December 21, 2023
Oxford made people swear an oath about a man more than 500 years dead
Why Master of Arts graduates at Oxford had to swear an oath against a man who'd been dead for over 500 years [more inside]
Whose Tyler Joseph?
Icahn seen clearly now the gains have gone
Also: Consultants Consult, 'Sad' Goat, God-given Middle Finger, Orca Moms & more in The 2023 Headline of the Year Nominees [X, nitter]
Thoughtful paper about ChatGPT
This paper describes an old and a new way to think about ChatGPT. Borges and AI is the title; the authors take a high-level view of the entire potential corpus of ChatGPT, guided by a few of Borges' stories that explore universes of infinite possibilities. [more inside]
Asteroid bits, fast spaceships, JuMBOs, a space battle, space cat video
December 2023 solstice from space. Let's check in on humanity's solar system exploration before 2024 kicks in. [more inside]
We Like Trains
Trimming With the Devil in Green Bay wherein the Satanic Temple causes a free speech brouhaha at the National Railroad Museum by trimming a Christmas tree perfectly within the museum guidelines [more inside]
"A true music man"
Craig Stewart, Emperor Jones Founder and SXSW Alum, Has Died at 53 Stewart ran the influential Trance Syndicate label with his husband, Butthole Surfers drummer King Coffey, before starting the offshoot Emperor Jones in 1995. He also spent much of his career working for SXSW.
The podcast police!
"Just busted a 17 year old, already on the mic. What life advice could you possibly be sharing??" (slTikTok) [more inside]
So the Shortest Day came and the year died
An interview with Susan Cooper about, among other things, her poem "The Shortest Day" [SLNPR] [more inside]
The worst thing since Elvis Presley, to do black music so selfishly
FD Signifier talks about the 'white rapper' paradox and how it functions with whiteness and commercialism/fame/etc. In discussion: mainly Eminem and his influence on hip hop, but also some focus on Vanilla Ice before him and Mac Miller after, shout-outs to El-P, Lil Dicky, Jack Harlow (where apparently FD was bugged about doing a vid on the recent superstar) and Marlon Craft. [more inside]
The harshest judgments came from strangers
Age-gap discourse, which is aimed primarily at older men dating younger women, grew out of that movement’s concern with power differentials and with coercion and consent. But it also sits at odds with Me Too’s core ethos — “Believe women” — by raising an outcry on behalf of women who, by all available public accounts, have no complaints about their relationships. Even if they say they are happy, the age-gap critics don’t believe them. from They say they’re happy. Why is it so hard to believe them? [The Cut; ungated]
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