Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Plus ca change! The meme chose is the substance-free spreadsheet that'll be judged purely on formatting. The ca change is that today there's a trillion-parameter model doing the auto-fill. youtu.be/HegoJaXOIqQyoutu.beMicrosoft Excel Elevator Ad (1990s)YouTube video by Microsoft 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 20/09/2026I know Danny Concannon supposedly got substantive stuff out of his time in the White House press corps, but does anyone nonfictional? 001
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I like how when pilots tell you the weather, it’s mostly wind speed and direction and visibility. Like how waiters tell you where the produce is sourced from. Like, don’t alienate my labor! 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 16/09/2026I once saw it used to mean unsurpassed: “As a catsitter, Kerry is NONPLUSSED!” 440
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Hooray for the NYT cryptic! Neither M nor I can finish alone, but it falls before the pair of us like a Monday regular. 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 16/08/2026Caribou on the alpine tundra on Mont Jacques-Cartier in Quebec 020
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 28/07/2026Okay, I went down this rabbit hole a bit. Might be a Yiddish thing! Look at the final two comments on this blog post (languagehat.com/the-slang-of...) and the final and antepenultimate comments on this post (motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/t...). 101
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 16/07/2026Just occurred to me that one key to working well with an LLM is, ironically, theory of mind 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 01/06/2026Bad is stronger than good: assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71516...assets.csom.umn.edu 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 02/04/2026Because the only thing they value is money, and forests are just illiquid money. morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/breaking-t...morethanjustparks.substack.comBREAKING: Trump Administration Orders Dismantling of the U.S. Forest ServiceThe headquarters is going to Utah. Every regional office is being shuttered. The research program is being destroyed. 001
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Very interested lately in people (men, really) who wear suits, even now well into the biz-casual era. I think many are security guards. 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 16/03/20262/2 Most people are going to remember him for the Population Bomb and maybe the Bet. Some will know him as the grandfather of conservation biology. I bet most who knew him personally will remember Paul Ehrlich as really, genuinely funny and a marvelously entertaining dinner host. 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 16/03/20261/2 Paul Ehrlich was my first PhD advisor. He told me during our first conversation: you can always divorce your first wife, but you can never change who your first PhD advisor was. I did change labs a couple years later (not because of him), and I’m still married to my first wife. 111
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 13/03/2026I usually like the New Yorker’s fastidiousness, but c’mon. Either call it French and italicize it, or admit it’s English and call it paper mashay. 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 21/02/2026I love how honest this NYT forecast is about its unhelpfulness. Peak forecast is around 1 in. But there’s enough probability in the tail that there’s a decent chance of a huge snowstorm. 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 19/02/2026There’s so much talk about early warning systems, cooling centers, etc. All super important, definitely! But with so much money and attention reallocated to adaptation from mitigation, it all feels like we’ve seen the iceberg and are handing out lifejackets—instead of turning the ship. 120
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 19/02/2026Found my first AI-caused bug. It missed an important edge case. Feels like a rite of passage. (And to be clear: I didn't use the AI. I use only my wits.) 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 17/02/2026Such a technocrat perspective! "Daunting but doable." Certainly governments *can* make and implement adaptation plans--but no matter how much happens, people will suffer more punishing heatwaves, droughts, flash floods, and wildfires. www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.com‘Daunting but doable’: Europe urged to prepare for 3C of global heatingAdvisory board member says adapting is ‘not rocket science’ but Europe already paying price for lack of preparation 023
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 13/02/2026So, after all the impunity talk, turns out maybe there’s room under the bus after all! www.politico.com/news/2026/02...politico.comICE says federal agents appear to have lied about confrontation that led to shootingOfficers claimed they were attacked, prompting one to open fire. 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 13/02/2026I’d pay a decent amount of money for an easy way to take good moon pics with my phone. 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Twice this week I’ve heard someone say “chicken and egg” to refer to some mutual-cause complication. No. There’s a correct answer to which came first: the egg! No chicken ever emerged from a nonchicken egg. A chicken egg—via a mutation!—came from a nonchicken, and from it emerged the first chicken. 020
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 28/01/2026How does AI kill us all? It need not be anything so dramatic as Skynet. www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...npr.orgThe Trump administration has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rulesThe rewrite was done to speed up the construction of a new generation of nuclear reactors. Critics warn it could compromise safety and public trust. 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Not loving that it took the murders of white bystanders to get those Senators to oppose funding ICE. Like, that’s where their line is. 000
Reposted by Ted WongZach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 21/01/2026Full wicked burn here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/unifie... #smbc 620137
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 08/01/2026The evidence seems pretty solid. The killer's name is Jonathan Ross. May he know no peace.startribune.comStar Tribune identifies ICE agent who fatally shot woman in MinneapolisJonathan Ross was dragged in a separate incident last year by a fleeing driver, according to court records. 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 08/01/2026Thank glob for the bystanders whose phone videos preemptively debunked the Trumpies' narrative. I'm a phones-everywhere-always skeptic, but these days it's hard to understate the power of everyone walking around with the ability to broadcast actual facts to the world. 000
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Nirvana -> Bowie really opened things up on the tail end, walkwise. Longest path length went from 10 to 13. Also: David Byrne and Whitney Houston creating a new path to Dolly Parton. #XPNCountdown #SuchFascinatingInsights #ProcrastinationCoding 020
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Loving the #XPNCountdown, and hooray @wxpnfm.bsky.social for posting the song list! Natural question, which I know everyone is asking: what's the longest walk, where a walk is "Artist A covered Artist B, who covered Artist C, who..."? Based on the songs so far (#28 and up) I get this 10-step path. 250
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 01/12/2025Back when I taught, I told students that conservation isn’t about indiv animals. But I just saw this cutie smash into a store window—and I tried to help it. Carried it several blocks bundled in my hat, but it eventually perked up and fluttered off. Alas window strikes are extra lethal for woodcocks. 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 21/03/2025How hot is it? Important but complicated question.wri.orgBeyond the Thermometer: 5 Heat Metrics That Drive Better Decision-MakingLand surface temperature, air temperature, heat index, wet bulb globe temperature and thermal comfort indices can be used for different purposes when measuring heat. 010
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 14/03/2025Well, here’s one apt-looking scenarionytimes.comMany Chinese See a Cultural Revolution in America (Gift Article)People in China are expressing alarm at what looks like a familiar authoritarian turn in the United States, their longtime role model for democracy. 111
Ted Wong @tedwong.bsky.social · 12/03/2025Saving the world means changing behaviorswri.orgWe're Not Adapting to Climate Change Fast Enough. Behavioral Science Could Help.Adaptation is too small, slow and scattered to address the enormity of the climate crisis. But behavioral science could help spur action on a larger scale. 010
Reposted by Ted WongMichelle Amazeen @commscholar.bsky.social · 04/03/2025📰 News or Ad? 🌍 Our 🚨new study🚨 in npj Climate Action reveals how native ads from big oil mislead readers on #ClimateChange. We found that disclosures and #inoculation messages can help combat this #disinformation. A 🧵…1/6 rdcu.be/eb9IO 22214
Reposted by Ted WongStand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 02/03/2025WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MARCH 7TH!? Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one! #standupforscience2025 7722471152