Some stats about ChatGPT: ChatGPT crossed one million users within a week of its launch. In the first month of its launch, ChatGPT had more than 57 million monthly users. ChatGPT crossed the 100 million users milestone in January 2023. 13 million individual active users visited ChatGPT per day as of January 2023. This doesn't ...continue reading "ChatGPT is going to get very good very fast"
John McWhorter writes this week about the changes made by the College Board to the African American Studies AP test between its original draft and the final curriculum outline: The board claimed that the changes were responses to “the input of professors” and “longstanding A.P. principles.” I am unconvinced, to say the least, especially given ...continue reading "Here’s a clearer take on whether Florida affected the African American Studies AP test"
A couple of years ago I became pretty skeptical of the panic over social media. No matter how obvious the harms of social media might seem, especially to us oldsters, the evidence just wasn't there. This became especially obvious to me in late 2021 when the media wildly misreported the leaked Instagram survey of teen ...continue reading "Yet another look at social media and teen depression"
This is Charlie examining some dead leaves hanging from the underside of a little teak table in our backyard. I believe he finally had to eat one before being convinced that they were really pretty yucky.
Here's the growth rate of outstanding credit card balances in the United States: Growth has been steadily accelerating over the past eight quarters, which suggests that consumers are keeping up their high spending levels only by relying on plastic. That can't continue unless wages start to grow significantly, something the Fed is determined to prevent. ...continue reading "Raw data: Total outstanding credit card balance"
With today's capitulation by Sen. Rick Scott, Joe Biden has now managed to trick the entire Republican Party into becoming Democrats on the subject of Social Security and Medicare. All of Congress is now completely opposed to any cuts in these programs. This doesn't mean anything in the long run, of course, since Republicans will ...continue reading "Joe Biden’s Social Security trap is now complete"
I would like to ask a question that is rarely asked: How are our 40-year-olds doing? Here's the thing. We've been obsessing forever about how our kids are doing. Every generation is convinced that schools are failing our children and our kids are growing up unable to read, do math, or understand civics. It is ...continue reading "How are our 40-year-olds doing?"
According to a legal filing from Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing Fox News, many of Fox's top stars were contemptuous of claims that Donald Trump had been cheated out of the 2020 election. Among those stars was Tucker Carlson. But that didn't matter to him: On Nov. 12, in a text chain with Ms. ...continue reading "Fox News can’t handle the truth. Literally."
I've written approvingly about phonics before, and a few days ago Nick Kristof did too. This started up a bit of chatter about how we teach our kids to read. The background for this is twofold: In the longer term, it's part of the Reading Wars, which began in its modern incarnation with the publication ...continue reading "Let’s declare an end to the Reading Wars"
Earlier today I put up a chart showing that feelings of sadness and hopelessness in teens had jumped dramatically over the past four years. Keeping in mind that this jump happened in 2019—i.e., after social media and before COVID—I wondered what was going on. Here's another chart—this time just for girls, who display much higher ...continue reading "Another look at the epidemic of depression among teen girls"
This is the Paris Opera House as seen from the roof of the Galleries Lafayette department store. The Eiffel Tower is in the far distance, photo bombing everything in its path as usual.
Yesterday I was reading a column in the Washington Post by Kate Woodsome about the mental health of American teenagers, and it was, as usual, startling. American teens seem to be in terrible shape. In particular, Woodsome shared a CDC chart showing that more than half of teen girls experience "persistent feelings of sadness or ...continue reading "Why has teen mental health fallen off a cliff recently?"
This is the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial as seen from the Inlet Bridge across the Tidal Basin. It was a very quickly taken panorama since the bridge is narrow and there's nowhere to park nearby.
I arrived at City of Hope at 6 am this morning; got a catheter installed; and then went downstairs to the apheresis room. That's where I am currently, waiting patiently as a big machine pulls T-cells out of my blood. It looks like I've produced about a quarter of a bag so far. When we're ...continue reading "Health update"
A surprising number of people are convinced that the College Board, which administers AP tests, caved in to Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education over their demands to water down the new African American Studies AP course. And maybe they did. God knows the College Board isn't above such things. But I doubt ...continue reading "Ron DeSantis vs. the College Board"
From Politico: The Senate hit a major judicial milestone for President Joe Biden's administration by confirming his hundredth federal court nominee. The chamber voted 54-45 to confirm Gina Méndez-Miró to be U.S. district court judge for Puerto Rico. The breakdown: The roster of confirmed nominees includes 69 district court judges, 30 circuit court judges and, ...continue reading "Biden hits the 100 judge mark"
A few weeks ago Florida schools started temporarily removing books from their libraries so they could check them individually to make sure they complied with a new bill that restricts content for kids. Among the one million titles that have been removed from shelves in Duval County is Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates. ...continue reading "In which I give Ron DeSantis a break"
There was no good news on inflation today. According to the latest BLS figures, headline CPI jumped to 6.4% in January while core CPI increased slightly to 5.1%. As usual, monthly data is volatile, so the trendline is the better thing to look at. It's still moving in the right direction. Measured year-over-year—which is the ...continue reading "Inflation jumps higher in January"
We all know it's really aliens, right? And they're here to help Joe Biden win the election. Naturally I'm on Team Aliens myself, but I can hardly blame conservatives for being pissed about the whole thing.
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