David August

Worked with an acting coaching client on different styles/tones. Different shows, time periods, directors, writers and more vastly change some of the how we do what we do in a scene, and experimenting with that in general and adapting our work to it in specific is valuable. It was so cool discovering how doing some material in two different director’s styles shifted things.

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Context: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2024/04/30/man-bear-tiktok-debate-explainer/73519921007/

“While recent debates center on enacting an ethics code for the Supreme Court, the statutory honoraria ban has been in place for decades. No new ethical rules need to be promulgated, or codes enacted on this subject. It exists right now, as it has since 1989. But Thomas and Leo are doing an end run around it, accomplishing indirectly what the law prohibits them from doing directly. And no one is stopping them.”

“In effect, Thomas is saying, _No, I may not take a fee for speaking at a dinner sponsored by the Koch brothers; heaven forbid I violate the 1989 honorarium ban!_ But of course: _Nothing stops you, Koch brothers, from lavishing me with a trip to Palm Springs in a private plane, sumptuous accommodations, and fabulous meals,_ as ProPublica reported he received. According to Leo and Thomas, there is nothing wrong with conservative billionaires enabling Thomas to have a lifestyle far beyond what his judicial salary allows.”

“If history is any indication, the version of Congress we had 23 years ago might have gone ballistic in response to recent discoveries about Thomas. If they were concerned about federal judges getting money for honoraria, they surely would’ve been concerned about judges evading the honoraria ban with luxury vacations. If they were worried about rich benefactors paying judges for their speeches, they would surely be concerned about rich benefactors providing judges with private planes and high-end accommodations.”

https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2023/10/26/clarence-thomas-leonard-leo-supreme-court-ethics-nancy-gertner

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In New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Pittsburg, San Francisco or Boston on May 1? Join in.

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🤦‍♂️

AI errors are hard for us to see.

“These are the hardest kinds of errors to spot. They couldn’t be harder for a human to detect if they were _specifically designed_ to go undetected. The human in the loop isn’t just being asked to spot mistakes — they’re being actively deceived. The AI isn’t merely wrong, it’s constructing a subtle ‘what’s wrong with this picture’-style puzzle. Not just one such puzzle, either: millions of them, at speed, which must be solved by the human in the loop, who must remain perfectly vigilant for things that are, by definition, almost totally unnoticeable.”

https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2024-04-23-maximal-plausibility-reverse-centaurs-0a3e71fd9c2b

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Excellent point. 🌮

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I would not rely on this if you’re being pursued by an evil self-driving car, but it might be worth a shot 😈🚙😝

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This is frustrating. I cannot concoct an argument that counters this.

Watching the most recent music video of Toomaj Salehi who has been sentenced to death by the government of Iran basically for protesting them and rapping.

https://youtu.be/Jpi7d_uQ5Ec