BOOKS For Clubs: --Kafka's Last Trial (nonfic) --Confessions --When the Moon Hits Your Eye Other: --From Strength to Strength (nonfic) --Doing Time (Time Police #1) #BookSky

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) is about to turn 100 ... so they're asking what the next 100 years hold for libraries and librarianship. They're holding a short story competition (Judged by @maryrobinettekowal.com !!!!) Details at the link: www.ifla.org/news/li-sci-...

An ICE detainee in Arizona has died of a TOOTH INFECTION after it went untreated for weeks, a local official says. He was a Haitian asylum seeker imprisoned in Florence, Arizona. @emilybregel.bsky.social reports. tucson.com/news/local/b...

Great. I'm hooked on YET another book podcast (@slobpodcast.bsky.social; enjoying it immensely). I had NO idea what was really going on in the world of Dorian Gray. I blame YOU, @bookriotpod.bsky.social, for mentioning it during your hilarious talk on Project Hail Mary (Zero to Well-read). #BookSky

"'It's a guide that takes you on a tour of infinities.' The 10 journeys...range from familiar ideas to more surprising ones, all unified by the principle that infinity is not a number to fear but a concept to explore." @hopkinsengineer.bsky.social @jhu.edu #BookSky tinyurl.com/4d69ejhd

Texas style attempted voter suppression. 😔

Sad to read but CRUCIAL to know. Thank you for this gift link.

'One year of failure.' The Lancet slams RFK Jr.’s first year as health chief | NPR www.npr.org/2026/02/28/n...

We don't know what else to tell you but it's Monday night and it's 5pm so it's time for EPISODE EIGHT of 'How light is it in #Orkney at 5pm this week?' Today has been one of the nicest, lightest, brightest days of the year so far, and right now in Orkney it's THIS LIGHT 💡

Book club's last two books were nonfiction. Not downers and both excellent ("Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds..." + "The Feather Detective"), but next we're going with something fun. @scalzi.com When the Moon Hits Your Eye share.google/CSk5xVBLm7y7...

Florida just cut off HIV meds for 16,000 people.

“Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that will live in the headsets used by employees.”

A car chase involving federal immigration enforcement officers has led to a muti-vehicle crash in Newark, New Jersey abcnews.com/US/wireStory...

When my adult trans kid was planning a move, several family members suggested cities closer to home with the argument that although X state is red, X city is blue. And kiddo was like, "Nope, I need the full power of the state behind me." And this is why.

“But Anthropic has concerns over two issues: AI-controlled weapons and mass domestic surveillance of American citizens… Anthropic believes AI is not reliable enough to operate weapons, and there are no laws or regulations yet that cover how AI could be used in mass surveillance.”

LLMs are a weapon. And not only a weapon; an unpredictable weapon, which is why it is coveted - its proponents wants to use it not only because of potential speed and scope, but because it helps avoid accountability if the LLM makes the wrong decisions.

👀⁠‼️⁠ ⁠ Pick up some sweet sesquicentennial swag TODAY to add style to your wardrobe, laptop, water bottle, and any other surface you want to show blue jay pride with!⁠ ⁠ @hopkinsretro.bsky.social Commemoration Day celebration⁠ 3-6 PM at the Bloomberg Student Center

In Paris this week for IASEAI (Feb 24-26). Tuesday: panel on the International AI Safety Report. Thursday: keynote on regulatory markets, a panel on AI assurance, and a talk in Seth Lazar’s workshop on normative competence. If you’re at IASEAI, come say hello!

BREAKING: ICE agents are now following people to church… and arresting them outside. In New Jersey, agents were following a vehicle and waited until the car pulled up in front of its church… Iglesia Cristiana Dios De Amor… and only then did they move in and make the arrest.

THIS is why I read Five Books. To be walked through a set of readings that illustrates different views of a social, tech, environmental, or other kind of concept; or, as in this case, the way someone's view about a concept was shaped by their readings. I found this one quite moving.

Episode 214 is live and we hope you're hungry! This week, our co-hosts are joined by Bob Valgenti, philosophy professor at the Culinary Institute of America, who argues that the history of humanity is the history of gastronomy. Check it out! hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/food/

"The plaintiffs also argue that approval has not been granted + that required environmental and historic preservation reviews have not been completed. Under the Commemorative Works Act, memorials built on federal land in Washington... require authorization from Congress." www.npr.org/2026/02/21/n...

I'll check these lists! "Akutagawa nominees are typically short or novella-length stories that have appeared in one of Japan’s major literary magazines, which publish monthly+often run 300+ pages, while Naoki nominees are usually drawn from published books." www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

"As Karen got to know the guards at the Northwest ICE Processing Center where she was held, she kept hearing the same thing from them: that ICE officers are paid a bonus every time they detain someone. “Individual ICE agents get money per head that they detain – the guards told me that,” Karen says.

Pertussis—commonly known as whooping cough—is experiencing a major resurgence in the U.S. with nearly four times as many cases as in 2023. Vaccines are the best protection against the highly contagious respiratory infection. Swipe to learn more. publichealth.jhu.edu/2026/what-to...

"Everything changed...when local children began taking part in a novel, immersive language experiment. The programme has transformed a language that was once considered doomed after being inspired by indigenous language revitalisation projects in New Zealand..." www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Paywall, but the headline is the point.

Revenue generated by subscribers to The Irish Times is now fully funding its journalism for the first time - ten years after starting subs strategy pressgazette.co.uk/paywalls/iri...

Environmental Humanities Research Initiative (EHRI) Spring Panel - Feb 25, 5:30-7p, Gilman 208. Panelists include our Travis Rieder, "Is There a Duty to Be an Environmentalist?". Link for details | Humanities Institute | Johns Hopkins University krieger.jhu.edu/humanities-i...

Feel like this is a good lesson to keep generative AI far from your editorial process as a matter of policy. Ars is a great website. If it can happen there it can happen to anyone that allows these tools in

BOOKS: CLUBS --Society of Unknowable Objects (REALLY great so far) --The Feather Detective (nonfic; do NOT miss this, and DO give as gifts) --Kafka's Last Trial REQUESTED --From Strength to Strength (nonfic) ---The Antiquarian's Object of Desire #BookSky

It’s so funny to think about the fact that there’s people out there deferring every life decision to this

"The 76-year-old Marine Corps combat veteran and mostly retired nurse was still bleeding from his elbow and missing a hearing aid from being tackled by federal agents earlier that day..."

A great wide-ranging conversation on AI ethics and safety with me, @mdredze.bsky.social @ruchowdh.bsky.social and of course @karaswisher.bsky.social. I don’t think putting ethics and safety together is a contradiction in terms! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

It's time for your periodic reminder that we count on subscriptions to keep the lights on. clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/ Thank you.

"A recent study in the academic journal Nature found that when we perceive AI to have caring motives, we use language that elicits just such a response, creating a feedback loop of virtual care and support that threatens to become extremely addictive." www.bbc.com/future/artic...

This is bleak as hell. Who cares about literature when you’ve got computers? Way to go Carnegie Mellon. Our tech oligarchs will not reward your loyalty the-tartan.org/2026/02/09/l...

In a moment that calls for courage, we get this:

Oh hey.

Sure, I go to the library for books, but also sometimes I go just to exist in a space that's welcoming, organized, comfortable, judgement-free, and run by knowledgeable, helpful, passionate people, because that energy is straight up medicinal

"Researchers from Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Yale universities recently found that 60 FDA-authorized medical devices using AI were linked to 182 product recalls, according to a research letter published in the JAMA Health Forum in August."

Icing on the cake is that hyper-pro police surveillance founder Jamie Siminoff, who recently returned to the CEO roll and dismantled years of privacy reforms appeared in the commercial. Read more:

Just bought a copy of the extraordinary "The Feather Detective." I've raved about it everywhere + book club is now reading it. @cbsweeney.bsky.social, thx for this *riveting* true story! S&S, another sale made AFTER I got it from my public library. I read 1st, then buy. @simonandschuster.bsky.social

Trump said he would fight for “forgotten Americans.” I didn’t know that meant Jeff Bezos. Despite making $89.5 BILLION in profits last year, Amazon paid just 3.1% in taxes. This is what Republicans’ SNAP & Medicaid cuts were for. Guess that ‘Melania’ doc really paid off.

More "best of February/March" book lists coming my way. This book has a powerful library AND magical creatures -- sign me up. #BookSky www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...