Ethan Soutar-Rau
@ethansr.bsky.social
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
A new update and section posted of my dance film/ media artwork My FeltHeart—and what it knows. IMHO…it is some of the best work I have ever created.
Dance film update and musings
A dance film/media artwork by Shannon Cuykendall exploring contrasting experiences of the heart. Recorded in everyday living spaces with mobile technologies and edited in DaVinci Resolve Studio on …
shannoncuykendall.wordpress.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:05 PM
A new update and section posted of my dance film/ media artwork My FeltHeart—and what it knows. IMHO…it is some of the best work I have ever created.
Given the networked nature of resistance, a delay or 30 seconds is potentially meaningful.
Around two dozen car/vans have sped out of the garage, with NYPD officers clearing the path. One guys tries to stop them, NYPD officers come chasing.
November 29, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Given the networked nature of resistance, a delay or 30 seconds is potentially meaningful.
I am completely serious that we need to make this sort of behavior an existential hazard to the institution.
There doesn’t need to be a Northwestern University. There doesn’t need to be a Columbia.
There doesn’t need to be a Northwestern University. There doesn’t need to be a Columbia.
I didn’t want to overreact, and took time to read this. Having done so, I’m adding Northwestern to the list of places I won’t visit or speak. The concessions re: international students and gender-affirming care are not merely symbolic.
Here’s the text of the Northwestern settlement with the DoJ, which includes a $75 million financial component / payoff (cc @profmarkovic.bsky.social):
November 29, 2025 at 5:39 AM
I am completely serious that we need to make this sort of behavior an existential hazard to the institution.
There doesn’t need to be a Northwestern University. There doesn’t need to be a Columbia.
There doesn’t need to be a Northwestern University. There doesn’t need to be a Columbia.
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
"there are no third spaces anymore" wrong. blast furnace
November 25, 2025 at 12:59 AM
"there are no third spaces anymore" wrong. blast furnace
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
wish life was as chill as a raccoon taking a bath
November 24, 2025 at 5:11 PM
wish life was as chill as a raccoon taking a bath
“Let me just set a random seed for reproducibility”
Good ML code comes from people who fundamentally believe that ML is a trickster god and wants them to fail
November 24, 2025 at 5:11 AM
“Let me just set a random seed for reproducibility”
I think a lot about how Martin at one point said something to the effect of “thank you for making a website which tracks all the threads of the narrative cause honestly I was kinda having trouble.”
imo the inconsistencies are a consequence of GoT going from a world governed by rules from laws to Gender to class etc enforced by various institutions/their character stand-ins that inform and constrain characters actions and later seasons they toss all of that and the world is just the characters
I do also think GoT going off the rails with its own internal contradictions is what led to the You Must Build Economies That Make Sense conversations in 2010s SFF that… well, I haven’t really seen a lot of fruit from either
November 23, 2025 at 8:46 AM
I think a lot about how Martin at one point said something to the effect of “thank you for making a website which tracks all the threads of the narrative cause honestly I was kinda having trouble.”
I keep saying Takaoka is going to get a goal… I guess an assist will do.
November 23, 2025 at 6:05 AM
I keep saying Takaoka is going to get a goal… I guess an assist will do.
There are whole threads of academic discourse that are basically this sort of thing run wild.
The amount of math that comes out of generational talent being powerfully wrong is… notable?
The amount of math that comes out of generational talent being powerfully wrong is… notable?
i don't really understand the source of crankery but at some point dismissing extremely articulate and sophisticated crankery is *the only reasonable choice*
being confronted with really sophisticated math calculations to say we are living in hell and people censoring you are demons is like uhhhh
being confronted with really sophisticated math calculations to say we are living in hell and people censoring you are demons is like uhhhh
i don't think you can use group theory applied to words to prove we exist in a hell dimension, for instance, and while i can entertain the idea, i have seen how acting as if that idea is correct is very bad
November 22, 2025 at 11:48 PM
There are whole threads of academic discourse that are basically this sort of thing run wild.
The amount of math that comes out of generational talent being powerfully wrong is… notable?
The amount of math that comes out of generational talent being powerfully wrong is… notable?
I think it would be 100% fair for employers to be on the hook for subsidizing housing within walking distance of a facility that people are required to regularly work at.
Like… if you add going to waste everyone’s time 1. It can’t be very much and 2. you gotta pay for it
Like… if you add going to waste everyone’s time 1. It can’t be very much and 2. you gotta pay for it
November 22, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I think it would be 100% fair for employers to be on the hook for subsidizing housing within walking distance of a facility that people are required to regularly work at.
Like… if you add going to waste everyone’s time 1. It can’t be very much and 2. you gotta pay for it
Like… if you add going to waste everyone’s time 1. It can’t be very much and 2. you gotta pay for it
You gotta keep the critique from the left louder and sharper. It was a very pragmatic campaign and there will be triangulation.
In case anyone was confused I’m a communist and not a social democrat. Even if the whole government was social democrats I’d still be criticizing them and advocating for communism. I’ve lost a few followers for slight mamdani critique and I want everyone to understand this so they aren’t shocked
November 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
You gotta keep the critique from the left louder and sharper. It was a very pragmatic campaign and there will be triangulation.
This makes it less of a gamble to run too… blowing up your whole life for 2 years is… I dunno.
pension eligibility should kick as soon as reps are seated so the trash will take itself out
Noting the congressional pension is based on service time, it kicks in at 5 years and her retirement date - Jan. 5, 2026 - will be the first business day after she passes five years since her first swearing in. bsky.app/profile/heli...
November 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
This makes it less of a gamble to run too… blowing up your whole life for 2 years is… I dunno.
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
Kathy Hochul out of nowhere with a steel chair
The Hochul campaign is out with a statement regarding President Trump's disagreement with Rep. Elise Stefanik calling Zohran Mamdani a "jihadist." Comms Director Sarafina Chitika says Trump "nuked her opening argument" in Stefanik's bid for governor
November 21, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Kathy Hochul out of nowhere with a steel chair
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
I love how people are shocked trump is treating Zohran Mamdani like a human being. Trump respects someone who commands ratings and Zohran got the vote ergo his ratings were good.
Compare this to Andrew Cuomo who is a loser piece of shit and also has bad ratings. That helps explain what’s happening
Compare this to Andrew Cuomo who is a loser piece of shit and also has bad ratings. That helps explain what’s happening
November 22, 2025 at 3:49 AM
I love how people are shocked trump is treating Zohran Mamdani like a human being. Trump respects someone who commands ratings and Zohran got the vote ergo his ratings were good.
Compare this to Andrew Cuomo who is a loser piece of shit and also has bad ratings. That helps explain what’s happening
Compare this to Andrew Cuomo who is a loser piece of shit and also has bad ratings. That helps explain what’s happening
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
Let’s hope it’s the tombstone of his 40 year reign
November 22, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Let’s hope it’s the tombstone of his 40 year reign
fishing for brown -> red converts on the affordability line has a way different valence than flailing around trying to justify one‘s own blue -> brown conversion in the name of abundance
Ok, pretty funny of Zohran’s people to put out the absolute model of the sort of statement that drives Bluesky absolutely *insane* to be studiously ignored On Here because of the source
November 22, 2025 at 1:27 AM
fishing for brown -> red converts on the affordability line has a way different valence than flailing around trying to justify one‘s own blue -> brown conversion in the name of abundance
An interesting illustration of how LLMs can open up methodologies by providing reproducible labeling.
The social sciences especially suffer the consequences of reductive systems which exchange expressibility for tractable labeling.
If labeling becomes more subtle... so eventually will theory.
The social sciences especially suffer the consequences of reductive systems which exchange expressibility for tractable labeling.
If labeling becomes more subtle... so eventually will theory.
Good morning. I've got a banger new post out today that develops a new method for placing voters on the left-right ideological spectrum, and adds a new, "non-ideological"/affordability axis to usual way we chart & think about US voters (esp swing voters). www.gelliottmorris.com/p/not-just-l...
Not just left vs right: Most voters think about affordability and material wellbeing, not in ideological terms
Most voters want a party that emphasizes cost of living issues and makes the world a better place. Few Americans think in solidly ideologically terms. "Moderates" are mostly non-ideological.
www.gelliottmorris.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:25 PM
An interesting illustration of how LLMs can open up methodologies by providing reproducible labeling.
The social sciences especially suffer the consequences of reductive systems which exchange expressibility for tractable labeling.
If labeling becomes more subtle... so eventually will theory.
The social sciences especially suffer the consequences of reductive systems which exchange expressibility for tractable labeling.
If labeling becomes more subtle... so eventually will theory.
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
you know they had to have an emergency zoom about whether they were gonna ban The Onion today and I think that’s beautiful
Larry Summers Announces He Will Step Down From Chair With Belt Around Neck
November 20, 2025 at 1:50 AM
you know they had to have an emergency zoom about whether they were gonna ban The Onion today and I think that’s beautiful
Privacy is cool but it’s pretty shitty that it’s so heavy to send corrections to commercial LLMs… or for them to meaningfully learn from interacting with you.
Like… in addition to synthetic data I wonder what the effect of having billions of little corrections would be…
Like… in addition to synthetic data I wonder what the effect of having billions of little corrections would be…
November 18, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Privacy is cool but it’s pretty shitty that it’s so heavy to send corrections to commercial LLMs… or for them to meaningfully learn from interacting with you.
Like… in addition to synthetic data I wonder what the effect of having billions of little corrections would be…
Like… in addition to synthetic data I wonder what the effect of having billions of little corrections would be…
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
Doctor says, 'Dont worry, parser design is simple. Great programmer Kate Compton has written the parser you seek’
November 16, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Doctor says, 'Dont worry, parser design is simple. Great programmer Kate Compton has written the parser you seek’
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
I find this pretty striking - we're not even offered the standard "here's why Mamdani's victory is actually trouble for the left" kind of gymnastics, the strategy really seems to be to hope no one notices
it is wild that Labour is doing exactly what the reactionary centrists recommend and is absolutely destroying its base of support as a result, and yet reactionary centrists in the US are just utterly silent about the complete failure of their program.
November 16, 2025 at 1:03 PM
I find this pretty striking - we're not even offered the standard "here's why Mamdani's victory is actually trouble for the left" kind of gymnastics, the strategy really seems to be to hope no one notices
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
Freelance photojournalist Jim Vondruska, who was born and raised on the west side of Chicago, has been doing brilliant work throughout the DHS blitz of the city. 🫡
@reuters.com @pictures.reuters.com
@reuters.com @pictures.reuters.com
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 15, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Freelance photojournalist Jim Vondruska, who was born and raised on the west side of Chicago, has been doing brilliant work throughout the DHS blitz of the city. 🫡
@reuters.com @pictures.reuters.com
@reuters.com @pictures.reuters.com
Biology is so extraordinarily competitive too… how are these people direct admitted to the major…
Enrollment by major in the UCSD remedial math course teaching “elementary and middle school math concepts”. Bad news for anybody planning on seeing a human doctor in 2060 and onwards:
November 13, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Biology is so extraordinarily competitive too… how are these people direct admitted to the major…
Reposted by Ethan Soutar-Rau
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?
November 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
this is useful because “search” and “browse” tools offer the inverse of this... once you know the received name of something it’s easy to find more about it.
At the same time… an “AI Search Engine” is an awkward mess.
At the same time… an “AI Search Engine” is an awkward mess.
One of my favorite LLM use cases is literally just asking it what the closest preexisting concept to a thought is.
"I have this idea, has anyone had this idea before and what's it called?"
It used to be REALLY DIFFICULT to reliably answer questions like that and I feel like we'll forget it was.
"I have this idea, has anyone had this idea before and what's it called?"
It used to be REALLY DIFFICULT to reliably answer questions like that and I feel like we'll forget it was.
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 AM
this is useful because “search” and “browse” tools offer the inverse of this... once you know the received name of something it’s easy to find more about it.
At the same time… an “AI Search Engine” is an awkward mess.
At the same time… an “AI Search Engine” is an awkward mess.