Science is doing essential reporting on the decimation of NSF social science funding. We need public accounting. If you’ve benefited from an NSF grant from SBE, add to this 🧵. Tell the world what was funded that will not be funded from NSF anymore. I’ll start… www.science.org/content/arti...

Remember how I went wild with rage at this? My friend who had to do the AI interview for this place has now written about it for the Graun

Dystopian and dehumanising: that’s what it felt like when I was interviewed by an AI assistant | Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen

Outsourcing the essential task of interviewing job applicants to a machine seems lazy at best, negligent at worst. I want better for all of us

theguardian.com

Mel Campbell@incrediblemelk.bsky.social · last mo.

WILD W FURY that a local KINDERGARTEN is recruiting TEACHERS using fkn AI INCOMPETENT CHATBOTS, in charge of deciding who is left alone with tiny vulnerable humans, teaching them crucial skills! This shows ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY for hiring MANDATORY REPORTERS And cop its slop-made recruitment page!!

Sky News journalist thinks that a gov press officer including their pronouns and the generic "why this is important" link in their email signature is a threat to... civil service impartiality?? These people have gone completely mad.

This is a significant worsening of our current state of constitutional collapse. I know it feels like there are so many, and there are, but in terms of crossing the Rubicon moments this one's up there.

There will be a lot of equivocating about all the times search warrants have been executed on members of Congress for corruption investigations and the like, and it can't be stressed enough in how many ways HSI raiding Ilhan Omar is extremely not like that.

We are soon going to have to come to grips with the fact that this shit is asbestos for the mind

Using AI for just 10 minutes erodes your ability to persist at hard things - Berkeley News

A UC Berkeley researcher co-authored a study that raises profound questions about how we interact with artificial intelligence in education — and daily life.

news.berkeley.edu

There's a guy in my replies who says he doens't read women because they write well about emotional conflicts and unrequited love and that's not what he wants. He reads sci fi he says. Can you imagine reading sci-fi and not reading Octavia Butler? Or Ursula K Le Guin? Or NK Jemisin?

ALSO Justice and vengeance are two very different things. The government shouldn’t have the power to execute people, especially when our justice system doesn’t deliver equal justice. Race, wealth, and access to the best legal representation can determine who lives and who dies.

We must have an energy transition, but in doing so we must not replace fossil fuel colonialism with green colonialism. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

Why a Chilean salt flat is a microcosm of the extractive frontiers of green capitalism

In the Atacama desert, the extraction of lithium – so crucial to addressing the climate crisis – comes with escalating social and environmental costs

theguardian.com

Years ago I wrote this essay, and the clamor for compromise and one-sided pandering marches on, and of course David Brooks is a standard-bearer in the parade. As Jamelle Bouie notes, what if they are Nazis?

Rebecca Solnit: On Not Meeting Nazis Halfway

When Trump won the 2016 election—while losing the popular vote—the New York Times seemed obsessed with running features about what Trump voters were feeling and thinking. These pieces treated them …

lithub.com

driftglass@driftglass.bsky.social · 3d ago

"Jon Ossoff, my advice to him is, if you start calling your political opponents Nazis, maybe it's time to shut up. That's just not what we do here in this country." -- David Brooks, this evening. Remember, Brooks still gets very handsomely rewarded by the fossilized media for saying shit like this

1. Trump’s new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is a prolific user of Truth Social where she regularly promoted Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracies, accusing elites in the Democratic Party and Hollywood of running child sex rings and eating people.

This is an escalation but tbh I really want my colleagues in UKHE to realise how increasingly unwelcoming the country has been for international students over the past decade. From my own experiences alone, I could not in good conscience recommend students come to the UK without serious caveats.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3d ago

Death by a thousand cuts as universities revoke international offers "en masse" of prospective students from Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan to avoid losing ability to recruit international students. More job losses and course closures predicted in consequence. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

It's already illegal. Congress banned it near-unanimously in 2022. That law allows the ban to be lifted only if Russia withdraws from Ukraine. He's simply breaking the law that's already on the books.

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 2d ago

Republican US Rep Brian Fitzgerald tweets that he will introduce a bill to block purchases of Russian oil. Don Bacon (R-Neb) tweets that he will co-sponsor. Obviously this won’t happen during campaigning recess (and Trump could veto anyway) but interesting push-back on Trump.

The Okefenokee swamp lost a giant on 10/8. At 93, Professor Don Berryhill - our beloved "Okefenokeeologist" - has passed. For nearly 50 years, he taught generations of students to revere the mire, founding educational programs that changed how we see the peat. 1/3 #SwampLifeSunday #Okefenokee

Standing 6'2", Sarah Smith McClain belonged to South Georgia’s legendary "family of giants," sister to the Okefenokee's Queen, Lydia Stone. Known as the "Ox-Woman," she traversed wild swamplands with an ox-cart, shotgun, and two hounds. Pure, unyielding frontier grit. #SwampLifeSunday #Okefenokee

BTW guys, @caralavan.bsky.social is fundraising for the Shine Night Walk and will now be joining it next Friday. If you want to support her fundraising efforts, and stick two fingers up to "Bristol Rises", please donate below.

👻 🎃 🦇 Boola Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸@belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 4d ago

Bristol Rises' far right "protest" has resulted in the postponement of the annual Shine Night Walk, a women-led charity event that raises money for Camcer Research, with a day's notice. Avon & Somerset Police are more willing to facilitate a dozen fascists than 2k+ women raising money for charity.

Showcasing pur peatland palaeoclimate, microbiology and restoration research - and inviting visitors to contribute to our peatland tapestry at @bristoluni.bsky.social 150th Anniversary celebration. A wonderful day!

This is a good illustration of how so much of AI theft isn't indirect (ie, data sucked into a model to train the chatbot) - it's actually **direct** copying, but *enabled* by GenAI. Of course it is: chatbots absolutely suck at creating good, new stuff.

“The only sensible solution at this point is a moratorium on datacentres until very basic questions about how many we need, what for, where, and how pollution will be avoided are answered satisfactorily by the government” - @olliehayes.bsky.social 👏

Drax datacentre could create nearly twice the yearly emissions of all Gatwick flights

Exclusive: Campaign group’s analysis of North Yorkshire plans finds datacentre would have to burn 4.9m tonnes of wood a year

theguardian.com

A new film premieres later this month that sees seven children of the Windrush generation tell what it was like growing up in Bristol in the 70s & 80s. Read more about their powerful stories here 👇🏼 www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

Powerful stories of growing up Black in Bristol in the 1970s and 80s

"These personal stories collectively reveal a much bigger picture of resilience, belonging and change"

bristolpost.co.uk

A Welsh town has been named among 'the world's most beautiful towns' in a global ranking - coming in higher than previous winner Tenby

Welsh town named among 'world's most beautiful'

Nation Cymru staff A Welsh town has been named among ‘the world’s most beautiful towns’ in a global ranking – coming in higher than previous winner Tenby. Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay (Welsh: Y Gelli Gan...

wp.me

Average new-build defects by country: Germany < 10 France 10 to 15 Netherlands ~20 Italy 20-25 Spain ~58 UK 130-150 Do you see this, Brits? Judging by the lack of reaction to my post below, you do not. Why do you let them get away with this in the UK? Wake the hell up, this is NOT normal.

Phil Jones' body double@philsbodydouble.bsky.social · 3d ago

I have no words. I truly do not understand how you Brits keep taking things like this on the chin, and not take to the streets in protest. Maybe it is because you Brits do not realise how awful these figures are. So, a comparison.

This comparison is telling about the BBC's editorial priorities. But it's also telling about the media's incomprehension of the Green Party of England and Wales. We are, and we always will be, much more than just the leader. The same cannot be said of Reform. 1/...

Media Tell The Truth@mediatellthetruth.bsky.social · 4d ago

Number of times Nigel Farage lost Westminster elections before becoming an MP: 7 Number of times the BBC called for him to quit: zero.

Sorry, I'll explain. We currently react to inflation by reducing the disposable income of spenders so that demand falls and unemployment goes up. We use a bufferstock of unemployed people to keep workers desperate, so wages are suppressed and we don't get a feedback loop (wage 🔄 prices) [🧵 1/n]

Musical Chairs@musicalchairs.bsky.social · 2d ago

Simply the best socio-economic policy anyone can vote for this election. If I was splitting hairs, I would say that the six months wait is about six months too long, but it's still a great start.

So, finally, a PM who admits there **was** Russian interference in the Brexit Referendum — after all the evidence amassed by myself @carolecadwalla.bsky.social @lukeharding1968.bsky.social Sergei Cristo, J Patrick et al — dismissed as conspiracy for ten long years Truth is the daughter of Time

"Seamus O'Reilly" 🇺🇦🇬🇧🇮🇪🇦🇺🇬🇱@jimbobuk.bsky.social · 2d ago

In the observer; Andy Burnham has said "UK authorities are “clear” that there was Russian interference in the Brexit vote: this is the first time a prime minister has confirmed Kremlin involvement in the 2016 referendum." Finally.... What we all knew...

Cloudfare: Russian troll activity on X drops to 49%, after Ukraine strikes Yandex Russian data center. 🤖 🫤 Could this disrupt the midterms for the GOP?

Jay in Kyiv@jayinkyiv.bsky.social · 2d ago

Trump serves his Russian master while Ukraine shreds Russia's oil and data centers. youtu.be/vtaUIk2qubE

How do we bring back people inviting other people over for dinner? This still happens frequently in Paris, and these gatherings feel qualitatively different than going out for dinner.

Science Magazine@science.org · 3d ago

Health officials are raising alarms about loneliness and isolation. Can researchers identify what helps? Learn more on #WorldMentalHealthDay: https://scim.ag/4dsaPXb