Michael Pollak
@mdpollak.bsky.social
I love big books and I cannot lie
Reposted by Michael Pollak
One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.
December 7, 2025 at 3:39 PM
One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
I am so sick of this sycophantic dictator bullshit
December 5, 2025 at 4:34 AM
I am so sick of this sycophantic dictator bullshit
Reposted by Michael Pollak
This could probably be done with simple legislation. Article 3 says almost nothing about how the Supreme Court operates. It mentions that a chief justice will exist, but that’s about it. There are essentially no constitutional rules about how they hear or decide cases.
I'm going to keep saying this in my effort to speak it into reality: Supreme Court should have at least 100 Justices with rotating panels (and maybe an en banc option). No single Justice should have so much power and they shouldn't be names everyone knows.
A court with a normal-ish conservative majority would have been tolerable. I'm not eager for court packing, impeaching justices, and other such options. But this court sticking around post-Trump is untenable. They've already torched their own legitimacy, the only question is what do we do about it.
December 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
This could probably be done with simple legislation. Article 3 says almost nothing about how the Supreme Court operates. It mentions that a chief justice will exist, but that’s about it. There are essentially no constitutional rules about how they hear or decide cases.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
Speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern, yes leadership is apparently planning to cut 50% of the faculty at the New School for Social Research in order to eliminate social research and replace scholarship with a trendy MA degree mill For the 21st Century 1/
December 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern, yes leadership is apparently planning to cut 50% of the faculty at the New School for Social Research in order to eliminate social research and replace scholarship with a trendy MA degree mill For the 21st Century 1/
Reposted by Michael Pollak
Second, we see these findings as an indication that sociological legitimacy can be enhanced by public participation (although we only uncover the microfoundations of this effect, with all of the usual external validity caveats). This is particularly the case for robust and balanced opportunities.
December 6, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Second, we see these findings as an indication that sociological legitimacy can be enhanced by public participation (although we only uncover the microfoundations of this effect, with all of the usual external validity caveats). This is particularly the case for robust and balanced opportunities.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
Yep, the Supreme Court really is just a House of Lords—a purely political branch with bizarre veto power, wielded capriciously and without accountability. Time for massive reform.
December 4, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Yep, the Supreme Court really is just a House of Lords—a purely political branch with bizarre veto power, wielded capriciously and without accountability. Time for massive reform.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
In Grape Leap Forward, China’s Answer To France’s Reign Of Terroir. vino-joy.com/2025/11/03/m...
December 2, 2025 at 6:03 PM
In Grape Leap Forward, China’s Answer To France’s Reign Of Terroir. vino-joy.com/2025/11/03/m...
Would you like a shot of something completely trivial and amusing? I thought so.
Elementary German knowledge a plus, but it might be even funnier without it
youtu.be/ZYkBf0dbs5I
Elementary German knowledge a plus, but it might be even funnier without it
youtu.be/ZYkBf0dbs5I
Barbaras Rhabarberbar (feat. Marti Fischer)
YouTube video by Bodo Wartke
youtu.be
December 2, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Would you like a shot of something completely trivial and amusing? I thought so.
Elementary German knowledge a plus, but it might be even funnier without it
youtu.be/ZYkBf0dbs5I
Elementary German knowledge a plus, but it might be even funnier without it
youtu.be/ZYkBf0dbs5I
Reposted by Michael Pollak
For @parisreview.bsky.social, I wrote about three days in DC, embedded with the families of Americans killed and abducted by Israeli settlers and soldiers as they walked the halls of power, demanding justice from a gov’t that hardly registered their existence. www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/10...
A Hill to Die On by Jasper Nathaniel
October 8, 2025 – “I was in the nation’s capital along with a small delegation of American families who were grieving loved ones killed or abducted by Israeli settlers and soldiers.”
www.theparisreview.org
October 9, 2025 at 4:05 PM
For @parisreview.bsky.social, I wrote about three days in DC, embedded with the families of Americans killed and abducted by Israeli settlers and soldiers as they walked the halls of power, demanding justice from a gov’t that hardly registered their existence. www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/10...
Reposted by Michael Pollak
Sacks is a throwback to an era where you can't squeeze a cigarette paper between government and capital
December 1, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Sacks is a throwback to an era where you can't squeeze a cigarette paper between government and capital
Reposted by Michael Pollak
I guess you could call it Self-Generating Drool-Based Inference.
I wonder if I am the first person to make the analogy that LLM output turning into LLM input is a classic Habsburg Jaw problem.
November 30, 2025 at 10:19 PM
I guess you could call it Self-Generating Drool-Based Inference.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
Props to the protestors who the New York Times credits for foiling ICE’s intended raid in Chinatown earlier today.
So many people are showing they know what it means to be New Yorkers!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
So many people are showing they know what it means to be New Yorkers!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
Several Arrested as Protesters Block Federal Agents in Manhattan Garage
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Props to the protestors who the New York Times credits for foiling ICE’s intended raid in Chinatown earlier today.
So many people are showing they know what it means to be New Yorkers!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
So many people are showing they know what it means to be New Yorkers!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...
Reposted by Michael Pollak
at the 'stack, I continue to worry around some of my issues with Data Guyism ... backofmind.substack.com/p/ways-of-vi...
ways of vibing
treatments and responses in the real world
backofmind.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:55 PM
at the 'stack, I continue to worry around some of my issues with Data Guyism ... backofmind.substack.com/p/ways-of-vi...
Fantastic interview. Zo is still comfortable being completely himself. So rare, so attractive
youtu.be/hsi5C_5HpoY
youtu.be/hsi5C_5HpoY
ZOHRAN MAMDANI Talks Meeting Trump, Mayoral Election, Arsenal
YouTube video by The Adam Friedland Show
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Fantastic interview. Zo is still comfortable being completely himself. So rare, so attractive
youtu.be/hsi5C_5HpoY
youtu.be/hsi5C_5HpoY
Reposted by Michael Pollak
This is a triumph of Bowdoin over Blut.
November 22, 2025 at 8:16 PM
This is a triumph of Bowdoin over Blut.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
Seen in Boston, Massachusetts in 1854.
November 20, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Seen in Boston, Massachusetts in 1854.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
Goddamn dude, just go ahead knock 25 percent off my 401k and get on with it, I can't take much more of this.
What if the A.I. bubble “is an inevitable part of developing and adopting a revolutionary tool that will fundamentally improve productivity and growth?” Mohamed El-Erian writes.
Opinion | A.I. Is a Bubble. Maybe That’s OK.
Investors’ excitement rightly reflects the potential transformation of the entire economy.
nyti.ms
November 20, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Goddamn dude, just go ahead knock 25 percent off my 401k and get on with it, I can't take much more of this.
Reposted by Michael Pollak
if snl had any fuckin balls they'd bring stavvy in to play bari weiss
November 19, 2025 at 8:50 PM
if snl had any fuckin balls they'd bring stavvy in to play bari weiss
Sounds awesome. The broader concept of anti-trust as simply government regulation of prices & practices in the public interest
www.semafor.com/article/11/1...
www.semafor.com/article/11/1...
Lina Khan’s populist plan for New York: Cheaper hot dogs (and other things)
Zohran Mamdani’s new aide will focus on “excavating the law” to lower prices, borrowing from her legal playbook at the Federal Trade Commission.
www.semafor.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Sounds awesome. The broader concept of anti-trust as simply government regulation of prices & practices in the public interest
www.semafor.com/article/11/1...
www.semafor.com/article/11/1...
Reposted by Michael Pollak
crazy
IG em_clarkson
IG em_clarkson
November 14, 2025 at 2:54 AM
crazy
IG em_clarkson
IG em_clarkson
November 13, 2025 at 5:26 PM
TIL that Laguardia ended his inaugural speech with The Oath of the Athenian Youth. Seems pretty appropriate for the Zohran generation
November 11, 2025 at 8:46 PM
TIL that Laguardia ended his inaugural speech with The Oath of the Athenian Youth. Seems pretty appropriate for the Zohran generation
I saw Yasha Levine and Rowan Wernham's film last night & it's wonderful. It brings reality clearly into focus, exactly what a documentary ought to do. Water, Land, America, California, Oligarchs, the Future. Straightforward and never dull. Mike Davis would be proud of them.
www.pistachiowars.com
www.pistachiowars.com
Pistachio Wars
Coming Soon! Get notified when Pistachio Wars is available for streaming.
www.pistachiowars.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I saw Yasha Levine and Rowan Wernham's film last night & it's wonderful. It brings reality clearly into focus, exactly what a documentary ought to do. Water, Land, America, California, Oligarchs, the Future. Straightforward and never dull. Mike Davis would be proud of them.
www.pistachiowars.com
www.pistachiowars.com