📣 New! @cariatida.bsky.social, @aihathing.bsky.social & Sanjay Pinto argue for understanding the sprint to create the "AI-first economy" not as the logical march of progress, but as a series of deliberate economic decisions that risk harming workers in ways old & new. datasociety.net/library/last...

If you’re using AI to write books, understand that’s not going to somehow get you respect or money like real writers who aren’t using AI to write books because we don’t get respect or money either.

Huh, turns out I must be a librarian because I'm creating a taxonomy for fun on a Sunday morning. (works of public art if you were curious) anyway have some art from when I was in Berlin in 2014

Important update: I enjoyed Project Hail Mary

Seven-word death punch

Clouds be clouding! I'm pretty sure this isn't what they mean by atmospheric river, but it sure is interesting to me that this one strip of clouds just keeps going in the distance. Anyways, happy Sunday!.

I just finished "To Each This World" by @julieczerneda.bsky.social and GUH that's the kind of story I needed. No spoilers, but if you want a good SciFi space romp that balances bleak with hope, this one's for you.

I have a librarian joke, if you can just tell me what my email password is

Ok hear me out: Parallel universes, but the first scientist to go from one to another ends up in one exactly the same as the one she came from, having swapped with her AU counterpart at exactly the same time.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! One weird thing about being an American who moved to Canada is the difficulty in finding corned beef for the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner my family would do growing up. It's possible (shout out to Beefway near Kingsway and 33rd) but hard.

Not to brag but tonight we ate leftovers instead of some of the yummy new food we bought today on a grocery run.

We interviewed BCIT instructors about their experiences with Zero Textbook Cost. Theresa Lalonde, from School of Business and Media: "Learning should be open and equitable for all." youtube.com/shorts/C-nFh...

Yes, that’s the issue. I’ve been trying to find a way to articulate this: to the extent that LLMs serve a purpose in education, it’s an indictment of the education system, not a praiseworthy feature of LLMs.

OK so, I don't know why I feel compelled to say this but I'm to the point where statements in the vein of "LLMs are just plagiarism machines" don't really land as helpful/accurate, exactly. Is this the cloud I'm yelling at? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I just feel like there are better/more accurate ways.

I've been watching 'For All Mankind,' and as someone who's never been to space, I feel completely qualified saying that it's completely scientifically accurate.

Excuse me as I shout into the void for a moment: The Small Man in the Pentagon and the Small Man in the White House are wretches in their nonchalance about killing people, and how resigned he is that American servicemembers have died and will continue to do so under his hand.

ALA denounces federal book banning bill 📚 www.ala.org/news/2026/02...

I made guava jelly today because the kid talked me into buying 2kg of guavas. In his defense, I brought him to Costco and said "listen kid, we're gonna get fruit here so pick something wild and wacky." And then when I gave him one to eat, he did not like it. BUT HEY I CANNED STUFF!

I wish more people were aware of just how many things their public libraries “step in” to do, how many gaps they fill silently. NYC, as budget season commences, we need to end the annual budget dance — a gratuitous, insulting ritual — and ensure consistent, generous funding for our libraries.

Clearview AI lost in the BC Court of Appeals today. They tried to argue that the Personal Information Privacy Act was constitutionally inapplicable to their practice of scraping the internet for facial data. This is a win for all British Columbians. Link: www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/ca/2...

I'm pretty used to coming out, lol. But TODAY I'm excited to come out about a Very Cool Thing that my colleagues and I have been working on, fairly hush hush, for about a year now. And heck, #P4A2026 seemed like a great opportunity to do so. So -- behold! www.youtube.com/watch?v=83wz...

I did a thing! If you're looking for the very last, most recent data captures of the CIA World Factbook, I (very respectfully) copied the data using @archive.org's wayback machine: github.com/pmusser/cia-... Don't expect a pretty recreation of the site, but it's all JSONized!

So, uh, has anyone checked in with Ken Sim about his grand idea of investing Vancouver in BTC?

I'm no foreign policy expert but when SOMEONE decides to implement a 10% tariff on allies for disagreeing with him doing something foolish on the same day the Canadian prime minister announces major tariff reductions with China, it really makes ya think.

Less niche, I submitted a short story to a lil mini contest for the first time ever so that's exciting!

Niche bsky incoming, but: 若你是说中文或是想联系听中文的一个人，我送给你的新年礼物是鼓励你听到所谓《声东击西》现代人文的播客：https://etw.fm/ So, y'know, happy new year.

Can confirm, decent opportunity! I worked as an enumerator in the 2020 one, and aside from being a great way to make some extra money during the pandemic-triggered layoff I was in, it was just a really nice way to get to meet my community.

So apparently I've taken to coping with the continuously unprecedented times by writing a cameo from @kairyssdal.bsky.social and some of my other @npr.org favorites into a wee bit of short fiction. I don't know if it's going to be any good, but I guess we'll see if it can do the numbers.

It's wild that "I managed to avoid getting a cold this month until everyone else in my household got better and we made it past Christmas!" is such an obvious win. Parenting, folks.

This set of observations is produced by my scrolling Reddit and otherwise listening to people talk about "how to write." A) there is no requirement that any of your characters has any sort of "arc" let alone a redemption. B) there is also no requirement that your fiction has a plot.

Librarians are one of the groups that have an opportunity to serve as a kind of "third person" in young people's lives. We aren't parents or teachers, and if we treat them with respect for their personhood, they get practice dealing with adults not as much in power over them.

music.youtube.com/watch?v=nqAv... This is, like, such a great music video.

Ho ho ho, who wouldn't go?

In what may be the most on-brand experience, I could have sworn that @nightvaleradio.bsky.social came out when I was in high school. After looking into it after reading the first book (thanks @humblebundle.com !) I have learned that apparently it came out a decade later. So. Uh. Hail glow cloud?

The only H-index I care about is the H[ave to tell Peter about it on social]-index.

Getting a lot of emails from different orgs saying happy holidays, so voila. As you can see, I am an artist whose talents are wasted in librarianship. :) OER Commons is open, but our responses may be delayed because we're all so, so tired, and taking much needed rest. We hope you are too!

Useful thread from our reporter @bxroberts.org 🧵

Hey y'all, just taking a moment to tell you that you are spectacular, and you deserve to wear mismatched socks if you dang well want to.

I'm a sucker for connections. So sue me.

With all this talk about public domain day on the horizon, I need to go to my local archdiocese and find out what the church's ecclesiastical stance on Bible fanfiction is. I mean, the Bible is already in the public domain, I just... Listen, it's been a WEEK y'all.

Apropos of last night's convo, @mrpeterjulian.bsky.social @matthtfld.bsky.social @openmedia.org

When @ztirfhtor.bsky.social presented abt this yesterday, I appreciated mention of the gap btwn tech skills & librarianship as a hurdle to sustaining repositories -- and also that librarian compensation doesn't really attract the tech skills needed. And many other things. All around good session!

In light of everyone wrapping up, if you use transit in Metro Vancouver, try out Compass Card Wrapped! kevindeyoungster.com/compass-card-wrapped/

Behold, the spirit of Christmas

The Trump era is so long when you think about it. 2012 was the last time he wasn’t on a ballot.