@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

ryansingel

@ryansingel@writing.exchange

Building Outpost.pub to help build an indie publishing ecosystem. Also Contextly, Stanford and formerly journalist at Wired.

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simon, to random
@simon@simonwillison.net avatar

New trick for my TIL website: the "related content" at the bottom of each TIL is now powered by OpenAI embeddings. I wrote a new TIL describing how that works (using new features of my openai-to-sqlite tool): https://til.simonwillison.net/llms/openai-embeddings-related-content

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@simon
Nice! I'm indebted to your blog for inspiring us to add a similar recommendation layer to Contextly, a SaaS-based recommendation engine for WordPress, Ghost and other CMSes.

We use a vector DB, and use this method in addition to other techniques. It's a great addition and thanks for the clear tutorials that led us to start playing with it.

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

In the late aughts, Wired.com (the online news side NOT the magazine side) experimented by launching multiple standalone blogs with a lot of editorial independence: Danger Room, Threat Level, Gadget Lab, Wired Science and more

When the mag staff got final site control, they dumped all of the blogs, despite their success and reader loyalty

Katie Drummond wrote for Danger Room

Today she got named worldwide Wired EIC

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/business/media/wired-katie-drummond.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Hoping she brings that model back

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

The alums from that time of editorial independence and voicy writing also include

Danger Room editor Noah Schactman, now EIC of Rolling Stone

Four reporters at the NYT including Jenna Wortham, Mike Isaac, Cade Metz, and Brian X Chen

KQED Forum co-host Alexis Madrigal

Security reporters Kim Zetter and Kevin Poulsen

Health reporter Maryn McKenna

And many more.

It was an anarchic model for developing great reporters and writers, certainly with downsides, but I miss it

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

Do people still use business cards in the States? Is that still a thing?

Going to a conference and wondering if I should have some?

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@mariyadelano
That's helpful. Thank you!

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@mariyadelano
Good to know though I thought QR codes were exclusively for ordering garlic fries and beers.

Gonna find my LinkedIn QR code!

reginasbread, to random
@reginasbread@homo.promo avatar

just watched a video about the lack of bicycles in hollywood productions. e.g. there are post apocalypse shows where there's no fuel or they can't use engines for other reasons, and the characters are shown walking or riding a horse. they never try bikes even though it's the most popular mode of transportation on the planet. Daryl from TWD on a bicycle? uncool. if a protagonist is doing it, it's a comedy. riding a bicycle is seen as a ridiculous thing to do unless you're a child. I am stunned.

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@nuncio

@reginasbread

Sad misconception. Find me a cop that could catch any of these folks in NYC

Lucas Brunnelle: https://youtu.be/Xphlt0i0Lz4

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@reginasbread
Bikes break the whole conceit of Apocalypse movies which is that tech stops working.

Bicycles keep working. So you can either make an apocalypse movie that's all about bicycles or ignore them.

In the Walking Dead, main character rides a bike he found just outside the hospital in episode 1, discards it and bikes are never shown again

SafeStreetRebel, to random
@SafeStreetRebel@sfba.social avatar

Today was a beautiful day for a little bike ride

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@SafeStreetRebel
The kids are alright

ernie, to random
@ernie@writing.exchange avatar

Interesting. I discovered that if I put my earbud case next to the headphone jack on my 2012 MacBook Pro, it causes the screen to go black for a second.

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@ernie
The magnets are probably triggering autosleep as if the case was closing

Took me forever to figure this out with case in my pocket and computer on lap

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

Google put an LLM in a robot arm

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/technology/google-robots-ai.html

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

How's it going in COVID land?

"Despite the uptick, several epidemiologists expressed doubt that there would be a major wave of cases in the coming weeks" says the NYT relying on a CUNY epidemiologist just recovering from his THIRD bout of COVID. I shit you not.

Wear a mask indoors. Stop pretending it's over, just cause you are over it. Demand real ventilation. Protect at-risk people.

In New York, Covid Cases Are Rising, Slightly, Officials Warn https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/nyregion/covid-cases-hospitalizations-new-york.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

If I were an epidemiologist who had covid three times, I wouldn't pick up the phone when the New York Times called for advice about covid.

Out of shame I'd get an electrician's degree or start a landscaping business.

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

This is the kind of evening it was.

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

Just remembering when the Washington Post's "fact checker" Glenn Kessler took on Bernie Sanders saying "Three people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of America”

The math works out but Kessler would not be dissuaded from saying it was false.

"But people in the bottom half have essentially no wealth, as debts cancel out whatever assets they might have. So the comparison is not especially meaningful."

Yes, he still has that same job.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/live-updates/general-election/fact-checking-the-first-democratic-debate/sanders-on-concentration-of-wealth/

grheavyroller, to random
@grheavyroller@mastodon.social avatar

Trusted Computing and Remote Attestation are 1984-worthy doublespeak for computing that you can't trust, computing that will rat you out. @pluralistic : "As I wrote last week, giving manufacturers the power to decide how your computer is configured, overriding your own choices, is a bad tradeoff – the worst tradeoff, a greased slide into terminal enshittification"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/#wei-bai-bai

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@grheavyroller

@pluralistic

Just ran into the Apple example again where I can't screen record and capture internal audio with built-in tools, not because it's hard but because pirrrracy

mathowie, to random
@mathowie@xoxo.zone avatar

Ah jeez, after 3.5 years I finally caught covid for the first time. My symptoms are mild and I feel like I'm getting over it after three days of flu. I suspect going to see three new movies in packed theaters in the past week was not a great idea (and movie theaters could really use better HVAC!)

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@mathowie
Sorry to hear that

And everything needs better HVAC. Such a wasted opportunity to make that a shared mission

evan, to random
@evan@cosocial.ca avatar

I need some suggestions for my "Summer" playlist

Part of my summer playlist on Spotify Summer Breeze Suddenly Last Summer Boys of Summer Summer in the City Summer of 69 Cruel Summer Summer Nights All Summer Long School's Out (for summer)

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@evan
Jane's Addiction Summertime Rolls

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

One of my favorite Google News searches is TKTK.

A good reminder that shit happens.

image/jpeg

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

For those not familiar, TK or TKTK is a convention used by news writers that don’t know something or aren’t certain of the spelling of someone’s name.

Instead of stopping writing to go research it, you type TKTK or TK (supposedly means To Come), keep pounding out copy, and then later you add in the missing info during the editing process.

So if TKTK is in a published piece, there was some breakdown in the editorial process.

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

Seems a good time to introduce/remind folks of the Barbie Liberation Organization from early 1980s that hacked the media by switching out the computer chips between Barbie and GI Joe dolls, so that Barbie got to say Vengeance is Mine, while GI Joe dolls said stuff like Math is Hard

https://youtu.be/eMHMf9y-27w

#barbie

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@j3j5 I feel like this predated the Yes Men

ct_bergstrom, (edited ) to random
@ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org avatar

An opioid expert from Texas A&M gave a guest lecture and mentioned that Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick’s policies were costing lives. Within hours, Patrick’s office got her suspended, formally censured, and nearly fired.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-a-m-professor-opioids-dan-patrick/

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@kfury

@ct_bergstrom

Actually both are accurate

ryansingel, to random
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

Every couple years, I think to myself, I would read the hell out of a story about the song Supercollider and its video from 90s Boston band Tribe.

It's a banger about a scientist and the Supercollider that was partially built in Texas $2bn. The music video filmed in the Supercollider as the feds prepared to defund it.

https://youtu.be/V1-EPTAFE0o

And in this case definitely read the comments

skinnylatte, to random
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io avatar

If a Chinese condiment or product has the word ‘supreme’ or ‘superior’ in it, it’s usually the highest standard of a product.

In America, I would advise looking at the ingredient list for soy sauce and checking that it isn’t made of ‘hydrolyzed soy protein’. That’s a sign that the soy sauce hasn’t been naturally brewed. My standard Chinese soy sauce is the Lee Kum Kee ‘Supreme’ Soy Sauce, brewed for 6 months and it’s the ‘first draw’. Next fave is the LKK ‘Premium’

ryansingel,
@ryansingel@writing.exchange avatar

@skinnylatte

Thanks! Just learned something new

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