Magpie Is Learning

@magpielaughs

Building Community is literally my job; former teacher, avid reader, sometimes writer, always parent, strategy/citybuilder/RPG gamer. If you promote AI in schools I will fight you. She/her/hers

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Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· 17d

I just read that Sailor is discontinuing Pro Gear Slim pens. Is that true? If so, I am so bummed! I love the balance Sailor strikes between the very serious, businesslike Pilots and the exuberant, over-the top Benus. A gold nib fountain pen that is pretty and just the right size? Please don’t go!

A photo of the cap of a Sailor Pro Gear Slim fountain pen I coveted but will never own. This one is from their 2023 limited edition Solar Terms collection in the hagi colorway. It’s a dusky pink, almost mauve, with a pale jade tip and gold accents. It combines playful femininity with refinement in a way that would be acceptable in an office setting. Now sold out everywhere.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· 24d

I mean, seriously. I put it on continuous scrolling and read the whole sentence on one page about 3 times and I think I finally get it, but whew! “Which did what lay in it” There’s no other way you could have phrased that, Dickens?

Tellson's Bank had a run upon it in the mail. As the bank passenger
—with an arm drawn through the leathern strap, which did what lay in it to keep him from pounding against the next passenger, and driving him into his corner, whenever the coach got a special jolt—nodded in his place, with half-shut eyes, the little coach-windows, and the coach-lamp dimly gleaming through them, and the bulky bundle of opposite pas-senger, became the bank, and did a great stroke of business.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Jul 11

Tried to log in to Bluesky from my desktop and hit the age assurance block. They are demanding my birthdate, credit card, or social, which I’m not giving them (Fuck You Bluesky) Don’t know how much longer my phone will be able to keep accessing the site. Love you guys.

• Age Assurance
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Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Jul 8

The University’s response to undeniable proof that students are not learning what they should be as a result of AI-enabled cognitive off-loading is sickening, if unsurprising. It’s very similar to the response we received when addressing cheating in our high school classrooms.

"The academic codes should speak to integrity, but also to the potential harms to student learning and personal growth," the report states. "Beyond the campus baseline regarding GenAl use, it is important that bright lines around misuse be enforced. As such, the academic codes should explicitly address high-level issues such as: is something in 'your own words' if GenAl provides grammatical improvements? Are the thoughts 'your own' if you formed them through a brainstorming exercise with GenAl in the same way you would engage a colleague in conversation? How do we apply the concepts of knowledge production, original research, citation and attribution in the context of GenAl?"

The committee also suggests that faculty "de-emphasize punishment" and avoid highly restrictive rules around generative Al use
"There is no way to check with 100 percent accuracy whether GenAl has been employed, and norms are likely to change in the years to come," the report states. "Moving the conversation beyond punishment also allows for open dialogue that will be necessary as Brown navigates this moment."

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Jun 5

Literally all of these except the dove were just the one extremely loud mockingbird sitting directly outside my office window this morning (I went outside to record because I was so amused by the virtuosity).

List of birds the Merlin app thought it heard this morning (nope -all mockingbird):
Broad-winged Hawk
Eastern Phoebe,
House Sparrow
Couch’s Kingbird
Lesser Goldfinch
Western Kingbird
Northern Mockingbird (starring in all of the above roles)
White-winged Dove (only other bird actually present this morning)

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· May 29

Just saw the cover inside the dust jacket for A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman and wanted to share it because it’s terrific: If you haven’t yet read Dungeon Crawler Carl, the series redeems itself despite the juvenile gross-out humor as a powerful anti-capitalist message in a fun package.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· May 10

Honestly they have me dead to rights. No defense for my poor circa 2012 earrings

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· May 8

Hands down most bananapants spam call I have ever received in my life. Escape from New York? Scarface with Pacino? What kind of nonsense 80s movie madlibs… Go home, spam call chatbot. You’re drunk.

Low confidence voicemail transcription:
Ф Report Spam
Transcript (low confidence)
Listen, Johnny Jones. Raleigh, what kind of listen would everybody watch in North Carolina to Miami, Florida? Alabama, and you got Cap Ghostbuster part 2, Bill Mary Dan that room escape from New York Kurt Raw going castcer wrest and Kurt Russell Scarface part one got Pacino. And home with some.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Apr 8

The anakin/padme meme format
Panel one Anakin says “you need to be in intensive care”
Panel 2 Padme laughs and says “so doctors are going to care for me, right?”
Panel 3 Anakin looks at Padme, unsmiling
Panel 4 Padme makes an unsettled, confused expression while recoiling: “there are doctors in intensive care, right?”

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

White daffodils blooming in the forest I planted with all kinds of early spring woodland bulbs for before the trees leafed out

Another bulb in my forest - this one is a delicate little crocus

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

Thread leaf coreopsis, dog fennel kept cut short, and wild bee balm

My front garden (all natives except the lavender) when it was a wee bairn

Sweet pepperbush blooms like crazy and has the most intoxicating, magical aroma

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

This thread is their memorial. Here, they can live forever, and maybe they will bring others joy - the way they brought me joy and pride. So brace yourselves for a bunch of random flowers, because I’m sad that they are gone.

Ice plant and petunias in warm gold, orange, and pink

A flower basket on my front porch with, frankly, a lot of different flowers. Some of them are French marigolds, lobelia, creeping sage, and more.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

I grew a lot of food in my garden. I had tomatoes and apple trees and cherry trees and blueberries and blackberries and raspberries and strawberries. But I also grew things just because their loveliness brought me joy.

Pink oak leaf hydrangea (near the end of the blooming season) in my garden

Columbine in the front, wallflowers and other wildflowers in the background

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

I spent all of my spare time in the garden - outside my house. I was fed by the sunshine and the smell of the earth and the humming of the bees. I felt loved there, and I poured love into the living things around me. I grew a lot of food to share with the forest.

Blackberries ripening in the sun.

I used to snack on these, staining my fingers purple, while I worked.

Unripened, growing blueberries. They did eventually ripen, but I guess I never took pictures.

A whole thicket of wild blueberry bushes laden with berries all around the edges of the forest

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

Yesterday, my husband told me he had commercial mowers take everything down, even my little blueberry garden with six blueberry bushes. All of the blackberry vines have been cut away too. No one loved the garden in my absence. So its memory lives on only in pictures. I wish I took more pictures.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 29

I moved to San Antonio to be closer to my parents as they age. I moved to San Antonio to have more career flexibility than I did in a rural NC county. I moved to get away from my husband who was inescapable in a small town. There are things I love about San Antonio But I miss my garden.

Purple Asters (New England, I think) blooming abundantly in a mulched bed with some gravel. You can catch a glimpse of Ralston Hardy Viburnum blooming just behind the asters in the upper right corner, salvia lyrata just below the upper left corner, and some moss phlox (which is always a little unhappy with me and threatening to brown) in the center left side.

Teeny tiny antique strawberries from my garden.
They are small and vibrantly red, and have a sweet, concentrated strawberry flavor. They are sitting on a wooden countertop.

A field of blue eyed grass. Very tiny purple blue flowers in a yard with a lot of ground cover species.

My front walk when I refreshed the flowers. Most of these are non-native annuals to supplement my garden full of mostly-native perennials, but I did get some more echinacea and another oak leaf hydrangea in addition to the begonias and marigolds.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Mar 22

Went to the migratory bird festival at Mitchell Lake with the kids this morning and my favorite photo of the day was a tree with no birds. The tones are so soft and gentle in this shot though

A photo of a tree with abundant pale pink blossoms. The background is a hazy blue grey, and the bottom right is a soft mixture of green and brown.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 26

The best part is that this incredible lecture is raising funds for good folks in Minnesota. If you enjoyed it, consider pitching in!

QR codes to donate to Local #17 Hardship Fund (left), Twin Cities ICE Relief Fund (center), and Marsha P. Johnson Fund (right).

QR code to donate to Twin Cities Ice Relief Fund:

Anna Stamborski works with a Latine-led organizing entity supporting families in South Minneapolis with rides, groceries and more. Since December it has grown from 3-5 requests a day to 80, including pleas for rent support, and is now the largest mutual aid network across the Twin Cities. They're now trying to raise $1.3 million to help 1,000 families pay their rent. Click the QR code to donate, then screencap or forward your receipt to postersmadness@gmail.com.

Minnesota's Hospitality Union represents 6,000+ workers statewide, primarily women, immigrants and people of color.
They're trying to raise $250,000 to provide food, rental assistance and mutual aid to over 200 members and their families every week. Click the QR code to donate, then screencap or forward your receipt to postersmadness@gmail.com.

QR code to donate.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 20

Perks of your college kid being Conservatory-adjacent: Her music instructor assigns her pieces that this dilettante doesn’t know and then I get to enjoy something new. Listening to Heifetz’s Bruch Concerto in G Minor while working this morning and it is knock-you-down, slap-your-knee fantastic.

Screenshot of the album cover for Heifetz’s recording of Bruch’s Concerto in G Minor and Mozart’s Concerto in D Minor. It is legit so fun to listen to.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 15

Oof just squeaked by this intimidation check. I’ve gotta do something about this negative charisma.

An intimidation check requiring a 10, for which I rolled a 10 exactly.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 15

I’m guessing that whole ‘alien abduction’ story IS a tough pill to swallow, actually. Fair enough.

A screenshot of a persuasion check - a very easy persuasion check that I rolled with advantage- that I nevertheless failed miserably in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 15

Saved a lady from getting splatted by a Bugbear Assassin and I could swear Dave looks taken aback at her quite rude response. #BG3

A screenshot shot of a silver Dragonborn with an unflattering leather helmet looking a little disapproving. Gale is giving stinkeye in the background.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 15

Woo yeah everyone (including the jerk mercenary guys who lost Halsin) lived! Tactician is… Actually really fun! (I reserve the right to regret my decisions later when I have actually tough fights lol)

My team (Dave the Dragonborn Fighter Durge, Laezel, Gale, and Astarion) glean the spoils of their victory by looting goblin corpses in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 14

Balding some Gates tonight in my first Tactician playthrough and I’m feeling slightly better about it now that we’ve picked up Gale, Astarion, and Laezel. I’m reloading the fight at the Druid Gates because one of those mercenaries keeps getting killed by the Goblins and Everyone Must Live #BG3

Gale buffing the gang with longstrider before we fight some Goblins in BG3

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 11

Even the network news media feels compelled to call this man out on his reckless folly:

Text from the article on NBC News.com:

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, has downplayed the benefits of vaccines and has singled out vaccines made with mRNA as particularly dangerous, calling the mRNA Covid vaccine "the deadliest vaccine ever made."
Numerous studies have shown the mRNA vaccines are safe and effective. A 2023 analysis in JAMA Pediatrics reviewed 17 studies covering more than 10 million children ages 5 to 11 who got Pfizer's or Moderna's Covid vaccines. Vaccinated kids had a lower risk of infection and hospitalization compared to those who weren't vaccinated.
In August, the Department of Health and Human Services canceled nearly $500 million in funding into mRNA vaccine research.
Several states have introduced legislation to ban mRNA vaccines.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 9

Finished my second play through of Baldur’s Gate 3 (it takes me more than 6 months per play through on average) and was feeling pretty confident after doing a monk and a Druid on Balanced. Fired up a new character (Durge Fighter) on Tactician last night and lol. I am not good at this game.

A screenshot of my Durge Fighter, Dave, in the very beginning of the game. He is a very pretty silver Dragonborn with blue eyes and a standard fighter armor set (leather and chain link) in a gross brain-inspired environment.

Dave the Durge’s handsome dragon face. He’s gazing off slightly to the right with an expression I’m choosing to read as resigned but heroic determination. He has a little blood on his collar.

A screenshot of my Durge Fighter, Dave, in the very beginning of the game. He is a very pretty silver Dragonborn with blue eyes and a standard fighter armor set (leather and chain link) in a gross brain-inspired environment.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 6

Bedtime stories were extra fun/traumatic tonight 💀🐳

A photograph of a page from Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide

The text reads:

And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming toward me very fast? Very, very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide-sounding name like... ow... ound... round... ground! That's it! That's a good name ground!
I wonder if it will be friends with me?

And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence.

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 5

For those who were confused by the reference to “Shakespeare’s” Sir Thomas More, Wikipedia addresses it in a section on authorship of the play:

A screenshot of the Authorship section of the Wikipedia article (which continues after the screenshot)

Authorship
i
The manuscript is a complicated text containing many layers of collaborative writing, revision, and censorship. Scholars of the play think that it was originally written by playwrights Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle and some years later heavily revised by another team of playwrights, including Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, and William Shakespeare.
The most common identifications for the six
hands:
• HAND S - Anthony Munday, the original manuscript;
• HAND A - Henry Chettle;
• HAND B - Thomas Heywood;
• HAND C - A professional scribe who copied out a large section of the play;
• HAND D - William Shakespeare;
• HAND E - Thomas Dekker.
Munday, Chettle, Dekker, and Heywood wrote for the Admiral's Men durina the years before…

Magpie Is Learning@magpielaughs· Feb 4

Had a terrific time at the Stardew Valley Symphony of Seasons at San Antonio’s gorgeous Majestic Theater tonight. A relatively small ensemble made a surprisingly big sound! The crowd was enthusiastic (and young - when did 40s become old?). A very good Tuesday night.