Doctora Malka Older
@older.bsky.social
nerd with narrative disorder • humanitarian • sociopunk • evidence-based creativity • speculative resistance • predictive fictions • INFOMOCRACY • THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES • …AND OTHER DISASTERS • GlobalVoices.org • opinions my own
I kind of love the idea of defanging Citizens United by making campaign spending a sign of weakness rather than a sign of power.
Peggy Stuart@peggystuart.bsky.social · 32m agoI'm starting to see a trend. Money gets counted against the candidate, as long as voters know about it. We can be outspent by a lot and still win! #BlueWaveIn90Days
Today's artist without a (known) birthday: Jacob van Hulsdonck, still-life painter of Antwerp. Here, from around 1620, wild strawberries in a wan-li bowl. And a carnation.
5Exquisite glass filled with roses in 1640, by Jacob van Hulsdonck. His day is today.
3/3 Peaches, plums, and a few cherries. It's a theme! From Jacob van Hulsdonck, on his day.
2/2 Peaches, plums, quince, and two bright cherries just to add a touch of color. Arrangement by Jacob van Hulsdonck, whose day is today.
Plums. On a plate (reflective!). With two cherries, because that's how Jacob van Hulsdonck liked it.
One of the great joys of my adult life has been realizing that I can just pick up a new skill every so often, take a fun little class in it weekly for a year or two, and simply enjoy meeting people and getting medium proficient and not attempting to become professional in it at all!
I was a little surprised by how much this bothered me, tbh. Not because I thought it was intentional or even human carelessness- it's a reminder that these algorithms work against difference, they work against outliers, they work against marginalia (literal & figurative). And that's what I write for
Doctora Malka Older@older.bsky.social · 2h agomy pinned tweet for years was "I write for the people whose names get underlined in red by microsoft word" and...this is why. (no shade to the lovely people at the MIT Press reader, who changed it immediately as soon as I pointed it out)
my pinned tweet for years was "I write for the people whose names get underlined in red by microsoft word" and...this is why. (no shade to the lovely people at the MIT Press reader, who changed it immediately as soon as I pointed it out)
We have an announcement. Tomorrow is Dounby Show Day which is a local public holiday in #Orkney. Orkney Library & Archive will be CLOSED ALL DAY so the staff can dress in their finest outfits and stroll around the park looking at all sorts of bullocks. 🐂 See you on Friday.
The "second" paper in this series - where we dig more into the kinetic energy issues - actually came out a few months ago... Unfortunately, the peer review process doesn't much care about which I think should be published first.
Rethinking traffic safety: the case for reducing kinetic energy exposure, not just speed
Background This study extends beyond traditional speed and conflict management approaches to explore the role of kinetic energy exposure in shaping road safety outcomes. Methods We examined the assoc...
doi.org
Got a new paper out today... "Urban areas with lower commute mode share by car and, to a lesser extent, lower VMT are most strongly associated with lower per capita transportation fatality rates." (and it's open access if you are the type of person who wants to read a research paper)
What drives urban transportation safety? Exploring the role of modal composition and travel exposure
Purpose. Past urban transportation safety efforts have largely focused on controlling road user behavior through tactics such as speed management and separating users in space and time. This research ...
doi.org
“we found that kinetic energy exposure is more strongly associated with transportation safety outcomes than variables focused on roadway behavior such as vehicle speeds, education requirements, enforcement efforts, alcohol involvement or seat belt use.” This is so intuitive and logical! ♥️
Wes Marshall@wesmars.bsky.social · 22h agoGot a new paper out today... "Urban areas with lower commute mode share by car and, to a lesser extent, lower VMT are most strongly associated with lower per capita transportation fatality rates." (and it's open access if you are the type of person who wants to read a research paper)
Data centres here in Ireland accounted for nearly a quarter of all electricity usage last year (a FIVE-fold increase in ten years)! AND these companies get a discounted electricity rate which is subsidised by us ordinary domestic users 😡 www.rte.ie/news/busines...
Data centres account for 23% of electricity usage - CSO
The percentage share of total metered electricity consumption used by data centres rose to 23% in 2025 up from 22% in 2024 and just 5% in 2015.
rte.ie
‘The market’ didn’t decide that AI would be our future. Capital did. And when the devastating consequences of their decisions become clear, capital must be made to pay. graceblakeley.substack.com/p/data-centr...
Data Centres and Democracy
The AI boom was planned by capital. When it collapses, capital must be made to pay.
graceblakeley.substack.com
Nope, I’m just thrilled by it as a concept Canada doesn’t have much of a stockpile. That’s changing now our closest ally keeps threatening to annex us, but I was caught by the vision of the jackass being in a similar position where he literally couldn’t start wars because he had nothing to use.
I think this is something we have to rethink really hard. ALL the US use of these munitions, except for a small amount sent to Ukraine (but no more), has been in wars of Donald Trump's choice. If we don't start wars, we don't use them. This is worth reading.
Running on Empty - Lawyers, Guns & Money
I have a follow up to Cheryl’s post on munitions at 1945: The economics of munitions stockpiles have always been fraught, and the increasing sophistication of missiles has made calculations even more ...
lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com
Today we launched the "End the ICE Tax," a new campaign built around a comprehensive report and website documenting how the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda is raising prices for everyday Americans, stalling key industries, and draining local economies nationwide.
Vanessa Cardenas@vcardenas.bsky.social · 5h agoDonald Trump and Stephen Miller’s mass deportation agenda led by armed, masked ICE agents has become an economic drag, a virtual tax on every American family and community, whether they’ve ever thought about immigration or not.
I have no desire to hold public office & am entirely unelectable besides. my recreational habits in 1986 alone disqualify me. but I'm running for president anyway & my entire platform is "when you need your health care provider, you get a live operator every time." I will win in a landslide
If AI were banned today, nothing in my workflow would change. Except, wait, I could reply to a website message without the stupid activate-AI button covering the send-reply button.
Charlie Stross@cstross.bsky.social · 10h agoMy answer is LOL ROFL (dickbrain) The terminally AI-pilled can't even *imagine* some people have *never* asked stochastic parrots to cheat at their job for them.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces that New York City is issuing cease and desist letters to more than 40 retailers selling illegal e-bikes (generally, vehicles that can go faster than local speed limits allow). The targeted retailers include Amazon and Best Buy.
I've read most of the books on @tressiemcphd.bsky.social's proposed reading list and plan to read the rest. These are excellent recommendations. In fact, @gilduran.com (author of The Nerd Reich) will be a guest on Movement Memos soon.
Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. (Gift Article)
A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.
nytimes.com
was looking up one of my old essays, happened across this wonderful review of NULL STATES by @hawkwinglb.bsky.social and, honestly it makes me so proud, can't resist sharing. Just in case you loved INFOMOCRACY and didn't realize there are sequels ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ reactormag.com/book-reviews...
Humanizing Systems: Null States by Malka Older - Reactor
Malka Older’s Infomocracy (book one of the Centenal Cycle) made its debut last summer to rapturous praise, including from The Washington Post and The New York Times Book Review. (I admired it too, alt...
reactormag.com
This is genuinely astonishing: a piece by the Globe and Mail’s editorial board lamenting the “new normal” of wildfires and summer smoke and no mention whatsoever of a) climate change, or b) the burning of fossil fuels that causes it. #cdnpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...
Globe editorial: A summer season of fire, smoke, ashes and fear
The carefree feeling of summers past has been incinerated as wildfires rage across the country
theglobeandmail.com
El-Sayed on Islamophobia: "That's the only play they got. They're gonna point at me, they're gonna point at my name, like, 'Wow, he's different.' That's the best you got? You can't actually talk about what you want to do? My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is now taking us to war."
This year's Edinburgh International Book Festival kicks off shortly and for the first time ever Orkney Library & Archive is delighted to be holding several FREE events where you can come along to the library and watch LIVE STREAMS of the events as they happen! 🎉
Fascinating for WSJ to have this headline which implicitly suggests business leaders may have had too much influence in the past.
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 17h agoNew York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders. That access is getting shredded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
