ct_bergstrom

ct_bergstrom, 5 months ago to random

My daughters and I are feeding cows 10,000 pounds of macadamia nuts each and that's what makes us so relatable and makes it so clear we don't need to be taxed at 95+ percent of our income.

ct_bergstrom, 5 months ago to random

This is a fantastic story about how the search engine tail wags the online content dog.

It's a form of enshittification, but it's a two-sided one that involves google's algorithmic choices and web designers' responses via Campbell's law (when a metric becomes a target, people do stupid shit)

https://www.theverge.com/c/23998379/google-search-seo-algorithm-webpage-optimization

ct_bergstrom, 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

A long shot but let's try.

When I was photographing birds with a very long lens on the empty beach south of #Barcelona's airport, this magnificent gentleman waved to me, pointed to himself, and immediately struck a pose. I fired off this frame, we shared a laugh from 50m apart, and went on our respective ways.

I'd love to get it to him. Anyone know him?

ct_bergstrom, 8 months ago to random

I wanted to consolidate a few thoughts on google, misinformation, large language models, enshittification, and the fate of the web as we know it.

It started when Carl Zimmer shared this remarkable example of Google being fooled by machine-generated bullshit online.

ct_bergstrom, 5 months ago to random

US residents: If you haven't ordered your free COVID tests through USPS in the last five or six weeks, you're eligible for four more per household. It takes about a minute to fill out the online form, and USPS delivers them to your mailbox.

Testing is a great way to keep friends, family, and coworkers safe.

https://special.usps.com/testkits

ct_bergstrom, 1 year ago (edited 1 year ago) to random

This week, Science published a stunningly irresponsible news story entitled "Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common" and claiming that upward of 30% of the scientific literature is fake.

https://www.science.org/content/article/fake-scientific-papers-are-alarmingly-common

Below, the first two paragraphs of the story.

Headline and intro notwithstanding, the story itself later notes that the detector doesn't actually work and flags nearly half of real papers as fake. Does the reporter just not understand that?

h/t @Hoch

ct_bergstrom, 11 months ago to random

It is now painfully clear that no local government, state or federal agency, or other civic institution should be using Twitter for any purpose other than directing people to alternative platforms.

Using the platform for anything other than a last ditch backup for any kind of emergency communication is clearly a disaster waiting to happen.

ct_bergstrom, 10 months ago to random

Note to my health provider's 24-hour medical advice line: "Knocking on Heaven's Door" slaps but maybe isn't the best hold music for y'all.

ct_bergstrom, 6 months ago to random

No matter whether they are lying or telling the truth this is darkly funny to the extreme.

ct_bergstrom, 11 months ago to random

Ah yes, of course. I've been trying to figure out who the fuck to blame.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4057045-catch-22-scientific-communication-failures-linked-to-faster-rising-seas/

ct_bergstrom, 10 months ago to random

Fledgling #crow just a few hours out of the nest.

#crows #corvids #birdphotography

ct_bergstrom, 11 months ago to random

So Jason Gilbert has Threads absolutely nailed.

https://jogblog.substack.com/p/facebooks-threads-is-so-depressing

ct_bergstrom, 9 months ago to random

So this is crazy fcuked.

Despite their denial, Gizmodo caught the College Board (who administer the SAT, etc.) sharing scores and GPAs with Facebook, TikTok, etc.

https://gizmodo.com/sat-college-board-tells-facebook-tiktok-your-scores-gpa-1850768077

ct_bergstrom, 1 year ago to random

One of the decisive moments in my understanding of #LLMs and their limitations was when, last autumn, @emilymbender walked me through her Thai Library thought experiment.

She's now written it up as a Medium post, and you can read it here. The value comes from really pondering the question she poses, so take the time to think about it. What would YOU do in the situation she outlines?

https://medium.com/@emilymenonbender/thought-experiment-in-the-national-library-of-thailand-f2bf761a8a83

ct_bergstrom, 6 months ago to random

Blows my mind that I have to say this, but if you are a professor and you’ve just tested positive for covid, DON’T GO TEACH YOUR SEMINAR IN PERSON THE NEXT DAY — let alone demand that your immunocompromised students attend class.

You are not remotely that important. Not remotely.

ct_bergstrom, 8 months ago to random

The US News and World Report just released their annual College Rankings — and you should ignore them.

A reminder that last year their "Chief Data Strategist" somehow admitted in public that every year they screw around with the ranking algorithm until it gives results they like.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-news-college-rankings-yale-law-fe24f0b2

ct_bergstrom, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to random

Thinking to myself this morning “Threads can’t be as bad as I recall…”

First post in my feed: Instagram influencer with a cup of coffee watching the sunrise from her balcony in a $1000/night hotel built with slave labor in a country where women can’t drive, telling me about how she has discovered that the secret to life is learning to savor the little things.

No, lady, apparently the secret to life is to be born rich, white, beautiful, and oblivious.

Anyway, that’s enough Threads for 2024.

ct_bergstrom, 9 months ago to random

It's pure coincidence that Elon Musk just happened to erase the entire record of how twitter was used to organize and share photos and video from Arab Spring, right?

ct_bergstrom, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

A Saudi man has been sentenced to death for criticizing the government on two anonymous twitter/X accounts with a total of ten followers.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/31/1196776390/saudi-arabia-man-death-sentence-tweets

Gosh, NPR, I can't imagine how the Saudi authorities could have verified his identity on X.

ct_bergstrom, 7 months ago to random

Must suck to realize that there are some forms of epistemic grounding that you and your pals can't simply purchase and torch to the ground.

ct_bergstrom, 7 months ago to random

I am delighted to announce that the Department of Biology at the University of Washington is advertising for a tenure-track assistant professor position on the quantitative understanding of collective behavior.

I will be chairing the search. Details are here: apply.interfolio.com/130336

ct_bergstrom, 5 months ago to random

Yet again Rufo spills the entire plot like he's got Bond suspended over a pool full of sharks — and somehow it doesn't occur to anyone to think "hey, maybe we shouldn't listen to this manipulative opportunist any more."

ct_bergstrom, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to science

Remember that abysmal attempt at creating a fake paper detector that #Science magazine trumpeted? The one that just looked to see if you used your institutional email address, had international collaborators, and were affiliated with a hospital?

The one that instantiated the authors biases and then they turned around and used as evidence for those biases?

Science has just published the letter that Brandon Ogbunugafor and I wrote in response.

Kudos to them for that...

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi7104

ct_bergstrom, 3 months ago to random

Yes, this brings the CDC guidelines for COVID into line with guidelines for RSV and influenza.

It's not just that is COVID more severe. The guidelines for RSV and influenza are not right either. We need universal paid sick leave, not permission to return to work while still contagious.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/health/covid-isolation-cdc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VU0.jViR.n7R1fvDM_WEv&smid=url-share

ct_bergstrom, 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago) to random

Myth: academics make bank flying around giving talks.

Reality: prestigious university invites me out. I fly across the country and speak free. I front the cost and submit for reimbursement. First they lose the paperwork. Then they reject it because of a digital signatures. Now, six months later, they reject it again, because the receipt does not show the last four digits of my credit card so they don’t know if I actually bought the ticket.

They heard me talk. How did they think I got there?