“In a famous anecdote in the Confessions , Augustine describes seeing Ambrose
of Milan reading on his own without making a sound. Ambrose was not the first
person in history to read silently, but his quiet, private reading was unusual
enough to make an impression.”
Irina Dumitrescu ,
How to Read Aloud
(London Review of Books ,
September 10, 2020 )
posted 3/27/2021 8:00pm ∞
“The Nazis were dedicated trolls who weaponized their insincerity to take
advantage of liberal societies ill-equipped to confront them. This was not done
just for political advantage—rather, the insincerity itself was a moral act, an
expression of contempt for the weak.”
Adam Serwer ,
Nazis Have Always Been Trolls
(The Atlantic ,
March 21, 2019 )
posted 1/16/2020 8:38pm ∞
“In the Hopi language surukaphe means ‘tail coffee’, or coffee watered down to
make it go further. In Brazilian Portuguese slang, chafé means ‘bad coffee’,
a blend of the words for ‘tea’ and ‘coffee’. Then there’s cholo in Louisiana
French, from chaud-l’eau , or ‘hot water’.”
posted 12/1/2022 8:00pm ∞
“For years, many linguists have believed that learning language is impossible
without a built-in grammar template. The new AI models
… demonstrate that the ability to produce grammatical language can be learned
from linguistic experience alone.”
posted 11/4/2022 8:00pm ∞
“Looking back, what I had actually done is uncover evidence of the video’s
supposed legacy, rather than evidence of the inciting incident. I assumed that
because multiple people independently told me the same thing, that thing was
true.”
posted 10/25/2022 8:00pm ∞