Leah Libresco's Blog, page 24

7QT: Innovation in Gross Robots and Stock Photos

— 1 — If folks don’t want to wait til next year to play in another Ideological Turing Test, one of the posters on LessWrong is running one on vegitarianism. Format is a little different — you’re asked to rate your confidence using numbers, rather than the categorical variables I usually use. Let me know [Read More...]

7QT: The Odder Errors of Computers and Humans

— 1 — My family tends to share thoughts on the New Yorker caption contest every week, over email, when the magazine arrives (no wins yet!). But I didn’t know that our entries might be being winnowed out by a computer.  BloombergBusiness has a nice feature on the Microsoft team working with the New Yorker cartoon editor to [Read More...]

Is “Kindness-Adjacent” A Useful Category?

Catherine Addington wrote a great piece on police brutality for AmCon (that happened to riff on one of my posts about unadvisable, rape-adjacent sex): Bland’s death remains under investigation, but the dashboard camera footage of her interaction with Encinia shows the escalation of a warning for the failure to signal into the forceful detention of an epileptic woman. Surprisingly, much of what [Read More...]

Positive Parenting and Pick Up Artistry

Libby Anne of the Patheos Atheist channel is one of my favorite people to read on parenting, and I really enjoyed her recent post “When Positive Parenting Doesn’t ‘Work’”  I’m pulling a longer quote and I still feel bad about chopping up her story, so just pop over and read the whole thing. Simply put, here is [Read More...]

The Exuberance of Quotidian Goodness

In Sunday’s Book Review, the NYT asked authors whether virtuous characters can ever be interesting. The first author came down firmly on the side of the villains, saying, “No one has ever preferred Amelia to Becky in “Vanity Fair,” or Melanie to Scarlett in “Gone With the Wind.”  But Alice Gregory, the second writer, said you can’t do [Read More...]

Seeing the World Through Tammet’s Joy

Sometimes, when I have a book out from the library, I wind up buying it, and Daniel Tammet’s Thinking in Numbers: On Life, Learning, Love, and Math is one that I ordered before I had finished reading it.  Tammet is on the autism spectrum, and his book’s title pays homage to Temple Grandin’s Thinking in Pictures, and its [Read More...]

7QT: Well Designed Studies, Metaphors, and Parties

— 1 — I’ve had some pretty good Sondheim birthdays, but this toddler’s parents have thrown the best party. To celebrate her son’s first birthday, L’erin Dobra threw him a Mickey Mouse party. Planning out Grayson’s second birthday party, Ms. Dobra chose a different theme, one that reflected her little boy’s most passionate interest: New [Read More...]

7QT: Inventive takes on Electronics, Priesthood, and Stereoscopic Vision

— 1 — Thanks to anyone who contributed to my birthday fundraiser for GiveDirectly!  I set $300 as a goal, and, between you guys and my offline friends, folks have raised over $400 for this highly effective cash transfer program! Also, because my friends, like me, are huge dorks, a number of people donated psuedononymously [Read More...]

Discounts and Donations on my Birthday!

Today’s my birthday!  I’m celebrating by going to the monthly DC Shape Note sing and singing things like “David’s Lamentation!” Um, well… in a festive way.  (Maybe that was not the right song example to give)  Is “Balm in Gilead” better?   Meanwhile, for you guys, I’m pleased to announce that the ebook version of Arriving [Read More...]

If You Like A Queer Calling, You May Want to Help Out the Authors

I’m a big fan of the blog A Queer Calling, and I’m lucky enough to know Lindsey and Sarah in real life.  They write thoughtfully and generously about their experience offering learning how to live their vocation of love in a partnership, and they’ve placed hospitality/offering love to others at the center of their relationship. [Read More...]