podunk-nowhere.bsky.social

great, we've taught the AI about the perversity of optimal packing solutions bet this seems real clever until it doesn't just paperclip you, it then stacks those paperclips in an ugly pile in the middle of a box

No, it is proving that a bunch of things we assumed were optimal because they “looked nice” in a certain sense were wrong because a far uglier solution was better. Example: the tightest way to pack 9 squares into a big one is with a 3x3 grid of side length 3. The best way to pack 11 is this:

It is highly nontrivial (many of these results might only have a few dozen humans who could check them) but it is being done by a separate automated computer proof checking system

Ok so basically what half these proofs show is that every beautiful and perfect result in mathematics is just another fucking Borwein integral under the hood and we never bothered calculating hard enough for the scales to fall from our eyes.

Fucking WHAT

Are you fucking kidding me with this one

If we have some kind of financial crisis, we’re going to be in deep shit www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

And I hope people understand that we can’t just optimistically hope that research institutions will step up and find the internal funding to continue defunded work. Maybe they could if it were one thing, but all kinds of programs are being defunded. Too many things need shoring up/support

We've probably learned more about American politics from the ANES than any other single data source. The same is true for the GSS and sociology. Both of these are gone if Congress acquiesces to these NSF cuts.

The Peter Thiel connections to Epstein, Ehud Barak, Palantir and...of course....JD Vance should get more scrutiny. Thiel created Vance and essentially hand delivered him to the White House. Thiel is a white nationalist billionaire, part of the "Pay Pal" mafia. Buddy David Sacks is Trump's AI Czar

The *gig* is up?

JD Vance: "The gig is up -- commit fraud against America and go to jail"

This sounds familiar

Put aside the Constitutional argument. The organizing by people in Minnesota would not have been crushed. People that were never involved in political movements were and still are actively involved.

I will always be proud that we Minnesotans made sure the mad king didn't get his heart's desire.

This is why Vance should never hold the job of President!

Apparently office space became even less comfortable after RTO. Somehow the same companies that didn't have the money to break a lease on a building, magically had the money to gut and redesign it. Open plans, hotdesking. I assume the C-suite all kept their corner offices though

Ooh been saying it for a long time - the workspace I have at home now would've been an unattainable pipe dream for me if we were in-office - I've witnessed moves to a corner cube/window/office with a door be used in place of raises and promotions. Yes we underpay you, but look, we gave you a window

Hmmm... Turns out, food regulations were really important for regulating food.🤔

Timeline cleanse from the Black Flute Brigade of Los Angeles.

I’ve known many other defense secretaries, starting with Cap Weinberger, who served as defense secretary under Reagan. I can say without fear of contradiction that Pete Hegseth is the stupidest and least qualified of them all.

Sean Duffy: “I have a hard time believing in the government anymore.” Rachel Campos-Duffy: “We don't trust the government.” Katie Miller: “I'm still distrustful of the government.” Plot twist: They ARE the government.

Flock is not just selling cameras. It’s building a national surveillance network. But communities across the country are fighting back against these creepy cameras - and winning. Our communities deserve real solutions, not mass warrantless surveillance.

A powerful message by three distinguished former Coast Guard officers with several decades of experience. On the one year anniversary of U.S. boat strikes. America’s War on Drug Smugglers at Sea Is Unlawful—and It Is Failing Must Read www.justsecurity.org/155570/ameri...

Reporting the facts are treasonous. How about committing an insurrection. 🙄

I have to admit, I’m oscillating between ’of course he’ll get away with it, he always does’ and ‘surely this time the police will do their job’.

Are we sure he actually owns the watch and didn't just grab someone else's from a security checkpoint?

Before losing her life in 1986 aboard Space Shuttle Challenger, Christa McAuliffe was set to be the first teacher in space with plans to teach a lesson to kids around the world from orbit. Today is her birthday, and even now, her courage and dedication to education continues to inspire.

Yet that in the basis of his entire political worldview

The NBA-Clippers story is a story about two things working better than recent years have led us to expect: the ability of journalism to hold power and money to account and the willingness of an institution to do the same. It also serves as a reminder that those two things should be linked.

Biggest punishment for rich people’s “rules don’t apply to me” malfeasance in America goes to… the Los Angeles Clippers!

MacFarlane: He's in the rose garden tonight, eating fine beef, eating a three course meal out on the patio, the hamburgers cost $6 a piece at the grocery store. Right now, the box of sugar cereal, which sometimes is dinner, $6.

Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. www.channel4.com/news/exclusi...

My son wanted me to share this picture of Jimothy that she drew! 🙂 #jimothy #seattle #jimothyraccoon

I think people catching measles then dying is bad, and that the govt should see zero measles deaths as the goal—like America had until recently—rather than see measles as a positive, culling the population of people with other health conditions. Sorry to get so partisan, but that’s how I feel.

I think it's worth noting that nothing is being done now. Johnson has kept congress home for most of the year over the Epstien files. The two year average is 284 stand alone bills passed. This congress has passed 38....they hold all 3 branches. These are not serious people.

Some congressional Democrats (or their staffers, I guess) follow me on here, so let me speak directly to them: The media isn't going to do this on their own. But if you make it an issue, they might just be shamed into forcing your GOP opponents into discussing the fat racist elephant in the room.

NEW: Trump asks the Supreme Court for permission to resume efforts to restrict mail voting before the midterms. The proposed rule would block USPS from delivering ballots to states that don’t share voter data with the federal government. Gift link. 👇 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/u...

There goes the neighborhood

@stevesack.bsky.social 👩🏻‍🍳💋

What Pablo Torre did was ridiculously impressive. Uncovered a conspiracy between rich guys, withstood a propaganda campaign by one of the richest guys in the world with a pretty good reputation, didn't buckle or panic, and just kept reporting. That's some Pulitzerin' right there.