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Ben Balas

@bjbalas.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.3K following 890 posts

Vision Scientist, Dad, Would-be artist & dreadful chess player. Check out my new #visionscience textbook here: https://www.routledge.com/Practical-Vision-Science-Learning-Through-Experimentation/Balas/p/book/9781032691121 All opinions my own.

www.routledge.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · Nov 4

Hey there #visionscience and #psychscisky friends! I wanted to take a moment to (finally) do a proper promo 🧵 about my new textbook: Practical Vision Science, which is now available from Routledge books. <1/n> www.routledge.com/Practical-Vi...

Practical Vision Science: Learning Through Experimentation

This workbook provides a collection of experiments and observations that use physical materials (rather than digital displays or resources) to reveal fundamental properties of the human visual system....

www.routledge.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 1d

Great evening at the Fargo Theatre for Silent Movie Night! Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, Neely Edwards and The Mighty Wurlitzer make for a lot of laughs.

a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a sign that says sunkist .

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a sign that says sunkist .

media.tenor.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 2d

Kiddo just published her latest #Horror essay over at So Desensitized. This time she's taking on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT in her article "Kids These Days Don't Wander Around the Woods Like Idiots Anymore." Spoiler alert: She's not the biggest fan. Enjoy, share, and subscribe! #HorrorSky #FilmSky

Kids These Days Don't Wander Around the Woods Like Idiots Anymore

Hi all, welcome back to week one of the 2025 So Desensitized Spooky Season Spooktacular! Today we are covering my least favorite movie of all time, The Blair...

buttondown.com

Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 3d

Arise all ye of MIT! This alum feels better today for seeing this.

Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 3d

MIT rejects federal compact:

www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

MIT Rejects Proposed Federal Compact

MIT is the first institution to reject a proposal by the Trump administration that would trade preferential treatment on federal funding in exchange for far-reaching changes.

www.insidehighered.com

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Reposted by Ben Balas

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 6d

I am proud of MIT, where our branch of AAUP has voted unanimously to endorse this statement urging MIT leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the Compact wholesale
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Letter Regarding Compact

MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors October 6, 2025 Statement on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” MIT has been invited by the federal governmen...

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Ben Balas

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 3d

I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

The Dangers of using AI to Grade

Nobody Learns, Nobody Gains

substack.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 3d

It's that first "What?" that I love best of all.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 4d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

Reposted by Ben Balas

The Oatmeal @theoatmeal.bsky.social · 5d

Let’s talk about AI art.

theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal

This is a comic about AI art.

theoatmeal.com

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Reposted by Ben Balas

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 5d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 5d

Is it fun, though? I couldn't tell if it was fun from the box.

Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 5d

Whenever I see a monarch in Fargo, I call out "Go!" to speed 'em on their way. It's amazing that they travel so far and so cool that we can follow along.

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 5d

Look at her go!
#invertebrates 🌿

Screen shot of Project Monarch app map of progress of a monarch butterfly from southern Ontario to Oklahoma.

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 5d

done!

Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 6d

I didn't know that there was a "Water Tower of the Year" competition until just a moment ago, but now that I know there is one and Fargo is in 2nd place I am INVESTED. Get in there and vote for our 2.5 million gallons of water-holding majesty, people! #workwasfrustratingwhydoyouask

Fargo, North Dakota - Tnemec Company, Inc.

tnemec.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 7d

This takes me back! When I was a kid in SW Pennsylvania, we pretty reliably had groundhogs hanging around near our school bus stop and I always liked seeing them sort of ambling around munching on stuff.

Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 7d

Please enjoy 10 seconds of a fat groundhog enjoying an apple at my sister's house 😊

Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 7d

New post from the kiddo over at So Desensitized! This is the beginning of her October series focusing on witches, starting with THE CRAFT. Go subscribe if you like #Horror and great writing about pop culture! #HorrorSky #HorrorMovies #FilmSky

Kids These Days Don't Join Covens Anymore

Hi all, and welcome to the first week of the 2025 So Desensitized Spooky Season Spooktacular! Posts will be out on Mondays and Fridays all the way up until...

buttondown.com

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Reposted by Ben Balas

Katie Gordon @kathryngordon.bsky.social · 7d

Hi! My publisher is giving away 10 copies of The Suicidal Thoughts Guided Journal through Goodreads. If you’d like to enter, you can here:

www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Thanks for your support! ❤️

Book giveaway for The Suicidal Thoughts Guided Journal: CBT Practices to Soothe Emotional Pain, Build Coping Skills, and Find Hope by Kathryn Hope Gordon Oct 04-Oct 16, 2025

Enter to win one of 10 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Oct 04-Oct 16, 2025. A compassionate guided journal to help you to manage suicidal thou...

www.goodreads.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 8d

I've got a little bit of #Artober drawing this evening. I'm not worrying about the drawing-a-day routine this year, but just trying to make time to draw something I'm excited about more regularly. For tonight, a scratch-art Krypto the Superdog from @jamesgunn.bsky.social's SUPERMAN.

A black-and-white scratch-art drawing of Krypto the Superdog. Krypto looks ready to do something super but would probably look better if drawn by someone with more talent.

Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 9d

I love it when awardees lean into the weirdness of the Ig Nobels.

Jeffrey J. Hall @mrjeffu.bsky.social · 24d

Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.

Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 9d

The bedtime story example stands out to me - people CAN make up stories like that on the spot and it's fun. If you get stuck, ask your kid what happens next. They'll know. They'll know and then you'll both laugh.

MiMi Aye @meemalee.bsky.social · 9d

Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI

"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian

Reposted by Ben Balas

Amanda Deibert @amandadeibert.bsky.social · 10d

Click to send a Halloween Card to a child at Children's Hospital LA. It cost you NOTHING, it takes 30 seconds and they donate $1 for every card sent between now and Halloween secure1.chla.org/site/SPageNa...

Send a Halloween card to a child in the hospital!

You can help a child in the hospital have a spook-tacular Halloween. Send a special card before the deadline.

secure1.chla.org

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Reposted by Ben Balas

Tobias Carroll @tobiascarroll.bsky.social · 9d

Last month I talked about animated literary adaptations, and now I've published the text online... tobiascarroll.substack.com/p/animation-...

Animation, Adaptation, and the Fantastic

Sometimes a live-action literary adaptations isn't the way to go

tobiascarroll.substack.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 10d

My #Chess improvement continues to go slowly, but I am definitely seeing more good stuff during the games. Just a little proud of seeing the right idea here: White to move and mate in 3!

A chessboard with the following position (FEN format): 1r1q3k/pb5r/2np3Q/2p2p2/2P2P2/3B2R1/P1P3PP/4R1K1 w - - 1 23

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Reposted by Ben Balas

Eric LaRocca @ericlarocca.bsky.social · 10d

Excellent, fairly comprehensive analysis of the current landscape of horror fiction:

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/02/h...

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 11d

Another night at the Fargo Theatre for a classic movie: Tonight's feature was the incomparable SNEAKERS. Absolutely packed cast, great script, and still way up there on my list of favorite movies.

a close up of a man wearing sunglasses with iworm written in the corner

ALT: a close up of a man wearing sunglasses with iworm written in the corner

media.tenor.com

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 11d

Your perspective is interesting. I disagree with it almost entirely, but I suspect that we're starting from very different premises. I guess we'll all see, won't we?

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 11d

Right - why do you agree with the utopian take? Also, a journal relying on it doesn't mean that it's any good.