Karina Coombs
@karinacoombs.com
Writer in MA interested in pop culture, news, and books. Dog enabler. Mom. Little library curator.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
there’s a lot of irony around how writing a genuinely good prompt for LLMs requires the exact kind of clarity and precision in communication that is taught by good (human) writing instructors - who have now almost all been laid off by college admins
December 11, 2025 at 6:02 PM
there’s a lot of irony around how writing a genuinely good prompt for LLMs requires the exact kind of clarity and precision in communication that is taught by good (human) writing instructors - who have now almost all been laid off by college admins
The day I feel sorry for telling Siri to “shut the fuck up” when it pipes up uninvited will never come. These are machines we’re talking about. Nothing more than a sophisticated Speak n’ Say. They are not sentient. I know we love to anthropomorphize things, but come on.
I dunno. I find it completely tenable to continue to dismiss any claims of consciousness for large language models.
December 8, 2025 at 8:46 PM
The day I feel sorry for telling Siri to “shut the fuck up” when it pipes up uninvited will never come. These are machines we’re talking about. Nothing more than a sophisticated Speak n’ Say. They are not sentient. I know we love to anthropomorphize things, but come on.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
Mom, can I get ̶M̶c̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶’̶s̶ a Nobel Peace Prize?
We have ̶M̶c̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶’̶s̶ a Nobel Peace Prize at home.
At home:
We have ̶M̶c̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶’̶s̶ a Nobel Peace Prize at home.
At home:
December 6, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Mom, can I get ̶M̶c̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶’̶s̶ a Nobel Peace Prize?
We have ̶M̶c̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶’̶s̶ a Nobel Peace Prize at home.
At home:
We have ̶M̶c̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶’̶s̶ a Nobel Peace Prize at home.
At home:
I don’t know when colleges and universities started with the honors program, but I was hoping we’d be done with ranking - outside of GPA - once my kid got to college. She got enough of that BS in high school in order to get into college. Now there’s more? Gross.
December 4, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I don’t know when colleges and universities started with the honors program, but I was hoping we’d be done with ranking - outside of GPA - once my kid got to college. She got enough of that BS in high school in order to get into college. Now there’s more? Gross.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
i made a video about the president's gutter racism against somali-americans and how a scandal became a smear became a call for de facto ethnic cleansing
Donald Trump’s racist attack on Somali Americans
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:59 AM
i made a video about the president's gutter racism against somali-americans and how a scandal became a smear became a call for de facto ethnic cleansing
On this World AIDS Day I think of my brother and how science saved his life. First diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-90s, he was almost dead within a few years. But getting involved with the Ryan White Foundation gave him access to clinical trials and the medication that could keep him alive. 1/3
December 2, 2025 at 2:25 AM
On this World AIDS Day I think of my brother and how science saved his life. First diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-90s, he was almost dead within a few years. But getting involved with the Ryan White Foundation gave him access to clinical trials and the medication that could keep him alive. 1/3
Reposted by Karina Coombs
Oh cyber Monday, I thought you said cider.
December 1, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Oh cyber Monday, I thought you said cider.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
November 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Reposted by Karina Coombs
Yep, one of the biggest drivers of the elite panic around “wokeness” was the increasing prominence of Black people and particularly Black women in their fields and we’re seeing that coalition rewarded with the targeting of Black workers.
Since February, according to my latest analysis, almost 600,000 Black women have been economically sidelined. The November 20, 2025, Jobs Report makes clear this isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. That is not a recovery. It is a redistribution of opportunity.
The exit economy is here. Black Women are paying the highest price | Fortune
This isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. And it's not a recovery, it's a redistribution of opportunity.
fortune.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Yep, one of the biggest drivers of the elite panic around “wokeness” was the increasing prominence of Black people and particularly Black women in their fields and we’re seeing that coalition rewarded with the targeting of Black workers.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
It was a three-man team that took the Grok hardpoint that day, and two of us were just there to guard the poet.Whistler was a sonnet slinger fresh from the Guatemalan meter wars, still waking up with the taste of a bloody metonym on his tongue.
November 20, 2025 at 8:29 PM
It was a three-man team that took the Grok hardpoint that day, and two of us were just there to guard the poet.Whistler was a sonnet slinger fresh from the Guatemalan meter wars, still waking up with the taste of a bloody metonym on his tongue.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
I feel that if someone calls you Piggy you should be allowed to yell "HAAIII-YA!" and karate chop them.
November 18, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I feel that if someone calls you Piggy you should be allowed to yell "HAAIII-YA!" and karate chop them.
When it needs to be 1,000 words and you’re only at 650.
ok, i'm calling it, Olivia Nuzzi is not real. she is a Markov chain text generator. we've been duped.
November 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM
When it needs to be 1,000 words and you’re only at 650.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
I Canto Believe It's Not Better
November 17, 2025 at 2:32 PM
I Canto Believe It's Not Better
😭
I’m not throwing my life away for a spicy text…. Book the flight
November 14, 2025 at 6:26 PM
😭
In non-political news, my husband is currently battling a woodpecker eating our house and has come inside to report the bird isn’t responding to his usual deterrents and “does not appear to be neurotypical”. 😭
November 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
In non-political news, my husband is currently battling a woodpecker eating our house and has come inside to report the bird isn’t responding to his usual deterrents and “does not appear to be neurotypical”. 😭
“detain these criminals” he says about people he knows nothing about other than what they look like. Sounds about right for this party.
BU College Republicans president says he called ICE to ‘detain these criminals’ at Allston Car Wash
The president of Boston University College Republicans wrote on X he called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requesting it detain employees at Allston Car Wash, the site of a Nov. 4 raid w...
dailyfreepress.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM
“detain these criminals” he says about people he knows nothing about other than what they look like. Sounds about right for this party.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
You can really see why this class of rich guy is so hopped up on AI and thinks we all desperately want it to write our emails.
November 13, 2025 at 4:07 AM
You can really see why this class of rich guy is so hopped up on AI and thinks we all desperately want it to write our emails.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
NEW: Trump says America needs more foreign workers.
His company requested a record 184 of them for 2025.
me, for @Forbes
1/
His company requested a record 184 of them for 2025.
me, for @Forbes
1/
Trump Organization Sought Record Number Of Foreign Workers In 2025
Labor Department data show President Donald Trump’s businesses applied to hire at least 184 foreign workers for seasonal jobs at golf courses, a winery and Mar–a-Lago.
www.forbes.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:29 PM
NEW: Trump says America needs more foreign workers.
His company requested a record 184 of them for 2025.
me, for @Forbes
1/
His company requested a record 184 of them for 2025.
me, for @Forbes
1/
Reposted by Karina Coombs
Under the Big Ugly Bill, Alphabet gets $17.9B in tax breaks. That could pay for SNAP benefits for 7.5 million Americans.
Amazon gets $15.7B. That could lower ACA premiums for 2.4 million people.
Microsoft gets $12.5B. That could cover Medicaid for 3.8 million children.
Amazon gets $15.7B. That could lower ACA premiums for 2.4 million people.
Microsoft gets $12.5B. That could cover Medicaid for 3.8 million children.
November 12, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Under the Big Ugly Bill, Alphabet gets $17.9B in tax breaks. That could pay for SNAP benefits for 7.5 million Americans.
Amazon gets $15.7B. That could lower ACA premiums for 2.4 million people.
Microsoft gets $12.5B. That could cover Medicaid for 3.8 million children.
Amazon gets $15.7B. That could lower ACA premiums for 2.4 million people.
Microsoft gets $12.5B. That could cover Medicaid for 3.8 million children.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Karina Coombs
They’re bailing out Argentina because they’re all going to be living there when this is over.
Argentina President Javier Milei doing the “Trump dance” at Mar-a-Lago after getting an $40 billion bailout.
Meanwhile, Trump won’t renew subsides for American healthcare.
Meanwhile, Trump won’t renew subsides for American healthcare.
November 8, 2025 at 7:44 PM
They’re bailing out Argentina because they’re all going to be living there when this is over.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
wrote about the SNAP crisis and why, in spite of today's court decision ordering the government fully fund food stamps this month, we're going to see a lot of needless, cruel starving and suffering for a while yet slate.com/business/202...
Trump Is Missing One Massive Reason for Tuesday’s Election Results
The president still doesn’t appear to understand a likely reason for Tuesday’s results: the unnecessary, cruelly forced mass hunger unique to the shutdown.
slate.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:43 PM
wrote about the SNAP crisis and why, in spite of today's court decision ordering the government fully fund food stamps this month, we're going to see a lot of needless, cruel starving and suffering for a while yet slate.com/business/202...
I don’t even live in NY, but today is the most hopeful I’ve felt in nearly a year. Maybe it’s the Prozac, but I’m leaning towards the Socialism.
November 5, 2025 at 4:45 PM
I don’t even live in NY, but today is the most hopeful I’ve felt in nearly a year. Maybe it’s the Prozac, but I’m leaning towards the Socialism.
Reposted by Karina Coombs
the first muslim woman being elected to statewide office (in any state!) the day dick cheney died is beautiful
BREAKING:
NBC News projects: Ghazala Hashmi (D) wins Virginia Lieutenant Governor. Democrat Gain.
NBC News projects: Ghazala Hashmi (D) wins Virginia Lieutenant Governor. Democrat Gain.
November 5, 2025 at 2:06 AM
the first muslim woman being elected to statewide office (in any state!) the day dick cheney died is beautiful
'I could smell the onions and the mustard'
November 4, 2025 at 5:38 PM
'I could smell the onions and the mustard'