Felicia Steele
@feliciajsteele.bsky.social
Professor, linguist, knitter, curmudgeon: teach and study the History of the English language, British Literature before 1700, and many adjacent things. All opinions my own.
This is the main reason I'm so angry about the "AI" bubble. All this enormous effort could have been spent combatting the climate crisis and the opportunity cost of your fucking chatbot is going to be the very climate we live in Imagine what we could have done with those 3 trillion dollars?
Is it wrong to wish a broken toe on someone? That seems like a benign curse, sort of like my go-to: "May (insert name here) and their descendants to the 7th generation never find a good parking space "
Nick Barlow@nickbwalking.bsky.social · 6d agoIn a move that will surprise absolutely no one who's been paying attention, Stock has decided that women with disabilities are suffering from "social contagion"
And this is exactly why I object to deaccessioning books! A book might tear, but it won't lock its covers or disappear once you own it!
Dr Francis Young@drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 5d ago“I never thought leopards would remove my access to ebooks,” say libraries that focussed almost solely on acquiring ebooks from leopards
It is hard not to think of America in terms of family, so please hear me out on this one. It is going to be long and talk a lot about genealogy. /1
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2w agoThat's right, racist. The inbred "heritage Americans" of the traitorous Confederacy got their asses kicked by a motley assortment of immigrants in the U.S. Army.
I think the same could be said about most science fiction and comics. One shouldn't identify with Lex Luther Ozymandias.
The Bulwark@thebulwark.com · 3w agoThe tech right joins a long tradition of conservative or right-wing claims to possess Tolkien and the one true interpretation of The Lord of the Rings. Yet it’s hard to imagine a group that could get him more wrong. New from @joshuatait.bsky.social:
Books: The Language Beat: Essays and Reporting on Language and Life: Erard (2026)
Books: The Language Beat: Essays and Reporting on Language and Life: Erard (2026)
More than two decades ago, Michael Erard, a linguist and writer, set out to marry the linguist’s fascination with language to the journalist’s fascination with story. Could he go beyond the usual cliches and engage with language where and how it’s actually used and studied? In journalism, a "beat" is an area or topic to which a journalist brings their expertise. "The Language Beat: Essays and Reporting on Language and Life" collects 42 of Erard’s long-form features, reports, essays and review
dlvr.it
I'm so excited that the military is guaranteeing gender affirming care ...what, what is that? A dining club boy's insecurities are determining policy again? And resulting in price gouging and supply manipulation? Oops...my mistake.
When people ask me what the phrase "artificial intelligence" means, my short answer is, it means "venture capitalists, give me some money". But OUP asked me for a longer answer, given here and summarized in the section headings: doi.org/10.1093/9780...
NEH grantees: join us tomorrow, 9 July, at 2:00 p.m. ET for an MLA strategy session on how to reinstate terminated grants. You'll get guidance on navigating the NEH’s instructions and have the opportunity to ask questions about the reinstatement process. Register at www.mla.org/Events/Webin...
I think we should impose a new rule: any candidate for senate or president must have been elected to and held at least one office beyond a local planning board. I'd be happiest if we said they had to have served in the state legislature. I know this would disallow HC from the Senate. So be it.
Florida folks: If you have O- blood and are of African or African American descent, OneBlood is searching for donors who have a rare antigen that matches with a teenager with sickle cell disease who needs 50 units of blood so she can have a bone marrow transplant.
Rare blood needed to save life of Florida teen needing bone marrow transplant
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WFLA)— Blood donors of African descent are needed to save the life of a Florida 18-year-old fighting an aggressive form of sickle cell disease, OneBlood announced. Gigi Felix,…
wfla.com
I have never been this anxious about the 4th of July, and I once went to a fireworks show where unexploded fireworks went off in the audience.
If your college degree trains you for a specific job and that job goes in the toilet, you are FUCKED If your college degree trains you to be a broadly capable person, you have options!
Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · 2mo ago"Hiring of college grads is down across the board. But certain majors are able to access opportunities in a wider array of industries, new LinkedIn data shows." ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH 69% VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS 68% www.forbes.com/sites/courtn...
Anti-Prime Day starts…NOW! 🥳 Today through 6/26, enjoy free standard shipping site-wide, all while supporting local, independent bookstores.
One week to go until the Scribblebibble Writing Competition closes! Get your entries in before the end of June! scribblebibble.com/scribblebibb... scribblebibble.com/scribblebibb...
Scribblebibble writing competition - Scribblebibble
Scribblebibble's annual writing competition. Open to students aged 7-18 worldwide. Teachers and parents can submit entries.
scribblebibble.com
MLA Chairs' workshops are an amazing resource for current --and aspiring-- departmental leaders, and the virtual seminar provides an accessible option for faculty without summer travel support. I benefited tremendously and look forward to participating again.
Jason Rhody@jasonrhody.bsky.social · 4mo agoJoin us this summer for humanities-centered leadership training & professional development. Department chairs, directors of undergraduate and graduate studies, program leaders, & those preparing for leadership roles are all welcome; you will learn... www.maps.mla.org/Seminars
Error rate admitted by LLM companies would have caused me to fire the person who promoted one to production. ROI from use of AI agents/API’s is not being measured in any meaningful way. But reduction in coders continue. There is a massive technical debt building. Means a lot of shitty code out there
Please read this whole thread. I've thought for a long time about how we can draw Gothic and diabolical analogies to AI. One more is that they require our consent to infiltrate our lives.
Crystal Fleming クリスタル@alwaystheself.bsky.social · 2mo agoI'm attending a digital humanities event in Montreal. There was a keynote on AI and something about the talk made me wonder if it had been written by Claude. I said as much in the Q&A. As I posed the question, the speaker shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable. What he said next shocked the room +
GenAI is a tech bubble of hype and absurdity. It runs on nothing but vibes and dollar signs in billionaire's eyes. But that's why we must resist it. We broke NFTs, we broke the Metaverse, we can break this nonsense too.
You know, criminals usually get better value for bribes. I guess this is what happens when one criminal bribes another.
Ron Filipkowski@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2mo agoThat’s called a bribe.
As of today, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has gone on longer than the First World War.
I'm almost curious--not curious enough to actually put it in a system--to see what AI would do with a prompt asking it to write a dissertation about verbal in Old English sermons.
Sarah T Roberts, PhD@ubiquity75.xyz · 2mo agoI can’t.
The Guardian reviews @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social : "The roots of AI in rightwing ideology is examined in Valerie Veatch’s enjoyable doc, including an array of colourful, often crazed, figures" -⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ju...
Ghost in the Machine review – entertaining AI polemic dives into its dark history in race politics and eugenics
The roots of AI in rightwing ideology is examined in Valerie Veatch’s enjoyable doc, including an array of colourful, often crazed, figures
theguardian.com
🔗 This is part of the "Your Tax Dollars At Work" series on federally funded research that sounded ridiculous but generated enormous returns. Full series archive: bioniclab.substack.com/notes #YourTaxDollarsAtWork
bioniclab.substack.com
