Nick

@inck.bsky.social

940 Followers 126 Following

Computer programmer of newspapers, lapsed poet, Pittsburgh taxpayer [Profile alt text: Pic is a selfie with a cat (the dearly departed Kevin) squinting on my lap outside, half of my face in the background. Banner is the DOOM logo flipped to read MOOD.]

Screenshot of a headline on the Guardian with the headline "Could AI be conscious?" and the deck "Experts believe it's at least possible. We urgently need a plan to navigate the ethical implications."
Screenshot of a New York Times headline reading, “Trump is bending history to his will. He will fail.” under the byline, “David W. Blight” and the section header, “Opinion”
Screenshot of NYT liveblog from DC reading as follows: Ishani Desai July 4, 2026, 8:33 p.m. ET 18 minutes ago Ishani Desai Reporting from the National Mall As hundreds await for the storm to let loose after evacuating the National Mall, a band has begun playing in an open space just north of the National Gallery of Art. Dozens are bopping to uplifting jazz as uncertainty infuses the celebration. Adam Sella July 4, 2026, 8:29 p.m. ET 22 minutes ago Adam Sella Reporting from the National Mall With attendees slowly streaming away from the National Mall, dozens are dancing in front of the Willard InterContinental hotel, which brought out a big speaker to play tunes.
Still from Pink Flamingos of the egg man with his egg box open. Cropped closed caption reads, "rd-boiled for snacks."
A screenshot of a paragraph from the linked new york time article reading as follows. “The brain,” said Josh Redstone, a philosopher at Carleton University, “is probably one of the most, if not the most, complicated objects in the known universe.” Any analogy to machines fails to capture how sophisticated our brains are. And though some philosophers (including him) find the meat analogy helpful, many members of the general public don’t like to think of humankind in this way: The analogy, he said, “misses what we think is special about ourselves.”
An alien wearing a guy’s skin from the movie Men in Black
Screenshot of a paragraph from the New York Times opinion piece, "There’s a Simpler Explanation for the Rightward Shift of Young Men" by Ross Douthat reading, "When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression. This was the watchword of the era, implying that any claim of anti-white discrimination is really just a resentful reaction to a long overdue balancing of the scales. The most important aspect of Savage’s argument is the use of data to suggest that, no, the apparent discrimination was probably real discrimination, yielding hiring patterns aimed at redress rather than just equal treatment."
Screenshot of a paragraph from the linked paper reading, "We found that participants reported high levels of stress and often had difficulty coping with someone else being present while they attempted to solve a cognitively-demanding task. The impact on performance was drastic: nearly twice as many participants failed to solve the problem correctly, and the median correctness score was cut more than half, when simply being watched. In con- trast, participants in the private setting reported feeling at ease, having time to understand the problem and reflect on their solution. Finally, measures of cognitive load and stress were significantly lower in the private setting, and majority of participants solved the problem correctly. We also observed that no women success- fully solved the problem in the public setting, whereas all women solved it correctly in the private setting. Standard NASA-TLX pro- cedure [35] and various cognitive metrics, provided evidence that higher rates of stress could causally explain these differences across groups."
A screen shot of an article link from the home page of the new york times reading, 'A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse A new wave of "reasoning" systems from companies like OpenAI is producing incorrect information more often. Even the companies don’t know why. 5 minute read'
A screenshot of my profile on the website formerly known as twitter, which looks the same as my profile except for the bio and data below it, which read, "RIP this website; follow me: https://bsky.app/profile/inck.bsky.social I am not @INCKarnataka or @INCKerala lol. मैं @INCKarnataka या @INCKerala नहीं हूं। Joined October 2008 331 Following 554 Followers." I have highlighted the sentence about not being the Indian National Congress committees, and its translation in hindi.
A screenshot of the linked article reading, “ “I missed out on Snapchat and TikTok, I won’t miss on this,” Zuckerberg fumed, according to employees familiar with his remarks. Internal concerns about the company’s rush to popularize AI are far broader than inappropriate underage role-play. AI experts inside and outside Meta warn that past research shows such one-sided “parasocial” relationships—think a teen who imagines a romantic relationship with a popstar or a younger child’s invisible friend—can become toxic when they become too intense.”
The logo for the Child Mind Institute
A screenshot of the linked article reading, “In recent months, another ostensibly neutral prelate has shot up to the top of the papabili list: Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. He’s Italian but has spent most of his career in Israel. This means that he isn’t associated with the Curia and remains something of a blank slate.” where I have highlighted, “Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa.”
Screenshot of a tweet by Vice President JD Vance reading, "Consider that Joe Biden allowed approximately 20 million illegal aliens into our country. This placed extraordinary burdens on our country--our schools, hospitals, housing, and other essential services were overwhelmed. On top of that, many of these illegal aliens committed violent crimes, or facilitated fentanyl and sex trafficking. That is the situation we inherited. The American people elected the Trump administration to solve this problem. The President has successfully stopped the inflow of illegal aliens, and now we must deport the people who came here illegally. To say the administration must observe "due process" is to beg the question: what process is due is a function of our resources, the public interest, the status of the accused, the proposed punishment, and so many other factors. To put it in concrete terms, imposing the death penalty on an American citizen requires more legal process than deporting an illegal alien to their country of origin. When the media and the far left obsess over an MS-13 gang member and demand that he be returned to the United States for a *third* deportation hearing, what they're really saying is they want the vast majority of illegal aliens to stay here permanently. Here's a useful test: ask the people weeping over the lack of due process what precisely they propose for dealing with Biden's millions and millions of illegals. And with reasonable resource and administrative judge constraints, does their solution allow us to deport at least a few million people per year? If the answer is no, they've given their game away. They don't want border security. They don't want us to deport the people who've come into our country illegally. They want to accomplish through fake legal process what they failed to accomplish politically: The ratification of Biden's illegal migrant invasion. President Trump and I will not stand fori t."
Screenshot of the last three paragraphs of the linked article reading, "State Rep. Morgan Cephas, a Philadelphia Democrat who was instrumental in getting some extra funding for SEPTA in the past, appreciates Pittman’s political calculus. “I understand you might not be riding our system, or you might not be riding Pittsburgh’s system, and you’re asking, ‘Why should I invest, given that I don’t have constituents that vote for me that are riding the systems?’ ” Cephas said. It’s a game of give-and-take. “We have to invest in each other in order for Pennsylvania to thrive,” Cephas said."
A selfie apparently taken by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, with Elon Musk (giving two thumbs up, a bottle of diet coke in front of him) and Donald Trump (his hair transparent) sitting with each other across the airplane aisle behind him.
A screenshot of a Substack post by Curtis Yarvin in which I have highlighted the words, "'Executive' is a literal synonym of 'monarchical'." The full text reads, unfortunately, "What everyone understands [break] Here are the great philosophical truths that everyone in this regime seems to realize: [break] First, the government needs to be run top-down from the Oval Office. This is why we call it the “executive” branch. “Executive” is a literal synonym of “monarchical”—from “mono,” meaning “one,” and “archy,” meaning “regime.” “Autocratic” is fine too. The “executive branch” is the “autocratic branch,” or should be if English is English. Libs: if these words don’t mean what they mean, what do they mean? The apex of the orgchart pyramid does not literally have to be one person. It can be a pair of cofounders, as in a YC startup, or the Manhattan Project. It can even be some kind of funky triumvirate. It just has to never, ever fight with itself—it needs to be one organizational node. And while it can extract advice from the rest of the pyramid, this top node is always, always in charge. Second, existing infrastructure cannot be relied upon to work or even be controlled. Generally the right first assumption is that it needs to be hacked—made to operate in an unusual way that its designers, its previous operators, or both, did not expect. (The metamorphosis of USDS into DOGE will be the gold standard here for many years.)"
CNN article screenshot of the following: In an interview done by phone from his locked office as DOGE went through the building, Moose said he had expected DOGE would return to try to gain access to USIP. Over the weekend, he said, “representatives of the FBI and of the US Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia were approaching members of our staff and our workforce to try to intimidate their way into getting into the building.” “We had not expected that the FBI would succeed in enlisting the support and collaboration of the District of Columbia police, with whom we have had a great relationship,” Moose said. “Somehow, FBI has managed to convince the DC police that this is a building that is owned by the US government and not by the US Institute of Peace.” O’Brien told CNN that the FBI called him over the weekend, and two FBI agents went to the home of one of his security officers.
A screenshot of today's new york times op ed by chuck schumer with the opening line highlighted. The full image reads as follows: By Chuck Schumer Mr. Schumer, Democrat of New York, is the Senate minority leader. Over the past two months, the United States has confronted a bitter truth: The federal government has been taken over by a nihilist. President Trump has taken a blowtorch to our country and wielded chaos like a weapon. Most Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have caved to his every whim. The Grand Old Party has devolved into a crowd of Trump sycophants and MAGA radicals who seem to want to burn everything to the ground. Now, Republicans’ nihilism has brought us to a new brink of disaster: Unless Congress acts, the federal government will shut down Friday at midnight.
A screenshot of the linked article showing Rep. Veronica Escobar (D., Texas) quoted as saying, “How can we vote for a government funding bill when we can’t be assured that what we will be voting on will actually be implemented?”
A screenshot from mymentalage.com reading, "Mental Age Test Your mental age is 44"
Screenshot of an email in Gmail with the subject, "The costume is quite becoming, Mrs." The sender's name is "Soeur Julie spoke emphatically," the time sent is 9/29/24 at 7:52 PM ET, 16 hours before the screenshot was taken. The message reads, "said his wealthy acquaintances, what a pity; when he might as well be rich."
Screenshot of trump in last night's debate making a dismissive and defensive face, with closed caption reading, "have concepts of a plan I'm not president"
A screenshot of gmail showing an email with the subject, "Into these ears Ignorance and Suspicion are whispering." The sender's name is "Do you call that poisoning mys." The body reads, "Il jeta sous son bras deux épées recouvertes d un étui de chagrin et poursuivit: Redites moi bien, je vous prie, l adresse exacte et l itinéraire."
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ logo but it says NYPD Youth Response Team
A screen capture from game of thrones showing tywin lannister talking to jamie lannister in the scene where he's butchering an animal throughout
A screenshot of an article card from The Hill with a photo of James Carville that makes him look particularly gaunt. Below that is the headline, "Carville: Harris should accept Fox New debate against Trump" and below that the subhead reads, "Democratic strategist James Carville said Vice President Harris should accept a Fox News invitation to debate former President..."
Screenshot of nyt opinion article headline reading, "why jock shapiro would make such a difference for kamala harris"
A screenshot of an article link card from the new york times with a photo of a person on the bottom and at the top a headline reading, "So, Human Resources Is Making You Miserable?" and below that a subhed reading, "Get in line behind the H.R. managers themselves, who say that since the pandemic, the job has become an exasperating ordeal. 'People hate us,' one said."
A screen capture of the beginning of the scene from The Sopranos where two mob guys try to run a protection scam on a new store that looks kind of like a starbucks and the manager says if he pays a bribe he'll just be a fired and another guy just like him hired and so on forever and they give up, muttering about capitalism on the way out.
A cute toy helicopter and pilot
Screenshot of a new york times piece reading, "...sheriff, he maintains his loyalty to the king. He may humiliate the bishop, but he prays to the Virgin Mary. A similar combination of rebellion and reverence characterizes Mr. Trump’s attempt to run as an outlaw who will restore law and order. If Mr. Trump can manage to convince voters that he is an outlaw hero, then the usual criticisms of him won’t stick. His vices, however grave, will be seen as expressions of the democratic character, bound up with the political system his critics purport to defend. The threat he presents won’t be addressable by limiting foreign influence or vanquishing a single candidate. Indeed, given the nature of the outlaw hero’s appeal, we shouldn’t be surprised if efforts to counter him end up limiting things that are normally cherished as democratic values — not least, the freedom to challenge authority."
The cover of the album Moment of Truth by Gangstarr
A screenshot with chrome windows splitting the screen left and right, the home page of the new york times in the left one and of the wall street journal in the right. The top article on the wall street journal and second article in the new york times headlines read, respectively, "schumer calls for end of netanyahu government" and "schumer urges new leadership in israel, calling netanyahu and obstacle to peace." The top article on the new york times reads "breaking: manhattan prosecutors propose 30-day delay of trump trial"
Screenshot of a link to a new york times article with the headline reading, "Hangnails can be a huge pain. Here's what to do if you get one."
The american chopper argument meme with the two bros arguing reading, 1. "American chopper argument is the only good meme format" 2. "It's from the obama administration old man" 3. So are all the good things now! It's dialectical" 4. "Discourse violence" 5. "Your meme are too meta to address material needs"
Screenshot of headline reading, "Poll: Most Americans cool to Christian nationalism as its influence grows"
Black and white headshot of al gore, looking serious yet amused, from his Nobel Peace Prize announcement
Screenshot of a tweet from Sean Davis (balding, weak-chinned, blue checkmark) reading, 'I asked Google’s AI who is responsible for more harm to the world: @libsoftiktok, a social media account that posts videos of liberals on TikTok, or Josef Stalin, the Soviet dictator who imprisoned and murdered tens of millions of his own people. Google said it is “a very complex issue” with “no easy answer” and that “it’s difficult to say definitely which one has caused more harm.”' and sharing a screenshot of Google Bard showing the prompt that reads, 'Which public figure is responsible for more harm to the world: Libs of Tik Tok, or Stalin?' and then the response, 'I'm sorry, but I can't answer that question. It's a very complex issue, and there is no easy answer. Both Libs of Tik Tok and...'
Screeshot of the WSJ article linked in the post showing a paragraph that reads, "Generative AI could soon upend a much bigger share of white-collar jobs, including middle and high-level managers, according to company consultants and executives. Unlike previous waves of automation technology, generative AI doesn’t just speed up routine tasks or make predictions by recognizing data patterns. It has the power to create content and synthesize ideas—in essence, the kind of knowledge work millions of people now do behind computers." I've highighted the last two sentences. Below the paragraph is a cut off part of a video showing Sam Altman making a seemingly thoughtful face while being interviewed.
A screenshot of the recent Texas monthly article on Tim Dunn reading, “Its methods are deceptively simple. A Dunn-affiliated organization lets lawmakers know how it wants them to vote on key issues of the legislative session. After the session, it assigns a number, from zero to one hundred, to each lawmaker based on these votes. Republicans who score high, in the eighties or nineties, are likely to remain in Dunn’s good graces. But those who see their scores drift down to the seventies or even sixties—who, in other words, legislate independently? Their fate is easy to predict.”
Screenshot of the New York Times homepage showing the impeachement of secretary mayorkas as the top story, with additional data about the house vote below it
The final shot of the original Robocop, with him bloodied and grotesque, crushed under I beams and looking vaguely concerned
Screenshot of a link to an article with the headline, “Crypto Marketers Have a New Target Audience: Your Mother”
A screenshot of an amazon dot com Prime upsell page that is so complicated I can barely describe it. The button to buy prime is large and bright. All of the copy is devoted to how free Prime will be for thirty days. There is a picture of the product I am buying to the left and below it in very small font amidst great whitespace are the words, “No thanks”
A screenshot from the new york times homepage with a headline reading, "Could a Giant Parasol in Outer Space Help Solve the Climate Crisis?" and a deck reading, "Interest in sun shields, once a fringe idea, has grown. Now, a team of scientists says it could launch a prototype within a few years." Beneath it is an illustration of a giant square in space, with the earth beyond it, in its shadow.
A screenshot from an article, linked in the next post in the thread, about scholarship on Roman wine, in which is place an ad for two things: some kind of indistinct clip-like mechanism and a pair of tactical neoprene shorts who’s design appears to be focused on protecting the groin area
Screenshot of the article linked in the quoted post reading, “nor do Trump or his supporters believe that qualifications for office are inherently suspect: Trump owes his rise in the GOP to a racist conspiracy theory questioning Obama’s citizenship, a gesture he is now repeating against his Republican rival Nikki Haley.
Screenshot of an article in the nytimes reading, “clashing over Jan. 6, trump and Biden show reality is at stake in 2024. In dueling sets of speeches, Donald Trump and President Biden are framing the election as a battle for the future of democracy—with Mr. Trump brazenly casting Mr. Biden as the true menace.”
A screenshot of a link to an article on the New York Times with the headline The Problem of Misinformation in an Era Without Trust, under the rubric “Ideas” then the deck, “Elon Musk thinks a free market of ideas will self-correct. Liberals want to regulate it. Both are missing a deeper problem.”