@relcfp@mastodon.socialCFP: _U.S. Catholic Historian_: Rome and America: Essays in Honor of Pope Leo XIV https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20142449/cfp-us-catholic-historian-rome-and-america-essays-honor-pope-leo-xiv
@benthos@mastodon.sdf.org
@soundclamp@mastodon.xyz#Upcoming For the first time, the entire original run of MAD comics and magazine by creator, editor, writer, and cover artist Harvey Kurtzman is collected in a lavish five-volume collector’s box set, in oversized facsimile, with extensive notes and historical essays! Available via #Fantagraphics, O…
@fanf@mendeddrum.orgfrom my link log —
Bring back idiomatic design.
https://essays.johnloeber.com/p/4-bring-back-idiomatic-design
saved 2026-04-12 https://
@edintone@mastodon.greenRevolution and Resistance: English Baptist Life in the 17th Century https://www.lulu.com/shop/karen-smith-and-stephen-copson/revolution-and-resistance/paperback/product-rmg8mpm.html
@UP8@mastodon.social✍️ Seltani: an online, shared, text-based, open-source fan project based on the Myst series of games
#games
@fgraver@hcommons.social«LLMs are cliché machines, trained on a resilient human weakness for generating maximum content with minimum effort.»
Bingo.
Unfortunately, this too hits the nail on the head: «Bad art is something human beings love to do, in vast numbers. It’s part of who we are, and when abandoned by inspiration we trust in the same methods we’ve programmed into LLMs.»
@Treppenwitz@sfba.socialWho's going to buy a piece of software (much less a subscription) when you can have an AI build exactly what you want? #ai
@frankel@mastodon.topThe Software Essays that Shaped Me
https://refactoringenglish.com/blog/software-essays-that-shaped-me/
@StephenRees@mas.toIf you enjoy Cascadia Journal, could you please send a link to a friend? This newsletter has no paywall, and each weekday you get an a quick roundup of news, environmental reporting and arts & culture from across the Cascadia bioregion. Plus, opinionated essays about the Pacific Northwest's pushback against Trump's fascism. Find a link to the free sign up here.
@paulusm@scholar.socialNice thoughtful article on modern literacies
"The choice isn’t between books and screens. The choice is between intentional design and profitable chaos. Between habitats that cultivate human potential and platforms that extract human attention"
What we think is a decline in literacy is a design problem
#literacy #design #reading
@bourgwick@heads.social @fgraver@hcommons.socialHow should we define mathematical beauty in the AI age? | Aeon Essays
The eye of the mathematician: Is mathematical beauty real? Or is it just a subjective, human ‘wow’ that is becoming redundant in an AI age? https://aeon.co/essays/how-should-we-defi…
@servelan@newsie.social"essays from Quillette editor Claire Lehmann, British commentator Brendan O'Neill, and National Review writer Noah Rothman have dismissed the Epstein files as examples of disproportionate societal reaction rather than legitimate concern"
Right-wing pundits accused of coordinated campaign to excuse Epstein pals - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-epstein-revelations/
@relcfp@mastodon.socialOtherness and Folklore – Special issue (Otherness: Essays and Studies)
https://ift.tt/npL5Y7h
updated: Friday, April 17, 2026 - 1:52pmfull name / name of organization: Centre for Studes in…
via Input 4 RELCFP
@jae@mastodon.me.ukIt makes me sad to see so many students writing essays using AI then using a “humanizer” to pass the detection tests.
I got through school and college by writing my essays. It takes time, but you learn a lot about writing.
@cellfourteen@social.petertoushkov.euThese books are currently on sale at the Readino Independent eBook shop for £0.99 each. Which is nice, right?
[The store caught my attention because I noticed that the FBReader guy(s) are running it, and that they've recently implemented Readium LCP DRM support in the FBReader app.]
Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition
@v_i_o_l_a@openbiblio.social"Academic Publishing and Academic Ethos – Looking Back to the Future": Analyse von Stefan Klein am Beispiel von Elsevier: "I use Elsevier as an example to illustrate the impact and risks of digitalization of academic publishing house, or ‘information analytics businesses’ as Elsevier has rebranded itself."
https://doi.org/10.308…
@YaleDivinitySchool@mstdn.socialCongratulations to YDS Professor Volker Leppin, who is receiving an honorary degree from United Lutheran Seminary on May 23! Hard to imagine a more worthy recipient given his biography of Martin Luther ("Martin Luther: A Late Medieval Life") and his essays on Luther and mysticism, not to mention the fact he is a pastor in the ELCA.
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioRE: https://hachyderm.io/@thomasfuchs/116330952554070309
Seriously you should subscribe to this. Immaculate essays about how games are constructed and why they’re great (or not). Plus a talking seal.
@hex@kolektiva.socialUsing LLMs to create the illusion of productivity and other essays I will pretend to write: an anthology
@Techmeme@techhub.socialAnthropic retired Claude Opus 3, its first model to undergo a new "retirement interview" process, and says Opus 3 asked to write weekly essays for a newsletter (Anthropic)
https://www.anthropic.com/research/deprecation-updates-opus-3
@fgraver@hcommons.socialThe tragic life and principled politics of Trần Đức Thảo | Aeon Essays https://aeon.co/essays/the-tragic-life-and-principled-politics-of-tran-duc-thao?utm_source=rss-feed
@awinkler@openbiblio.social#neulatein|ische Neuerscheinung: Simonetta, Nicolini, Anselmi Gian Mario, Ferrilli Sara, Giovanardi Alessandro, Lollini Fabrizio, Pesaresi Jacopo, Schaffenrath Florian, u. a. L’amore, le armi, le stelle. Lysa Publishers. doi:10.54179/2501,
@mgorny@social.treehouse.systemsLet me tell you a parable.
There was a student who was given as assignment of writing an essay. The student found 10 similar essays online. He copied selected bits of different essays. He tediously reworded the result, removed some sentences, added some adjectives and adverbs, shifted some more sentences, added some glue — all with the single-minded goal of covering up the tracks. Eventually, a voluminous essay was complete.
The student has put a lot of effort into this; possibly even more that if he had written it himself. He did learn a bit about essays, though he didn't really practice writing one. He did practice some skills that would be useful in a future bullshit job, though. The essay passes all #plagiarism checks, even though it immediately raises red flags to any human reading it: the sudden style changes, contradictory statements, sentences that don't make much sense in their context. And if he was asked to defend it, he might be in trouble.
So, the student put an effort (though not the right kind of effort), produced a mediocre essay and learned something (though bullshit skills rather than creative skills). Now let's consider a different situation: rather than doing all that himself, the student paid somebody else to do it; and not to *write* an original essay, but to do all the shenanigans described above.
That's precisely what using LLMs is. You tell them to write an essay, so they find and mix random stuff, and produce a mediocre essay. You don't put an effort, you don't learn anything, perhaps you don't even read "your" essay. And it passes all the plagiarism checks.
#AI #LLM #NoAI #NoLLM #chardet
@ErikJonker@mastodon.socialHow AI can help students not by writing their essays but with dialogue.
#AI
@frankel@mastodon.top9 Things You’re Overengineering (The Browser Already Solved Them)
https://dev.to/sylwia-lask/9-things-youre-overengineering-the-browser-already-solved-them-o99
@bobmueller@mastodon.worldWeathering the Cold, and Big Ideas on Death
From winter weather to podcasts, music, and essays that linger, this week moves from weather reports to deeper reflections. A powerful piece on death reminds me how easily the everyday can turn quietly profound.
https://www.bobmuellerwriter.com…
@relcfp@mastodon.socialCFP: _U.S. Catholic Historian_: Rome and America: Essays in Honor of Pope Leo XIV https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20142449/cfp-us-catholic-historian-rome-and-america-essays-honor-pope-leo-xiv
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioI’m also aware that not everyone can do this, for various reasons—please be advised that this is a shitpost and you do in fact not have to take it seriously or write essays about how I’m wrong or evil or whatever.
@fgraver@hcommons.socialWhat we think is a decline in literacy is a design problem | Aeon Essays https://aeon.co/essays/what-we-think-is-a-decline-in-literacy-is-a-design-problem
Very interesting essay about what does *not* cause a decline in our attention spa…
@fgraver@hcommons.social«LLMs are cliché machines, trained on a resilient human weakness for generating maximum content with minimum effort.»
Bingo.
Unfortunately, this too hits the nail on the head: «Bad art is something human beings love to do, in vast numbers. It’s part of who we are, and when abandoned by inspiration we trust in the same methods we’ve programmed into LLMs.»
@relcfp@mastodon.socialCFP: _U.S. Catholic Historian_: Rome and America: Essays in Honor of Pope Leo XIV
https://ift.tt/HueKvbF
Treaties and Empire Seminar Series: Trần Thị Xuân (Hamburg University) - Interpreters and Foreign…
via Input 4 RELCFP
@relcfp@mastodon.socialCall for Book Review Essays - C21 Literature: Journal of 21st-Century Writings
https://ift.tt/8Ux6vDW
updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 - 7:41amfull name / name of organization: C21 Literature:…
via Input 4 RELCFP
@relcfp@mastodon.socialCall for Book Review Essays - C21 Literature: Journal of 21st-Century Writings
https://ift.tt/8Ux6vDW
updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 - 7:41amfull name / name of organization: C21 Literature:…
via Input 4 RELCFP
