Tootfinder

The COVID Reckoning Cometh (Christine Rosen/The Washington Free Beacon)
https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-covid-reckoning-cometh/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250622/p21#a250622p21

Time for another "review". This one's hard. While the book was quite interesting, it required me to be quite open-minded. Still, I think it's worth mentioning:
Robert Wright — Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
The book basically focused on a thesis that both biological evolution and cultural evolution are a thing, they are directional and this directionality can be explained together using game theory — as eventually leading to more non-zero sum games.
It consists of three chapters. The first one is is focused on the history of civilization. It features many examples from different parts of the world, which makes it quite interesting. The author argues that the culture inevitably is evolving as information processing techniques improve — from writing to the Internet.
The second chapter is focused on biological evolution. Now, the argument is that it's not quite random, but actually directed towards greater complexity — eventually leading to the development of highly intelligent species, and a civilization.
The third chapter is quite speculative and metaphysical, and I'm just going to skip it.
The book is full of optimism. Capitalism creates freedom — because people are more productive when they're working for their own gain, so the free market eliminates slavery. Globalisation creates networks of interdependence that make wars uneconomic. Increased contacts between different cultures makes people more tolerant. And eventually, the humanity may be able to unite facing a common "external" enemy — the climate change.
What can I say? The examples are quite interesting, the whole theory seems self-consistent. Still, I repeatedly looked at the publication date (it's 1999), and wondered if author would write the same thing today (yes, I know I can search for his current opinions).
#books #bookstodon @…

I learned¹ about the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature² that has more than 10000 books scanned and available online. Just great.
It is hosted by the University of Florida. So let's hope that it stays available, i.e. that the Republicans don't find the old children's books from 1750 to woke.³
__
¹via

Open Culture (Official) (@openculture@toot.community)
Attached: 1 image Enter an Archive of 10,000+ Historical Children’s Books, All Digitized & Free to Read Online https://www.openculture.com/2025/06/enter-an-archive-of-10000-historical-childrens-books.html

How ironic - the the maga-regime now is trying to block visas to visit the US on the grounds that the applicant believes in (and perhaps practices) our First Amendment right of free speech...
"New US visa rules will force foreign students to unlock social media profiles"
https://www.

ALIGN: Word Association Learning for Cross-Cultural Generalization in Large Language Models
Chunhua Liu, Kabir Manandhar Shrestha, Sukai Huang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.13426 h…

ALIGN: Word Association Learning for Cross-Cultural Generalization in Large Language Models
As large language models (LLMs) increasingly mediate cross-cultural communication, their behavior still reflects the distributional bias of the languages and viewpoints that are over-represented in their pre-training corpora. Yet, it remains a challenge to model and align culture due to limited cultural knowledge and a lack of exploration into effective learning approaches. We introduce a cost-efficient, cognitively grounded remedy: parameter-efficient fine-tuning on native speakers' free word-…

A couple of folks said I should replace the pop-over email signup form on my blog with a much more subtle inline signup form at the top of the page. So! If you'd like to reward the more user-friendly design with your patronage and support (it's free, I only ask for your attention), you can sign up to get my new posts in your inbox just by sharing your email address. I won't spam you or sell your email, and don't post too often.

Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

The Senator Will Not Yield -- REVIEW: 'Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation' by Zaakir Tameez (H.W. Brands/The Washington Free Beacon)
https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-senator-will-not-yield/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250810/p18#a250810p18

Millions of public euros subsidize bullfighting through regional televisions https://www.animanaturalis.org/n/46882?utm_source=Mastodon
Madrid raises its voice against bullfighting and for a cruelty-free culture

Millions of public euros subsidize bullfighting through regional televisions
We reveal the hidden cost of public funding for bullfighting broadcasts on Spain’s regional television channels, which has increased in recent years, especially in those Autonomous Communities governed by the Partido Popular and VOX.

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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Trump in the Crosshairs -- REVIEW: 'Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination ... (David J. Garrow/The Washington Free Beacon)
https://freebeacon.com/culture/trump-in-the-crosshairs/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250706/p6#a250706p6

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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University of Alaska - Fairbanks - Alaska & Polar Regions Area Studies Bibliographer & Curator of…
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ANN: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Volume 51 Issue 2
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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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University of Alaska - Fairbanks - Alaska & Polar Regions Area Studies Bibliographer & Curator of…
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ANN: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Volume 51 Issue 2
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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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ANN: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Volume 51 Issue 2
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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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ANN: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Volume 51 Issue 2
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ANN: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Volume 51 Issue 2 https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20121770/japanese-journal-religious-studies-512

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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Pirino on Suzuki, 'Humanitarian Internationalism Under Empire: The Global Evolution of the Japanese…
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ANN: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Volume 51 Issue 2
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Pirino on Suzuki, 'Humanitarian Internationalism Under Empire: The Global Evolution of the Japanese…
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Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2 #acrel https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20121769/japanese-journal-religious-studies-512…

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 51/2
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Pirino on Suzuki, 'Humanitarian Internationalism Under Empire: The Global Evolution of the Japanese…
via Input 4 RELCFP …