Note: this is a foundational theory about human psychology, and allows us to understand many important dynamics in the world. It is also now the kind of research that almost certainly cannot be funded in the US without being subject to unfair scrutiny, blocking, cancellation of awarded grants, etc. Every psychologist who works on these topics is looking at major career threats for ... studying threat. You also can't TEACH this study in some states and schools

If any Danish speakers follow me...

What would be the Danish equivalent of the name Bob in English?

Being a standard very common male name w/uncle vibes, pleasing to say but old-fashioned & kind of pedestrian? Lars? Peet?

Thanks for your help! (Happy to take any other Danish tidbits too!)

The modern mind is not able to comprehend how the Roman Empire was able to administer an territory all the way from Egypt to Hadrian's Wall without making use of Jira Sprint Planning.

@blogdiva this game of six degrees of separation is wild.

@emaytch there's a whole speculative fiction subgenre where doing math alters reality & it has bugged me for years. Now I'm wondering what it's contributed to AI hype.

For the Y2K, we weren't allowed to change any of the original code running on the AS/400. That code was always off-limit, and had existed since the 1970s as far as I know.

We created an intermediate tool that would look at transactions going into and out of the database.

When data was coming out, we'd convert the dates to 4-digit years. Then when data was going in, we'd convert 4-digit years back to 2-digit years.

I have no idea if 26 years later that is still in place. I suspect so. But the thought that banks will authorize AI and "vibe coding" to magically replace all this off-limit code running on the back end is hard to believe.

I read Casey Means' book last year and wrote about her "salvation through orthorexia" ideology so you don't have to. This woman being Surgeon General will entail enormous amounts of harm buttondown.com/theswordandt...

You Are What You Eat

@luis_in_brief
Leaning-In to Blueness: Microsoft's Violet Beauregard reveals her life-work hacks

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Daojoan/116127746115748599

And weirdly when someone turns gigantic and blue Wonka shoves them in your face repeatedly

RE: https://mastodon.world/@paninid/116121106682975671

Just a few paragraphs in & already this article about San Francisco in 2025-2026 is literally the most-cyberpunk thing I've read in 20+ years. And that is in no way a compliment.

RE: https://social.afront.org/@MLE_online/116120864443869250

I have questions.

Sigh

Look. We can agree as a society that learning is valuable and struggle is intrinsic to that enterprise, or we just pack it in and squander our birthright as humans.

I know what I'm choosing.

https://companion.ai/einstein

RE: https://social.coop/@cwebber/116121023549874291

Searching yesterday to see if anyone was selling plugins to enable WordPress integration with Ellucian Banner & all I found were "agentic" "solutions".

And no thanks, we do not need a nondeterministic 3rd party agent constantly threatening to delete courses, programs, degrees, classes, or students.

@jmax @futurebird
Re mammals, I think Mole Rats MIGHT do something like this.
I know Cape Hunting Dogs have surprisingly complex social structures but I don't remember anything quite to that level of specialization.

@jmax @futurebird
I'm thinking through what I know & while I think it probably is widespread in eusocial insects, it also will look different in different species. E.g. I think termites mostly do it like ants do, but honeybees IIRC do this more as age-based roles. E.g. more in-hive roles when they're very young or very old.

“I wanted the blue checkmark on LinkedIn. The one that says “this person is real.” In a sea of fake recruiters, bot accounts, and AI-generated headshots, it seemed like a smart thing to do.

So I tapped “verify.” I scanned my passport. I took a selfie. Three minutes later — done. Badge acquired. I felt a tiny dopamine hit of legitimacy.

Then I did what apparently nobody does. I went and read the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not LinkedIn’s. The other company’s”

https://thelocalstack.eu/posts/linkedin-identity-verification-privacy/

A budget is a moral document.

RE: https://social.lol/@jarunmb/116098025755907781

We have cameras outside, but none of them feed to a company, only to spouse's phone.

This has led to his sending me texts during the day along the lines of "there is a package on the porch and the doorbell is freaking out about it." 😆

RE: https://mstdn.social/@lowqualityfacts/116098641002000845

This is disturbingly plausible, knowing Newton.