2026-01-11 15:53:05
First, I gave a talk at University of Austin and also had some meetings there, including with students. My talk was a practical guide on how to use AI to offer courses that a college or university otherwise cannot afford (especially important for smaller institutions). I believe they will be putting it online.
My general sense was that U. Austin undergraduates are on a par with undergraduates at top five schools. I do not think on the technical side they would compete with Stanford or MIT, but more generally…they were very impressive and asked excellent questions with real curiosity. And seemed politically saner than typical Ivy League cohorts, though without being “mono” in any particular direction. Here is Arnold Kling on UATX and its students.
The school does admissions by SAT scores only.
Austin is also one of my favorite places to eat in the United States. It is especially strong in areas of import to me, including barbecue, cheeseburgers, and Tex-Mex. Just ask your local friendly LLM…
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2026-01-11 13:33:49
Basketball Expert (Fans, Journalist, Commentator, etc.)
Role Overview
We’re looking for Basketball experts — avid fans, sports journalists, commentators, and former or semi-professional players — to evaluate basketball games. You’ll watch basketball games and answer questions in real time assessing the quality, depth, and accuracy of AI insights, helping us refine our AI’s basketball reasoning, storytelling, and strategic understanding.
Key Responsibilities
Game Evaluation: Watch basketball games and review AI-generated play-by-play commentary and post-game analysis.
Performance Scoring: Rate the accuracy, insight, and entertainment value of AI sports coverage.
Context & Understanding: Assess the AI’s grasp of player performance, game flow, and strategic decisions.
Error Detection: Identify factual mistakes, poor interpretations, or stylistic inconsistencies.
Feedback Reporting: Provide clear written feedback highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and improvement opportunities.
Collaboration: Work with analysts and developers to enhance the AI’s basketball-specific reasoning and realism.
From Mercor, pays $45 to $70 an hour. For background on Mercor, see my very recent CWT with Brendan Foody. Via Mike Rosenwald, wonderful NYT obituary from him here.
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2026-01-11 08:22:54
I do not know much about what is going on, or not going on, but comments are open if you have something to add…
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2026-01-11 08:20:19
Surprisingly, analysts foresee a possible rise of more than 2 percent in the budget category known as basic research — the blue-sky variety that produces fundamental strides and spinoffs in fields such as health care and artificial intelligence. Last year, the Trump administration called for a cut in federal basic research of more than one-third.
Mr. Trump sought even larger cuts for the National Science Foundation, which sponsors much of the nation’s basic research. He proposed that its budget be slashed to $3.9 billion from $8.8 billion, a drop of 56 percent. The Senate package countered with a reduction to $8.75 billion, or less than 1 percent.
The bipartisan accord on funding science, Ms. Zimmermann said, stands in sharp contrast with the congressional impasse that shut down the government last fall as Democrats and Republicans clashed over the renewal of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.
“They’re working together now,” she said. “It’s a return to normalcy.” The new cooperation, Ms. Zimmermann added, is “promising for the eventual passage of the bills.”
Here is the full NYT article.
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2026-01-11 02:31:53
Third was the bleak labour market for newly minted PhD economists, which Wendy Stock of Montana State University told me could be one of the toughest ever. Hiring freezes helped to halve the number of US full-time academic postings between 2019 and 2025. In the most recent year alone, listings fell by more than during the Great Recession. And according to the most recent comparable data, since 2019 recruitment has shrivelled faster for economists than philosophers or linguists. Oof.
Here is the full FT piece, oof throughout.
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2026-01-11 00:46:29
1. A new approach to pain management?
2. Geoengineering the ocean? (NYT)
3. Some dogs learn words by eavesdropping on the conversations of humans (NYT). I know one such dog.
4. John Ford’s American justice.
6. A practical guide to a PhD in economics.
7. GronlandsBANKEN.
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