Toby Driscoll
@not-all-math.bsky.social
Father, math professor, and several other kinds of nerd.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
Speaking of billionaires, I love this little essay by @petridishes.bsky.social so much. It’s hard to laugh about a lot of things now but this slayed me. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Hey, you, hold onto your humanity. You’ll thank me later. — Harvard Gazette
Columnist and alum Alexandra Petri offers a little advice for the graduates — or, at least, for one of them (you know who you are).
news.harvard.edu
February 1, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Speaking of billionaires, I love this little essay by @petridishes.bsky.social so much. It’s hard to laugh about a lot of things now but this slayed me. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
New from 404 Media: an exposed Moltbook database let anyone take control of any AI agent on the site
www.404media.co/exposed-molt...
www.404media.co/exposed-molt...
Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site
'It exploded before anyone thought to check whether the database was properly secured.'
www.404media.co
February 1, 2026 at 3:17 PM
New from 404 Media: an exposed Moltbook database let anyone take control of any AI agent on the site
www.404media.co/exposed-molt...
www.404media.co/exposed-molt...
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
This is in small-town Minnesota. This is not in one of those demonic blue cities that the GOP talk about. This is pretty goddam rural. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
St. Peter police chief intervenes, prevents federal agents from arresting resident
The police chief of St. Peter intervened to prevent federal agents from taking a local resident who was observing ICE enforcement actions into custody. It is believed to the first time local police in...
www.mprnews.org
January 31, 2026 at 2:50 PM
This is in small-town Minnesota. This is not in one of those demonic blue cities that the GOP talk about. This is pretty goddam rural. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
Oh so NOW Trump wants to keep Epstein away from teenagers
January 27, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Oh so NOW Trump wants to keep Epstein away from teenagers
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
pretty wild statement re: Republican Chris Madel drop from race for MN governor:
"Saying he cannot support the national GOP's 'stated retribution on citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so."
"Saying he cannot support the national GOP's 'stated retribution on citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so."
January 26, 2026 at 2:14 PM
pretty wild statement re: Republican Chris Madel drop from race for MN governor:
"Saying he cannot support the national GOP's 'stated retribution on citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so."
"Saying he cannot support the national GOP's 'stated retribution on citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so."
You especially have to love the Orwellian explanation.
William Inboden, UT-Austin's provost, said he's shutting down the college's teaching center and other offices as part of an effort to “optimize” and “streamline” academic operations. Faculty is skeptical.
https://chroni.cl/49Dpbme
https://chroni.cl/49Dpbme
UT-Austin Is Closing Its Teaching Center. Faculty Members Ask: Why?
A series of shutdowns announced by the provost are short on detail. Professors say they make little sense.
www.chronicle.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:52 PM
You especially have to love the Orwellian explanation.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
A major coalition is launching a general strike in Minnesota tomorrow, aimed at pushing out ICE.
It includes:
-Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005
-The MN AFL-CIO
-SEIU Local 26
-UNITE HERE Local 17
-CWA Local 7250
-Saint Paul and Minneapolis Federations of Educators
-Faith leaders
And more. 🧵
It includes:
-Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005
-The MN AFL-CIO
-SEIU Local 26
-UNITE HERE Local 17
-CWA Local 7250
-Saint Paul and Minneapolis Federations of Educators
-Faith leaders
And more. 🧵
January 22, 2026 at 2:30 PM
A major coalition is launching a general strike in Minnesota tomorrow, aimed at pushing out ICE.
It includes:
-Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005
-The MN AFL-CIO
-SEIU Local 26
-UNITE HERE Local 17
-CWA Local 7250
-Saint Paul and Minneapolis Federations of Educators
-Faith leaders
And more. 🧵
It includes:
-Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005
-The MN AFL-CIO
-SEIU Local 26
-UNITE HERE Local 17
-CWA Local 7250
-Saint Paul and Minneapolis Federations of Educators
-Faith leaders
And more. 🧵
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
The details are horrific.
“He was just lifeless, like he had foam around his mouth... He had tears coming out of his eyes. I was giving him mouth-to-mouth, and I remember stopping, and I said, ‘I will give you all my breath ‘til you get yours back.’”
“He was just lifeless, like he had foam around his mouth... He had tears coming out of his eyes. I was giving him mouth-to-mouth, and I remember stopping, and I said, ‘I will give you all my breath ‘til you get yours back.’”
ICE's tear gas sent a 6-month-old to the hospital, the latest in an alarming pattern
Federal agents' use of chemical weapons has hurt children at immigration raids, while walking down their block, and in their schools.
www.motherjones.com
January 17, 2026 at 6:27 PM
The details are horrific.
“He was just lifeless, like he had foam around his mouth... He had tears coming out of his eyes. I was giving him mouth-to-mouth, and I remember stopping, and I said, ‘I will give you all my breath ‘til you get yours back.’”
“He was just lifeless, like he had foam around his mouth... He had tears coming out of his eyes. I was giving him mouth-to-mouth, and I remember stopping, and I said, ‘I will give you all my breath ‘til you get yours back.’”
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
It really could not be more clear from Google’s publicly available policies that Grok should have been banned yesterday. And yet, it remains in the Play Store.
Apps like Grok are explicitly banned under Google’s rules—why is it still in the Play Store?
Google describes apps exactly like Grok and says they are banned from Google Play.
arstechnica.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:01 PM
It really could not be more clear from Google’s publicly available policies that Grok should have been banned yesterday. And yet, it remains in the Play Store.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
I'm glad to see this pressure on Google and Apple. If any other company was running an active CSAM generator in public you better believe it would have been removed from their app stores by now www.wired.com/story/x-grok...
Why Are Grok and X Still Available in App Stores?
Elon Musk’s chatbot has been used to generate thousands of sexualized images of adults and apparent minors. Apple and Google have removed other “nudify” apps—but continue to host X and Grok.
www.wired.com
January 8, 2026 at 9:58 PM
I'm glad to see this pressure on Google and Apple. If any other company was running an active CSAM generator in public you better believe it would have been removed from their app stores by now www.wired.com/story/x-grok...
“I was woke BEFORE it was cool.” —Plato
January 8, 2026 at 4:44 PM
“I was woke BEFORE it was cool.” —Plato
Join me in giving to the Food Bank today!
December 29, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Join me in giving to the Food Bank today!
If AI is truly dependent on writing grading rubrics, the future is even dumber than I thought.
AI companies are spending billions hiring humans to produce training data. @haydenfield.bsky.social and I wrote about the explosion in new vendors and what it means for the future of AI development.
Who’s making the most money in AI? It’s not who you think
The fastest growing companies in the world aren’t AI companies, but the startups that supply them with warm bodies.
www.theverge.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:20 PM
If AI is truly dependent on writing grading rubrics, the future is even dumber than I thought.
I have full confidence that the USA will hold itself to the same high standard it applied to its enemies. /s
December 1, 2025 at 10:57 PM
I have full confidence that the USA will hold itself to the same high standard it applied to its enemies. /s
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
It remains insane to me that DOGE was treated at the time as an impressive shock and awe accomplishment - “you can’t deny he’s getting stuff done!” - and then instantly memory holed by the press once if became clear it was a total failure by every possible standard including Musk’s own
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 3:52 PM
It remains insane to me that DOGE was treated at the time as an impressive shock and awe accomplishment - “you can’t deny he’s getting stuff done!” - and then instantly memory holed by the press once if became clear it was a total failure by every possible standard including Musk’s own
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“What if you could save someone in West Africa from developing river blindness, caused by a parasite that can destroy the optic nerve, for 75 cents? Or keep a child from dying of hunger in Sudan’s civil war and famine for $14 a week?” Nicholas Kristof writes.
“What if you could save someone in West Africa from developing river blindness, caused by a parasite that can destroy the optic nerve, for 75 cents? Or keep a child from dying of hunger in Sudan’s civil war and famine for $14 a week?” Nicholas Kristof writes.
Opinion | Donate This Holiday Season: Nicholas Kristof Needs Your Help
Each dollar you donate through my holiday guide will generate $4 to nonprofits that are making our world a better place.
nyti.ms
November 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“What if you could save someone in West Africa from developing river blindness, caused by a parasite that can destroy the optic nerve, for 75 cents? Or keep a child from dying of hunger in Sudan’s civil war and famine for $14 a week?” Nicholas Kristof writes.
“What if you could save someone in West Africa from developing river blindness, caused by a parasite that can destroy the optic nerve, for 75 cents? Or keep a child from dying of hunger in Sudan’s civil war and famine for $14 a week?” Nicholas Kristof writes.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
“It’s horrifying, it’s embarrassing, it’s scary, it’s heartbreaking—it’s all of those things."
@kieraevebutler.bsky.social spoke with five CDC staffers on Thursday and Friday to gauge their reactions to the announcement.
@kieraevebutler.bsky.social spoke with five CDC staffers on Thursday and Friday to gauge their reactions to the announcement.
“Embarrassing” and “horrifying”: CDC workers describe the new vaccines and autism page
"The best way I can put it is it feels like we're on a hijacked airplane."
www.motherjones.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:00 AM
“It’s horrifying, it’s embarrassing, it’s scary, it’s heartbreaking—it’s all of those things."
@kieraevebutler.bsky.social spoke with five CDC staffers on Thursday and Friday to gauge their reactions to the announcement.
@kieraevebutler.bsky.social spoke with five CDC staffers on Thursday and Friday to gauge their reactions to the announcement.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
Elon Musk moments before spending a billion dollars to reprogram Grok
November 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Elon Musk moments before spending a billion dollars to reprogram Grok
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
The CDC website has been lobotomized. Where it once presented the decades of evidence debunking the false claims of a link between vaccines and autism, that has now been replaced with junk science.
November 20, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The CDC website has been lobotomized. Where it once presented the decades of evidence debunking the false claims of a link between vaccines and autism, that has now been replaced with junk science.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
it's like the Galbraith line about the French Revolution, except the surrender here was about 1 percent of what Jacques Necker asked of the French nobility bsky.app/profile/ryan...
"People of privilege will almost always risk total destruction rather than surrender any part of their privilege." youtu.be/KGSID_Uyw7w...
The Age of Uncertainty Episode 1 - The Prophets and Promise of Classical Capitalism
YouTube video by sveinbjornt
youtu.be
November 17, 2025 at 2:53 PM
it's like the Galbraith line about the French Revolution, except the surrender here was about 1 percent of what Jacques Necker asked of the French nobility bsky.app/profile/ryan...
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
For about 60 years, the Democrats have been a center-left party. Both sides by now ought to understand that they need each other.
Did the off-year elections settle the Democrats’ big debate?
It'd better have.
www.motherjones.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM
For about 60 years, the Democrats have been a center-left party. Both sides by now ought to understand that they need each other.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
November 8, 2025 at 4:23 AM
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
Good riddance.
November 7, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Good riddance.
Reposted by Toby Driscoll
In 2021, we published a series of portraits and interviews with people shot in the eye during the George Floyd protests.
One of them, Soren Stevenson, just won his race for Minneapolis City Council.
One of them, Soren Stevenson, just won his race for Minneapolis City Council.
The Shot in the Eye Squad
After losing a retina to "less lethal" police munitions during a George Floyd protest, I decided to start a club.
www.motherjones.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM
In 2021, we published a series of portraits and interviews with people shot in the eye during the George Floyd protests.
One of them, Soren Stevenson, just won his race for Minneapolis City Council.
One of them, Soren Stevenson, just won his race for Minneapolis City Council.