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Webster Ford

@websterford.bsky.social
918 followers 827 following 225 posts

Fling yourselves in the fire, die with a song of spring. // "What am I, chopped liver?"

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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Where have I seen this before?
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I hate that I understand what this means
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Reposted by Webster Ford
William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
remember: it saved no net money, social services US citizens are getting cut, and left the US in a weaker place geopolitically. none of the debates about fiscal responsibility, obligation to US citizens first, or 'hard choices' actually apply. they're all bullshit. killed people for nothing at all.
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Nope, they were like, "peace and stability for sure, sign me up!"
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
And it's not like one could reasonably expect chaos, given that they voted into office an insurrectionist who directly caused a ransacking of the U.S. Capitol, among other things!
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Who would've thought he was going to do tariffs?
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Quick reminder before we all spiral into a panicked frenzy
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Reposted by Webster Ford
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A lot of universities will be facing big deficits and looking to cure what ails them. I just want them to be thoughtful about it.
Screenshot of article which reads: At the same time, new job-focused majors may not be sustainable — and can even backfire. Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, pointed to the rise in computer-science degrees in the 2010s. At the time, they seemed like the best way to secure a high-paying salary after graduation, she said. But with the rise of generative artificial intelligence, computer-science jobs are increasingly hard to find, and enrollment in such programs is falling significantly.
“When you tie the viability, the financial viability in particular, of an institution really tightly to jobs creation on that scale,” especially as a four-year institution, she said, “you have to be really careful, because you can find that in 10 years that program that you poured all your money into — worthless.”
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Are we developing a distaste for effort? - www.ft.com/content/b30e... via @FT
ft.com
Are we developing a distaste for effort?
Across OECD countries, the number of students who say they give up easily is increasing
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Aww, come on, don't you want to read Part 2?
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Impeachable crimes daily
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Come down and disintegrate with me We're cut down like the daisies, like the tall poppies
youtube.com
Suede - Disintegrate (Official Video)
YouTube video by Suede HQ
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
economist.com
This article wasn’t written by an AI. So what if it had been!
It’s great that bots can help poor writers say what they want to for a fraction of the cost of a ghostwriter, argues Ryan Jacobs
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
youtube.com
Depeche Mode - My Favourite Stranger (Vinegar Hill Sessions)
YouTube video by DepecheModeVEVO
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Reposted by Webster Ford
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
if it took you 5 seconds of contemplation to think of an alternative you should take at least another 5-10 to at least consider the possibility that it at least crossed the minds of 1 or 2 of the people who dedicate their lives and research careers to dealing with the problems we post about on here
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The Tim Robinson reference is just sublime
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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 07/09/2026
Writing some scientific workflow slides for this week’s MPTC class.
Research workflow for those branches of the sciences where the important thing is to become famous.
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Then again, Eisenhower did warn us against the power of the military/ballroom complex
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Supreme Court expansion looking better every day!
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
nytimes.com
Opinion | Even Elite Colleges Have Become Trade Schools
Short-term return on investment is an impoverished view of a college education.
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I think you're guilty of insufficient nuance
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Is it time to liquidate economics? Political science? Physics? History? Biology? Chemistry? Engineering? 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️ No one asks dumb questions like this about the other academic disciplines they like. Also, let’s not use the word “liquidate” like this. Maybe you can read some sociology to figure out why.
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Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
This chart of how scores dropped when an econ prof. switched from take-home midterm to proctored in-person final sadly tracks with what I've seen. Why I've thought people (especially STEM profs) have had their head in the sand about LLMs and academia... www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
ECON 1170 Midterm & Final Scores
After Serrano made the final in-person, 18 students dropped the class and nine students did not take the exam. The scores of the remaining 59 students are displayed here.

Midterm ScoreFinal Exam Score

Chart shows virtually every final score being dramatically lower than the midterm scores
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
"A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." Happy 4th!
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
newrepublic.com/post/212101/...
newrepublic.com
If Obama Had Done What Trump Just Did on Iran, He’d Be Crucified
The United States just unambiguously lost a war that it started for no good reason. A sane country would remove the imbecile who did this immediately.
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
ft.com
We need to learn how to argue with AI
Putting humans in the loop is pointless if they simply rubber-stamp authoritative-sounding information
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Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Keep the social sciences in NSF !! 40 organisations told Congress that losing the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences division of NSF could "lead to “long-lasting, potentially permanent” damage to national research as a whole" www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
theatlantic.com
The Trump Administration Is Done With Social Science
The National Science Foundation division that covers social, behavioral, and economic sciences is in the crosshairs.
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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
“the most immediate risk is “mediocrity at scale,” a flood of work that isn’t wrong enough to dismiss but isn’t interesting enough to advance anything.” @pardoguerra.bsky.social pardoguerra.org/2026/05/09/i...
pardoguerra.org
It’s time to get rid of the peer-reviewed paper
The peer-reviewed journal article, perhaps the single most important device behind the expansion of scientific knowledge in the last century, is an extraordinarily expensive way to share novelty: e…
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Is the Biggest Culprit for High Health Care Spending
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
They probably believe in the idea of hard power in the abstract, and even like it aesthetically, they just can't make it work
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Astounding yet pretty easy to imagine once you consider that the administration does not understand, or believe in, the idea of "soft power"
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Think about the efficiency of all the money they spent on the metaverse
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Loving "jurisprudential prolapse"
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
youtube.com
Noir Désir - Le Vent Nous Portera (Clip Officiel)
YouTube video by NoirDesirVEVO
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
I mean where else is the Secretary of State supposed to be?
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
The Art of the...oh, never mind, I guess.
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Deeply and profoundly ashamed to be American on a daily basis as of late
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
If the leader of another country spoke in these violent and unhinged tones, our media would likely see it for what it is. But because it is our President doing so, even the most outrageous, inhumane things must be normalized.
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
This "lethality"...is it in the room with us right now?
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
nytimes.com
Opinion | There’s a Good Reason You Can’t Concentrate
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Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
2010s: a startup worth $1 billion is a vanishingly rare thing (a "unicorn") 2026: a company that makes AI collars for cows is worth $ 2 billion www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Thiel’s Founders Fund Backs AI Cow Collar Startup at $2 Billion Valuation
Halter, a startup making artificial intelligence-powered collars for cows, is in talks to raise a new funding round that would double its valuation to more than $2 billion, according to people familia...
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
And business school faculty
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
economist.com
In praise of grunt work
AI promises to eliminate drudgery. Careful what you wish for
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
As for "broad brushing", one can make claims about groups that are true in a statistical sense without said claims needing to apply to you specifically in a country of 300+ million people
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Good for you! But the fact remains that most small business owners, particularly white business owners, vote Republican. There's data on this! www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/clo...
gsb.stanford.edu
A Closer Look at Small Business Owners Reveals Their Political Preferences
New research finds that small business owners represent a distinct, Republican-leaning constituency.
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
You are correct. Then again, the relevant question is: these business owners who are complaining to the press...who did THEY vote for?
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
It's the same old story playing out all over again: small business owners vote Republican, Republicans deport their workers youtube.com/shorts/6nFUC...
youtube.com
Business owner who voted for Trump says ICE detained a third of his employees
YouTube video by NBC News
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Louisiana business owners, primarily
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Webster Ford @websterford.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Who did y'all vote for? Oh, right.
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