Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Trump gifted Xi a statue of a hideous demon eagle. Photo by Doug Mills/NYT - www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/u... 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 09/08/2026My latest for The SHOUT digs into the story of “Tripodal,” the James Rosati sculpture that’s stood outside Wichita’s Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center since 1972.shoutwichita.comHow Wichita's relationship with 'Tripodal' has evolved over a half centuryJames Rosati's 1972 modernist sculpture was part of a larger movement across the country. With time (and a time capsule), the work has gained some respect from the city it was built for. 030 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Is someone on the White House staff prompting AI to make this stuff? Or are they reposting stuff posted by MAGA fans on Truth Social and the like? Seems like it should be possible to figure this out. 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 09/05/2026Yeah— I know the lyrics in German, but not in English 010 0
Reposted by Sam JackKansas Leadership Center @theklc.bsky.social · 29/03/2026Great shows don’t tell the whole story. Century II’s limitations drive up costs, restrict programming and require constant workarounds—often invisible to audiences, which can make the problems feel less urgent than they are. ✍️ Sam Jack 📸 Selena Favelaklcjournal.comPerformers in Wichita need more than Century II. Is a new center still possible?Supporters of a new center, deflated after the failed sales tax vote, say that public-private dollars are crucial in achieving that dream. 012 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 05/02/2026On top of the obvious—the witless pileup of abstractions in that sentence is characteristic of un-reprocessed AI slop. 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 30/01/2026What public interest is served by giving a White House source anonymity just to say that Nicki Minaj is lying?nytimes.comDid Trump Really Give Nicki Minaj a $1 Million ‘Gold Card’ Visa? 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 25/01/2026If you’re tasked with writing text that nobody wants to actually *read*, by all means, use AI. 051 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 25/01/2026Like, I’d literally rather read the prompt he submitted to ChatGPT rather than the text the GPT spit out. 1110 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 25/01/2026It just really bothers me, this proliferation of AI zombie text everywhere. I’d rather read and hear people’s actual words. 2120 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 25/01/2026I agree that it’s his own sentiments run through AI. 150 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 25/01/2026It’s still AI-written; he prompted the AI to try to ape his manner of speaking, and perhaps he did some post-generation editing, but it’s still entirely obvious. Go to his profile and read some comments from 7 or 8 years ago. They are quite different in style. 580 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 11/01/2026Also, funnily enough, “This research took approximately one hour, the old-fashioned way—no AI.” sent my antenna up 110 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 11/01/2026There are rhetorical and even metrical patterns that AI favors. It favors them, of course, because they are statistically favored, and common, in human-produced writing. But humans don’t use them again and again like clockwork. 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 11/01/2026Phrases like “Faculty involvement is not symbolism. It is quality control,” the way the whole thing is structured with subheads and bullet-point lists, and a certain maundering, baggy quality. I’m not saying I have “proof.” The authors edited the AI output, but not enough to remove the stench. 210 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 11/01/2026I have a hard time reading the Free Press’s story because it was drafted with AI. 300 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 15/12/2025A couple of weeks ago, Yo-Yo Ma made a quick visit to Wichita and the Maven Gallery, and I got the chance to cover it for The SHOUT.shoutwichita.comConnection with photographer brings Yo-Yo Ma to WichitaAustin Mann, who has traveled the world with the celebrated cellist, brought him home for an artist talk and pop-up performance December 3. 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 07/12/2025Would have been better if the reporter hadn’t used AI to draft it. 020 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 05/11/2025Kansas GOP today gave up on the idea of redistricting Sharice Davids out of her seat. She threatened to run for Senate, which severely diminished the GOP’s enthusiasm for the idea. kansasreflector.com/briefs/kansa...kansasreflector.comKansas House speaker waves white flag on special session as congresswoman considers Senate run • Kansas ReflectorKansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins said Tuesday that he didn't gather enough support from his Republican caucus to force a special session. 020 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 07/10/2025@joshtpm.bsky.social Why aren’t Democrats pointing out that if Republicans don’t want to negotiate on the budget, they can eliminate the filibuster? That would seem to add clarity to the situation — and the filibuster will need to go anyway when it’s time for a bare majority of Dems to codify Roe. 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 27/06/2025Meanwhile, Meta’s social networks are glitchy nightmares, as anyone who has to deal with them for work can tell you. 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 22/06/2025Of course, the fact that this attack was illegal has its own consequences. 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 22/06/2025In Trump’s social media post, he seems to be at least suggesting that this was limited: U.S. goes in with the bombs, but now it’s out. All back to normal except now the nuke sites are destroyed. Is there any way that can be our reality? Or does this action commit the U.S. to future actions? 300 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 03/06/2025The phrasing “not only ___, it’s ___” is a favorite of ChatGPT. I’m seeing this formula crop up in online text and articles with astonishing frequency. Each time I see it now I’m annoyed by the suspicion that I’m reading cruft no one took the time to actually write. 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 25/04/2025Every time I hear the phrase “Liberation Day,” I think of the George Saunders short story where people are glued to a wall in a wealthy man’s home and forced to sing. 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 07/04/2025My thoughts on Beethoven 9 and our current moment. I appreciate @awelsbacher.bsky.social’s working with me on this, and The SHOUT’s being receptive to it.shoutwichita.comSinging 'Ode to Joy' during days of disasterThe Wichita Symphony Orchestra presents Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 this Saturday with a community chorus of more than 130 singers. For one chorus member, its famous anthem is a challenge to these dis... 130 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 06/03/2025Several kids trying to log in to Roblox at my library today ran into this insane 15-step Captcha. I tried to be sympathetic, but honestly… it was pretty funny. youtu.be/Nji8PFRUcsM?...youtu.beROBLOX VERIFICATION IS OUT OF CONTROL!😡😡😡YouTube video by Juicy John 2 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I started watching “Prime Target,” the new spy show on Apple, with my parents. It’s silly fun. Dad fished out these prime number discovery patents that he wrote and had issued for a Wichita inventor. 030 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 14/02/2025The federal dollars that Kansas stood to lose functioned as a form of pressure on Brownback and the right in Kansas; without that I wonder whether we’d have a Kansas Arts Commission today at all. 020 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 14/02/2025Yeah… and the destruction to be wrought by whatever they’re going to do to the NEA and NEH is just getting started. It’s not just the direct money that might go away, it’s all the activity and matching funds from state, local and private partners. 110 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 14/02/2025And like you said, it’s all interlinked nationally. WNO served as a training ground, commissioned new works, created co-productions with other companies. Alan Held, who’s a WSU professor now, sang Wotan there! All kaput, most likely. Sigh… 111 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 14/02/2025This could send Washington National Opera under, and it’s not as though new, big-time opera companies are getting started nowadays. So the end (or radical diminution) of WNO would represent more or less permanent damage to the artform and the opera industry in the U.S. 110 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 08/02/2025My latest for shoutwichita.com! Thanks to @johnharrison.cc, Lisa Rundstrom and Tom McGuire for tafor taking the time to chat with me about “Avian Migrations.”shoutwichita.com‘Avian Migrations’ bridges technological, organic modes of expressionThe Advanced Learning Library centerpiece is an interactive sculpture controlled passively by its patrons. 131 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 08/02/2025Beautifully-written review here.nytimes.comIn Ratmansky’s ‘Paquita,’ Worlds Collide to Make a Ballet Big BangAlexei Ratmansky creates a joyful new “Paquita” for New York City Ballet, giving the dancers a classical frame in which to find new versions of themselves. 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 01/02/2025“Many of those interviewed broke down in tears as they described the rapid destruction of decades of work.” As a (formerly full time) reporter let me say: There’s a depth behind a dispassionate sentence like that. These reporters have had a close encounter with something truly outrageous and tragic.nytimes.comHealth Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid (Gift Article)Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, malaria, H.I.V. and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work. 100 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 31/01/2025New display at Newton Public Library: poetry + astronomy 020 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Re-enjoying this Vasko Popa sequence, especially "The Dream of the Quartz Pebble." It's a legerdemain poem.modernpoetryintranslation.comThe Quartz Pebble – Modern Poetry in Translation 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 30/01/2025Wow, Ian Bostridge? Hi there! Your Rake’s Progress record was the first opera CD I ever bought :) 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 30/01/2025Today the president stood up in front of the country and blamed the AA 5342 disaster on minorities and the disabled. Those who live in Wichita, I urge you to phone Rep. Ron Estes’s office today and demand that Estes denounce those comments. estes.house.gov/contact/estes.house.govContact | U.S. Representative Ron EstesI value all feedback from residents of my district. The best way to reach out is through online messages below or via phone: (202) 225-6216 for my Washington, D.C. office and (316) 262-8992 for my Wic... 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 29/01/2025I love the spine of this book with footprints in the snow. 100 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 28/01/2025If this includes USDOL administrative grants to state departments of labor, it could shut down the unemployment insurance system across the country. 000 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Awesome, I will also be there Friday with my parents :) 100 0
Reposted by Sam JackHarry Dunn @libradunn1.bsky.social · 21/01/2025Sergeant Gonell @sergeantaqgo.bsky.social sent me this picture. This is his call log. Each call is an automated Dept of "Justice" notification saying "The defendant you testified against is being released from the dept of corrections." Each defendant assaulted him. 18482000210566 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 17/12/2024Today, I saw that someone covered up the opossum with white paint. So now, it's a blank sign with an irregularly-shaped splash of white paint in the middle. I think it's funny to imagine the little scene that must have played out when someone finally decided to eliminate this piece of "public art." 010 0
Sam Jack @samtjack.bsky.social · 17/12/2024For years there's been a wooden sign at an intersection near a trailer park outside Goddard, KS. And for years, the only thing on that sign had been a smallish painting of a weird-looking animal -- maybe it was an opossum? 110 0