Kathleen > Recent Status Updates

Deft foreshadowing but still MARXXX NOOO

I am mad that Sam knew about the handcuffs and said nothing. I am mad that Sadie enjoys crafting people into villains in her own mind and stewing on it. I am in love with how deeply Sam loves Sadie. Not sure if she realizes yet how to return it

Such happiness and triumph with such dark overtones… Sam, Sadie needs you

The description of game development as an artistic endeavor is really moving. The stakes are definitely raised for Sadie, though. I’m not a fan of how her friends understood that a predator had reentered her life and chose to look the other way

The flash-forwards and flashbacks are so seamless. They follow each character’s train of thought, so you don’t readily note that you’re traveling in time. Stunning

Keep the term definitions coming! 😅 Interested to learn more later about for which types of data / real-life applications each type of model is most relevant

Oh my. So stark and pure. The first epoch could itself have been a masterful short story.

Oh no. Is Anahita Penny’s latest rendition of Yvette from Still Pines? How is “young, isolated, and most self-absorbed when faced with life-or-death decisions” a character type anyone wanted repeated

“Calligraphy is not handwriting.” Interesting advice! Thorpe suggests that thinking too hard about the sense of what you’re drawing can distract from focus on how letters look in relation to each other, and to practice nonsensical letter combinations or in foreign languages to drill style & form before substance

Persevere through Chapter 2. It’s a lot of definitions and mathematical notation without context yet. But the book is cumulative, so annotating as you go and making the effort to follow the progression of concepts makes a difference for decoding algorithmic design techniques outlined later

I have now started three different volumes of this book and I don’t even mind. It makes all the difference to be scribbling / highlighting over your own paperback copy 🎨

Is there a version of The Odyssey where we discover that Odysseus is just a compulsive and colorful liar, and all these fantastical stories he’s told as a visitor to kings and swineherds are complete fantasies?

Allen & Parnes “HRC” should be required reading before this mystery. The parallels between their real-life retelling of the backbiting politics of the early Obama administration with Clinton as Secretary of State lend credence to fictional Secretary Adams’ experiences in these first chapters. Also, props for finding a creative way to express yourself, co-author 😉

Est importante de comprendre que Friday - qui Ramatolaye vient à tuer - est bélier, pas personne 😅

How Li recognized AlexNet as a significant development when paired with ImageNet: “It had the hallmark of every great breakthrough: the veneer of lunacy wrapped around an idea that just might make sense.” 😁 The persistence it required to get to recognized reward is humbling

What also stands out is Li’s everpresent sense of awe & wonder about the complexity of the phenomena she studies. How enamored she is with ideas of how to comprehend human vision. It’s wonderful to carry such a spark. And incredible of her mother to continue with bolster her with the resolve to dream

Practicing strokes and single letters while I scour Nairobi for proper supplies. Apparently I’m working with a broad-tip fountain pen using a pointed-tip dip pen calligraphy book (you really can’t win)

It’s impossible not to be tracking Nolan’s film adaptation as we listen Homer’s original. Todd and I agree that giving the crew more speaking roles in the film avoids the paternalistic attitude original Odysseus has towards his cannon fodder sailors. You CAN see why original Odysseus was skeptical of this whole « welcome strangers » thing after all the horrible welcomes he’d experienced on other islands

And we have commenced the Odyssey! Telemachus’ Bildungsroman starts with his telling his mother off for speaking in public… 😅 Menelaus’ homeward story is one I hadn’t heard before. And Nestor across the two epics is, I think, my favorite character. Still alive and supposedly a good dad

Refreshing how multifaceted Li is. Her leap of insight about training AI models ultimately derived from diverse interests across biology, physics, and computer science… with art and classic literature thrown in

Not gonna lie, I did flip back to Bond’s torture scene in the Casino Royale movie for comparison. Bond in the novel is suitably battered and less quippy than Daniel Craig through the process 😅

On est condamné à refaire les mêmes fautes que nos amis à moins que d’apprendre… 🫣 Plus jamais d’ados enceintes s’il vous plait!

What Bond really thinks of women is revealed when one of them gets herself “carelessly” kidnapped 😅

Ooh the high drama of escalating bets! And our first hidden gun gadget

Had to look up what baccarat is: clever to change the game to poker for the movie. We just met Vesper Lynd and heard her (well, for the moment it’s James’) signature martini described. Mathis is adorably, excitably voiced by Armitage. Short chapters keep the pacing fast even early in the book

Shoutout to NJ public school teachers. Both Maria Ressa and Fei Fei Li cited specific educators whose special attention helped them adjust to high school as an immigrant and gave them the confidence that boosted them to attending Princeton. Predictably, I cried when Li describes instantly recognizing the black & orange shield on her acceptance envelope 🥹🐯

Ah! I can’t take the plot twists now! Is Irratino alive or dead? Is it all Dame Obsidian’s fault or President Midnight’s? On the upside I finally have a method down to testing false statements, presuming I don’t myself make an error in recording the clues 😆

A curious child emboldened by parents willing to quietly rebel against convention becomes a world-leading human-centered AI expert. Interested to learn how Li’s budding passion for physics turns to the digital world

Reanimation and medical cannibalism… NOPE. Not for me. Perhaps the only silver lining is we meet saintly Chinese translator Sandy Won, who helps Roach ask insulting questions and investigate Chinese cannibalism rumors while traveling in Southwest China

Chapter on brain-dead, « beating-heart » cadavers is probably Roach’s best so far. The ethical line here does feel more murky and subjective than other cases assembled