@thefordon
law librarian, legal writing prof, legal tech skeptic/addict in Columbus OH. Writing & researching about the ways tech enables access to information. I enjoy bikes, books, and birds. she/her. join a union.
Weekend project: understanding Power Automate better so that I can make some cool things that work within my University's Microsoft environment. Anyone have good tutorials or things you've made?
I’ve been making a similar argument for a while. Want to stop AI hallucinations? Start with open data.
Tagging @shelbaum.bsky.social!
If a brief cites a case but no one can retrieve it, is it a hallucination? When the cite is '2022 WL 4637582' and you lack a subscription, there's no way to know. New LIT-SIS blog piece argues WL & LX should open up citation verification for the good of us all. litsis.classcaster.net/2026/02/26/t...
The real danger of agentic AI is it has me thinking "a *system* will fix me! that's what I need!" and looking for a comprehensive multi-agent claude plan for organization/task management. (at 2:30 am. I've since recovered)
Incredibly cool use of Free Law Project data
Those were some good-eating planarians! My son loves to look at critters in creek water so we have observed many a planarian but haven’t cut them up together yet.
Did anyone else study planarians in high school? Anyone else name yours Gavin Rossdale, and then when you cut it up into three pieces (who all lived on as new worms), their names were Gavin, Ross & Dale?
#lawlibrarians assemble!
Nice! Need a leaderboard or something...
Spent most of the afternoon yesterday vibe-coding a game with my 8yo. He drew all the sprites and designed the levels, Claude did the coding: rlfordon.github.io/potato-simul...
The point isn’t that anyone is lying. The point is that when evaluating AI forecasts from AI executives, the correct Bayesian prior is not “neutral expert opinion.” It’s “statement optimised for the speaker’s capital structure.” Altman needs you to believe AGI is coming fast so you’ll pay $830 billion for OpenAI. Amodei needs you to believe the same so Anthropic can close at $350 billion, nearly doubling its valuation in four months. Pichai needs you to feel uncertain so Google’s cash advantage compounds while its competitors scramble. Hassabis needs you to think the breakthroughs haven't happened yet, so the competition looks like it's overselling.
I always try to think about what motivates people to say the things they do, and I thought this was pretty perceptive. deadneurons.substack.com/p/the-duelli... (of course, I have no idea who writes that substack, and what their incentives are)
This is so, so good. If you have units on algorithmic bias, or are just interested in incorporating simulations/interactive elements into your teaching, check this out.
Communities in OK, MS, VA, and MN have stopped warehouse sales to ICE.
You can, too:
✅ Go to city council meetings & SPEAK UP during open comment
✅ Call your state delegates — local + state pressure is our best bet. The Fed Gov won’t save us.
✅ Register to vote now. The 2026 midterms are coming.
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
TIL that Mr Beast is a billionaire (with a b). My 8yo corrected me when I said millionaire, and turns out he was right.
Yes, the opera! My son and all his friends are singing “arf arf arf arf arf” to the tune of the Toreador Song. They’re getting it from FNAF I guess? villainsong.fandom.com/wiki/Toreado...
Did people know the 8yos are out there doing Carmen memes?
I did not realize the judge was a woman until this point, and that unfortunately tracks with how disrespectful he is being with her.
I think her decision making at this point may have not been in top form. I feel for her as a human who has also been burnt out beyond belief and made bad decisions I wouldn’t have made otherwise.
Wow. This is devastating. Thank goodness for all the people who keep copies of this stuff (see the comments).
“Every person I spoke to in Minnesota and Maine said that the disruption to their children’s lives was much worse than with Covid. At least then they knew that they would be safe when they were inside.”
These are so beautiful, anyone looking for a gift for me, please be advised.
Love for my kid's classes to be cancelled while my job's classes are back on-campus. This kid may get to learn a little about legal tech this week.
I guess Outlook has been down for hours and I'm just now realizing? I just thought it was a particularly quiet afternoon.
I need you all to remember this:
#Lewiston #Burlington #Portland #Maine
“I’ll never get rid of my dashcam now though. I feel like it adds another layer of safety.”
A quick 🧵 about Thurgood Marshall, civil rights, and Trump’s recent argument that, “White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a college or university.” (You can find more in chapter 8 of The State Must Provide)
There has been some great work on this, including current work by @conmijente.bsky.social. Found this piece about some shareholder action. Most activism I’ve seen has come from students though. inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
Yes! purple is usually the cheekiest, so that helps, but if none are cheeky then I’m stumped. The hardest part about reverse rainbow to me is guessing which is supposed to be easier between green and yellow.
