Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas is just a delight on every level
“First Monday will cease publication, after 30 years…”
Sad news about one of the first open access truly independent interdisciplinary journals out there.
firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...
First Monday @ 30
| First Monday
The deadline for
@4sweb.bsky.social in Toronto 2026 open panel submissions has been extended until February 9, 2026, in your timezone! Submit now!
4S 2026 Open Panels Submission
1. It was not an accident.
2. It was not a staffer.
3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia.
4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares.
5. His base agrees with him.
6. He will do it again.
7. No one in power will hold him accountable.
So glad the Muppet Show is back, even briefly!
Where else can you find a group of queer, self-obsessed, neurodivergent, cynical, overly critical, and... well, outright dangerous and not-even-human beings banding together just because they really like doing it?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSLE...
The Muppet Show | Official Trailer | Disney+
YouTube video by Disney Plus
Here’s What the Latest Epstein Files Say About His Ties to Higher Ed: Collectively, the files underscore how deeply Epstein remained embedded in academic and intellectual circles even after his criminal history became public.
www.chronicle.com/article/here...
Here’s What the Latest Epstein Files Say About His Ties to Higher Ed
New documents released by the Department of Justice on Friday reinforce that long after his criminal convictions, many prominent professors continued to communicate with him.
Woo boy... Minsky, Ariely, Christakis...
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Nine More Higher Ed Names in the Epstein Files
Through coffees, phone calls and private flights, at least nine more academics are linked to Jeffrey Epstein in the latest disclosure of documents from the Justice Department.
This is a good listen and explains a lot about the inability of so many powerful voices in the media to meet the moment
Today on Volts: I'm joined by the great
@michaelhobbes.bsky.social to discuss "reactionary centrism," an intellectual tendency that's come to dominate US public life. You know the type: would never view themselves as conservative, yet finds voluntary pronoun use vastly more aggravating than fascism.
All about "reactionary centrism"
Michael Hobbes joins me to diagnose the pundit class's obsession with scolding the left while the right burns down the house.
found a stack of these cleaning up my studio the other day. as ever!!!
All this app technology and no way to filter out straight men on Feeld? Like what
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Apparently they are so rare there's only about 1 living per 3 square km in norcal/Oregon.
So... yeah. Boo. I'll never see one, although if I hike the Bigfoot Trail I'll be keeping my eyes out.
A little girl in Portland, OR after being tear gassed by ICE. what the actual fuck.
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For The Ringer, I wrote about how amazing it was that the brilliant Catherine O'Hara finally became a superstar in her 60s, and how sad it is that she was taken from us just when we had all finally begun to appreciate her:
Catherine O’Hara Could Do Anything
And she pretty much did everything. The only tragedy is that it feels like she was just beginning to get the recognition her decades-long career always deserved.
A+++ Appalachian protest sign:
It's near-white out conditions in Chicago as the snow comes down, and tonight's anti-ICE/CBP rally is wrapping up in front of city hall.
But not before the crowd bounces and chants, "I believe that we will win!"
School: "Your child may walk out today to protest ICE but may be in danger from walking around their neighborhood."
Me: yeah that tracks, and no she won't be
Daughter: "We went to the park to eat lunch."
Me: "Proud of you. 👏🏻"
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Work update: Thanks to the kind support of friends and family, I’ll be returning to work in February as planned 💜
I'll start work with _existing_ clients on Monday, February 2.
If all goes smoothly, I’ll be taking meetings and booking work with _new_ clients on March 2.
"‘Open Borders, Open Hearts’ fundraising dinner and raffle to bring cocktails, community, and grub" — Monday, February 9 evening at Selva, $$$ goes to Órale. See you there/then!
longbeachize.com/articles/ope...
'Open Borders, Open Hearts' fundraising dinner and raffle to bring cocktails, community, and grub | Longbeachize
Chuntikis and Got Your Back have partnered for a raffle-meets-fundraiser dinner, "Open Borders, Open Hearts," benefiting Órale.
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Will is right. Paranoia about the press is extremely common on the left and really bad if you want the rest of the country to care about the things we care about.
Read about successful past mass movements and you'll find they sought out the press. Media was central to the strategy overall.
Again, real press will absolutely respect rules and boundaries, and I always establish that the only observer who can be identified in any way is myself. But all-consuming paranoia about cameras and press is awful for us. ICE is the one operating in secret. We’re the ones bringing daylight.
Finally got around to a bit of research I'd been meaning to explore, and: There is no documented instance of an ICE officer being identified and assaulted while off duty because he wasn't masked.
www.pbump.net/o/ices-excus...
ICE’s excuse for wearing masks has never actually manifested
There have been incidents of harassment and threats. But there are no apparent incidents in which identified ICE officers have been assaulted off-duty.
One way to counter the carceral state is to deeply care about those around you and take the necessary time to help each other.
Do you need to feel smug? Because reading about these AI disasters will scratch that itch.
A.I. Is Causing Meltdowns in American Offices. It’s Only Getting Worse.
A.I. and ChatGPT were supposed to revolutionize work. They’re only creating chaos.
Content moderation / AI scholars - what's the best paper you're aware of that quantitatively studies the problem of creativity in the evasion of content moderation systems?
My go-to is
@schancellor.bsky.social et al, but surely there are more recent works?
dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1...
#thyghgapp | Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing
One thing I see liberal outlets giving ground on that I feel the need to correct: it’s impossible to “dox” a paid public official
By simply reporting their name, institutional role, and political affiliations
Learning that a partially reclined recliner makes for a darn good old cat access ramp
Me on LinkedIn
We’re looking for scholars who can write CLIO ER articles for the following topics: mutual aid, comparisons between MN and previous moments, and reduced vaccine uptake. We will also accept any other pitches you have! Pitch submission instructions below
nursingclio.org/write-for-us...
Pitch Nursing Clio
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The people of Minnesota have executed one of the most impressive civil resistance campaigns I can remember:
- Organized a city wide general strike
- Maintained nonviolent discipline amidst violence
- Mobilized 10,000s in subzero temps to protest and watch ICE
- Flipped public opinion against ICE
The DOJ demand for voter rolls is not about micro-targeting. That kind of voter data is already freely available between the public voter lists and data brokers. The difference in what they're demanding is more technical backend metadata so they can make spurious claims about list maintenance.
“On Friday, September 6, the Facebook account for Carlsbad Caverns National Park posted an essay about littered Cheetos that, in my opinion, should be nominated for the annual Lascaux Prize in Creative Nonfiction”
Nobody:
My dad: here is an urgent weather update from a place that you are not living nor are traveling to anytime soon.
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"Science Is Drowning in AI Slop: Peer review has met its match"
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
Science Is Drowning in AI Slop
Peer review has met its match.
I figured out a good way to describe good academic writing to geeks:
Write The Hobbit, not The Silmarillion.
Tight, readable narrative over rambling scope, and strong characters over sprawling mythological significance.
"You don't get promoted to Chief Child Catcher without a little expertise!"
Bovino: "Here in the US Border Patrol, I will say unequivocally that we are experts in dealing with children"
Final call for Abstracts and Workshop Proposals for the 22nd Annual ICA Mobile Pre-Conference 2026 in Cape Town: "Mobile Communication and Inequalities in Context." Deadline 1/30/26.
@icahdq.bsky.social @icacat.bsky.social @icamobile.bsky.social
www.icamobile.org/calls
Calls | ICA Mobile
Current calls at the ICA Mobile Communication Division
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Nasra Ahmed, a 23-year-old US citizen, was arrested and detained by ICE. She was held for TWO DAYS.
ICE agents handcuffed her, called her a racial slur, and she was knocked to the ground so hard she got a concussion.
This cannot continue happening. ICE needs to leave.
This video filmed by Ben Luhmann shows the moment a federal agent sprayed chemical irritants directly into a man's face in south Minneapolis.
Three agents already had the man pinned to the ground when a fourth agent walked up and sprayed the irritants.
I'm seeing some interesting discourse about this preprint & news article around what kinds of industry ties ought to be disclosed.
This blog post offers a clear perspective:
broniatowski.substack.com/p/when-is-a-...One of the issues that has come up again and again in my reporting on misinformation and social media is the massive influence social media companies have on research in the field.
Last night a preprint dropped that tries to get at this with some numbers. My piece in
@science.org (and 🧪🧵 coming):
Nearly a third of social media research has undisclosed ties to industry, preprint claims
Industry-linked studies were also more likely to focus on particular topics, suggesting these ties may be skewing the field
The disconnect between management and employee on AI usage is big. At the same time, CEOs are reporting they aren't seeing any revenue growth from AI.
🤷
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
CEOs Say AI Is Making Work More Efficient. Employees Tell a Different Story.
How much time workers say the technology saves them on the job is vastly different from what executives report.
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This article is a useful counterpoint: the digital divide in the future will be between those with access to fact-checked solid information and those who can only access AI slop. When it comes to healthcare that divide may be particularly stark.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
A new digital divide? Coder worldviews, the ‘Slop economy,’ and democracy in the age of AI
Digital technologies are transforming democratic life in conflicting ways. This article bridges two perspectives to unpack these tensions. First, we present an original survey of software developer...
"Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s AI-Generated Art in Protest"
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s AI-Generated Art in Protest
A University of Alaska student was charged with a misdemeanor for eating another student's AI-generated art in protest.
If anyone works at major HR firms and platforms (Salesforce, Workday, etc.) and has info about what drove adding these questions to job applications in the last few months my DMs are open and my Signal is SydneyBauer.30
You will have anonymity.
JOBS! Three post-doctoral fellowships in AI Trust and Security at the University of Manchester's Centre for Digital Trust and Society
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...AI Trust and Security Fellow:Oxford Road
The Faculty of Humanities has recently received a new £4.73m University investment in AI Trust and Security to drive the Faculty’s vision to be a research leader this field. The investment will help us to build an interdisciplinary research team working in the broad field of AI Trust and Security to build on our existing strengths in Digital Trust, Security and Society. At UoM, we see AI security as part of a set of broader issues of trust and trustworthiness, distrust and trust exploitation, and trust-building and resilience, and promote an interdisciplinary approach to these issues.
Average Sunday show interview:
OFFICIAL: we are going to dip enemies of the state into acid vats
HOST: how will you pay for it?
OFFICIAL: tariffs
HOST: critics say tariffs don't generate acid vat money
OFFICIAL: tariffs have generated more money than has ever existed
HOST: thank u for ur time
*me casually browsing for a floor lamp online*
Literally every website I visit thereafter: Hit them with every ad we've got. Floor lamps, hanging lamps, gay lamps, lamps for women, maybe orange lamps... it's go time. Flood the zone
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Planning to start a PhD in Media and Communications in 2026? Come work with me and others at the
@qutdmrc.bsky.social! ✨
PhD scholarship applications are open for a project investigating how public opinion is formed in online spaces, with a focus on the deliberative quality of discussions, social influence dynamics, and platform affordances and governance across major digital platforms.
www.qut.edu.au/.../strength....
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There's no reason for ICE agents to have guns. Nobody is shooting at them.
My loving partner of 25 years passed away yesterday morning calmly and with dignity, surrounded by her immediate family.
During this difficult transition, I'll be tending to her estate and supporting our daughter, then return to freelance work on February 1.
www.mealtrain.com/trains/e27r1...
Meal Train Update for Rebecca, Aure, and Nora
Forever loved: Rebecca Sittler Schrock, 1974–2026
