May 23, 2025

spencergreenhalgh.com posts digest for May 23 2025

Hello! Apologies for the missing emails over the past couple of weeks—I've recently switched up how I handle my to-do list, and apparently I was pretty dependent on the old way!

Here are long-form blog posts I published since the last newsletter:

• affiches de cinéma dont je me souviens

• movie posters and sacramental living

• technology in Community of Christ's efforts to become a 'prophetic people'

• new publication: Jacques Ellul and educational technology

• Jacques Ellul and Civilization VI

• more on the Liahona, efficiency, and technique

Here are microblog posts that I published since the last newsletter:

• Ebike adventure of the day: Taking a speed bump so fast it disconnected an important cord, and I spend a couple minutes trying to figure out why I lost power.

• Today, a student from across campus explained that they used ChatGPT to identify me as a potential thesis committee member, and I am shallow enough to have had a very brief flicker of positive feeling toward the technology.

• Aw, heck yes, there’s a Eurovision internet radio station.

• That feeling when you write an article for a lesser journal’s special issue but actually find a home in a stronger journal after the special editors reject it.

• I doubt I have time today for a longer, more nuanced post, so please enjoy this subtweet: Anyone whose takeaway from the University of Zurich Reddit study is “AI is good at convincing people!” and doesn’t even mention the HUGE ethical issues in passing is missing the point.

• When my post-bike commute helmet hair starts looking like Norman Osborn’s weird comics haircut, it might be time for a trim.

• “Kentuckian” has long been an important part of my identity, but every time I watch the Kentucky Derby, the more it makes me mad.

• Mitch McConnell is the only one of my elected federal representatives to respond in any way to the concerns I phone or write in, but it’s always with super vague copypasta that makes me more angry than no response at all.

• One of my favorite webcomics is a long runner that began when I was just starting high school, so the archive binge I began this week is bringing back memories in multiple ways.

• Spending time at a local library, thinking about how much these institutions offer their communities, and bemoaning that there are politicians petty and cruel enough to want to undermine them.

• I like traditional hymns a lot, but yesterday’s service included two amazing Congolese choirs, and I’m starting to suspect that everything Mormonism taught me about guitars and drums not belonging in church is wrong.

• Am I tired, am I getting sick, or is it just Monday?

• Trying to figure out whether hate listening to the audiobook of Moneyball has implications for my suitability to teach my department’s Intro to Data Science class.

• Kiddo is a wild mix of adventurous and picky when it comes to food. She does not want the unobjectionable ravioli the rest of us are eating, but she is powering through the too-spicy-for-her curry leftovers in the fridge.

• Kiddo: wonders why I am talking about disabling predictive text on the iPad she’s using spouse: “well, Daddy is a monster who doesn’t even use autocorrect” me: “excuse me, I think you mean I’m a ‘mnoster’”

• Who schedules an academic conference to overlap with Halloween? And how long ago did they stop having kids at home?

Here are photos that I published since the last newsletter (or at least their descriptions):

• Okay, buying this Order of the Stick collection was worth it for this panel alone.

Here are news articles and podcasts I commented on since the last newsletter:

• 🔗 linkblog: Trump Admits He Could Get Abrego Garcia Back, But Angrily Insists Non-Existent Tattoos Are The Reason He Won’t

• 🔗 linkblog: Firefox could be doomed without Google search deal, says executive

• 🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk's Grok AI Will 'Remove Her Clothes' In Public, On X

• 🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk Tried Keeping Issues at His Texas Mansion Private, Emails Show

• 🔗 linkblog: The AI Slop Presidency

• 🔗 linkblog: Dora the Explorer Teaches About ‘Sigma,’ an Extremely Toxic Male Aspiration

• 🔗 linkblog: Why am I internet-stalking the pope?

• 🔗 linkblog: He's the key person behind the most notorious deepfake porn site in the world. And he's Canadian | CBC News

• 🔗 linkblog: Pentagon Furthers Crackdown on DEI With Order to Review Library Books

• 🔗 linkblog: Pope Leo tells cardinals they must continue 'precious legacy' of Pope Francis

• 🔗 linkblog: Pope Leo XIV names AI one of the reasons for his papal name

• 🔗 linkblog: UK launching social media campaign spotlighting NIH-funded research

• 🔗 linkblog: Behind Bars, My Tablet Is More Than Just Tech

• 🔗 linkblog: Trump administration poised to accept 'palace in the sky' as a gift for Trump from Qatar: Sources

• 🔗 linkblog: Republicans Try to Cram Ban on AI Regulation Into Budget Reconciliation Bill

• 🔗 linkblog: Nintendo warns that it can brick Switch consoles if it detects hacking, piracy

• 🔗 linkblog: Trump Picks Deputy Attorney General as Acting Librarian of Congress

• 🔗 linkblog: Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists

• 🔗 linkblog: Oklahoma education standards say students must identify 2020 election 'discrepancies'

• 🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk’s apparent power play at the Copyright Office completely backfired

• 🔗 linkblog: The House GOP Quietly Slipped In An AI Law That Would Accidentally Ban GOP’s Favorite ‘Save The Children’ Laws

• 🔗 linkblog: License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows

• 🔗 linkblog: American Schools Were Deeply Unprepared for ChatGPT, Public Records Show

• 🔗 linkblog: High-School Runner Rips GOP State Rep. for Anti-Trans Comments

• 🔗 linkblog: The Simulation Says the Orioles Should Be Good

• 🔗 linkblog: Grok’s “white genocide” obsession came from “unauthorized” prompt edit, xAI says

• 🔗 linkblog: xAI posts Grok’s behind-the-scenes prompts

• 🔗 linkblog: ‘Hyperscale’ data center project drawing resistance in rural Oldham County

• 🔗 linkblog: How Miami Schools Are Leading 100,000 Students Into the A.I. Future

• 🔗 linkblog: Amazon’s Behavior Makes Walmart’s Earnings Call Look Like a Profile in Courage

• 🔗 linkblog: Chicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist

• 🔗 linkblog: Duolingo CEO says AI is a better teacher than humans—but schools will exist ‘because you still need childcare’

• 🔗 linkblog: VPNSecure Lifetime Subscriptions: Now You Didn’t License What You Licensed, Either

• 🔗 linkblog: Researchers Scrape 2 Billion Discord Messages and Publish Them Online

• 🔗 linkblog: Funding Cuts Are a ‘Gut Punch’ for STEM Education Researchers

• 🔗 linkblog: Kentucky’s Bitcoin Boom Has Gone Bust

Here are my reviews of books and other media I consumed this week:

• 📺 tvblog: Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)

• 📚 bookblog: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ for Walkaway, by Cory Doctorow

• 📚 bookblog: The Adventures of Mary Darling (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)

• 📚 bookblog: On the Origin of PCs (❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤)

• 📚 bookblog: Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)

If you have thoughts about anything I've posted, feel free to comment directly on my website through Hypothesis or to reply to this email with what you have to say.

Thanks for reading!

Spencer