In "Mosquito Work," Ann H. Kelly and Javier Lezaun follow entomologists, technicians, community volunteers, and mosquitoes to illuminate the collaborations, improvisations, and political entanglements behind contemporary disease control. Read the introduction for free now: buff.ly/JusZnQy

i lucked out with my airport reading

„Am Ende dieser antilinken Brandmauer steht die Forderung an die CDU, der rechtsextremistischen, antisemitischen AfD an die Macht zu helfen – um die Linke zu stoppen.“

Showcasing the ridiculousness of the academic grant hustle 👇 everyone is losing and yet you have to compete or … you still lose.

Bart Penders@penders.bsky.social · 3d ago

Back of the envelope calculations: 3600 years of research time went into the collective application process. The research will fund 3200 years of research. We are 400 research years poorer as a result of this. 1/2

It’s my dad’s 85th birthday today. A long and tumultuous life paralleling the tumultuous history of Kore from japaneae colonialism to present day silicon economy.

Still can't believe Ed Sheeran tried to pull the "there's kids at my show" to the dude who's message was "stop killing kids"

my dad after a drink or few: “you are also a precious person”. me: “thanks but who said otherwise?”

women raising fearful daughters is what I just can’t abide by

« The transition from an abstract feeling to a physical object begins with the hand writing the word » New @dreamsofbeing.bsky.social at @minorliteratures.bsky.social and a new book to look forward to is a GIFT on a rainy September [any] morning.

minor literature[s]@minorliteratures.bsky.social · last wk.

today @ minor lits ... The Kept Hour: A Minor Study — @dreamsofbeing.bsky.social minorliteratures.com/2026/09/17/t...

how would you distinguish between wonder and mystery. to me they seem different although they are often used as synonyms.

i thought clair de lune has been overplayed to the point of cliche but then i listened to this.

Debussy: Suite bergamasque, L. 75: III. Clair de lune

YouTube video by Menahem Pressler - Topic

youtube.com

Becoming an expert in losing reading glasses (I have six glasses without counting reading and sun glasses)

Annie Dillard / from Mornings Like This: Found Poems RIP

“Teaching romance”

CNN@cnn.com · last wk.

Reading the story of Jane Eyre – an orphan girl who finds her independence while suffering a series of hardships and eventually falls in love with her wealthy employer – will help China’s 14-year-olds “develop sounder values,” said the state-run Beijing Daily newspaper. https://cnn.it/4AmgDLS

BREAKING: Boston University's English department (my dept) recently voted to approve new learning outcomes for the English major, including an anti-AI provision that requires students to “craft and revise writing that is sustained, original, and generated without the assistance of AI."

Surprised

𝐑𝐞𝐦 🕋@obsidian.blacksky.app · last wk.

Would 20 y/o you be impressed or disappointed by you today?

The work of art in the age of universal capture

Saeed Jones@theferocity.bsky.social · last wk.

“Langston Hughes’ literary estate now belongs to International Literary Properties, which says a Harlem Renaissance licensing program is next on its list.”

"The union said that its members had rejected Elsevier’s pay offer, which “failed to offer a significant real-terms pay increase to staff” despite the company making an adjusted operating profit of more than £1 billion in 2025."

Workers at The Lancet to stage first strike in title’s history - Research Professional News

Union members at 200-year-old medical journal vote overwhelmingly to walk out over stagnating pay

researchprofessionalnews.com

Irony is context dependent which a lot of self centered people don’t get. Especially in writing.

So we are back at the "open letter" stage? As I wrote two years ago, the "AI risk" is a red herring; we should rather be worried by the privatization of language and fear a "synthetic public sphere" that comes with it. For whoever controls language models controls politics.

Hannes Bajohr@hannesbajohr.de · 2y ago

"Whoever controls language models controls politics" (2024) is about LLMs being inherently ideological, the change of the public sphere once speech is automated, and the need for communization of AI.

on slightly higher-effort autofiction, here is Ruby on Cusk's autofiction as alienated class entitlement: "the genus Cusk’s collective narrator represents in miniature is the upper-middle class, which l'll define as the wealthiest segment of the population that still pays most of its taxes...

Ryan Ruby, Unhappy Consciousness — Sidecar

Rachel Cusk’s ‘Life of M’.

newleftreview.org

Hari Kunzru@harikunzru.bsky.social · last wk.

I am so done with low effort autofiction. Just because it happened to you doesnt make it interesting.

People of a rational temperament like compromises. So "why don't we all take this slower?" sounds like a super reasonable request. But the people making that request *have themselves the power* to go slower. The real point of the request is part II: "let's get the Trump admin to regulate others."

A Far-Right International Is Assaulting Democracy MAGA and the AfD are united in a struggle against democratic pluralism that transcends national borders. It is an alliance of extremists defined by aggrieved revanchism. Some thoughts from my new piece: 🧵

A Far-Right International Is Assaulting Democracy

MAGA and the AfD are united in a struggle against democratic pluralism that transcends national borders. It is an alliance of extremists defined by aggrieved revanchism

steady.page

Dieser kulturkämpferische Text, der auf Maha El Hissy abzielt, ist sowohl in seiner Aggressivität als auch in seiner Wissenschaftsfeindlichkeit ein Zeichen unserer Zeit. Dass einer der Hauptbezugspunkte ausgerechnet El Hissys herausragende Essaysreihe in der @blnreview.bsky.social ist,...(1/2)

Simon Strick@unddieregel.bsky.social · last mo.

Jurist Daniel Neumann, präsidiumsmitglied ZdJ und hochrangig tätig u.a. gegen Rassismus, hier mit einem astreinen Hit Piece gegen die Forscherin Maha El Hissy. Das ist Cancelling, falls jemand fragt www.juedische-allgemeine.de/meinung/poli...

Lily Hu aus Yale hinterfragt in der @blnreview.bsky.social einen Trend der analytischen Philosophie: „What is the politics of eagerly embracing AI to do philosophy, of all things?“ blnreview.de/en/ausgaben/...

Lily Hu · Un-Doing Philosophy

Analytic philosophers in the United States are increasingly embracing AI, both by taking advisory positions at tech companies and by using large language models for their own research and writing. Som...

blnreview.de

Bin grad mein Desktop am aufräumen und entdecke the best of twitter screenshots

Feel that the biggest difference between people is their relation to time - inflects everything, esp timing, and especially communication

I know I am partaking in it but academics - rightfully - lamenting the state of our profession is a downward spiral. Resistance including saying no to ridiculous demands and hoops? Any other practical ideas (beyond unions, organising etc.) and strategies?

Percentage-based forecasts of AI doomsday—like prediction markets and betting lines shifting in chyrons across sports matches—are unprovable expressions of scientism that still create potentially lucrative angles for those uttering and tracking them.

So how about this for a "pause AI" proposal: "pause credulous AI reporting". No more media about "breakthroughs" or "rogue agent swarms" or ... UNLESS and UNTIL that media demands the actual empirical evidence and/or focuses on the motivations of & harms by these companies.