First Person by Rituparno Ghosh

This is a collection of columns Ghosh wrote. He was a critically acclaimed director (and actor) of mostly Bengali films known for his aesthetics and sensitivity. On top of that, he was also an LGBTQ activist. I know a few people who used to be homophobes but changed their opinion after watching his works.

Yes. They allow us to take a peek at Moore’s mind. I remember how sound his idea about Anarchy was in V for Vendetta. He gives so much thought to everything he writes.

I think I like Sodom and Gomorrah the least. Proust’s view on homosexuality seems partial.

Manufacturing Consent is worth reading for its relevance. Two serious wars are going on and the media is still using the same formulas.

The Riddler is fun to read.

1. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman, Noam Chomsky
2. Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust
3. The Riddler: Year One by Paul Dano, Stevan Subić (Artist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

It is interesting to see the Pope using secular arguments instead of simply saying God won’t approve (which is completely valid from a religious perspective). The invocation of God in any serious opinion is silly, and now even religious leaders know that.

Obsidian.

In the case of current LLMs, we can tell. These LLMs are not black boxes to us. It is hard to follow the threads of their decisions because these decisions are just some hodgepodge of statistics and randomness, not because they are very intricate thoughts.

We can’t compare the outputs, probably, but compute the learning though. Imagine a human with all the literature, ethics, history, and all kind of texts consumed like that LLMs, no amount of trick questions would have tricked him to believe in racial cleansing or any such disconcerting ideas. LLMs read so much, and learned so little.

Yes. LLMs generate texts. They don’t use language. Using a language requires an understanding of the subject one is going to express. LLMs don’t understand.

Have you observed if this method of desensitization actually works or not?

I practically live among them. The only thing ever worked is education. Punching a person repeatedly doesn’t make him punch-resistant. Building fortitude is where we should focus our limited time and energy.

Is it necessary to burn any text?

Let’s say, you want to simply show your hate. Is it healthy?

Or, you want to fight against the hateful things preached in a text. Does a text, or philosophy get animated by itself? Can they really harm without the help of their followers? They can’t. Some must adhere to them. Burning won’t help. Ideas are not only bulletproof but burning proof too. If anything does, that is education.

Or, do you want to hurt the followers? Is hurting fine? Does every follower deserve the hurt you’re inflicting on them?

Or, do you want to people not follow that text? Well, hate never turned anyone toward one’s cause.

As a Bangladeshi I have the same thing to say. This is even unthinkable here. Not even students will find it appropriate here.

Yes. And it makes many sites more browsable in phone.

Using it since the last major revamp of Firefox Android on all my devices.

Using firefox exclusively on all my devices since the last major revamp of the Firefox Android.

One should share even good things (e.g. achievements) of children carefully. I’ve seen parents continuously sharing even minuscule achievements of their children and trying to prove how smart they are as parents, or the children are prodigies.

If they become underachievers (in comparison to how their parents portrayed them), they will find it very difficult to cope with. One shouldn’t burden children with one’s ambitions.

The best thing about Obsidian is it follows your flow, not the other way around. I moved from Joplin (for 2 reasons, No plugins in mobile and no metadata mechanism) and luckily I moved early before making too many notes to migrate.