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Shira Ovide

@shiraovide.bsky.social
14K followers 1.6K following 647 posts

Writes about A.I. for the Washington Post. New Yorker. Bird watcher. Grumpy. www.washingtonpost.com/people/shira…

PostsRepliesMedia
Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
New AI bubble indicator: "In Taipei, where convenience stores sell lottery tickets that can win as many as 500 shares of Nvidia stock..." www.wsj.com/world/asia/s...
wsj.com
Crazy Rich Returns Lure Cabbies and Even Kids to Red-Hot Asian Markets
Global success of AI-related companies in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan stokes red-hot market fever.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Personal tech advice: If you're thinking of buying a smartphone or any other consumer electronics this year, buy it now. You know AI-induced computer chip inflation is real when even Apple is like, ehhhhh we cannot deal. www.wsj.com/tech/apple-p...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says
The CEO tells the Journal that Apple plans to raise prices on its products to offset the surging costs of both memory and storage.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Congrats to the SpaceX employees who discovered collective bargaining. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
SpaceX Staffers Prep for Multimillion-Dollar Windfalls by Pushing for VIP Terms
The workers are crafting an IPO wealth playbook that could shape how OpenAI and Anthropic employees cash in.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
"One CTO told Axios that employees were using AI models to check the weather." www.axios.com/2026/05/28/a...
axios.com
AI sticker shock hits corporate America
Companies begin to question the payoffs of toxenmaxxing.
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Matthew Connatser @matthewconnatser.net · 22/05/2026
Apparently a bunch of words trigger this kind of response, including redo, delete, help, and these others I've attached. For some reason it was really focused on where I live. Also RIP pulling up definitions from Google, it was a nice feature.
Google search: save

AI Overview: It looks like you might have accidentally hit send or are looking for assistance on how to "save" something. Since you are in Knoxville, TN, here are a few ways I can help you save time, money, and information:Google search: great

AI Overview: Glad to hear it! How can I help you out today? Whether you need to grab the latest local news in Knoxville, check the weather, look up some info, or plan something out, just let me know and we can get started!Google search: quickly

AI Overview: You said "quickly," which is exactly what I'm here for! Since you didn't specify a topic, let me know what you need help with in the Knoxville area, and I can give you instant details on local weather, restaurants, or events. How can I assist you today?Google search: lol

AI Overview: Whether you meant "laugh out loud" or the MOBA game League of Legends, I'm right here with you! What's sparking the reaction? Let me know what you're up to today.

If you are currently on the Rift and trying to secure a win:

Check out these quick gameplay moments for some inspiration:
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Short summary of the business, as I believe other outlets have previewed: Starlink, good growth & operating income profitable rocket launches: Meh or negative growth, unprofitable AI: Trash fire
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Is this the longest prospectus I've ever read? There are so so many pages of blather? www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...
sec.gov
Space Exploration Technologies - S-1
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Grateful to these astonishing new grads who talked about their trepidation and hopes about bursting into a job market freaked out about AI. 2026 grads are the last class to start college before ChatGPT landed. They're graduating into a profoundly changed world. wapo.st/4fyd6Sp
wapo.st
Congrats, new grads! Welcome to job market hell.
New computer science grads are trying to start their careers at a time when many experts predict that AI will make their skills obsolete.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
"He had top legal counsel, and to lose on statute-of-limitations grounds is extremely embarrassing," Andrew Stoltmann told @gerritd.bsky.social
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Musk missed the window on the statute of limitations, the most pedestrian end to a trial of fireworks. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
washingtonpost.com
All of Musk’s claims in lawsuit against OpenAI rejected in federal trial
In a win for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Elon Musk’s claims against the AI firm were rejected after a jury found he missed the statute of limitations for filing suit.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
"Two months after handing off their personal financial data, the bonus still hadn’t arrived, the chats show. Some staffers who have asked about the payment have been told that the manager in charge of the program is no longer working there..." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Musk’s xAI Fails to Pay Staff $420 for Giving Their Tax Returns to Grok
Elon Musk’s xAI asked employees earlier this year to offer up their own tax returns as training data for the company’s Grok chatbot, promising a $420 payment as incentive for doing so. Two months late...
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
The real genius in this piece was not the vibe coding, it was this: "I began having friends over for a ritual I called Admin Night. The idea is to power through your personal sludge in communion with others." www.wired.com/story/normie...
wired.com
I’m a Normie. Can Normies Really Vibe Code?
Apparently anyone can vibe code anything these days. So Claude and I tried to make a database for tracking the petty grievances of the masses.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
I'm definitely going to buy one of these cushy butt pillows, though. Thanks to the trial participants for the recs. www.wired.com/story/fancy-...
wired.com
Everyone at the Musk v. Altman Trial Is Using Fancy Butt Cushions
The plaintiffs and defense have rested their cases, as well as their rear ends.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
"From one petty bitch to another: beautifully done." I'm going to miss this trial and all the ridiculousness that it unearthed, and @lopatto.bsky.social's commitment to petty gossip. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
theverge.com
Musk v. Altman accomplished nothing but airing dirty laundry
“Directionally very bad”
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 15/05/2026
New: The liberal billionaire @tomsteyerhq.bsky.social's campaign has been paying influencers to champion his run for California governor - and many are doing so without disclosure. One big TikToker, who called the 68-year-old a "vibe," didn't mention he'd been paid $10,000 wapo.st/4twTpOh
wapo.st
A California billionaire is paying influencers to boost his campaign for governor
Tom Steyer’s California gubernatorial campaign has paid thousands of dollars to influencers, some of whom did not disclose the payouts. State election regulators are investigating.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Like @davelee.me, I'm on team HELL NO to constantly verbally commanding computers. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
Don’t Throw Out the Keyboard in the AI Revolution
There seems to be a growing view that the computer keyboard is on the way out. Demoted, at least, as the primary method of input at work. Kate Clark, writing in the Wall Street Journal, looked at the ...
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Hayden Field @haydenfield.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
this metaphor in Musk v. Altman closing statements is sending me
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
So fun that literally anything you do is packaged and sold to the highest bidder to train AI. That includes your poop images. www.404media.co/ai-poop-anal...
404media.co
Internet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops
"I hoarded a large database of something valuable, just not what you expect… 150k stools images."
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
A reminder that for every dollar of revenue Meta reported this year, it generated 41 cents of operating profit. This company is not in poverty. www.wired.com/story/meta-l...
News of the impending 10 percent cuts leaked in March of this year. But the company didn’t confirm the layoffs for weeks, several employees say. Zuckerberg finally addressed the layoffs in a companywide meeting last month. The message, as some employees understood it, was that he would prefer to keep everyone, but given that AI costs so much to develop, his hands were tied. Employees would find out in May whether they still had a job. In the interim, many were left to spiral.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Bless this Wired lede so hard. "Wednesday’s episode of the Musk v. Altman trial kicked off on Wednesday with a unique proposition: OpenAI wanted to bring its ass into the courtroom, and lay it bare before the jury. It’s a good thing lady justice wears that blindfold." www.wired.com/story/musk-a...
wired.com
OpenAI Brings Its Ass to Court
In Musk v. Altman, the company claimed a remarkable trophy was physical proof of Elon Musk’s concerning behavior.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
When people in positions of authority are asked, "Do you think A.I. will kill jobs?" I think it would be useful if more of them said, "I don't know. It's complicated." Sam Altman does typically say a version of that. Many other business leaders don't. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Why the A.I. Job Apocalypse (Probably) Won’t Happen
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
This trial is so weird. "On Thursday, another member of the public sitting in the court put on a sleep mask and appeared to fall asleep soon after Musk’s testimony ended." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
washingtonpost.com
Elon Musk went to court. The judge wasn’t amused.
Elon Musk’s outsize reputation, provocative remarks and his friction with a federal judge have dominated the trial in his case against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
What would happen if banks and businesses that must deal with the fallout of imposter scams enabled by Google banded together to make these scams less common. The answer cannot be, rely on billions of humans to not fall for scams. We know how that ends. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...
wsj.com
The Simple Travel Scam That Cost a Seasoned Traveler Over $12,000
Make sure you are using official channels to talk with an airline and not an impostor.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Tech executives with their shoe-clad feet on sofas dot com.
Sam Altman, from a WSJ photo shoot, sitting upright on a red cushy sofa with one sneaker-clad foot tucked under him on the sofa and the other leg dangling off the edge of the sofa in front of him. Meta executive Adam Mosseri, from a NY Times photo shoot several years ago, perched on the arm of a beige sofa with his (apparently sockless) loafer-clad feet plonked on the seat of the sofa.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 23/04/2026
Let the record show that Elon Musk does not recall ingesting rhino ketamine at Burning Man in 2017 www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Excerpt from Musk's deposition
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Musk v. Altman has become a circus of dueling egotists and a glimpse into unflattering secrets of Silicon Valley VIPs. We read Elon Musk questioned about "rhino ketamine," a big MAGA donor dreaming about becoming a billionaire, and so many cringey texts. wapo.st/4sOqKUo
wapo.st
The unflattering secrets revealed so far in Elon Musk’s latest legal feud
Hundreds of court filings have revealed cringey texts, emails or private diary entries of Musk, Sam Altman, other OpenAI founders and other public figures.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
So wait. Did the eyeball scanning panopticon confuse Bruno Mars with unrelated Jared Leto band Thirty Seconds to Mars ? www.wired.com/story/sam-al...
wired.com
Sam Altman’s Orb Company Promoted a Bruno Mars Partnership That Doesn't Exist
“To be clear, we were never approached … nor were we in any discussions regarding a partnership or tour access,” a spokesperson for the artist tells WIRED.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
I won't believe in an A.I. future until Gmail stops putting literally the same newsletter into a different tab every single day.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Sorry, Citigroup laid off its AI evangelists due to AI? www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/b...
Among the recent job cuts at Citi were scores of employees who were part of the bank’s “A.I. Champions and Accelerators” program, according to the two people, who were not permitted by the bank to speak publicly. The program involves Citi employees who perform their day jobs while also working to persuade their colleagues to adopt A.I. technologies.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
I won't spoil the surprise of this glorious @caity.bsky.social investigation that made me laugh out loud and then feel profoundly sad within two paragraphs. But. Has anyone had an intervention about Caity's Diet Coke habit? www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
I Found It: The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America
Thirteen thousand miles. Infinite contenders. One beautiful loaf.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
The robot revolution is very very very laborious. "AI researchers record themselves folding clothes using robotic limbs." by @kevinschaul.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...
washingtonpost.com
The next great tech leap may be built on videos of people folding laundry
Tech firms aim to trigger a robot revolution with video of humans doing housework. Gig workers are paid up to $25 an hour to film themselves doing various tasks.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
A formerly highflying 2010s online shoe brand is dead, but the remnant ghost company is becoming an AI chip rental service. This encapsulates everything about Silicon Valley in the past 15 years. It's "we didn't start the fire" lyrics, but Allbirds. ir.allbirds.com/news-release...
ir.allbirds.com
Allbirds, Inc. Executes $50M Convertible Financing Facility Agreement; Announces Expansion into AI Compute Infrastructure | Allbirds, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following its prior announcement that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Allbirds brand and footwear assets to American Exchange Group, which intends to continue to build on Allbirds’ legacy and deliver compelling products to
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Look at the crumbling support among Virginians (America's first data center hot spot) for data centers: Q: Would you be comfortable or uncomfortable if a new data center were built in your community? 2023: 69% comfortable 2026: 35% comfortable www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Marry me, Richard Horner. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
{New Orleans chef and restaurateur} Horner’s demonic calculation for how many slices or rolls each table’s basket should contain is [Number of diners] + 1. Unevenly divisible bread creates “a tension that I really enjoy."
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Hurrah, a good story about the local news business! www.thebanner.com/economy/bann...
thebanner.com
Banner parent company to buy Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, staving off its closure
The Venetoulis Institute will acquire the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, converting it to a nonprofit to prevent the historic paper’s closure.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Really interesting story that is basically Jevons paradox, but for healthcare. And in America, more health care = more money = bad (?) www.statnews.com/2026/04/08/i...
statnews.com
Everyone agrees AI scribes are increasing health care costs. No one agrees what to do about it
Behind closed doors, health insurers and hospitals agree that AI scribes are bumping up health care costs. But, they don't agree on a solution.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
My version of a can't-miss reality show is OpenAI and Anthropic executives verbally flipping over tables about revenue recognition accounting. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
A memo from OpenAI's chief revenue officer, in the bullet points that diss Anthropic (right after saying we should focus on customers not competitors): 

Their stated run rate is inflated. They use accounting treatment that makes revenue look bigger than it is, including grossing up rev share with Amazon and Google. Our analysis shows that this overstates their run rate by roughly $8 billion (at the current $30 stated).We report Microsoft revshare net, which is more inline with standards we would be held to as a public company.
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Rebecca L. Bolam ✨️ @rebeccalbolam.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
To all the Cats who collectively assisted in the Splashdown portion of the Artemis II mission, including my Gonzo, I salute you and thank you for your service. #catsthatlovenasa #cats #nasa #artemisII
My cat tilting his head toward the Integrity module on the television as it parachutes toward splashdown.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/t... You'd think that if you search for the Grand Hotel Majestic in Bologna that Google would show more prominently a link to the Grand Hotel Majestic in Bologna. Nope. This is a perennial problem for travelers. Google knows it. The travel industry knows it.
When Elvira Schadlow, 85, of Ridgefield, Conn., was planning a trip to her native Italy in September 2024, she did a Google search for her favorite hotel: the five-star Grand Hotel Majestic in Bologna. She clicked on what looked like a link to the hotel’s website.

She called the number on that site, requesting an eight-night stay in a standard room. It should have run her less than $5,000, but instead, she was charged $16,559, including a whopping $4,276 in “taxes and fees,” for a suite.

Ms. Schadlow had fallen into one of the traps that readers of my Tripped Up column regularly complain about.

In two of these pitfalls, intermediaries trick customers into thinking they are dealing directly with a hotel, an airline or another travel provider, then slip in extra fees, tack on nights or unwanted upgrades, or make misleading promises.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is overseeing the Musk v. Altman lawsuit going to trial soon. She does not suffer fools. See this exchange with one of the lawyers in the case: Should be interesting how she handles the big personalities in court.
From a court transcript. The Court = Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
Mr. Molo = an attorney for Elon Musk

THE COURT: Okay. I'm going to stop you.

MR. MOLO: So, he is making these -- and at the same time --

THE COURT: So, Mr. Molo, when I say I'm going to stop you, I am trying to be nice as opposed to --

MR. MOLO: Take yes as an answer.
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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 09/04/2026
Hall of fame FT correction
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Between this and the recent Quinnipiac poll, it's glaring how much public opinion has soured on AI just in the last year. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/s...
“In most of these cases, Gen Z-ers have become increasingly skeptical, increasingly negative — from a place where even last year, they weren’t particularly positive about it,” said Zach Hrynowski, a senior education researcher for Gallup who worked on the survey.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
I did a Captcha wrong twice on the New York Times website, and I think this means I'm banned from New York and journalism.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The lesson here: U.S. digital privacy & security standards are so lax it's impossible to make informed consumer decisions about which like which routers (or connected doorbells, vacuums, etc) to buy. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/07/m...
bostonglobe.com
Home and office routers across US were targets of Russian hackers, Boston FBI office says - The Boston Globe
The FBI’s Boston office and the Department of Justice led a national action to disrupt Russian government hackers, the agencies said.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Modest proposal: No company (or news article or post) can use the words "run rate revenue" unless they explain how the run rate is calculated and if it's comparable to peers' calculation of this (bespoke and semi-fictional) number. www.anthropic.com/news/google-...
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
I keep thinking about these OpenAI lines from last week. I don't think it's true. AWS won because it was useful, not because it's owned by Amazon. Startup workplace tools like Slack were useful and sold smartly. People didn't use them at home first. openai.com/index/accele...
"The broad consumer reach of ChatGPT creates a powerful distribution channel into the workplace"Our consumer scale becomes the front door for enterprise usage, as familiarity in daily life drives adoption at work
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Tag yourself. I'm bottom left hand corner startled looking candy necklace lamb. www.reddit.com/r/Baking/com...
a 4 x 4 box of small images of attempted lamb-shaped Easter cakes that have violated the basic biomechanics of a lamb or any carbon based life form.The one in the lower left hand corner is a bit lumpy, chocolate lamb-ish shaped cake with ear-ish bits on the head, oddly startled looking yellow eyes, a smoothed snout and a candy necklace
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
The words "snake bros" will haunt me forever. Perfect story. Endless oddities. And the zoo keepers aren't getting paid enough. www.wired.com/snake-bros-a...
wired.com
Snake Bros Keep Getting Bitten by Their Lethal Pets. Only Zoos Can Save Them
Your venomous serpent bites you, and the clock is ticking. America’s zookeepers—and a cooler full of rare antivenom—are your best chance of survival.
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
We need @eliotwb.bsky.social & Maureen Farrell to weigh in on this. Maybe it's like WeWork bankrolling its own creator awards?
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Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Every generation of start-ups has its own fuzzy math. Groupon had ACSOI (earnings excluding very high marketing costs) WeWork had a similar "community adjusted Ebitda" I guess OpenAI and Anthropic have earnings excluding training costs (which are very very high) www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
wsj.com
An Inside Look at OpenAI and Anthropic’s Finances Ahead of Their IPOs
Silicon Valley’s hottest startups have the same challenge: funding giant computing costs.
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