EWL

EWL

@ericwilliamlin.bsky.social

Tech, data, and design nerd. I make stuff. Probably data experiences, data storytelling, and data viz. Book-obsessed. Coffee and whiskey addict. Sometimes mixologist + composer. Canto + Taiwanese-American. 🇺🇸🇹🇼🇭🇰🏳️‍🌈.

387 followers637 following273 posts

This is a silly take.

Kai Ryssdal@kairyssdal.bsky.social

I’m sorry, but if you bring an iced coffee - or any damn beverage at all - to a job interview, you’re disqualified. It’s not hard, people.

Part of the problem with these debates is that as of right now, LLMs/Gen AI models and the typical tools built around them aren't by themselves capable of creating interesting art. They're still too limited to do anything at scale BY ITSELF.

Kieron Gillen@kierongillen.bsky.social

The animation chat has me thinking one telling thing - in the years since AI arrived, there's not been a ground-up indie phenomenon, like we saw with earlier tech (Flash, etc). It hasn't unlocked anyone's creativity. For all the anti-gatekeeping rhetroic, nothing anyone cares about has been born.

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But not, you can't rely on only prompting to get you a great 2-hour feature film. Or a truly great or even good 300-page novel. It's just nowhere close to that. And certainly not with the product design we're seeing with AI tools and wrappers right now. Not in any scalable way.

If you just want to shortcut your way to creative greatness, I'm sorry I don't think these tools will get you there. But if you already have some decent technical chops in your chosen medium, have interesting ideas, then yeah, I supposed these tools can be help in various stages of your process.

Part of the problem with these debates is that as of right now, LLMs/Gen AI models and the typical tools built around them aren't by themselves capable of creating interesting art. They're still too limited to do anything at scale BY ITSELF.

Kieron Gillen@kierongillen.bsky.social

The animation chat has me thinking one telling thing - in the years since AI arrived, there's not been a ground-up indie phenomenon, like we saw with earlier tech (Flash, etc). It hasn't unlocked anyone's creativity. For all the anti-gatekeeping rhetroic, nothing anyone cares about has been born.

The mistake some AI boosters are making is thinking that the current UI of AI is capable of making art of some complexity all in one shot. As a standalone tool. But that's just not the case. But we do know it can be, and is helpful doing some tasks in various parts of creative processes.

This is not a good social trend if it is true. Just argh.

Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net

it is my understanding that asking someone out you met at a friend's houseparty is a social faux pas now, and it is very weird to introduce your single friends to each other now

I feel this all the time on YouTube. I know there's great content (an endless amount, more than consumable in one lifetime) but the decision paralysis is real. Wasted hours watching one minute of this, 2 minutes of that. I loved the feeling of buying an album or DVD and bringing that home to watch.

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I didn't know that there were people who WANTED to grow up to be Joo Dee.

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social

Reporter: You said that that second strike was in full accordance with the law of armed conflict but the Navy's own manual of law of war says that specifically firing on survivors from a wrecked vessel is an example of a war crime that's forbidden under U.S. Law and the law of armed conflict…

I hope this never happens, but one not crazy scenario is if this keeps on happening, someone is gonna shoot a real fed/ICE guy because they thought it was a criminal and then get acquitted on self defense by the jury. Only then might ICE actually change their whole absurd thuggish attitude

Jesspooka Kant 🎃@jessdkant.bsky.social

“Three men in black vests entered a NY restaurant claiming to be ICE agents. Inside, they tied a worker’s hands and pulled a garbage bag over the person’s head. Another, believing the burglars’ story, surrendered themselves, only to be kicked to the ground and tied up as the intruders robbed an ATM”

Fuck off Mikey. And pronounce Zohran's name correctly.

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social

Johnson: What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming. No one should read too much into last night's election results. Off year elections are not indicative of what's to come. That’s what history teaches us.

F this shit.

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social

Disturbing news out of Auburn University, where the admin is pressuring professors to sign a statement saying they're complying with an "anti-DEI" law and TPUSA is holding a rally and trying to record classes. I hear faculty are terrified to sign, worried this is a pretense for mass firings.

My worry is less about some ironclad autocracy taking hold in the US. I'm more worried about something like "The Troubles" taking hold over a generation and EVERYONE loses and suffers. Including the thugs. They just don't have the mental capacity to think about consequences and future regret.

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social

They're fascists, who are famously *extremely* bad at correctly assessing the strength of an enemy. So yes, they think they win if they raise the temperature enough and it has not occurred to them that this might not be true.

I honestly don’t think 90% of the current administration knows anything substantive about the history of the revolutionary era. Or cares.

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EWL reposted

When I explain that boycotting an election over an issue has never once forced a politician to embrace that issue, I'm not "scolding people to vote." I'm explaining reality. Feel free to sit on your ass! Just don't pretend that your lazy apathy is somehow going to advance your agenda.

EWL reposted

i was all in on mamdani until i found out that he called his dad's cousin his "aunt" instead of using the term we all know and love, "cousin once removed"

Ah yes. All the journalists at my former employer apparently go around introducing their dad’s cousin to everyone as “my first cousin once removed Lydia” rather than “Auntie so-and-so”. What a farce of journalism.

CNN@cnn.com

In the final days of New York City’s mayoral race, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani has faced pushback over a story he told about his aunt being afraid to wear her hijab while riding the subway after the September 11, 2001, attacks. https://cnn.it/432IAcr

What pushback? An “aunt” who’s a cousin of his dad? How is this a flub or a lie? I can’t believe my former employer is now amplifying crap like this.

CNN@cnn.com

In the final days of New York City’s mayoral race, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani has faced pushback over a story he told about his aunt being afraid to wear her hijab while riding the subway after the September 11, 2001, attacks. https://cnn.it/432IAcr

EWL reposted

Honestly at some point you have to start doing psyops with these people: Have Obama announce that he will seek a third term tomorrow. Then watch all the con law “scholars” and Fix News MELT DOWN trying to explain why he can’t but Trump can. (It’s like Newsom taking over his social media persona)

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Q: One theory on how you might try to serve a 3rd term is that you could run at the vice president TRUMP: Yeah, I'd be allowed to do that. But I would rule that out because it's too cute.

EWL reposted

There’s 1,000 times more chatter about the Maine senate race in a year than about Maine’s ballot measure in 3 weeks that’d bring voter ID and crack down on mail voting… maybe let’s start there??? boltsmag.org/maine-questi...

boltsmag.orgA Ballot Measure Targets Mail Voting in Maine - BoltsQuestion 1, on the November ballot, would set up a barrage of new restrictions on absentee ballots that would considerably affect older voters and people with disabilities.

EWL reposted

Whoever did the data "analysis" and #dataViz for this piece should be embarrassed. This is beyond naive empiricism; it's wrong in so many ways that it'd take an entire article to explain them. I have better things to do, but this type of intellectually vacuous nonsense must be debunked.

The New York Times@nytimes.com

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com The antidote to our polarized politics “is a creative, re-energized political center,” the Times editorial board writes.

EWL reposted

👇🏻👇🏻 I would even argue that even if they DID vote for this and now have had a change of heart to the point where they’re fucking protesting then I say welcome to the giant Fuck Trump tent party and happy hour is 2-5 weekdays

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social

Take note of all these people turning out for protests in small towns in red states. Remember them the next time you’re inclined to write an area off because “they voted for this.”

We’re gonna be entering a golden age of leaks.

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

EWL reposted

This is dark. But also, this display of solidarity on the part of the pentagon press corps should be a model for dealing with the regime

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

EWL reposted

THE DNC AND ITS OFFICERS DO NOT ENDORSE IN PRIMARY ELECTIONS —PERIOD! THE DNC IS NOT FOR— OR— AGAINST YOUR FAVORITE CANDIDATE. WE SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEES CHOSEN BY VOTERS. WE FOCUS ONLY ON BEATING REPUBLICANS SO GOVERNMENT WORKS FOR US. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

I really don't understand people's reality these days. If any of these places are 'war zones', why haven't all the airlines cancelled their flights going in and out of these places?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Rand Paul: "Chicago is a nightmare. It is literally a war zone."

EWL reposted

For 26 but especially 2028 it's time for Democrats to make clear that the current Supreme Court will have to be reformed (expanded in number, reformed in structure) to allow popular govt to continue in the United States. Not so much a litmus test as precondition for any other promise to be credible.

EWL reposted

Seems bad for our society when you can’t make racist terrorists the villains

Vulture@vulture.com

Apple has pulled The Savant, its series starring Jessica Chastain’s about hunting down white supremacist cells across America, from its immediate release schedule.

The whole thing is a nefarious clown show. With no disrespect to clowns.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

NEW: Hours before a new entry ban is supposed to go into effect, the federal government officially acknowledges for the first time that the restrictions do NOT apply to people who currently have H-1B visas. Link: www.uscis.gov/sites/defaul...

Wondering if Zaslav starts getting nervous too if too many people start unsub-ing from HBO Max too, since they recently started optionally bundling with Disney, even though it's a partnership and not something owned by Disney. But people don't know/care/think. Does WBD become collateral damage?

EWL reposted

I would love to be part of the conversation on MSNBC related to the Kimmel story and it's chilling effects on first amendment, but unfortunately I was terminated by MSNBC for stating that "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which lead to hateful actions".

EWL reposted

Becoming increasingly clear we’re gonna have to build a parallel infrastructure for all the media we really love. The reason all of this is happening under the color of law is hyperconsolidation, dissent being traded straight up for merger approval, or fear of harassment.

EWL reposted

A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.

EWL reposted

Anyone proposing that an official be allowed to revoke the passport of a citizen for criticizing *this* country would be rightly regarded as batshit insane and deeply hostile to this country's laws and traditions. Proposing that they can do that if we criticize some *other* country? Fuck. That.

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This admin is so incompetent and so vile.

Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau expressed regret on Sunday over the recent detention of hundreds of South Korean workers in Georgia and said those who returned home will face no disadvantage when re-entering the US