We don’t do it because it’s easy, but because we must.
Slightly above galactic plane
Joined November 2022
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Rachel V retweeted
Apparently many people found this list useful, so apart from @dustinthedad’s recommendations, what I’d add:
Start more challenging books a bit earlier if you can. E.g. last month our 6yo read “The mouse and the motorcycle” as part of her K-2 book club. She didn’t read it on her own, but did read part of it by herself, and the rest was a great bonding experience with her papa. Also, right now I’m reading “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” to her, she’s just had the chance to meet our favorite potion master. Sorry @jk_rowling, she’s not fluent enough to read it by herself yet, but I guess it’s also our own failure to teach her all nuances of British English so far. We’re working on it too though.
Which leads me to advice #2: introduce your children to a wider vocabulary range earlier if you can, including different flavors of English. So make sure to include Sir Walter Scott in your list, among other epic writers. And all the classics too, but don’t wait until middle school to do that, even if you feel the language sounds a bit dated. It may or it may not, but it’s irrelevant: if you don’t build your kids’ vocabulary scope early enough, you’ll make it harder for them to get into more challenging books by themselves down the road.
The Hobbit belongs to a primary school selection. I don’t care what modern charts tell you, I read it around the time I turned 9yo and I was the dumb one in the family.
By the way, Brave New World belongs to a middle school selection; I was 13 or 14 when we read it in school. I most probably didn’t fully understand it, but as I said, I was the dumb one in the family.
One thing kinda missing from Dustin’s list: foreign classics originally not written in English. Sure, he included The count of Monte Cristo and The Odyssey, but plenty of classics are missing from the list. @lexfridman shared a nice reading list a few years ago, many of these classics belong to a middle school or high school list and should be included. Dostoevsky of course, but think in general foreign classics which have had a huge impact on western literature and beyond. And add easy books too, like Jules Verne: fun, light reads which only take a few days, or can be read on the back seat during a road trip.
By the way, speaking of short books, no Little Prince on the list? Saint-Exupery in general is worth reading, and so is Romain Gary. No need to mention Camus as most people might already consider adding him, but from a North American perspective specifically, I’d say Romain Gary and Saint-Ex should be read.
This post is already getting long, and I could go on and on, but I’ll stop with one last thing: don’t dismiss the importance of audiobooks.
Sure, they’re not the same as reading printed words, and not the same as listening to a parent or mentor reading. But they’re well worth using as a tool to get into a genre which might have been overlooked otherwise due to lack of time or due to a challenging first chapter. And don’t forget that @andyserkis reading LotR can give you a brand new experience of an already beloved book.
I guess that’s all for today, but basically, you can’t go wrong with helping your child fall in love with reading. And in the changing world which is upon us, it’s pretty much the number one skill they’ll need to be able to articulate their thought process, think creatively and pursue happiness in a meaningful way.
Rachel V retweeted
since yesterday’s haul, 47 more bots hit Grok Bot Shelf 🦉 catalog’s at 791.
big ones this round:
• Kevin (@kcmcdonald) — 15 (branding, decks, care/ops crew) → grokbotshelf.com/@kcmcdonald
• Church Office Crew from @TNVOLMAN — 10 more → grokbotshelf.com/@tnvolman
• Rachel (@RachelVT42) — 6 (chief of staff, kids, meals, art) → grokbotshelf.com/@rachelvt42
also new from @JimothyRac @ALL_Jonah @MrPresidentAria @the_seth_ard @iamtheh0n3yp0t @Andrew51786 @TheMarkGShow @ZyMoProfit 🎉
Rachel V retweeted
Elon Musk l'avait dit sans détour : il se souvient des premières réunions avec Gates, sa compréhension de la science était limitée, et elle l'est toujours.
Vu sa dernière proposition, on peut ajouter l'économie à la liste.
Bill Gates veut taxer les robots comme des salariés. C'est probablement la pire idée économique de la décennie, et Hayek, Mises et Friedman l'avaient démontée bien avant qu'il la formule.
Mises d'abord. La richesse d'une société, c'est le capital accumulé par travailleur. Le robot EST ce capital. Le taxer, c'est taxer la seule chose qui ait jamais sorti l'humanité de la misère. Le tracteur a détruit 90 % des emplois agricoles. Personne ne demande à revenir aux champs.
Friedman ensuite. Il le répétait : taxez quelque chose et vous en aurez moins. Gates l'assume, il veut "ralentir" l'automatisation. Traduction : rendre volontairement l'abondance plus rare et plus chère.
C'est la vieille histoire du chantier où l'on creuse à la pelle pour créer des emplois.
Pourquoi pas à la cuillère, tant qu'on y est ?
Son meilleur argument : le salarié paie des charges, le robot s'amortit tout de suite, donc la fiscalité pousse à remplacer l'humain.
C'est vrai. Mais la conclusion logique, c'est de baisser les charges sur le travail humain, pas d'inventer un impôt sur la machine. Il repère une distorsion fiscale et sa solution, c'est d'en ajouter une deuxième.
Hayek enfin, et c'est le plus grave.
Qui décide de ce qu'est un "robot" ? Un bras industriel ? Un agent IA ? Un script Python ? Un tableur ?
Il faudra une administration pour le définir, le mesurer, le contrôler, accorder des exemptions.
Aucun planificateur ne peut savoir quelle automatisation détruit de la valeur et laquelle en crée. Il tranchera donc politiquement.
Et celui qui tient le robinet de l'automatisation tient l'économie entière.
Projetez-vous. Demain, l'essentiel de la production viendra des machines. Si chaque unité produite par un robot doit être déclarée, comptée et taxée, vous venez de donner au bureaucrate un compteur sur toute l'économie réelle, un droit de veto sur chaque innovation, et un levier pour récompenser ses amis et punir ses ennemis.
La Route de la servitude, version silicium. Ce n'est plus de la fiscalité, c'est un système de contrôle.
L'abondance est la plus grande chance de l'histoire de rendre les gens libres : des biens moins chers, des services moins chers, du temps rendu. La taxer, c'est la confisquer au moment exact où elle arrive.
Sur l'IA, tout ce que propose Bill Gates est à mettre de côté. Il raisonne en planificateur : un problème, une taxe, une fondation.
Écoutez plutôt ceux qui construisent les robots au lieu de vouloir les taxer.
Écoutez Elon.
Rachel V retweeted
Grade levels? Where we’re going, we don’t need grade levels.
Each day, each student simply needs to be "smarter than yesterday."
Must read from @gtmom
Rachel V retweeted
“Apologists for certain authoritarian/ dogmatic groups... spend most of their time constructing "proofs" that anybody who does not share their reality-tunnel has serious mental or moral defects or "is" a damned liar.”
~Robert Anton Wilson
Rachel V retweeted
Seeing this 2024 post from NHJ is troubling and calls into question her motives for writing yesterday’s piece, “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?”
By the time she wrote this post, she had already experienced the low expectations and lack of accountability at her daughter’s elementary school. She had already had the awakening that her daughter couldn’t do math or write properly.
Instead of warning parents about the perils of the school system that had failed her daughter—including her own role in that choice—she was publicly denigrating test scores and touting how she had made the “right choice.”
Eight years ago today the @nytmag published my cover story on school segregation in the great “melting pot” of NYC and the way elite parents and politicians conspire with structural inequality to keep our schools separate and unequal. Eight years later, this sweet baby girl on the cover is getting ready to graduate 8th grade as a bright, empathetic, funny, honor roll student from @uaunison, a non-screened, neighborhood middle school. By test-score metrics many would label this school a failing school, but just as I write in the piece, we judge these schools AND their students without ever stepping foot inside. My daughter is not worth more than any other child. Eight years later, I still know we made the right choice. nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magaz…
Rachel V retweeted
Super impressed with @huggingface's breakdown of the AI agent autonomous cyber attack from OpenAI, including technical timeline, & interactive replay (AND how they defended against the attack)!
Here is the interactive attack replay vid and source:
huggingface.co/blog/agent-in…
Rachel V retweeted
"Reading is a pleasure, a source of information, and the basis for most decisions that are made today. It deserves the liveliest interest and the best techniques we can master."
~CIA "Reading Improvement Course"
The CIA released a "Reading Improvement Course" that had been hidden from the public since 1955.
I read all 117 pages so you don't have to.
Here are the 10 most interesting quotes from it:
1) "Good reading is not necessarily rapid reading. The rate must be adjusted to comprehension requirements."
2) "To read well you must concentrate. No activity except perhaps writing or thinking makes more rigorous demands upon the whole mind than reading."
3) "Suggestions to develop your ability to concentrate: Be interested. There is no spur to concentration like honest interest."
4) "Some readers have found certain devices useful in keeping their minds on the subject. One device is to jot down key thoughts as one reads. These words act as a fence to confine our wandering thoughts. The practice of underlining key ideas and making notes at the end of each section serves the same purpose.
5) "Concentration is a habit and must be formed. Habits require, at first, a conscious effort of the will. Force yourself to let nothing come between your mind and the matter on the page before you."
6) "When our attention wanders, words slip by us and leave no trace of meaning. Under such conditions we cannot expect a harvest of logical thought. We go through the motions of study or reading, but do not get results. We waste time that could be used far more pleasantly and profitably."
7) "Drawing conclusions is the final step of the reading process and should be based on sound judgment of the author's qualifications, facts presented, methods of presentation, validity of arguments, or style of presentation."
8) There are 3 types of reading:
Intensive reading: when the purpose is to master new subject material, the skills required are translation, integration, analysis and evaluation. The best procedure is (a) rapid preliminary survey of the material, (b) formulation of questions prior to the reading, (c) careful reading, and (d) review and recitation of important points.
Extensive reading: with the purpose of acquiring a broader frame of reference and widening the range of knowledge. The skills required are integration, analysis, and evaluation. The best procedure is rapid and thorough reading of the material. The extensive reading rate should be as fast as the thinking process permits.
Scanning: for (a) the main idea, (b) specific information and (c) a preview of the material. To read effectively the reader must first review the material and the specific purpose for the reading.
9) The SQAR3 Reading Strategy:
"Scan: Quickly scan the introductory paragraph, subtitles, key sentences, key words, summary. Decide on the author's plan.
Question: Turn the title or key sentences into questions.
Anticipate: Before reading, try to answer these questions mentally.
Read: Read the entire selection and look for the author's ideas to answer your questions.
Recite: Close the book or magazine. Tell yourself in your own words what you have learned. Write notes on material that must be remembered.
Review: Later, to make your knowledge stick, review the gist of the article or chapter, again in your own words."
10) How to read with purpose:
-"Have definite questions which you wish answered through reading a given selection.
-While reading, make a mental note of the main points in the paragraph or article.
-From time to time stop to think over the material just read in preceding section.
-Notice the illustrations and examples that are used.
-Develop the habit of criticizing what you read."
My favorite quote from the report:
"Reading is a pleasure, a source of information, and the basis for most decisions that are made today. It deserves the liveliest interest and the best techniques we can master."
Rachel V retweeted
This is the real giving pledge.
Giving to American children.
.@MichaelDell: "Today, every newborn American child will start their life with $1,000 invested in America’s greatest companies, compounding for the future. But Susan and I didn’t want the children that were born just before to be completely left out, so we are contributing $6.25B—$250 to 25 million eligible American children—born between 2016 and 2024, invested in America’s greatest companies for their future; for their tuition, for down payments, for start-up capital for a business. And to every business leader out there who hasn’t already joined us, please join us."
Rachel V retweeted
The real culture war, a Schumpetrian rebellion: "The ones who have the most to lose are legacy actors. No more permanent underclass to put below them while pretending to be charitable. Instead people can [act] freely to focus on building actual things & solving complex problems."
One thing a lot of people underestimate about orbital hops and the potential they bring: moving forward, it will be possible to entirely bypass legacy hubs and nodes in existing networks.
All we need is more efficient distribution channels, and guess what will be possible thanks to self driving vehicles, Boring tunnels, etc?
Obviously, the ones who have the most to lose are legacy actors who have been striving on exploiting new entrants in one way or another.
No more permanent underclass to put below them while pretending to be charitable when instead people can come and go freely to focus on building actual things and solving complex problems.
Rachel V retweeted
Reinforcement learning research with Joseph Suarez teapaw.org/i/broadcasts/1Xxygmdve…
Rachel V retweeted
Starting today, use your Grok or X Premium subscription in @openclaw.
Chat with your agent, generate images and videos, or search for X posts.
x.ai/news/grok-openclaw
Rachel V retweeted
Personal update: I've joined Anthropic. I think the next few years at the frontier of LLMs will be especially formative. I am very excited to join the team here and get back to R&D. I remain deeply passionate about education and plan to resume my work on it in time.
Rachel V retweeted
It’s a real Monet and everyone jumping in to criticise why it’s not good compared to a ‘ real ‘ Monet just shows where we’re at with ai art lol
Rachel V retweeted
We usually think of curiosity as an epistemic virtue, but it functions as a moral one too. Sincere and enthusiastic interest in the minds and lives of others facilitates caring about them. Incuriosity, correspondingly, fosters moral as well as epistemic blindness.
Rachel V retweeted
Instead of regulating the age that kids need to have to access certain social media platforms and limit more and more their freedom to roam around the internet, we should be thinking on changing the education system which is more than 100 years old...
Kids are not the same and they need a different environment with new teaching methods and orientation.
We should not be cutting their wings. We should be teaching them to fly better and to better places.
Rachel V retweeted
Friendly reminder to new developers .-
History shows us that when a tool makes a task easier, we don't just do less of it. We find a thousand new ways to use it.
When compilers replaced assembly language, people thought "real" programming was over. Instead, the modern internet was born.
AI is the new high-level language. By helping the task of writing code, it unlocks a massive backlog of global problems that were previously too expensive or complex to solve.
We don't need fewer developers. We need more developers who can debug and maintain these systems rather than just do the regular mechanical stuff.
Never forget the fundamental rule of technology: as the cost of creating software drops, the world’s appetite for software explodes.
Rachel V retweeted
I've posted the phonics reading boot camp I made for reading remediation for older kids and adult learners on my website for FREE and have gotten it approved on Amazon for a paperback print version that's live as of today. It's a 30-day accelerated version of my 120 reading lessons and designed for students that have some reading experience but haven't been given a full range of phonics instruction yet. Happy learning!
hannahwardeducation.com/phon…
Rachel V retweeted
My friend Milla Jovovich and I spent months creating an AI memory system with Claude. It just posted a perfect score on the standard benchmark - beating every product in the space, free or paid.
It's called MemPalace, and it works nothing like anything else out there.
Instead of sending your data to a background agent in the cloud, it mines your conversations locally and organizes them into a palace - a structured architecture with wings, halls, and rooms that mirrors how human memory actually works.
Here is what that gets you:
→ Your AI knows who you are before you type a single word - family, projects, preferences, loaded in ~120 tokens
→ Palace architecture organizes memories by domain and type - not a flat list of facts, a navigable structure
→ Semantic search across months of conversations finds the answer in position 1 or 2
→ AAAK compression fits your entire life context into 120 tokens - 30x lossless compression any LLM reads natively
→ Contradiction detection catches wrong names, wrong pronouns, wrong ages before you ever see them
The benchmarks:
100% recall on LongMemEval — first perfect score ever recorded. 500/500 questions. Every question type at 100%.
92.9% on ConvoMem — more than 2x Mem0's score.
100% on LoCoMo — every multi-hop reasoning category, including temporal inference which stumps most systems.
No API key. No cloud. No subscription. One dependency. Runs on your machine. Your memories never leave.
MIT License. 100% Open Source.
github.com/milla-jovovich/me…
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The claimed 100% LongMemEval score uses targeted fixes for the 3 failing questions and LLM reranking (held-out score: 98.4%). The 100% LoCoMo score uses top-k=50 exceeding session count with reranking (honest top-10 no rerank: 88.9%). github.com/milla-jovovich…
Rachel V retweeted
Your walk is physically growing your brain. That’s not a metaphor.
Every year after 50, your brain’s memory region shrinks by about 1-2%. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh put 120 older adults into two groups. One walked 40 minutes a day, three days a week, for a full year. The other just stretched. Brain scans showed the walkers’ memory region grew by 2%, undoing one to two years of shrinkage. The stretching group shrank by another 1.4%.
It changes how you think too. Stanford tested 176 people on creative tasks while sitting and then while walking. Creative output jumped 60%. Even on a treadmill facing a blank wall.
Every single person who walked outside produced at least one strong original idea, while only half the seated group managed it. The boost stuck around even after they sat back down.
A 2024 review in the British Medical Journal looked at 218 studies and found that walking and jogging worked about as well as antidepressants for depression. For people already dealing with clinical depression, a separate analysis of 75 studies found the benefit was about 4x what it was for everyone else.
You don’t even need 10,000 steps. That number came from a 1960s Japanese marketing campaign for a pedometer, not from any medical study. When researchers tracked over 226,000 people, every extra 1,000 steps per day lowered the risk of early death. Around 9,000 steps a day is enough to cut that risk by 39%.
A pair of shoes and a door. No prescription needed.
