress. Let's now turn to the idea that people in certain clothes are more deserving of respect. The sharpest, most pointed counterargument for this is Pierre Bourdieu, who in his 1979 book Distinction, pointed out that our notions of "Good Taste" are often nothing more than the habits and preferences of the ruling class. Edward Carpenter, a gay British reformer in the late 19th century, understood this a century earlier. He hated suits. In an essay about the "simple life," he compared suits to coffins, as they have "stiff layers upon layers of buckram," which he believed prevented people from getting enough sunlight and air. But more importantly, he hated suits because he recognized that Victorian dress codes weren't about dress codes at all — they were about status signaling and social hierarchy. In May 1889, Carpenter wrote a letter to The Sheffield Independent about how 100,000 of the city's residents were struggling to find sunlight and air, enduring miserable lives, and dying of illnesses because of the thick, black cloud of smog arising out of factories like smoke from Judgement Day. Meanwhile, as Melton-clad plutocrats nattered on about proper dress codes, they concealed their cruelty and vulgarity under refined manners. They weren't concerned with virtue, but rather with showing their supposed higher moral status. And then those socially under them aped those manners to seem higher class. (A dynamic that German sociologist Georg Simmel recognized in his 1902 essay "On Fashion.) Our judgements of dress are often more about the person underneath the clothes, rather than the clothes themselves. We see this with the pre-war British Guardsmen, who dropped their Edwardian-inspired fashions as soon as they were adopted by the "ruffians" known as Teddy Boys (and some Teddy Gals). Or how the slacker hoodie became a symbol of meritocracy in the New Economy when (white) coders wore it in the early 2000s, but it symbolizes criminality when worn by black teens. Clothes ind… I'm fundamentally opposed to any notion of respectability in dress, as I find it antithetical to a fundamental moral principle: you should treat everyone with respect unless they behave in a manner that suggests otherwise. And so, if John Fetterman lumbers through the halls of Congress in hoodies and shorts, you should object to him based on his politics, not his dress. If a student shows up at Oxford Union in sweats, you should consider his ideas, not his pants. I am perfectly fine with saying certain outfits are ugly. I'm deeply uncomfortable when people make moral judgments based on clothes. A person is not more or less deserving of respect based on dress; they can only do so based on more meaningful behavior. My guess is that you know this in your heart. As you travel through the world, look around you. Are your poorly dressed cousins and uncles bad people? Do shabbily dressed teachers or nurses on the train not actually serve society in positive ways? Do suited politicians not occasionally commit crimes? The idea that appearance doesn't always match character can be found more melodically in Fela Kuti's 1973 album "Gentleman." If you are already interacting with someone on a meaningful basis, you've hopefully already gotten enough information about them to form a judgement and thus can ignore dress. If you haven't interacted with them in meaningful ways, you can simply withhold judgement. I will end with an excerpt from Stuart Hall, a Jamaican-born British cultural theorist. In an essay about pluralism, he made a distinction between "common culture" and "common society," encouraging us to embrace differences. "It should not be necessary to look, walk, feel, think, speak exactly like a paid-up member of the buttoned-up, stiff-upper-lipped, fully corseted and free-born Englishman, culturally to be accorded either the informal courtesy and respect of civil social intercourse or the rights of entitlement and citizenship. Since cultural diversity is, increasi…
September 18, 2025 at 8:26 PM
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seung.bsky.social
lmfao www.inquirer.com/opinion/lett...
September 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
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swin24.bsky.social
Trump strongly fired the Woke Jobs Reports person and yet there are still Woke Jobs Numbers. He’s gonna have to fire at least four more Woke jobs people
September 5, 2025 at 1:37 PM
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laminda.bsky.social
What measured ~12 feet long, weighed 550 lbs and nommed on dinosaurs? THIS GUY. Don't call it a crocodile (even though it looks like one)—it's a crocodyliform, an ancient extinct relative of modern crocs that lived about 70 million years ago in the floodplains of what's now southern Argentina 🧪
Researchers unearthed skeleton of extinct ‘hypercarnivore’ that had a taste for dinosaurs | CNN
Scientists found the skeleton of an extinct hypercarnivore in Argentina’s southern Patagonia. The apex predator feasted on dinosaurs, they propose.
www.cnn.com
September 4, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Reposted by Basil
faineg.bsky.social
There’s an enormous amount of stuff in this book I’d like to highlight, but start with:

“What emerges as the most elementary insight is that, since we do not now have any ways of making computers wise, we ought not now to give computers tasks that demand wisdom.”
What could be more obvious than the fact that, whatever intelligence a computer can muster, however it may be acquired, it must always and necessarily be absolutely alien to any and all authentic human concerns? The very asking of the question, "What does a judge (or a psychiatrist) know that we cannot tell a computer?" is a monstrous obscenity. That it has to be put into print at all, even for the purpose of exposing its morbidity, is a sign of the madness of our times. Computers can make judicial decisions, computers can make psychiatric judgments. They can flip coins in much more sophisticated ways than can the most patient human being. The point is that they ought not be given such tasks. They may even be able to arrive at "correct" decisions in some cases-but always and necessarily on bases no human being should be willing to accept. There have been many debates on "Computers and Mind." What I conclude here is that the relevant issues are neither technological nor even mathematical; they are ethical. They cannot be settled by asking questions beginning with "can." The limits of the applicability of computers are ultimately statable only in terms of oughts. What emerges as the most elementary insight is that, since we do not now have any ways of making computers wise, we ought not now to give computers tasks that demand wisdom.
August 28, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Basil
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
The corporate euphemisms for price hikes are hilarious.

Urban Outfitters: "gentle" price adjustments
Victoria's Secret: "evolving promotional approach"
Hormel: "targeted pricing actions”

@wsj.com $HRL
www.wsj.com/business/ear...
Hormel Foods to Raise Prices as Commodity Costs Hurt Profit
Hormel Foods said it’s planning to take “targeted pricing actions” as higher commodity input costs hurt fourth-quarter results and were expected to weigh on profitability for the rest of the year.
www.wsj.com
August 28, 2025 at 12:46 PM
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edzitron.com
Here's the clip!
youtu.be/ZGVKZQQSJkg
August 26, 2025 at 7:55 PM
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sergle.bsky.social
If I'm gonna really christen this account, it should be with these pieces
July 25, 2023 at 11:21 AM
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vicmsong.bsky.social
It’s a busy podcast week haha. Thanks to Ed for having me on with smart ppl and ranting about my frustrating AI fitness summaries.
July 2, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Basil
mootroid.bsky.social
harley quinn beats you to death with a comically large hammer
June 18, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Basil
xkcd.com
Good Science

xkcd.com/3101/
5-panel comic. (1) [teacher with long hair next to whiteboard] TEACHER: I’m supposed to give you the tools to do good science. (2) [teacher addressing students] But what *are* those tools? Methodology is hard and there are so many ways to get incorrect results. What is the magic ingredient that makes for good science? (3) TEACHER: To figure it out, I ran a regression with all the factors people say are important: [embedded list in sub-panel, cut off at end] Outcome variable: correct scientific results. Predictors: collaboration; skepticism of others’ claims; questioning your own beliefs; trying to falsify hypotheses; checking citations; statistical rigor; blinded analysis; financial disclosure; open data (4) TEACHER: The regression says two ingredients are the most crucial: 1) genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and 2) ammonium hydroxide. (5) STUDENT: Wait, why did *ammonia* score so high? How did it even get on the list? LONG HAIR: ...And now you’re doing good science!
June 12, 2025 at 8:28 PM
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scrunchybean.bsky.social
#ドット絵 #pixelart
June 9, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Basil
stsci.edu
The Pillars of Creation, seen here in mid-infrared by #NASAWebb, adds to decades of research about star formation by helping astronomers analyze the densest dusts and gases of the region, and improving the precision of their star-formation models: bit.ly/45ayCYi 🔭 🧪
Many layers and pillars of semi-opaque gas and dust overlay one another. These regions appear light blue and dark gray-blue. The first pillar starts at the bottom left and extends to the top right. There is one prominent red star, with tiny spikes at its tip. Lower on this pillar, there are several darker areas of dust that jut out, many with bright red stars that appear as small red dots at their ends. Below the top pillar are two slightly smaller pillars, both ending in dark gray-blue regions. The second pillar has a dark arch that looks like an upside-down L halfway down. The background of this scene is washed in shades of red. Toward the top center is a V shape. At its lowest point, the V is a brilliant red. There are only several dozen tiny bright white and blue stars in this overall scene. Larger stars appear redder and are embedded in the pillars.
June 9, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Basil
themountaingoats.bsky.social
so, I'm part of this incredibly cool project. to really get the whole idea, read through the entire page - the "behind the curtain" section breaks it down, but working your way there is more fun. support this cool weird fiction project! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dea...
The Eden Book Society — 1993
Bringing a century of previously unseen horror into the light - featuring Grady Hendrix, John Darnielle, Alison Rumfitt and more...
www.kickstarter.com
May 12, 2025 at 2:37 PM
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edzitron.com
Newsletter: I am sick and god damn tired of everybody pretending that generative AI is the next big thing. The media is complicit in accepting fantastical nonsense - both in the numbers put out by OpenAI and the silly jobs created by Anthropic - and it has to stop.
www.wheresyoured.at/reality-check/
Reality Check
I'm sick and god-damn tired of this! I have written tens of thousands of words about this and still, to this day, people are babbling about the "AI revolution" as the sky rains blood and crevices open...
www.wheresyoured.at
April 28, 2025 at 5:11 PM
zestybasilpizza.bsky.social
You know. I was always told that raising wages, especially minimum wage, would make everything cost more so we could never do it.

Now everything costs more anyways and wages haven't gone up.

It's almost like these Very Smart Businessguys care about businesses more than people. Weird.
April 25, 2025 at 1:14 PM
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vicmsong.bsky.social
Preach @davidpierce.xyz

Views don’t tell the whole traffic story, but it often feels like a noose to anyone who makes any kind of content / isn’t something ppl understand well outside the industry. I find bounce rate more helpful but that’s not public data!

www.theverge.com/social/63981...
On TikTok, YouTube, X, and everywhere, ‘views’ are lies
You might think a “view” means you watched something. You’d be wrong.
www.theverge.com
April 5, 2025 at 3:44 PM
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vicmsong.bsky.social
I had a blast talking about my Bee AI review. Not least because Ed does voices, Cherlynn is always naturally charming, and it’s been a while since Cranz roasted my ass.

Also props to Ed for assembling a consumer tech girl gang in a male-dominated space 
edzitron.com Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · Mar 19
Here's the latest ep of my iHeartRadio/Cool Zone Media show Better Offline. I'm joined by @cherlynn.bsky.social @cranz.bsky.social and @vicmsong.bsky.social for an in-studio conversation about mediocre consumer electronics AI. A classic.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...
linktr.ee/betteroffline
Radio Better Offline: Cherlynn Low, Alex Cranz & Victoria Song
Podcast Episode · Better Offline · 03/19/2025 · 1h 27m
podcasts.apple.com
March 19, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Basil
garius.bsky.social
On 16th March, 1968 Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jnr was flying helicopter recon for a US attack on My Lai, an alleged Viet Cong-controlled village in Vietnam.

But as the attack developed below, Thompson realised he was witnessing something something else:

A massacre.

He decided to act. 1/28
a young, brown-haired, clean-shaven american man in a green army uniform. he looks stern.
July 30, 2024 at 7:50 AM