MetaFilter (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-24 12:45 am
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-24 12:45 amAt some point, everyone on campus will have to do the work.
(He is working in risk management.) Ian Bogost (pre
and
viously) reflects on what AI might mean for higher education this upcoming academic year.
But designing courses of this kind, which resist AI shortcuts, would require professors to undertake new and time-consuming labor themselves. That assignment comes at the worst possible time. Universities have been under systematic attack since President Donald Trump took office in January. Funding for research has been cut, canceled, disrupted, or stymied for months. Labs have laid off workers. Degree programs have cut doctoral admissions. Multi-center research projects have been put on hold. The "college experience" that Americans have pursued for generations may soon be over.
But designing courses of this kind, which resist AI shortcuts, would require professors to undertake new and time-consuming labor themselves. That assignment comes at the worst possible time. Universities have been under systematic attack since President Donald Trump took office in January. Funding for research has been cut, canceled, disrupted, or stymied for months. Labs have laid off workers. Degree programs have cut doctoral admissions. Multi-center research projects have been put on hold. The "college experience" that Americans have pursued for generations may soon be over.
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 10:37 pm
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 10:37 pm"You will likely still need to know things in the future."
Cal Poly ethicist Patrick Lin on Why We're Not Using AI in This Course, Despite Its Obvious Benefits.
Amy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brightknightie) wrote2025-08-23 03:43 pm
brightknightie) wrote2025-08-23 03:43 pmEntry tags:
New "vampiremedia" community
I imagine that several of you will be interested to learn that there's a new ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
vampiremedia community, devoted to "all things vampires." It's currently running a recommendations event. :-D Enjoy!
It's not for me, of course. Each to her own! I don't want to yuck your yum! Please skip the rest of this post if it bothers you that not everyone enjoys vampires.
I hope that it's okay to say, here in my own journal, that I personally find no appeal in vampires as a trope. As a metaphor, sometimes! But, mostly, it's just not for me. I love Forever Knight for its complex interplay of history, mystery, and metaphysics, with what I continue to insist, against all fandom opposition, are its beautiful and rich themes of choosing the hard right over the easy wrong, self-sacrifice over selfishness, salvation over power. And I love Dracula by Stoker as B-grade imperial-panic Victorian literature that tapped into our common humanity at a depth it had no right to yet absolutely owns. I appreciate Carmilla by Le Fanu as literary innovation and accomplishment... BtVS and AtS, of course, for their early excellencies that you know well... the UK version of Being Human... a nod to Tanya Huff... and that's it. That's all. You may notice that none of these stories try to suggest that vampirism is a good thing.
(I opened Twilight once and retreated before the acute adverb poisoning. I'm pretty sure that I was too born too old to enjoy Twilight.)
vampiremedia community, devoted to "all things vampires." It's currently running a recommendations event. :-D Enjoy!It's not for me, of course. Each to her own! I don't want to yuck your yum! Please skip the rest of this post if it bothers you that not everyone enjoys vampires.
I hope that it's okay to say, here in my own journal, that I personally find no appeal in vampires as a trope. As a metaphor, sometimes! But, mostly, it's just not for me. I love Forever Knight for its complex interplay of history, mystery, and metaphysics, with what I continue to insist, against all fandom opposition, are its beautiful and rich themes of choosing the hard right over the easy wrong, self-sacrifice over selfishness, salvation over power. And I love Dracula by Stoker as B-grade imperial-panic Victorian literature that tapped into our common humanity at a depth it had no right to yet absolutely owns. I appreciate Carmilla by Le Fanu as literary innovation and accomplishment... BtVS and AtS, of course, for their early excellencies that you know well... the UK version of Being Human... a nod to Tanya Huff... and that's it. That's all. You may notice that none of these stories try to suggest that vampirism is a good thing.
(I opened Twilight once and retreated before the acute adverb poisoning. I'm pretty sure that I was too born too old to enjoy Twilight.)
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 08:04 pm
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 08:04 pm"It's a dangerous machine in the public space with no guardrails."
Over 21 days of talking with ChatGPT, an otherwise perfectly sane man became convinced that he was a real-life superhero: Chatbots Can Go Into a Delusional Spiral. Here's How It Happens.
twistedchick (twistedchick) wrote2025-08-23 03:19 pm
twistedchick) wrote2025-08-23 03:19 pm(no subject)
Putting the Substack on hold has already had some effects. Since I'm not thinking about politics when I fall asleep, my dreams have returned -- in living color.
Night before last I was dreaming about an enormous library or bookstore that had been made out of a former doctor's office, with all the little office areas being different topics, and the books on the walls looked different colors and styles in each.
Last night I dreamed I was talking with Dolly Parton before she went onstage and noticed that her hair was not only touching the floor, it was long enough to trip her up. I managed to trim off about five inches that was in floor contact. Then after her concert she came back and asked me to go on a trip with her as thanks for keeping her from falling off the stage -- and we started off on a road trip. Somewhere in there she turned into Meryl Streep and wanted me to try a tiny heart-shaped hallucinogen as we drove off on the Southern Tier Expressway (which is not a place to go tripping.). And at that point I woke up.
Thanks for returning, Imagination!
Night before last I was dreaming about an enormous library or bookstore that had been made out of a former doctor's office, with all the little office areas being different topics, and the books on the walls looked different colors and styles in each.
Last night I dreamed I was talking with Dolly Parton before she went onstage and noticed that her hair was not only touching the floor, it was long enough to trip her up. I managed to trim off about five inches that was in floor contact. Then after her concert she came back and asked me to go on a trip with her as thanks for keeping her from falling off the stage -- and we started off on a road trip. Somewhere in there she turned into Meryl Streep and wanted me to try a tiny heart-shaped hallucinogen as we drove off on the Southern Tier Expressway (which is not a place to go tripping.). And at that point I woke up.
Thanks for returning, Imagination!
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 07:08 pm
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 07:08 pm"Bizarre fuzzy core" probe sez
Scientific American: "NASA's Juno Mission Leaves Stunning Legacy of Science at Jupiter" An article with lots of info and great photos and illustrations by Robin George Andrews.
Juno and Jupiter previously, and more.
Juno and Jupiter previously, and more.
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:53 pm
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:53 pmEvolution in action, driven by human activity
These fish used to be enormous. In 1996, the biggest Baltic cod grew more than three feet long. By 2019, however, their sizes had been cut in half, and the cod's weight was but a fraction of its previous glory. Now, the average cod can sit in a person's cupped hands. from These Cod Have Been Shrinking Dramatically for Decades. Now, Scientists Say They've Solved the Mystery [Smithsonian]
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:45 pm
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:45 pmIndia Bans Online Gambling Apps
The indian government has passed a law banning online gambling apps that involve real money, citing gaming addiction, financial losses, terror-financing and suicides as the reason for banning them. Online gambling in India is estimated to be a $23 billion dollar industry with several billions of dollars of investments flowing into these companies that may be shutdown overnight.
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:21 pm
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:21 pmAmerican buying things from overseas? No you're not.
On Friday, shippers around the globe, including DHL, New Zealand Post, Australia Post (for transit shipping), most European postal services, Korea Post, SingPost, India's department of posts, and the Thai postal service have either halted package shipments to the USA or are about to. You will hear that it's due to tariffs, but that's not quite right. The problem is that the US has not told anyone how they can pay these tariffs, or how much they will be.
In the memo from July, the Trump Administration stated that they were revoking the de minimis exception, and that the fee could be the tariff amount, or it could be a flat fee from $80 to $200. However, the wording was vague, and there has been no guidance issued to inform postal services how this will be handled. As Matt Stoller has pointed out, a lot of fentanyl has been getting into the USA through the de minimis exception, because those packages have not been inspected. However, levying a tariff without inspecting the packages does absolutely nothing to fix this situation. Trump threatened to require precisely this of packages from China in February, but then he TACOd.
In the memo from July, the Trump Administration stated that they were revoking the de minimis exception, and that the fee could be the tariff amount, or it could be a flat fee from $80 to $200. However, the wording was vague, and there has been no guidance issued to inform postal services how this will be handled. As Matt Stoller has pointed out, a lot of fentanyl has been getting into the USA through the de minimis exception, because those packages have not been inspected. However, levying a tariff without inspecting the packages does absolutely nothing to fix this situation. Trump threatened to require precisely this of packages from China in February, but then he TACOd.
MetaFilter (metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:03 pm
metafilter_feed) wrote2025-08-23 06:03 pmAnd God saw the light, that it was good.
Alfredo Moser invented an electricity free light and gave it as a gift to the world.
Although this is over ten years old, I can't find that it has been posted here. I ran into this and thought it was a short, sweet story.
Although this is over ten years old, I can't find that it has been posted here. I ran into this and thought it was a short, sweet story.
maevedarcy (maevedarcy) wrote in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png)
dw_community_promo2025-08-23 08:47 am
maevedarcy) wrote in dw_community_promo2025-08-23 08:47 amEntry tags:
New Community for Vampire Fans
Description:
vampiremedia is a community for all things vampires! Recs, discussion, meta, transformative works. If it's got vampires, we want it. Membership is open and all members can post. Currently hosting a vampire fandom recs event.Die Hard Movies: Pre-Existing Condition by Helenish
Fandom: Die Hard 4.0
Pairings/Characters: Matt Farrell/John McClane
Rating: Not Rated (I would say Gen or Teen at most)
Length: 13,139 words
Creator Links: Helenish at AO3
Theme: Marriage of Convenience
Summary:
“Anyway, he’s staying with me for a while,” John says.
“My place got firebombed,” Matt says, reflexively.
Reccer’s Notes: This fic is absolutely note perfect. The characters feel completely on point and the marriage of convenience trope feels totally natural. An exploration of how to be normal after something absolutely crazy has happened to you.
It feels very warm and true and absolutely delightfully done in Helenish’s brilliant way of writing.
Fanwork links: Pre-Existing Condition
Pairings/Characters: Matt Farrell/John McClane
Rating: Not Rated (I would say Gen or Teen at most)
Length: 13,139 words
Creator Links: Helenish at AO3
Theme: Marriage of Convenience
Summary:
“Anyway, he’s staying with me for a while,” John says.
“My place got firebombed,” Matt says, reflexively.
Reccer’s Notes: This fic is absolutely note perfect. The characters feel completely on point and the marriage of convenience trope feels totally natural. An exploration of how to be normal after something absolutely crazy has happened to you.
It feels very warm and true and absolutely delightfully done in Helenish’s brilliant way of writing.
Fanwork links: Pre-Existing Condition