Scales of tragedy
How tragic is a ‘natural’ disaster? Does it depend on what is lost? Or when it happened? Is sadness about natural disasters another tilt at preventing inevitable change?
Tag: truth
What’s in a Font?
The USA is mandating all diplomatic documents use Times New Roman 14 pt font, reversing the previous administration’s change to Calibri 15 point. Why the fuss?
Demonic Eggbeaters and Democracy
Shane Jones says regional councils should be disestablished because they’re full of demonic egg beaters. What are demonic egg beaters? Should they be disestablished?
Being polite
Should we be polite to large language models like ChatGPT? There are good arguments on both sides of the debate.
End of a career?
Changes to the New Zealand research funding meeting may spell the end of my career but, more importantly, what do they spell for research and science?
Lawyers & Bears
What do lawyers and bears have in common? I’m not sure, but given the choice, I’ll pick the bear.
Talking about weight
Ozempic is everywhere…one of a new class of weight loss drugs promising reduced body mass and increased health. Are the claims real? And what are the downsides?
Avatars are Us
Thanks to AI you, or Donald Trump, can be many places at once as an online video of yourself…
Learning & Forgetting
Life is a continual process of learning – be it software or how to work with people. Life would be so much easier if I didn’t forget what I’ve learned…
Satire and Safety
Was condemnation of Trump’s blue suit at the Pope’s funeral fair? And how does this link to concerns about my writing a song about a prominent societal figure?