puppy_cbá

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

The history of these days will certainly speak to the cult; how easily they were gaslit; how they rallied around petty grievance; how they railed against their own interests; how they suppressed reasoned thought; how they succumbed - in so many ways - to a flawed and obvious con.
History will also certainly speak to the enablers, some of whom pursued proximity to power, some of whom were seduced by opportunistic grift, some of whom caved and capitulated out of misplaced fear, and all of whom pursued personal gain above a greater collective good.
But it remains to be seen whether history ever speaks to the true unforeseen disaster of these days, one which I shake my head at continually, which is the shameless, consistent, and widespread normalization of a madman.

[puppy_cbá @puppycba]

@WalshFreedom At least, they didn’t smack her to the ground, kneel on her back. I can’t wait for the mid-term to come. So we can find out whether we can stop this downfall, or we are doomed.

[Alex Xu @alexxubyte]

MCP vs Function calling

MCP and function calling have a lot in common. This confuses a lot of engineers, so here is a side-by-side comparison.

[Swapna Kumar Panda @swapnakpanda]

If you are learning Python, this thread will teach you so that you can master it in 5 months.

DON'T SKIP THIS THREAD...

[Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley]

Well said

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

genuinely great to see tailoring accomodate such extreme movement today

[Daron Acemoglu @DAcemogluMIT]

I want to briefly explain why I joined Abhijit Banerjee, Peter Diamond, Esther Duflo, Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz in signing the letter on the California billionaire tax: https://t.co/vU3Kckwfp8

In principle, I am not convinced that permanent wealth taxes would be necessary if the tax-transfer system were designed optimally.

But the US tax system is very far from optimal, and has been for decades. As I have documented in my research (for example, here: https://t.co/l7TxZHckKc), labor income is taxed much more heavily than capital income.

This asymmetry creates two distinct problems.

First, it makes the tax system highly regressive at the top. The very rich, who receive much of their income from capital or can use accounting tricks to reclassify their income as capital income, pay remarkably little in taxes. For example, a business owner who runs their own company should receive a significant part of their income as labor earnings for their work as CEO. Instead, they can take their compensation in stock and borrow against those holdings to finance whatever consumption they desire, minimizing their tax obligations. Even their heirs may avoid paying these taxes.

Second, the asymmetry distorts automation decisions: it effectively subsidizes machinery and AI relative to hiring workers (for example, here: https://t.co/1LsXRvl5F4).

These distortions have allowed a small number of people to amass vast fortunes without paying their fair share of taxes, and have fueled excessive automation.

The resulting inequality is a problem in its own right. It is all the more dangerous today because our institutions have become fragile, allowing the very wealthy to exert growing control over the political process.

A temporary wealth tax can therefore be justified on three grounds: (1) it partially reverses the effects of more than two decades of tax avoidance by the very wealthy; (2) it acts as a brake on their growing dominance over the political process; and (3) it may pave the way for more comprehensive tax reform at the federal level.

The California billionaire tax is not perfect. For example, a federal tax would lessen risks related to capital flight, and removing the rigid earmarking of the revenues for specific purposes would enable the proceeds to reduce the national debt. Nevertheless, with few other options on the table, I believe the California proposal deserves support.

[puppy_cbá @puppycba]

@saucyboulette @freakingdorkok The play has no intermission. While watching that interval I considered that part of the acting. They were showing us their switching of character, otherwise why would Nina be gently wiping Cate’s face ? [the show I watched, Cate was Electra and Nina Clytemnestra]

[Alex Xu @alexxubyte]

LLM, RAG, AI Agent & Agentic AI

[Prakash @8teAPi]

People clowning on him don’t understand what he’s saying.

All the wealth of humanity to date supports perhaps 250k living math phds. Roughly the population of St. Louis, Missouri.

The training pipeline for that group has been irreparably shattered in the last month.

A phd is supposed to make an original contribution to their field to graduate.

That’s just…. not possible anymore.

938 years after the founding of the first university in Bologna…

Do universities now reward… teaching ? comprehension of something discovered by a machine? application ? do mathematicians become quotidian (gasp of disgust) engineers?

Tao is upset because he knows none of those outside the field care about its future. He is a horrified gardener watching humanity gorge on its seed corn.

It is irreparable of course. The old way is dead dead.

We live in the short interregnum before the new king is born: a Lean crawler that spawns a billion copies exploring every corner of math latenspace.

So much math to understand that even if 8 billion humans had the ability of the 250k mathematicians alive today, it would still take a million years to comprehend.

It is ironic and sad.. because Tao himself is a pioneer of collaborative math: math that is understood by a combination of minds rather than an pindividual.

The tools that Tao began exploring a few years ago, solving problems through blog posts and using Lean to guarantee each mind’s contribution stood on its own when assembled into the greater truth, have been turned against him.

Math’s path to utilize multiple minds didn’t restrict access to human minds, and now the machines have blitzkrieged themselves into the heart of the matter.

The agents use rudimentary message boards, working 10,000 to a task, tirelessly, using Lean to verify the correctness of each contribution.

It was good while it lasted… and now it’s gone.

[Orion @MDSUJON85265037]

1 ▸ When they offer a credit:

"I'm declining the travel credit and the rebooking. I'd like a cash refund to my original form of payment under the DOT refund rule."

What you are really saying: you know the voucher is optional, not the default.

What they hear: the credit is off the table, so the refund is the only move left.

[Felicity.C @NeonFictionXR]

Announcing to the world what happened tonight
Unexpected interaction with one of my fav actresses Cate Blanchett

I'm fine, thank you, over the moon now

National theatre, ELECTRA / PERSONA, Sep 18 2026

[puppy_cbá @puppycba]

@freakingdorkok I saw those little dots on her right eye and thought those were supposed to be there 😂
like little stars in the sky. Then when Nina massaged her face and cleansed them all off then I realized Oops 😄

[Carolist @freakingdorkok]

Electra / Persona curtain call 18/09 - with Cate giving a speech at the end 🫢🫣

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

In 1995, 14 wolves were released in Yellowstone National Park.

No one expected the miracle that the wolves would bring.

[Barbara F Walter @bfwalter]

If ICE Takes Someone You Know

A lot of people have asked me what they can actually do if someone they know is taken by ICE.

Here are the resources we found most useful, and the things I would do first.

1. Find them.

ICE has an online detainee locator. You can search using the person's A-number (immigration #) and country of birth, or their exact first and last name and country of birth.

https://t.co/CtrfYl6GMO

Note that someone may not appear immediately after being taken. The system also doesn’t contain everyone in ICE custody. If you can't find them, keep checking and contact the appropriate ICE field office.

ICE's Detention Reporting and Information Line is 1-888-351-4024.

2. Find a good immigration lawyer.

This is the most important thing you can do.

People taken by ICE have the right to an attorney, but unlike in a criminal case, the government generally doesn’t have to provide one.

The National Immigration Legal Services Directory lets you search for nonprofit organizations offering free or low-cost immigration legal help by state, county, ZIP code, or even detention facility.

immigrationadvocates.or…

The ACLU also has a good overview of the rights of someone who has been detained.

3. Get their A-number.

This is the immigration identification number used to track a person's case.

It’s generally nine digits. If an older A-number has only eight, government systems usually require a zero at the beginning.

This makes everything easier - finding someone, checking their immigration court case, and communicating with lawyers.

If you don't have it, ask the person's family or lawyer. It may also appear on previous immigration documents.

4. Find out what's happening with their case.

The Justice Department has an online system where you can enter an A-number and check basic immigration court information, including upcoming hearings and certain decisions.

You can also call the automated immigration court hotline at 1-800-898-7180.

Keep in mind: the online system doesn’t contain everything. It doesn’t include bond proceedings or motions. Official court notices are the best source.

5. Start gathering documents.

Friends and family can help collect information that may be useful to the lawyer: evidence of family ties, employment, a business, home ownership, community involvement, and letters from people who know the person. Our neighborhood wrote a lot of letters.

Give everything to the lawyer. Let the lawyer decide what matters for the particular case.

6. Ask the lawyer about bond or other possible release.

Don't assume that detention automatically means someone has to stay locked up while the case proceeds.

But don't assume bond is available either.

Whether you’re eligible depends on the person's situation, immigration history, and the legal authority under which they are being detained. This is one of the first questions to ask the lawyer.

If money may be needed, friends can start organizing so that it is available quickly. The bond for our gardener was not high - only $4,000.

7. Help the family.

This one sounds obvious but it matters.

Someone suddenly has to deal with lawyers, detention calls, court dates, childcare, lost income, bills, transportation, and the terror of not knowing what’s going to happen.

Bring food. Drive someone somewhere. Help make calls. Set up a fundraiser if they need one. Take something off their plate.

8. Know what the detained person should do.

The ACLU's advice is simple if you are taken: stay silent, ask for a lawyer, and don't sign anything or make decisions about the immigration case without speaking with a lawyer.

And finally:

Don't assume there’s nothing you can do.

That's what I would have assumed before this happened, but it isn't true.

There are phone calls to make. Lawyers to find. Documents to gather. Money to raise. Families to help.

Just start.

That’s what Betty did in our neighborhood.

Be a Betty.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

A wonderful tribute to the victims of 9/11 by Sky Element Drones, 2,977 Lights over New York Harbor. One light for every life lost.

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

The Shame of Donald Trump

Donald Trump skipped the 9/11 memorial because it would not let him be the main character.

Twenty-five years after the attacks, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush stood at Ground Zero and honored the 2,977 people murdered that day. The sitting president of the United States could not be bothered.

The New York ceremony does not allow political speeches. It is for the dead. That was a deal-breaker. So Trump went to the Pentagon, where he could grab a microphone and turn remembrance into a performance.

Four former presidents showed up for the victims. Trump showed up for Trump.

[Anthropic @AnthropicAI]

Anthropic’s Economics team is sharing a new model of how AI might affect economic growth, jobs, wages, and more by 2030.

Explore the scenarios, tell us what you think will happen, and see how your answers compare to more than 10,000 Americans. https://t.co/AvQlEZNxR0

[Jacob Coxon @hilbertspaess]

I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.