'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)

Here a compilation of stupid things library consultants have said to me in solidarity with library pals at Lambeth Libraries where genius consultants has decided that a qualified head of library service post isn't really essential.

Girón: oh no boo hoo hoo ai is bad, well maybe you didn't know this but you've already been forced to use ai constantly, against your will by the powers that be Girón: so maybe you should give up and learn to love the slop Girón: unless you like being a hypocrite

I saw these guys at the Troubadour before they got big

this is a weird line to draw since the liberal position (correct) is that it's not reasonable to summarily execute people in international waters even if they're involved in drug trafficking and the conservative position is that you must do that even if you kill a bunch of innocent people too

CNN@cnn.com · 2d ago

The US military’s strikes on alleged drug boats have likely illegally killed “individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” Sen. Tim Kaine told the White House, following “a careful review” of classified information he has seen so far.

"Yle's survey of UN polling statistics shows the U.S. is isolating itself from its allies. Russia votes more often in line with the position of the EU and NATO countries than the USA."

heepst@heepst.bsky.social · 2d ago

"Ylen selvitys YK:n äänestystilastoista näyttää, että Yhdysvallat eristäytyy liittolaisistaan. Venäjä äänestää useammin EU- ja Nato-maiden kannan mukaisesti kuin USA."

This article crystalises something I have been thinking about: namely that the wholesale destruction of institutions by their leadership opens up for critics to claim to represent the real legacy and spirit of the institutions in question.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 3d ago

If useful, here's my attempt to process my feelings about how I feel sadly kinda — or rather very — sick from all this AI fascist nonsense as an academic. 😶‍🌫️ I'd be pleased if even one person finds something useful because there's something to be said for processing this all together, so, um, enjoy?

Good piece on the pulled gazillion squid crime novel. No conclusions but a good sense of how much disruption this is causing. (Why do tech companies always talk about disruption like it's a good thing. this just sucks.)

Literary agents react to major crime book deal that collapsed over suspected AI use

Literary agents have spoken with The Bookseller following news that a crime novel sold in a 14-way auction in the US for $2.4m was withdrawn by its primary agent on Friday (31st July) due to suspected...

thebookseller.com

30 hours of sewing so far... lots and lots of French knots but some of the grass areas are now being filled too! If you didn't see the first post, this is an aerial embroidery inspired by moorlands. At this point I still can't estimate how long it'll take in full but I'm not half way yet 😊🌱

they want to humiliate you. it's not enough that you have to knuckle under. they need you to feel bad and resign yourself to this system. they won't even let you take out a loan to do something that might have value that can't be measured in money.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

This has made me so angry. It's time NHS staff were properly protected from these people who should be banned from accessing NHS treatment. Let them pay for a 'white' clinician if they want one so badly (and hopefully they'll struggle to find one- be an ally!) news.sky.com/story/nhs-st...

Patients refusing to be treated by non-white staff as NHS reports shocking rise in racism

Paul Awah, a Bedfordshire-based diagnostic radiographer originally from Nigeria, said: "It's definitely got worse – people are more expressive."

news.sky.com

The distance Finns naturally take between each other puts them just out of reach of an axe. Coincidence or not?

If we Finns sometimes seem a bit weird, consider what we had to deal with not long ago

Janne M. Korhonen@jmkorhonen.fi · 2d ago

Another famous tale tells of a frontiersman who sees wood chips floating in the river and deduces someone else is building a homestead upriver. So he grabs his axe and goes to... kill the newcomer. And as late as when I was a wee kid, this was presented as IDEALISED Finnish mentality/behaviour 😬

That's what taxes are, man. That's the definition of taxes. "You are subsidizing things you might never use" man shut the fuck up. My taxes currently subsidize like oil company exec private jets, you think I'm upset at low-income people eating inexpensive bananas?

USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 2d ago

Opinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.

Photo from my collection, the back says “Gail and landlord’s cat”. No other info/date.

Gotta wonder what this inert military equipment did to earn the wrath of the local seagulls that they're like "fuck THIS cannon in particular". The other ones don't have as much splatter. (Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Finland)

I don't think people are ready for this kind of joke yet.

Oh, you also have racism scandals? We have corruption, extreme austerity policies, and also gun incidents by the True Finns. One of their ministers is a child groomer. Seven months to the elections. I joined the Left Alliance. yle.fi/a/74-20237862

Finnish MP vows to stay in Parliament despite final conviction on assault and weapons charges

The Supreme Court left in place former Finns Party MP Timo Vornanen's convictions related to a drunken late-night shooting incident at a Helsinki karaoke bar.

yle.fi

It's weird when people bristle at the idea of abolishing billionaires. Are you a billionaire? Is your mum one? Why do you care? It would be good to abolish billionaires. More money for public services, less money for them to buy rape islands.

Im case you missed this: bsky.app/profile/eero...

Sami Eerola@eerolasami.bsky.social · 3mo ago

New level of AI dystopia achieved by Israel: www.latimes.com/world-nation...

As "Cathy" so aptly put it: "The thing that is a good tool for the skilled people is being sold as a thing to reduce the number of skilled people hired": bsky.app/profile/cath... 51/

Cathy@cathyby.bsky.social · 3d ago

It's almost like a Greek myth. The thing that is a good tool for the skilled people is being sold as a thing to reduce the number of skilled people hired.

*Other* billionaires are cynics who think that bosses can be sold defective worker-replacing chatbots because they're credulous suckers for that pitch. 30/

For example, *some* of the billionaires who put up the first several hundred million for AI are solipsists who just don't believe other people are entirely real and therefore find it easy to believe that AI can do their jobs. 29/

"Predicting what you'll say through an understanding based on a theory of your mind" and "predicting what you'll say based on a statistical analysis of your utterances" might produce the same *outputs*, but they are *not* the same trick. You can tell by what happens when the trick fails. 14/

The greatest magic trick of them all is *lying*. The reason you can't figure out that coin vanish even after the conjurer performs it three times in a row is that they *didn't* do the same trick three times in a row! 1/

I’ve started referring to them as language models again. Somehow suggesting a language model is conscious seems weirder to people than saying an “AI” is; it escapes this particular coin trick.

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)@doctorow.pluralistic.net · 3d ago

"Predicting what you'll say through an understanding based on a theory of your mind" and "predicting what you'll say based on a statistical analysis of your utterances" might produce the same *outputs*, but they are *not* the same trick. You can tell by what happens when the trick fails. 14/

I would love to know what transpired with this octopus? Skilled artist have the day off so someone else finished the tentacles?

Alison Fisk@alisonfisk.bsky.social · 2d ago

A little Roman octopus to wish you a happy week! 🐙❤️ From a Roman villa mosaic at Villaquejida, León, Spain. Limestone, AD 100-200. Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid 📷 by me #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

"Hamasin alaisuudessa toimiva Gazan väestönsuojeluvirasto kertoi lauantaina, että 112 ruumiin joukossa on 40 lasta ja 38 naista" www.is.fi/ulkomaat/art...

Gazassa tehtiin surullinen löytö

Tuhansien ihmisten uskotaan olevan yhä hautautuneina raunioihin Israelin ilmaiskujen seurauksena.

is.fi

It's like, how much more relaxed could she be? And the answer is none. None more relaxed