Emily Wilson’s current project is translating The Odyssey (again). “I am doing a fully revised re-retranslation, to align my Odyssey translation more closely with my Iliad.”
GPT-5: Key characteristics, pricing and model card
I've had preview access to the new GPT-5 model family for the past two weeks, and have been using GPT-5 as my daily-driver. It's my new favorite model. It's still an LLM - it's not a dramatic departure from what we've had before - but it rarely screws up and generally feels ...
The Bluesky Dictionary is tracking every single word used on the social...
The Bluesky Dictionary is tracking every single word used on the social media service. As of this writing, almost 40% of the dictionary has been covered, including recent additions like “boneshakers”, “microscale”, and “striations”.
There’s a Bend It Like Beckham sequel in the works, says director...
There’s a Bend It Like Beckham sequel in the works, says director Gurinder Chadha. “I didn’t want to do anything because I didn’t have a story. And then I came up with a great story, really super-cool story. So now I’m inspired.”
My Recent Media Diet, the Resistance Edition
Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these but I’m gonna skip the apologies and get right into it. Here’s a list of what I’ve been reading, watching, listening to, and experiencing over the past several months. Let us know what movies, books, art, TV, music, etc. yo...
Jamelle Bouie on the Death of the Fourth American Republic
This is a great piece from Jamelle Bouie on the likely death of the Voting Rights Act and, zooming out, the end of an era in American society that began with the Act’s signing.
Americans pride ourselves, by contrast, on our undivided history under one Constitution — a singl...
Potatoes are tomatoes! Ok not exactly, but scientists have worked out that...
Potatoes are tomatoes! Ok not exactly, but scientists have worked out that modern potatoes evolved, in part, from an ancient tomato plant. “Dipping fries into ketchup just got a little more mind-bending.”
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Rolando Pujol and the Great American Retro Road Trip
Rolando Pujol is an executive producer at ABC, but his true passion is for roadside attractions. And he’s got a new book all about it titled The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana. He and Dylan nerd out about Muffler Men, mimetic architecture, and Pizza Hut Classics.
Plus: If you have a favorite roadside attraction, give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or email us a voice memo at hello@atlasobscura.com. Tell us what it is. Where is i? What memory do you have about this attraction? And why do you love it?
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Watchdog Group Downgrades U.S. From Democracy To Whatever Political System Lobsters Have....
Watchdog Group Downgrades U.S. From Democracy To Whatever Political System Lobsters Have. “There’s just too much scuttling in American politics to call it anything other than a flawed lobster republic.”
“At a Wisconsin pond, a pair of cranes is raising an abandoned...
Classical Statues Dressed Up As Hipsters
Photographer Léo Caillard makes images of classical statues dressed up as hipsters.
[This is a vintage post originally from Jun 2013.]
Tags: art · fashion · Leo Caillard · photography · timeless posts
The official online copy of the US Constitution is missing some critical...
The official online copy of the US Constitution is missing some critical parts. “Article I, Section 9 contains some of the most important safeguards in the Constitution, including the Writ of Habeas Corpus…” Nothing to worry about I’m sure!!
Snake-in-the-Box Problem
I analyzed more than 100 extremist manifestos: Misogyny was the common thread....
I analyzed more than 100 extremist manifestos: Misogyny was the common thread. “Misogyny now acts as a ‘gateway drug’ to broader extremist ideologies. This is particularly true in digital spaces where hate and grievance are cultivated algorithmically.”
Jules, our asynchronous coding agent, is now available for everyone
Jules, our asynchronous coding agent, is now available for everyone
I wrote about the Jules beta back in May. Google's version of the OpenAI Codex PR-submitting hosted coding tool graduated from beta today.I'm mainly linking to this now because I like the new term they are using in this blog entry: Asynchronous coding agent. I like it so much I gave it a tag.
I continue to avoid the term "agent" as infuriatingly vague, but I can grudgingly accept it when accompanied by a prefix that clarifies the type of agent we are talking about. "Asynchronous coding agent" feels just about obvious enough to me to be useful.
Via Hacker News
Tags: google, ai, generative-ai, llms, ai-assisted-programming, gemini, agent-definitions, asynchronous-coding-agents
The case for memes as a new form of comics. “Memes —...
The case for memes as a new form of comics. “Memes — specifically, image macros — represent a new type of digital comic, right down to the cognitive and creative ways in which they operate.”
OpenAI: ‘Introducing gpt-oss’
OpenAI:
We’re releasing gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b — two
state-of-the-art open-weight language models that deliver strong
real-world performance at low cost. Available under the flexible
Apache 2.0 license, these models outperform similarly sized open
models on reasoni...
From restitution to confronting authoritarian regimes, here are five ways museums can...
From restitution to confronting authoritarian regimes, here are five ways museums can be more ethical. This list is from Gareth Harris, author of the book Towards the Ethical Art Museum.
“As a clinical psychologist, I was curious: Could ChatGPT function like a...
“As a clinical psychologist, I was curious: Could ChatGPT function like a thinking partner? A therapist in miniature? I gave it three months to test the idea. A year later, I’m still using ChatGPT like an interactive journal.”
Tom MacWright: Observable Notebooks 2.0
Tom MacWright: Observable Notebooks 2.0
Observable announced Observable Notebooks 2.0 last week - the latest take on their JavaScript notebook technology, this time with an open file format and a brand new macOS desktop app.
Tom MacWright worked at Observable during their fi...