Mike Tueller

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

Imaging a human saying to you, "i will only ever tell you what i think you want to hear, based on what i know about ppl like you, how you start our conversation, & what you say during it. Sometimes that will sound like truth, sometimes like errors or lies. Now: Let's talk about your medical history"

Well, I’ve read more than my share of ancient oracular pronouncements, and I *also* treat the output of LLM chatbots like a Greek oracle: i.e. as something ultimately working for the interests of the powerful, and with an alarmingly high ratio of apparent authority to meaningful content.

douglas adams was our most accurate futurist

Well, i, for one, am comfortable with imaginary numbers.

Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick

i'm calling it early - this is one of the greatest posts ever made on bsky dot app

Gotta admit, I never thought I'd quote Bill Kristol approvingly.

So it goes to show how bad things are that, even across a political gulf, people can agree about the Trump era decay.

I'm glad you like it!

‘Sell America’, the two words that sum up the markets’ break with an out-of-control Trump Investors welcomed the Greenland agreement with relief, but the attack on JP Morgan raises new concerns. The Trump era is pushing investors to reduce their exposure to the US, a trend expected to cont...

The United States is now ceasing to be "the indispensable nation."

‘Sell America’, the two words that sum up the markets’ break with an out-of-control Trump | Economy and Business | EL PAÍS English english.elpais.com/economy-and-...

After Trump’s Ultimatum, Greenland Talks Include Sovereign U.S. Bases and No Drilling for Russia

Let's be clear: they're negotiating to "transfer sovereignty over pockets of Greenlandic land to the United States." This is territorial cession as appeasement, the price for "peace in our time." Haven't we seen this before? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/w...

I scored an 18—slightly less old than you?

No waterbed or AOL address, though I did have Compuserve, which, frankly, should count.

Plato's Cave allegory, illustrated. the shadows on the cave wall are captioned "increasingly insane and extreme positions", the prisoners labeled "internet users", the figures holding the shadow's shapes labeled "algorithms", the fire labeled "random internet users expressing their idiosyncratic beliefs". the space above the cave is labeled "literally just outside" and the philosopher freed from the chains of the physical world labeled "guy who logs off"

from "Classical Studies memes for Hellenistic teens" on FB

A Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine Hey team. It’s your CEO. I know your time is valuable, so I’ll cut right to the chase: It’s come to my attention that some of you have been bad-mou...

Yeah, this definitely does sound familiar....

A Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-c...

Socialism is what they called public power.

Socialism is what they called social security. 
 
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
 
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.

—Harry Truman, 1952

Non Sed Homine Sed Sub Deo Et Lege "Not under man, but under God and law." Inscription over the main entrance to Langdell Hall, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts. This photo is konomarked ("Most Rights Sharable"). If you...

Were I asked, I would have given the great inscription on Langdell Hall at Harvard:

non sub homine sed sub deo et lege

www.flickr.com/photos/erice...

In case you hadn't noticed:

Congratulations on your promotion!

Liner Note 23. Popularity of Thinking, or the Duty to Know London on April 18, 2015    This is the talk I gave at the National Day of Action for Higher Education on April 17. My co-panelists and I, T...

Christopher Newfield, bold as ever!

I'm not sure about some of this—but then again, I'm not the expert he is. In any case, he's certainly right that the way higher education is defended (starting with his point number 2) is a big part of the problem.

utotherescue.blogspot.com/2025/04/line...

Scoop: House Democrat seeks probe into reports Qatar plans to gift plane to Trump Rep. Ritchie Torres asked for an "immediate" ethics review into what he called a "flying grift."

What do you think?

“Bribe Force One” or “Bribey McBribeface”?

www.axios.com/2025/05/11/t...

Scylla, Paestan red-figure krater C4th B.C., The J. Paul Getty Museum watermark: theoi.com (it's a good site)

"Are you a girl or a boy?"
Scylla: I AM DEATH INCARNATE FOR FOOLS WHO PLY THE WAVES
"No, like.. what do you have, 'down there'?"
Scylla: HUNGRY DOGS

This is high art

Just to be clear, two of the things that make America great are 1) immigrants and 2) strong scientific (and, for that matter, academic) communities independent of government interference.

People spend a lot of time wondering why the left is worse at using independent media to control the national narrative.

A useful exercise is to ask why the left is also worse at selling snake oil and pyramid schemes, because I think the reasons are basically exactly the same.

There is an impulse in moments like this to appeal to self-interest. To say: These horrors you are allowing to happen, they will come to your doorstep one day; to repeat the famous phrase about who they came for first and who they'll come for next. But this appeal cannot, in matter of fact, work. If the people well served by a system that condones such butchery ever truly believed the same butchery could one day be inflicted on them, they'd tear the system down tomorrow. And anyway, by the time such a thing happens, the rest of us will already be dead. No, there is no terrible thing coming for you in some distant future, but know that a terrible thing is happening to you now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience. Who cares if diplomatic expediency prefers you shrug away the sight of dismembered children? Who cares if great distance from the bloodstained middle allows obliviousness. Forget pity, forget even the dead if you must, but at least fight against the theft of your soul.

One of many moments in Omar El Akkad’s new book, “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” that will stop you in your tracks.

The first really nice surprise of 2025!

The Non-Adventures of Wonderella » Archive » Hello friends nonadventures.com/2025/01/01/h...

Massachusetts Road Signs Massachusetts<br> Road Signs

Buckle up, Massholes.

I mean, it's *literally* annual....

A Banner Year - Futility Closet

A set of observations for fans of math oddities....

www.futilitycloset.com/2024/12/26/a...