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Aaron D'Souza

@aarondsouza.bsky.social
249 followers 160 following 1.1K posts

Pathological learner. Lapsed Ph.D. math | code | jazz | drums | photos aarondsouza.net

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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Immanuel Wilkins!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 WELL deserved.
nytimes.com
MacArthur Foundation Announces 2026 ‘Genius Grant’ Winners
The 20 fellowship recipients across the arts, humanities and sciences will each receive an $800,000, no-strings-attached stipend for their work.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
OMG I threw my neck out from vigorous nodding. tante.cc/2026/09/24/t...
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Both these things are today.
Headline of a news article that says: Wall street is growing skeptical of the data center boomMajor stock indices in the US showing a large (1-2%) increase for the day.
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tante @tante.cc · 16/09/2026
"I asked everyone I know at the BIG TECH HUMAN CENTIPEDE ROUNDTABLE, and we all agreed that UNCONTROLLABLE SHIT-RAIN IS USEFUL AND GREAT, and that EVERYONE WANTS IT. Also, that it was IN RETROSPECT A GREAT IDEA TO PUT EVERYTHING ON COMPUTERS."
mcsweeneys.net
We Must Create the Shit Machine - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
“For as long as humans have created SHIT with our BODIES AND BUTTS, we have been asking this FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION: What if there were a COMPUTER that could A...
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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
SPECIAL REPORT Last month, Alpha School invited people to follow student social media accounts "if curious about life in our high schools." I accepted their offer. What I've found shocks me. Forget the AI and ask instead: Is Alpha Schools a cult? Follow along for a summary of my findings.
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
SPECIAL REPORT: My So-Called Alpha School
What is it like to be a student in Alpha School’s high school boot camp?
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Had the most fun a couple of evenings ago deconstructing a groove by the inimitable Master Calvaire aarondsouza.net/log/posts/20...
A man sitting in a rope swing on an outdoor patio holding a cup of coffee and wearing a Miami Heat sleeveless shirt and black pants with white sneakers.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The US was the only country to vote against it. All we are is a blister on the arse of the world.
npr.org
The U.N. backs a new world map showing Africa in its true relative size
The U.N. has backed a new map showing Africa in its true relative size, with the U.S. standing alone in opposition.
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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
In 1966, Mark Kac famously asked "Can you hear the shape of a drum?" In most cases you *can* hear the differences between two drum shapes. But in 1992, Gordon, Webb, and Wolpert constructed isospectral sets of drums: different shapes that nevertheless sound identical. 🧪 ⚛️
eigendrum.com
Eigendrum - draw a shape and hear it as a real drum
Draw any shape and hear it as a drum. Every frequency is solved from your outline with finite elements, never sampled. Includes the two drums that sound identical but are not the same shape.
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Nate Chinen @natechinen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Cassandra Wilson was one of our most gifted vocalists, just an unreal talent. Here is my obituary for NPR Music. (I believe I’ll also be on the broadcast later this evening.)
npr.org
Cassandra Wilson, Grammy-winning jazz vocalist, dies at 70
Wilson, who's deep, dark contralto was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz, died on Wednesday in her hometown of Jackson, Miss.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I miss Abdullah Ibrahim.
abdullahibrahim.bandcamp.com
3, by Abdullah Ibrahim
21 track album
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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
An absolutely fascinating report from a pro-AI professor about how his students think about AI. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I guess I missed that this was Bow to Facists week. The Roberts court (his dissent notwithstanding) will be remembered as utterly feckless. Not one tiny fecking feck.
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Allows Trump’s White House Ballroom Construction (Gift Article)
Lower-court rulings would have blocked construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom after finding that the Trump administration should have first sought approval from Congress.
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David Hobby @davidhobby.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
After Hitler took power in 1933, the Nazi regime began Gleichschaltung: bringing German institutions into alignment with the new political order...
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This fucking week.
nytimes.com
Yayoi Kusama, Japanese Pop Artist Known for Polka-Dot Paintings, Dies at 97 (Gift Article)
The Japanese artist’s polka-dot covered paintings, phallic sculptures and public performances caused a stir in New York City and Europe in the 1960s.
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Karen S Wilcox, PhD (she/her) @karenswilcoxphd.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
She was such a great human. Rest in power Dolly. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
theatlantic.com
The Transcendence of Dolly Parton
The late singer was perhaps the only person in the United States who commanded nearly universal affection.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
👑
nytimes.com
Dolly Parton, Country Music Superstar Whose Songs Spoke to Millions, Dies at 80 (Gift Article)
Known for her outsize persona, appearance and talent, she rose from rural poverty to become a top-selling singer, songwriter and entrepreneur.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Small things. Quietude. That was the week. aarondsouza.net/log/posts/20...
Beach view at dawn. Clouds hover low in the sky, but across the water in the distance, hills glow with early morning light.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
What's unstated in this article is that we've taken a transformative technology and built utterly stupid products with it. There is no way we should be using chatbots and fancy autocompletes as knowledge repositories.
nytimes.com
China Wants Its Data to Power the World’s A.I. (Gift Article)
China is exporting more than A.I. models. It wants its data to influence the world’s chatbots, raising fears that Beijing’s narratives will spread with the technology.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Fun thing from last week. Bats are fucking cool. aarondsouza.net/log/posts/20...
Silhouettes against a dusk sky of dozens of bats flying out for nocturnal feeding.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Real Michael-Scott-declaring-bankruptcy energy here.
abc.net.au
Trump says he will soon declare Strait of Hormuz US territory
US President Donald Trump says he will soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory, escalating his rhetoric over the vital waterway that carries a significant share of global oil supplies.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Jonathan Suazo's "Ricano Vol. 2" was released in May, and I feel like I've wasted 3 months of my life not listening to it. Every track is (as the kids say) a "banger". Not in the least because drummer Francisco Alcalá knows how to keep the train choo-choo-ing with some sparkling intensity.
jonathansuazo.bandcamp.com
Ricano Vol.2 - Fruto de mi Corazón, by Miel Music
12 track album
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. 🤖🫧🍿
notesfromthecircus.com
The House of Ellison is on the Brink
Everything the world’s briefly richest man built is failing at once.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Go buy music. You can support artists with more than pittance-for-streams, and you get to store that music locally and be the cool house that has bangers blasting when there's an internet outage.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This distills what makes me uncomfortable about America's rapacious brand of capitalism. "America’s version of capitalism proves its utility is by adding up all of the profits created by the privatization of public goods without subtracting the value that has been destroyed by the same activity."
hamiltonnolan.com
Enshittification Relies on Broken Economic Math
Pay no attention to the externalities behind the curtain.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Dear California, please do this. Particularly given the amount of dark money that originates from your residents.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
What do I miss most about my old workplace? This little monster is waaayy up there.
A small dog wearing a red sweater.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
I keep trying to tell my joke about Mnemosyne, but I can never remember the punchline.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Seen as package-build logs scroll by: > wrote `language/brainfuck/parse.go' 👀
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tante @tante.cc · 02/07/2026
OpenAI wanting the US government to take 5% is not "democratization" or something, it's a bailout. OpenAI can't get the money from private investors or the stock market and needs the hole in their budget filled so they are trying to take US tax dollars.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Just four measures can contain a universe. aarondsouza.net/log/posts/20...
Four measures of drum music notation. Specifically the second trade played by Philly Joe Jones on the Miles Davis track "Billy Boy" from the Milestones album.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I've often said that the downfall of the great American experiment will be placed squarely at the feet of the awful, awful Citizens United decision. SCOTUS today: "Hold my beer and watch me speedrun this shit."
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Lifts Spending Limits on Political Parties and Candidates
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
People can have their souls saved in lots of different ways. This was mine. aarondsouza.net/log/posts/20...
Photograph of a jazz big-band mid-song. A trumpet player and a trombone player stand forward on either side of the band, trading solos.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
"Y'know what the world needs? Another betting app." (said nobody, except for shitty little techbros who should be regulated out of their hubris)
nytimes.com
Mark Zuckerberg Directed Meta to Create a Prediction Markets App
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Last week, we gallivanted a little. aarondsouza.net/log/posts/20...
A view of a still lake on a clear day with a tufa a few feet away from the shoreline.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I giggled like a tween. But now I'm off to cry, because the mule shit is real.
Benjamin fires 99 of his workers and purchases 99 mules, expecting a 1000 percent productivity gain. The driverless mules cause plow damage to his property in excess of $50 million. Benjamin loses another $5 million due to the loss of productivity from his one remaining employee who no longer guides a plow but instead spends 100 percent of his time shoveling mule shit.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
More of this please. This ruling gets to the heart of what made me deeply uncomfortable about AI overviews.
arstechnica.com
Nobody needs AI to search the Internet, court says in ruling against Google
Google AI Overview court loss in Germany could spell doom for AI search industry.
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Mark Stryker @markstryker.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Many thanks to Ethan Iverson for hosting my expanded reflections on Sonny Rollins, including a Desert Island list of recordings. substack.com/@iverson/not...
substack.com
GUEST POST: The Greatest Ever is Gone: Reflections on Sonny Rollins and a Desert Island List of Recordings
By Mark Stryker
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Some spiciness at the (bottom of the) front page of the Saturday Economic Times here in Mumbai.
Section of a newspaper showing an article with the headline "AIronic Twist: It Costs too Much to be 'Productive'"
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Nonesuch Records @nonesuch.com · 29/05/2026
Jeff Parker has released the 'Happy Today' album-length concert film. It was captured by director Charlie Weinmann at the set at LA’s Lodge Room that became 'Happy Today,' the new album from Parker’s ETA IVtet—Jay Bellerose, Anna Butterss, Josh Johnson. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUJO...
youtube.com
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - Happy Today (album-length concert film)
YouTube video by International Anthem
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
This is well worth the watch. What Suno and the equivalents are doing to education in the creative arts is infuriating AF.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
My favorite (and most-admired) people in the world are the ones who preserve the mindset of an eternal student of their craft. They are never ever boring. Sonny Rollins was the opposite of boring.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
The colossus has transitioned. I don't think there's been a single gig in the last two years in which someone hasn't called a Sonny Rollins tune. What a life. What an inspiration. 🐐
nytimes.com
Sonny Rollins, Giant of the Jazz Saxophone, Is Dead at 95
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Temperature. It's what's up.
Screenshot of a weather app showing a current temperature of 33, but a "feels like" temperature of 43 (all in Celsius).
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Airport terminals after the last flight is done are a whole vibe.
aarondsouza.net
Aaron A. D'Souza - MUC & Me
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Finally had time to do a deep dive into Darktable, and it took just about 2 hours of tinkering to convince me that I'm done paying the Adobe tax, and that it's actually an upgrade.
darktable.org
darktable
darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
This timeline.
Two consecutive headlines, "Nvidia's Profit Hits $58.3 Billion as A.I. Boom Gathers More Steam" and "Meta Lays Off 8,000 Employees, as Effects of A.I. Mount"
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
If I were handsome AF, this would be my face right now as I fill out this fucking ballot.
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🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Zoë Keating @zoekeating.com · 16/05/2026
No AI here
subvert.fm
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
An exercise on building linear backbeat stickings from paradiddle inversions (inspired by conversations with my teacher Erik Egol). aarondsouza.net/log/posts/20...
Eight measures of percussion music notation showing hand ostinatos on snare and ride, created from paradiddle inversions such that the left hand always maintains a backbeat.
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Aaron D'Souza @aarondsouza.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
This article says everything I've felt about the way companies are shoving AI down the throats of their employees, and destroying the pipeline that creates expertise that can debug when the AI is full of shit.
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