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Katherine Derbyshire

@kderbyshire.bsky.social

120 followers 160 following 1.1K posts

Renewable energy. Climate science. Semiconductor manufacturing. Plus various randomness. https://tocarbonzero.tumblr.com/ https://semiengineering.com/author/katherine/ https://beyondwave.tumblr.com

tocarbonzero.tumblr.com

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · Apr 24

Hey, it wouldn't be a zine if I didn't miss an issue occasionally. But after many alarums and excursions, MicroFlash #3 is now available.
ko-fi.com/s/f12fcdd92c

Copy of MicroFlash Zine #3 PDF - Kate Williams's Ko-fi Shop

PDF version of the third issue of the MicroFlash Zine, focused on fiction of 800 words or less. For readers outside the US, or anyone who would prefer...

ko-fi.com

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 13h

They published this? Unironically? Joseph Pulitzer is spinning.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 1d

And probably there are several hundred things that person could be doing that would be more useful than playing hall monitor.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 1d

There's a whole world of literature out there, only a small fraction of it in English. This project aims to increase that fraction a little, with translations from non-colonial African languages.

Jen Donohue @authorizedmusings.bsky.social · 1d

It's TUESDAY PEOPLE

Learn about the African Translation Project today!!

Donate and share!
TAKE A LOOK at the art shop
Share, please, share

If we don't get eyes on this, the books don't happen

ko-fi.com/africantrans...

Support African Translation Project

African Translation Project, Goal 4: Fully Fund Two Translations, by 31 October, still needed: $3345, 67%, If this goal is met: Translations will be fully funded for Bengithi Lizokuna and Zvinobvinza,...

ko-fi.com

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 2d

He's trying to figure out why the Mariners aren't in an 0-2 hole right now.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 3d

They also haven't (yet) succeeded in co-opting the professional military.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 3d

No, but they'll have AI summarize for them.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 4d

For believers, this is a very big deal. Consecrated Communion elements are seen as the literal Body and Blood of Christ. So denying Communion is a rejection of Christ Himself. Not that the pseudo-Christians running the show will care.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 4d

That's how my editor brain read it, too.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 6d

Yes. But also some of the most beautiful lighting ever filmed.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 6d

Sounds like k1 is being raised right. xx, maybe not so much.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 7d

It was my alma mater that taught me about Faustian bargains in the first place. I've reminded them that the Devil always collects.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 7d

I usually turn in pretty clean copy -- even my editor says so! -- but that just means that when I screw up, it's a real doozy. Yay, editors!

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 7d

They've also forgotten the PR value of patronage. These days, hardly anyone outside of Italy remembers the political accomplishments of Cosimo Medici or Pope Julius II, but they know all about Florence and the Sistine Chapel.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 7d

Heh. I study aikido, not karate, but there's a similar idea. I'm a petite woman, so sometimes people confuse politeness with lack of ability.
Gravity hits really hard.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 10d

Protect your personal time. Whether you use it for a hobby, for exercise, or just to chill, it's vital for your mental health.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 11d

There's a book on LLMs specifically in the same series, but it won't be out for a few weeks.
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255269...

Large Language Models

In November 2022, ChatGPT swept the globe with a mixed frenzy of excitement and anxiety. Was this a step closer to reaching singularity or just another marve...

mitpress.mit.edu

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 11d

Deep Learning, by John D. Kelleher, from the MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series. Published in 2019, so it doesn't say much about LLMs specifically, but they're just a further evolution of the same principles.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 11d

Even within Christianity, different sects understand God in radically different ways. I wouldn't presume to tell my Jewish and Muslim friends that their deity is "the same."

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 12d

Reminds me of this story. clarkesworldmagazine.com/hall_02_25/

Numismatic Archetypes in the Year of Five Regents by Louis Inglis Hall

Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

clarkesworldmagazine.com

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 12d

Sounds like the copyeditor died from exhaustion a few hundred pages ago.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 13d

The idea of using "AI" as a fact checker also betrays a misunderstanding of what fact checking even is. Fact checking is tracing a statement to a specific identifiable source: a named human, a document, a published paper. Asking AI (or a search engine) can only ever be a first step.

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 13d

AI is a terrible fact checker. People who have actually benchmarked it find that it's wrong as much as 60% of the time. arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/a...

AI search engines cite incorrect news sources at an alarming 60% rate, study says

CJR study shows AI search services misinform users and ignore publisher exclusion requests.

arstechnica.com

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 14d

OTOH, we now have a government defined (and elected) almost entirely by anger and hate. Making people mad may be necessary to get stuff done, but it does have consequences.

Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 14d

I don't know if it's Good News (tm), but I do have new kitten pics.

Two black kittens looking at the camera. Only their faces, upper bodies, and one paw are visible,

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Katherine Derbyshire @kderbyshire.bsky.social · 14d

Depends. If your access to it is managed by Amazon (or Kobo, or Apple Books, or anyone else), then yes. If you downloaded a DRM-free ebook directly from a publisher's web site, then usually no.

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