I think AI will attempt to do some jobs, and then people will figure out that AI can't do those jobs properly, because their expectations weren't in line with what AI really is, especially its limitations.
I am sure that AI can't do what I do in the area of copyediting. Its pattern recognition and BS-ing abilities are on a different level from the educated and intentional skill set of a literate human. Some of the material I review may even have been generated or "corrected" by AI (even though it is credited to a byline)--it's kind of hard to tell what is the source of the meh syntax and odd head-scratchers I regularly catch and fix. Either way, I'm in a position to notice and fix specific errors and generally critique premises and conclusions vis-a-vis what the piece was supposed to be about. If AI is used by a human in an attempt to save some human time and thought, I don't think it will be able to compensate for what's lost in the tradeoff; it'll still need to be fixed by a human with an actual conscious mind, possibly even kicked back for a rewrite or else completely overhauled by a human editor.
I really don't think AI can do better than a knowledgeable human author who is supported by competent editors. Some writing lessons and consistent practice could make it less appealing to try to hand off one's work to AI.
I have finally come to terms with the fact that my certificate in advanced payphone repair is unlikely to lead to the long-term career that I'd hoped for. Fortunately, I still have my switchboard operation training to fall back on.
Technology has been rapidly making some jobs obsolete since the 18th Century (at least). However, as it does that, new jobs and careers develop that would have been impossible without the advancements. Thirty years ago there were no mobile app developers, website designers, or virtual reality game designers.
The larger question...and the reason there is such intense competition for dominance in getting a mass of people using their LLM...is who owns the jobs? I think it's clear that the a--holes that are our tech overlords all want to be Mr. Tyrell of Tyrell Corporation.
Once we have that answered, we can get to the questions.
I think the track record of technological advancement in human history is net positive in almost every regard. Our innate negativity bias causes us to do a lot of bellyaching about the concomitant change when it happens, but we figure out solutions to most of the resulting problems, or we learn to live with them, recognizing they weren’t really that serious to begin with.
There’s this site HumbleBundle.com that offers bundles of books, software, or games for cheap. They have recommended prices, some portion of which goes to support some charity. A recent one was a bundle of 60 [!!] books (a few are probably closer to fat pamphlets) in your choice of format (pdf, epub, or mobi) for a contribution of $25. Their offered packages are usually for a limited time. How much or little you donate is your choice.
The particular package contains a lot of survival guides and such, some clearly from radical perspectives, lots more less obviously so. Stuff like how to build a garden shed or raise succulents, or how to survive in the woods—or carry on like a radical protester by administering first aid while under assault from riot police. Several titles are from series dating to the early 1900s. Contributions go to the BINC Foundation, which appears to be a booksellers’ industry association foundation.
The general rules for how Humble Bundle works are that you can choose among three different combinations of books preset by them: you can’t mix and match titles. I’ve bought stuff from them in the past, and they are legit and above board.
There you go. Some curious reading content if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary for your ereader. For that matter, just a PDF reader suffices if you download the bundle in PDF format.
Just e-books. Though, theoretically, you could probably print out the PDFs easily enough, but that’s unlikely to be very cost effective unless you’ve got a cheap b/w laser printer and a low-cost paper source.
So. To sum up, one might say that in your humble opinion this bundle ain't a bad deal, eh?
Actually, it sounds sort of interesting. Will check it out, since one never knows just when one might need to administer first aid while under assault from riot police.
Edit: Just scrolled through "survival from the margins"; still laughing!
I expect "Anarchist Survival Guide for Understanding Gestapo Interrogation Mind Games: Stay Free by Shutting the F**k Up" will be almost as useful as "Radical Brewing: Easy and Cheap Ways to Make Alcohol at Home" and "Bi-Planes & How to Make Them".
From that last title I'd say it's likely that HumbleBumble is in line for an EO about DEI.
Not surprising titles, considering independent booksellers are likely to be next door to the main campus of your state’s flagship and/or land-grant university.
Yeah. Where all the anarchists hang out. Seems like more of them might ought to read that particular title and stay as *free* as possible on a daily basis. 😉
Was in a LinkedIn chat with the author of Unruly and he expressed the belief that books may become the quintessential means of human expression. Reason: the depth and uniqueness of books would be more difficult to replicate using AI, unlike shorter writings and social media posts.
BTW: Highly recommend Unruly ( both as a theoretical framework for understanding global changes and insights into the thinking of a true risk professional, Sean West.
Since it seems to fit the conversation, a quote from Harper Lee....bless her heart...
"I arrived in the first grade, literate, with a curious cultural assimilation of American history, romance, the Rover Boys, Rapunzel, and The Mobile Press. Early signs of genius? Far from it. Reading was an accomplishment I shared with several local contemporaries. Why this endemic precocity? Because in my hometown, a remote village in the early 1930s, youngsters had little to do but read. A movie? Not often — movies weren't for small children. A park for games? Not a hope. We're talking unpaved streets here, and the Depression. [...]
Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books. Instant information is not for me. I prefer to search library stacks because when I work to learn something, I remember it."
The penultimate sentence..."...minds like empty rooms...."
The argument is very familiar by now. Its most annoying feature is that it begins with the assumption that Harvard, as a stand-in for every other higher ed institution, is simply entitled to federal welfare checks.
The administration’s biggest failure here lies in leaving the entitlement idea unchallenged while meting out punishments for ideological wrong-think that favors the traditional left.
Harvard's issue is simple: they discriminate, and have for a very long time. But their competitive advantage is in having built a strong network of connections. When they applied it to getting government grants it generated serious revenues. And they have achieved some great things for the US through their grants.
But they discriminate. Which the government says is illegal.
They should have realized in the 1980s that the Grove City College case made them vulnerable. In Grove City, the government argued if you took any fed money anywhere in the organization, the entire organization had to follow government guidelines. Over St. Reagan's veto Congress passed a law codifying it. Presidents (or their minions) began issuing regulations and using the law as the cudgel to enforce it. And now Trump is doing what prior presidents did; he's issuing EOs and regulations and threatening to enforce them via a law Congress passed.
It works great as long as YOUR PERSON is issuing the EOs, not so much when THEIR PERSON is doing it.
Long after I am pushing up daffodils, the legacy of Trump will be he applied the rules to people who thought they'd have power forever. 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒑, 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒑! Will people learn from this? I dunno, I'll be pushing up daffodils before they learn.
I believe this is evidence that you're either discriminating against daisies or practicing daffodil DEI, or both. Anyway, you'd best be careful lest you get EO'd.
The liking of this post is in no way meant to encourage, or express favorably upon, the demise or burial of the author. Whether or not it involves daffodils.
You forgot to add..."And by reading this comment you agree in perpetuity to relinquish all rights to anything you may think, own, or interact with and that said corporation hereby is granted sole ownership of your very soul.".
I am reminded simply of reading (in HS) a Cleveland Armory story about Shakespeare, where the last line of the play is "Exeunt Omnes". Armory told us it could be translated as "everybody has to go sometime"! 😉
I belive you mean Cleveland AMORY (darn, no fonts on Substack). I once read--and this is supposed to be a true story. though I forget where I read it some years ago--about a TV news producer getting assigned to prepare to set up to record an interview with Cleveland Amory, but not taking the time to read and think carefully, the producer arranged for a cameraman and reporter to set up at a National Guard ARMORY on the shores of Lake Erie, where they waited in vain for someone to show up.
Good morning. 46 degrees here, sunny with highs in the 70s. Recycling pickup today.
The mothership is covering the Trump administration’s revocation of thousands of student visa for minor or non-criminal issues, nd the reinstatement of those visas after court orders. The FP is headlining foreign funding of American universities, citing that as a reason for college campus anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism.
We had heavy rooftop frost and light ground frost with a thermometer reading of 36. Having a thermometer out in the open lawn and very close to the ground would have given a reading of perhaps 30. Very low air moisture dramatically increases surface cooling/ impedes heat retention.
My experience with radio-listening youth (mainly Vlad) is that they turn the sound down or change the station if someone is talking instead of playing a song. There's about a 3-second limit for statements of, "That was (song) by (performer) from (year)."
After reading this morning's post, another question comes to mind...
Does anyone hang on the words of a W Va Substack blogger?
And for that matter, how do we know this MARQUEG68 character's not some Sillycon Valley Tech Bro's AI con set up to fleece us out of our hard-earned subscription $$?
I mean really... has anyone ever actually seen this guy or even heard him type in real life?
I get a lot more value out of an all-you-can-eat music service subscription for this very reason. Usually I like background music that is familiar and akin to mental humming so that I can read or write or think about something else. If someone pops in with a lot of bla-bla, I can’t get back on mental track.
I find that when I'm driving, I listen to podcasts. When I'm behind a screen, I listen to a streaming service (for me, as a MacBook fan, that tends to be Apple Music).
Almost all popular DJs stream their shows, the OTA are one additional way of getting their message out. Ironically, OTA still has stronger local advertising, which is ironic. That will change...someday. But not today.
"Does a job count as lost if it might not have existed otherwise?"
Kevin Williamson sometimes mentions that you can't evaluate the effect of a change simply by considering the situation before the change and the situation after the change. To understand the full impact, you have to compare the situation after the change with *what the situation would have been absent the change.*
Being as how that didn't happen, it's hard to come up with statistics that are fully persuasive, which is why we still have minimum wage laws.
It’s a lot like the Kling point about so much subtle improvements to living standards not being quantifiable in dollars and cents, making a hash of GDP growth figures.
The minimum wage point is on target.
For that matter: All the suppressed growth and industry from unmovable policies like the Jones Act…
GAH, the Jones Act. People talk about the ostensible goals of the Jones Act - a strong American shipbuilding business, greater employment in American shipping - and then then they act as if the Jones Act is actually achieving those goals, instead of doing the exact opposite.
Of course, you can't *prove* that things wouldn't be even worse without the Jones Act, if "prove" means, "There's no way a person could argue that things could be worse."
Not to worry... we're gonna onshore so much manufacturing and heavy industry back into this great country that they won't be able to build new shipyards fast enough to build all the beautiful new ships we'll need to ship all the surplus to all those overseas markets.
Ship building's gonna be huuugge, I tell ya', HUUUGGE!!
People are sayin'...huuugge ships... huugge yards... there'll be lots and lots of jobs just mowing the grass in those yards... it's gonna be great!!!!
I have a four-year-old grandson who is delighting in the mastery of language. I will say something like, “oh, your dad’s just being obtuse”, and he will cock his head and say, “well, what does THAT mean” and then we have a long conversation about geometry and fathers. Later, he’ll try the new word out.
How did we, culturally, fall out of love with language?
Learning language after one is formally educated in it during one's school years is an endeavor that requires curiosity and effort on the part of the learner. And I think a lot fewer people are curious or are willing to put in the effort now than in the past. Just my take on things as a Boomer who's always been interested in words and their use, and who actively pursues the learning of new words and their definitions and uses on a fairly regular basis even now after 7 decades of language use.
My parents encouraged me to read, especially books, from the time I was a preschooler. (The grandparents helped out, with birthday gifts.) By the time I got to first grade the teachers didn't quite know what to do with me, so that almost took the focus off the larger benefits of having become a person who really enjoys reading. But my mom understood, worked with my teachers, and later got her degree and spent many years teaching second-graders to read and write.
Yeah, my mother was the big book worm in our house, and I guess it rubbed off on me.
My dad liked to read, and was rather well self-educated, having left high school and home at the age of 16 to go to sea as a merchant seaman to help support his family during the Great Depression. He read about all kinds of subjects when he was younger. But because of his job later in life he didn't get to do as much reading then as I think he would have liked. However, to give you a clue as to his outlook on "education"...
I went down to visit my folks years ago and upon walking in the back door after getting there, I found my father sitting at the end of the family room table. My mom had gone somewhere, so being as it was his afternoon cocktail time, we sat there and had a highball together as we just shot the breeze about different stuff.
His seat at the end of the table put him in front of a room corner, the walls of which had long been covered with many family pictures and various framed keepsakes from both my mother and father's side of the family, like my mother's grandfather's Union Army belt buckle, her father's "Station Master" brass badge from his days with the L&N RR, a "torpedo pin" my dad had received during WWII for having survived a U-boat attack on his ship off the east coast early in the war, his certification as an able seaman and a later certification as a maritime ship's engineer, a couple of ribbons from his Coast Guard Commander's uniform (he'd been promoted to that rank after the Coast Guard took over the merchant service) and a family photo with his mother, father, 4 brothers and 3 sisters taken when he was about 5 or 6 years old about a decade before the Depression.
After we'd been talking for a while he started to half glance over his shoulder toward the corner occasionally. I finally asked him what he was doing.
"See anything different up there?", he asked. He had a look I knew all too well, that of a cat that swallowed a canary. I knew something out of the ordinary was up.
After scanning the wall for a few seconds, I realized there was a new addition, some kind of document in a frame hanging right above his few pieces of war memorabilia. I had to get up and walk over in front of it to see what, exactly, it was.
It was a G.E.D. certificate, which he'd obtained since the last time I'd been home to visit.
When I turned around to look at him, I don't think I'd ever seen him looking prouder and more satisfied.
He was 76 years old. And as he looked up at me, he joked that it had only taken him 60 years to finish high school.
We didn't fall out of love, but we shifted where we get our words. Gen Z is creating their own language, with its own meanings. They take their inspirations from elsewhere. It's so natural we don't realize we do it, but Boomers certainly did that back when their hearts were young and gay (with thanks to fellow Munsonian, Emily Kimbrough).
BTW, one of my hobbies is etymology; which I often have to remind students is not the study of bugs! 😬 I fell in love with learning words at a young age.
Curious about the origin of "conclave", I went to etymonline. Roughly, "con" - together and "clave" from "key", so together in a locked room. And it's use starts with the Catholic church.
The papal conclaves came about, so the story goes, in the Middle Ages. Due to rivalries and factionalism, the cardinals were taking a looong time -- several years -- to decide on the next pope. Enraged, the townspeople locked them in a room until they made a choice, which was made rather quickly. Ever since, the cardinals have secluded themselves to elect a new Pope.
Speaking of which -- the Vatican has announced that the conclave to elect the next Pope will begin on May 7, after the series of memorial Masses for Pope Francis are concluded.
I'm guessing we will know the result in days -- not years.
This should call to mind the occasions when a political or business leader, in a state of considerable embarrassment over obvious malfeasance or ineptitude, declares s/he will retire “to spend more time with my family”. How will said family react to the prospect of being locked up in an abode with that fool?
Well, that may have been the case once upon a time. But when's the last time you saw a business or political leader - especially a *political* leader - in a state of *embarrassment* to any degree about anything?
Embarrassment has left the building, along with his sidekick Shame.
Ya, listen to “The Daily” podcast about the SCOTUS case involving parents being allowed to opt out their kids during reading class because of the controversial books. My goodness. 🤦🏼♀️
I heard about that on the "Advisory Opinions" podcast. The 9very liberal) Montgomery County MD school board disallowed parental opt-out for classes tought to young children regarding gender identity ideology. They found that so many parents were opting out, they decided that "opt-out" was impractical. (They should have decided that curriculum was inappropriate).
The case is before SCOTUS now. The only suspence is how badly will the school board lose?
The interesting aspect here for me is that originally parents were indeed allowed to opt their kids out, but then the school board took the position that it was logistically too much trouble to accommodate them. Which, while it may have its challenges in a large school district such as the one involved, is a load of hooey in my book. Pun intended.
> While the school board initially allowed parents to opt their kids out of regular classes with some LGBTQ+ content, the board eventually found that it was both too difficult and too disruptive to accommodate the number of opt-out requests. In the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the school board's lawyer will tell the justices that it's relatively easy to have opt-outs for a single class, like health and sex education, a course that allows opt-outs. But it is a logistical nightmare to take children out of a classroom when a single story book that features same-sex parents or gay and lesbian kids could come up at any time. Among the logistical questions are where to put the opt-out kids and for how long? And how would the schools then meet the needs for alternative lesson plans? <
Well, I'd venture to say of those "questions" that the answers don't involve rocket surgery, and a solution is doable if those responsible for the solution want to make it happen and are willing to work in good faith with all parties involved to make it so.
This is akin to the arguments I've seen of late regarding the due process, habeas corpus rights of potential deportees... too many of them to make honoring those rights practical. More hooey. This is a solvable problem. But the powers that be aren't interested in solving it for various reasons, mostly because not enough citizens are interested in solving it. Be that as it may...
The Bill of Rights applies to any and all people with their feet on sovereign U.S. soil, from the parents of school kids in Maryland to detained illegal migrants in Louisiana. And while affording all of these people in all of these places their rights may be costly and time consuming and a pain in some peoples' backsides, be they school board members or law enforcement officials, they should and must be afforded lest we succumb to the "rights for me but not for thee" mindset. Because then it's only a matter of time before our own rights will be on the line.
It's not just that, though. There's no particular correlation between being a teacher and having any interest in the subject you're teaching. There's no correlation between being a teacher and being any good at teaching. There's no correlation between material's being in the curriculum and anyone's thinking it is any good at all.
One of the main issues, in my opinion, is the compulsion system. The world's great (or simply enjoyable) literary corpus was not produced to be forced on classroom inmates. It was purchased by individuals with their own money and read by individuals on their own time, of their own free will. Because there's a notion that nobody will read unless they are forced to, for a grade, a lot of literature is forced on youth when you really need to be an adult to appreciate it.
Template of a conversation with Brenda:
Brenda: What do you think? Should we do this or that?
Me: I think we should do that.
Brenda: Well, I think we should do this, because reasons.
Me: Okay.
(I take action based on decision.)
Brenda: But on the other hand, it might work out better if we do that. I can't decide.
I think AI will attempt to do some jobs, and then people will figure out that AI can't do those jobs properly, because their expectations weren't in line with what AI really is, especially its limitations.
I am sure that AI can't do what I do in the area of copyediting. Its pattern recognition and BS-ing abilities are on a different level from the educated and intentional skill set of a literate human. Some of the material I review may even have been generated or "corrected" by AI (even though it is credited to a byline)--it's kind of hard to tell what is the source of the meh syntax and odd head-scratchers I regularly catch and fix. Either way, I'm in a position to notice and fix specific errors and generally critique premises and conclusions vis-a-vis what the piece was supposed to be about. If AI is used by a human in an attempt to save some human time and thought, I don't think it will be able to compensate for what's lost in the tradeoff; it'll still need to be fixed by a human with an actual conscious mind, possibly even kicked back for a rewrite or else completely overhauled by a human editor.
I really don't think AI can do better than a knowledgeable human author who is supported by competent editors. Some writing lessons and consistent practice could make it less appealing to try to hand off one's work to AI.
Curious about this forum's view on the the AI taking jobs debate. Do you believe:
1. AI will take jobs and humans will be worse of.f
2. AI will take jobs and humans will be better off.
3. It'll cone out in the wash - AI will take some jobs and add some jobs.
4. AI will create more jobs that it takes, but humans will be worse off.
5. AI will create more jobs than it takes and humans will be better off.
6. Other (please elaborate).
I have finally come to terms with the fact that my certificate in advanced payphone repair is unlikely to lead to the long-term career that I'd hoped for. Fortunately, I still have my switchboard operation training to fall back on.
Technology has been rapidly making some jobs obsolete since the 18th Century (at least). However, as it does that, new jobs and careers develop that would have been impossible without the advancements. Thirty years ago there were no mobile app developers, website designers, or virtual reality game designers.
The larger question...and the reason there is such intense competition for dominance in getting a mass of people using their LLM...is who owns the jobs? I think it's clear that the a--holes that are our tech overlords all want to be Mr. Tyrell of Tyrell Corporation.
Once we have that answered, we can get to the questions.
I’ll call for #5–and elaborate!
I think the track record of technological advancement in human history is net positive in almost every regard. Our innate negativity bias causes us to do a lot of bellyaching about the concomitant change when it happens, but we figure out solutions to most of the resulting problems, or we learn to live with them, recognizing they weren’t really that serious to begin with.
Here’s a thing.
There’s this site HumbleBundle.com that offers bundles of books, software, or games for cheap. They have recommended prices, some portion of which goes to support some charity. A recent one was a bundle of 60 [!!] books (a few are probably closer to fat pamphlets) in your choice of format (pdf, epub, or mobi) for a contribution of $25. Their offered packages are usually for a limited time. How much or little you donate is your choice.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/survival-from-margins-microcosm-books
The particular package contains a lot of survival guides and such, some clearly from radical perspectives, lots more less obviously so. Stuff like how to build a garden shed or raise succulents, or how to survive in the woods—or carry on like a radical protester by administering first aid while under assault from riot police. Several titles are from series dating to the early 1900s. Contributions go to the BINC Foundation, which appears to be a booksellers’ industry association foundation.
The general rules for how Humble Bundle works are that you can choose among three different combinations of books preset by them: you can’t mix and match titles. I’ve bought stuff from them in the past, and they are legit and above board.
There you go. Some curious reading content if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary for your ereader. For that matter, just a PDF reader suffices if you download the bundle in PDF format.
They're not actual, physical books, though?
Just e-books. Though, theoretically, you could probably print out the PDFs easily enough, but that’s unlikely to be very cost effective unless you’ve got a cheap b/w laser printer and a low-cost paper source.
So. To sum up, one might say that in your humble opinion this bundle ain't a bad deal, eh?
Actually, it sounds sort of interesting. Will check it out, since one never knows just when one might need to administer first aid while under assault from riot police.
Edit: Just scrolled through "survival from the margins"; still laughing!
I expect "Anarchist Survival Guide for Understanding Gestapo Interrogation Mind Games: Stay Free by Shutting the F**k Up" will be almost as useful as "Radical Brewing: Easy and Cheap Ways to Make Alcohol at Home" and "Bi-Planes & How to Make Them".
From that last title I'd say it's likely that HumbleBumble is in line for an EO about DEI.
Not surprising titles, considering independent booksellers are likely to be next door to the main campus of your state’s flagship and/or land-grant university.
Yeah. Where all the anarchists hang out. Seems like more of them might ought to read that particular title and stay as *free* as possible on a daily basis. 😉
Maybe it’s best if you just stick to your knitting.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/amigurumi-crochet-and-more-open-road-media-books
Thanks. That's a lot of knits from which to pick!
Bwaahh ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!!!!
Was in a LinkedIn chat with the author of Unruly and he expressed the belief that books may become the quintessential means of human expression. Reason: the depth and uniqueness of books would be more difficult to replicate using AI, unlike shorter writings and social media posts.
BTW: Highly recommend Unruly ( both as a theoretical framework for understanding global changes and insights into the thinking of a true risk professional, Sean West.
Meant for this to be a reply to Kurt's Harper Lee post. Bless my heart.
Since it seems to fit the conversation, a quote from Harper Lee....bless her heart...
"I arrived in the first grade, literate, with a curious cultural assimilation of American history, romance, the Rover Boys, Rapunzel, and The Mobile Press. Early signs of genius? Far from it. Reading was an accomplishment I shared with several local contemporaries. Why this endemic precocity? Because in my hometown, a remote village in the early 1930s, youngsters had little to do but read. A movie? Not often — movies weren't for small children. A park for games? Not a hope. We're talking unpaved streets here, and the Depression. [...]
Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books. Instant information is not for me. I prefer to search library stacks because when I work to learn something, I remember it."
The penultimate sentence..."...minds like empty rooms...."
From sometime visitor JohnM: Worth Your Time II: 'Harvard Is an Imperfect Vehicle for Fighting Trump. It Doesn’t Matter' --David French
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/opinion/trump-harvard-antisemitism-garber.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DE8.oour.igwWp9QZNLpx&smid=url-share
Thanks, JohnM!
The argument is very familiar by now. Its most annoying feature is that it begins with the assumption that Harvard, as a stand-in for every other higher ed institution, is simply entitled to federal welfare checks.
The administration’s biggest failure here lies in leaving the entitlement idea unchallenged while meting out punishments for ideological wrong-think that favors the traditional left.
Harvard's issue is simple: they discriminate, and have for a very long time. But their competitive advantage is in having built a strong network of connections. When they applied it to getting government grants it generated serious revenues. And they have achieved some great things for the US through their grants.
But they discriminate. Which the government says is illegal.
They should have realized in the 1980s that the Grove City College case made them vulnerable. In Grove City, the government argued if you took any fed money anywhere in the organization, the entire organization had to follow government guidelines. Over St. Reagan's veto Congress passed a law codifying it. Presidents (or their minions) began issuing regulations and using the law as the cudgel to enforce it. And now Trump is doing what prior presidents did; he's issuing EOs and regulations and threatening to enforce them via a law Congress passed.
It works great as long as YOUR PERSON is issuing the EOs, not so much when THEIR PERSON is doing it.
Long after I am pushing up daffodils, the legacy of Trump will be he applied the rules to people who thought they'd have power forever. 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒑, 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒑! Will people learn from this? I dunno, I'll be pushing up daffodils before they learn.
I believe this is evidence that you're either discriminating against daisies or practicing daffodil DEI, or both. Anyway, you'd best be careful lest you get EO'd.
The liking of this post is in no way meant to encourage, or express favorably upon, the demise or burial of the author. Whether or not it involves daffodils.
You forgot to add..."And by reading this comment you agree in perpetuity to relinquish all rights to anything you may think, own, or interact with and that said corporation hereby is granted sole ownership of your very soul.".
You missed the click-through link,
I am reminded simply of reading (in HS) a Cleveland Armory story about Shakespeare, where the last line of the play is "Exeunt Omnes". Armory told us it could be translated as "everybody has to go sometime"! 😉
I belive you mean Cleveland AMORY (darn, no fonts on Substack). I once read--and this is supposed to be a true story. though I forget where I read it some years ago--about a TV news producer getting assigned to prepare to set up to record an interview with Cleveland Amory, but not taking the time to read and think carefully, the producer arranged for a cameraman and reporter to set up at a National Guard ARMORY on the shores of Lake Erie, where they waited in vain for someone to show up.
Good morning. 46 degrees here, sunny with highs in the 70s. Recycling pickup today.
The mothership is covering the Trump administration’s revocation of thousands of student visa for minor or non-criminal issues, nd the reinstatement of those visas after court orders. The FP is headlining foreign funding of American universities, citing that as a reason for college campus anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism.
We had heavy rooftop frost and light ground frost with a thermometer reading of 36. Having a thermometer out in the open lawn and very close to the ground would have given a reading of perhaps 30. Very low air moisture dramatically increases surface cooling/ impedes heat retention.
"Does anyone hang on the words of hip-hop DJs?"
My experience with radio-listening youth (mainly Vlad) is that they turn the sound down or change the station if someone is talking instead of playing a song. There's about a 3-second limit for statements of, "That was (song) by (performer) from (year)."
After reading this morning's post, another question comes to mind...
Does anyone hang on the words of a W Va Substack blogger?
And for that matter, how do we know this MARQUEG68 character's not some Sillycon Valley Tech Bro's AI con set up to fleece us out of our hard-earned subscription $$?
I mean really... has anyone ever actually seen this guy or even heard him type in real life?
Maybe he's a creation of an AI that goes by the name of Edith 'Edit" Burton?
Maybe we are all AI creations?
Now where did I put that Red Pill?
🤣🤖🤣
And soon you, too, will be assimilated, M Trosino (if that's your real handle).
That's just my screen name. My real name is C-3PO. But keep that under your hat, OK?
I get a lot more value out of an all-you-can-eat music service subscription for this very reason. Usually I like background music that is familiar and akin to mental humming so that I can read or write or think about something else. If someone pops in with a lot of bla-bla, I can’t get back on mental track.
I find that when I'm driving, I listen to podcasts. When I'm behind a screen, I listen to a streaming service (for me, as a MacBook fan, that tends to be Apple Music).
Sometimes "broadcast over the airwaves" radio is the only thing that works in the van. Its electronics are old.
I like our talk radio station for traffic alerts.
Almost all popular DJs stream their shows, the OTA are one additional way of getting their message out. Ironically, OTA still has stronger local advertising, which is ironic. That will change...someday. But not today.
There are still drive-time DJs who are advertised as on-air personalities. So someone must be listening.
There are still printed newspapers. And I saw a Ford Model A the other day.
That is true. I guess there are some who have listeners as if it's a podcast. Youth listeners, though?
"Does a job count as lost if it might not have existed otherwise?"
Kevin Williamson sometimes mentions that you can't evaluate the effect of a change simply by considering the situation before the change and the situation after the change. To understand the full impact, you have to compare the situation after the change with *what the situation would have been absent the change.*
Being as how that didn't happen, it's hard to come up with statistics that are fully persuasive, which is why we still have minimum wage laws.
Good point.
It’s a lot like the Kling point about so much subtle improvements to living standards not being quantifiable in dollars and cents, making a hash of GDP growth figures.
The minimum wage point is on target.
For that matter: All the suppressed growth and industry from unmovable policies like the Jones Act…
GAH, the Jones Act. People talk about the ostensible goals of the Jones Act - a strong American shipbuilding business, greater employment in American shipping - and then then they act as if the Jones Act is actually achieving those goals, instead of doing the exact opposite.
Of course, you can't *prove* that things wouldn't be even worse without the Jones Act, if "prove" means, "There's no way a person could argue that things could be worse."
Not to worry... we're gonna onshore so much manufacturing and heavy industry back into this great country that they won't be able to build new shipyards fast enough to build all the beautiful new ships we'll need to ship all the surplus to all those overseas markets.
Ship building's gonna be huuugge, I tell ya', HUUUGGE!!
People are sayin'...huuugge ships... huugge yards... there'll be lots and lots of jobs just mowing the grass in those yards... it's gonna be great!!!!
And anyone who says it isn't don't know ship.
Well played.
I'm already tired of winning all the time.
It really is rather exhausting, isn't it?
You were doing great until the last sentence. Couldn't resist, could you? 🚪
Obviously, no.
And neither could you, apparently. ⚓
I have a four-year-old grandson who is delighting in the mastery of language. I will say something like, “oh, your dad’s just being obtuse”, and he will cock his head and say, “well, what does THAT mean” and then we have a long conversation about geometry and fathers. Later, he’ll try the new word out.
How did we, culturally, fall out of love with language?
Learning language after one is formally educated in it during one's school years is an endeavor that requires curiosity and effort on the part of the learner. And I think a lot fewer people are curious or are willing to put in the effort now than in the past. Just my take on things as a Boomer who's always been interested in words and their use, and who actively pursues the learning of new words and their definitions and uses on a fairly regular basis even now after 7 decades of language use.
My parents encouraged me to read, especially books, from the time I was a preschooler. (The grandparents helped out, with birthday gifts.) By the time I got to first grade the teachers didn't quite know what to do with me, so that almost took the focus off the larger benefits of having become a person who really enjoys reading. But my mom understood, worked with my teachers, and later got her degree and spent many years teaching second-graders to read and write.
Yeah, my mother was the big book worm in our house, and I guess it rubbed off on me.
My dad liked to read, and was rather well self-educated, having left high school and home at the age of 16 to go to sea as a merchant seaman to help support his family during the Great Depression. He read about all kinds of subjects when he was younger. But because of his job later in life he didn't get to do as much reading then as I think he would have liked. However, to give you a clue as to his outlook on "education"...
I went down to visit my folks years ago and upon walking in the back door after getting there, I found my father sitting at the end of the family room table. My mom had gone somewhere, so being as it was his afternoon cocktail time, we sat there and had a highball together as we just shot the breeze about different stuff.
His seat at the end of the table put him in front of a room corner, the walls of which had long been covered with many family pictures and various framed keepsakes from both my mother and father's side of the family, like my mother's grandfather's Union Army belt buckle, her father's "Station Master" brass badge from his days with the L&N RR, a "torpedo pin" my dad had received during WWII for having survived a U-boat attack on his ship off the east coast early in the war, his certification as an able seaman and a later certification as a maritime ship's engineer, a couple of ribbons from his Coast Guard Commander's uniform (he'd been promoted to that rank after the Coast Guard took over the merchant service) and a family photo with his mother, father, 4 brothers and 3 sisters taken when he was about 5 or 6 years old about a decade before the Depression.
After we'd been talking for a while he started to half glance over his shoulder toward the corner occasionally. I finally asked him what he was doing.
"See anything different up there?", he asked. He had a look I knew all too well, that of a cat that swallowed a canary. I knew something out of the ordinary was up.
After scanning the wall for a few seconds, I realized there was a new addition, some kind of document in a frame hanging right above his few pieces of war memorabilia. I had to get up and walk over in front of it to see what, exactly, it was.
It was a G.E.D. certificate, which he'd obtained since the last time I'd been home to visit.
When I turned around to look at him, I don't think I'd ever seen him looking prouder and more satisfied.
He was 76 years old. And as he looked up at me, he joked that it had only taken him 60 years to finish high school.
That’s great, M.
Yeah. It's one of my favorite memories of my father.
We didn't fall out of love, but we shifted where we get our words. Gen Z is creating their own language, with its own meanings. They take their inspirations from elsewhere. It's so natural we don't realize we do it, but Boomers certainly did that back when their hearts were young and gay (with thanks to fellow Munsonian, Emily Kimbrough).
BTW, one of my hobbies is etymology; which I often have to remind students is not the study of bugs! 😬 I fell in love with learning words at a young age.
https://www.etymonline.com/
Etymology! Yes!
Curious about the origin of "conclave", I went to etymonline. Roughly, "con" - together and "clave" from "key", so together in a locked room. And it's use starts with the Catholic church.
The papal conclaves came about, so the story goes, in the Middle Ages. Due to rivalries and factionalism, the cardinals were taking a looong time -- several years -- to decide on the next pope. Enraged, the townspeople locked them in a room until they made a choice, which was made rather quickly. Ever since, the cardinals have secluded themselves to elect a new Pope.
Speaking of which -- the Vatican has announced that the conclave to elect the next Pope will begin on May 7, after the series of memorial Masses for Pope Francis are concluded.
I'm guessing we will know the result in days -- not years.
It was interesting that the etymonline started directly with the church. Fascinating. Thanks!
> Enraged, the townspeople locked them in a room until they made a choice, which was made rather quickly. <
I'm thinkin' this might be a useful tactic to employ on Capitol Hill about certain things from time to time.
Locking them in? Or out?
Up.
This should call to mind the occasions when a political or business leader, in a state of considerable embarrassment over obvious malfeasance or ineptitude, declares s/he will retire “to spend more time with my family”. How will said family react to the prospect of being locked up in an abode with that fool?
BTW... If you get a phone call and when you answer it all you hear is laughing, check the Caller ID. It'll probably say Pete Hegseth.
Well, that may have been the case once upon a time. But when's the last time you saw a business or political leader - especially a *political* leader - in a state of *embarrassment* to any degree about anything?
Embarrassment has left the building, along with his sidekick Shame.
I definitely remember when the "groovy" generation created their own (now very dated) language.
That's a great image. You're a good Grandma.
When philology became linguistics? When English majors went down the rabbit trails of comic books and identity politics?
I did like the weekend Dispatch essay on reading classic lit. I had no idea that the “canon” had fallen so far out of favor…
This one: https://thedispatch.com/article/great-books-self-learning-gen-z-loneliness/
"How did we, culturally, fall out of love with language?"
Teachers' unions and TV.
HA! Bingo.
Ya, listen to “The Daily” podcast about the SCOTUS case involving parents being allowed to opt out their kids during reading class because of the controversial books. My goodness. 🤦🏼♀️
I heard about that on the "Advisory Opinions" podcast. The 9very liberal) Montgomery County MD school board disallowed parental opt-out for classes tought to young children regarding gender identity ideology. They found that so many parents were opting out, they decided that "opt-out" was impractical. (They should have decided that curriculum was inappropriate).
The case is before SCOTUS now. The only suspence is how badly will the school board lose?
The interesting aspect here for me is that originally parents were indeed allowed to opt their kids out, but then the school board took the position that it was logistically too much trouble to accommodate them. Which, while it may have its challenges in a large school district such as the one involved, is a load of hooey in my book. Pun intended.
> While the school board initially allowed parents to opt their kids out of regular classes with some LGBTQ+ content, the board eventually found that it was both too difficult and too disruptive to accommodate the number of opt-out requests. In the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the school board's lawyer will tell the justices that it's relatively easy to have opt-outs for a single class, like health and sex education, a course that allows opt-outs. But it is a logistical nightmare to take children out of a classroom when a single story book that features same-sex parents or gay and lesbian kids could come up at any time. Among the logistical questions are where to put the opt-out kids and for how long? And how would the schools then meet the needs for alternative lesson plans? <
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5360067/supreme-court-public-schools-lgbtq-books
Well, I'd venture to say of those "questions" that the answers don't involve rocket surgery, and a solution is doable if those responsible for the solution want to make it happen and are willing to work in good faith with all parties involved to make it so.
This is akin to the arguments I've seen of late regarding the due process, habeas corpus rights of potential deportees... too many of them to make honoring those rights practical. More hooey. This is a solvable problem. But the powers that be aren't interested in solving it for various reasons, mostly because not enough citizens are interested in solving it. Be that as it may...
The Bill of Rights applies to any and all people with their feet on sovereign U.S. soil, from the parents of school kids in Maryland to detained illegal migrants in Louisiana. And while affording all of these people in all of these places their rights may be costly and time consuming and a pain in some peoples' backsides, be they school board members or law enforcement officials, they should and must be afforded lest we succumb to the "rights for me but not for thee" mindset. Because then it's only a matter of time before our own rights will be on the line.
I read some articles.
It's not just that, though. There's no particular correlation between being a teacher and having any interest in the subject you're teaching. There's no correlation between being a teacher and being any good at teaching. There's no correlation between material's being in the curriculum and anyone's thinking it is any good at all.
One of the main issues, in my opinion, is the compulsion system. The world's great (or simply enjoyable) literary corpus was not produced to be forced on classroom inmates. It was purchased by individuals with their own money and read by individuals on their own time, of their own free will. Because there's a notion that nobody will read unless they are forced to, for a grade, a lot of literature is forced on youth when you really need to be an adult to appreciate it.
Shot fired at the teacher’s lounge!
:-)