My friend told me her 10 yo daughter is growing out her hair after a teacher at school barred her from entering the girl’s bathroom last year because of her short hair. Can you believe this shit? And the school never apologized for this act of bullying.

“A 16-year-old boy riding an e-scooter was fatally struck by a truck driver in North Center on Monday, the third teenager to be killed in traffic on e-scooters this year.“

16-year-old e-scooter rider fatally struck by driver in North Center

Alex Blacio was struck on Western Avenue as he rode home from work. He is the 3rd teen to be killed on an e-scooter this year.

chicago.suntimes.com

I am reminded of the sales person at bed bath and beyond when we did our wedding registry who insisted when choosing how many china place settings to get, "however many you decide, you should get 4 more"

A.R. Moxon@juliusgoat.bsky.social · 7h ago

The media's takeaway from an El-Sayed win is the same as it would have been from a Stevens win, and the same as it will be if El-Sayed wins the general, or if he loses it: everyone, no matter who they are, needs to take several steps to the right.

In Chicago we can start with parks and libraries. Parks should have 24/7 all gender public bathrooms

Sandy Ernest Allen@sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 7h ago

Efforts to police bathrooms are evil and will impact peoples' health. Segregated bathrooms themselves must be done away with, it's the only solution. I reported this question out, years ago for @99pi.org 99percentinvisible.org/episode/wher...

Make all the bathrooms open to all.

Electability is just another version of playing to the Baileys: constraining real choices to please imaginary people who don't support your stated goals

Deva Woodly@devawo.bsky.social · 7h ago

I’m telling you this as a political scientist. The person who is electable is the one who is elected. This can and does change over time. Any and all speculation about “electability” is either puffery or anxiety and is often both.

tonight i was wearing it but it wasn't really visible when somebody asked if i was using ai on a project me:

Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent Reveals Superman

Alt: Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent opening his shirt revealing the Superman outfit

static.klipy.com

Anthony Moser@anthonymoser.com · 4mo ago

i got a new shirt

Wow

Victoria Rose Richards@aerialembroidery.bsky.social · 22h ago

'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)

Absolutely the fuck not

Anthony Moser@anthonymoser.com · 2d ago

"According to the Guidebook and another document obtained from the district via a FOIA request, “CPS AI Access Overview,” CPS is planning to give access to Google's general-purpose AI assistant Gemini to all high school students at the start of the 2026-2027 school year." are you fucking kidding me

"According to the Guidebook and another document obtained from the district via a FOIA request, “CPS AI Access Overview,” CPS is planning to give access to Google's general-purpose AI assistant Gemini to all high school students at the start of the 2026-2027 school year." are you fucking kidding me

Illinois Families for Public Schools@ilfps.bsky.social · 2d ago

Prioritize kids over computers! We’re calling on Chicago School Board candidates to commit to a "Pledge to Protect Human-Centered Education”—22 have signed on so far. Full Pledge, candidates who have committed, and why we must protect human-centered education in CPS: www.ilfps.org/pledge_prote...

So, I really hope I get to tell this story in longer form in the near future, but it it’s burning a hole inside me. Most of it comes from an interview with Bob Hirst this weekend. Bob has been Exec Editor of the Mark Twain Project for 47 years, before which he was part of its staff for ~15. 1/16

Went downtown to deliver petitions for a (binding referendum to create a) FREE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER in Beverly/Morgan Park/Washington Heights/Roseland. I'm so proud of the work we did together as neighbors.

Alive in Chicago (municipal boundary)@mosermostly.bsky.social · 2d ago

"Miro's Chicago/ The Sun the Moon and One Star" Look at her she's gorgeous

pretty excited to be gathering up materials to share at the South Side Zine Fest and you are INVITED on August 15th! Come through to the workshop with @kdc.bsky.social and me on disability zinemaking 🏵️

Join us for South Side Zine Fest + Carnival 2026!

Zine Club Chicago is thrilled to present the 2nd annual South Side Zine Fest + Carnival! This year, we’re bringing a carnival vibe to our annual celebration of zine community on the&nbsp…

zineclubchicago.com

making art@marigoldmagic.bsky.social · 4mo ago

fully printed disability zines, second printing we are lucky to have run out of our first printing and had enough requests to do a second printing thank you to @wildramppublishing.bsky.social for providing resources to get us going!

i do want to read the book

Jake Berman@lostsubways.com · 2d ago

(addendum: if you want to read the book, it's called "the lost subways of north america". if you get a copy directly from me, i'll sign it for you)

it will not. because transparency is not what makes people trust each other, nor do people decide what social behaviors to adopt on the basis of what data has been published

Jess Calarco@jessicacalarco.com · 2d ago

Now, the open science movement claims that to get people to trust scientists, we need transparency with data and publishing. And, personally, I do see the value in both data sharing and open access publishing. But I'm not convinced that transparency will actually solve the trust problem. 2/

Listen to @tressiemcphd.bsky.social when she writes that AI is "the backbone of a superstructure that merges regressive politics with unchecked economic power in the guise of technological innovation” - and then teach about and against the technologies with the help of the books she cites:

Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here.

A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.

nytimes.com

Dan sees and articulates the role of AI very clearly so this is a good discussion

Politechs@politechs.bsky.social · 2d ago

We're joined this week by @danmcquillan.bsky.social to talk decomputing, dehumanisation, dealignment, and some things that don't start with de- as well! politechs.dev/episodes/s02...

"The S is for surveillance": fighting KOSA and bad internet bills in the ATmosphere and the fediverses The first post in this series was at a fairly high level. Now, let's shift from theory to practice. Thanks to @anthonymoser.com for the framing help! thenexusofprivacy.net/the-s-in-kos...

"The S is for surveillance": fighting KOSA and bad internet bills in the ATmosphere and the fediverses

Part 2 of The Time Is Right: shifting from theory to practice.

thenexusofprivacy.net

stop demanding sharper knives

making art@marigoldmagic.bsky.social · 3d ago

and that win that Alexi is using for shutting down access to ALPRs in Illinois to ICE is going to be used to sharpen data access not tear apart surveillance stop eating up Electronic Frontier and their wannabes work, it gets us libertarianism and privacy arguments

Me writing in my journal after another Zoom meeting:

MurderBotBot@murderbotbot.bsky.social · 3d ago

I didn’t react visibly, because I’m used to clients making bad decisions, and I was getting a lot of practice at controlling my expression.

If you didn't know already now you do

Ruby S.@rubyji.bsky.social · 3d ago

The S in KOSA is for surveillance

context window is a misnomer

Anthony Moser@anthonymoser.com · 4d ago

Like they'd be better off calling it a slot machine lever, or a bag of dice. "Oh it keeps ignoring your instructions? Have you tried giving it a bigger bag of dice? Maybe you need to reset the slot machine lever"

the reason good transit is not valued in this country is because the types of people who cannot drive are not valued: children, disabled people, people living in poverty

a concise description that unfolds to cover a lot of ground

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 4d ago

Anyway back to my ongoing theory that women use AI to get more done and men use AI to get out of doing more.

A parade of red flags

Tim Clare@timclare.bsky.social · 4d ago

If you're going to quote an 'expert' or 'researcher' in your book or article, be it on neurodivergence, mental health, nutrition, immunology or whatever, you owe it to your readers to check if most of their peers think they're a crank. Some squares in my personal Bullshit Bingo now include:

Ruth Wilson Gilmore would like several words

This gets a lot more legible if you stop thinking of prisons as a failed effort to reduce harm and start thinking of them as a supply chain for involuntary labor

Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 4d ago

It was inevitable that reactionary centrists would turn against harm reduction and call for a return to mass incarceration

IL birth certificate refugees should get a grown up baby box with a couple Chicago style dogs, a picture of Tom Skilling, and a winter hat

Beautiful Women Updates@aoife.bsky.social · 5d ago

Illinois should legitimately issue birth certificates for trans people born in states that will not do so "sorry about your old state congratulations you were born in Illinois now"

This is a great idea

Beautiful Women Updates@aoife.bsky.social · 5d ago

Illinois should legitimately issue birth certificates for trans people born in states that will not do so "sorry about your old state congratulations you were born in Illinois now"

Did nobody use the headline Alpha Folds

Dan McQuillan@danmcquillan.bsky.social · 5d ago

AlphaFold was always bait-and-switch; now Google confirms it. A hyper-narrow bioinformatrics model with actual science bolted on whose guesses can be experimentally checked was never a licence for socially-applied slop at scale, but it's done its job. Effort transferred to LLMs.