I keep coming back to this thought as fundamentally correct

I like robots as a tech category, even though I don’t like where we’ve gone with disembodied LLMs and genAI. So in that sense I feel kinda sorry for the designers.

We know how it works on YouTube but why put up with it on Substack?

“The AAUP stands in solidarity with Steven Thrasher, the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg Chair of Social Justice in Reporting at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, who last week filed a lawsuit against Northwestern and against partisan government actors” www.aaup.org/news/northwe...

Was leaving all things Homeric alone for a couple of weeks, but can’t resist this one

Why are all new cars so hideously unintuitive? Forget electric vehicles. Electric schmelectric. My next car money will go to the manufacturer that brings back physical knobs, car door handles, and a gear shift. Make cars… cars again. I don’t want to drive a tablet.

Gillian Anderson has officially revealed the upcoming 1,478-piece LEGO set for THE X-FILES. The set is centered on Mulder’s office, paired with a forest clearing scene and a hovering UFO. Includes 8 minifigures, featuring Mulder, Scully, The Flukeman & more. August 4.

Eldercare is hard work, severely underpaid that was already understaffed. Since Medicaid is "the primary payer" of this work, it's unlikely there will be a huge increase in wages to attract non-immigrant workers. Are Americans prepared to quit their jobs to take care of their elders? Many have.

Folks may read this and think of particular reddish states, but this could be California too.

Absolutely everybody who knows anything about labor demographics saw this coming miles away. The last 18 months have been a steady stream of “nobody could have predicted” things every minimally knowledgable person loudly predicted.

I’m looking to speak with people who are resisting the erosion of human thought, creativity, skill, and relationship through AI. 🧵

Every time you rent a car, for the rest of your life, here are the rules.

Quick! Someone explain how academic institutions that signed massive contracts with OpenAI shouldn’t worry or change anything, including their career advice to students.

This. I wish I had more than one Like to give this. Also, my library website and the academic databases. I have to close eleventy things offering me an AI assistant or to summarize things for me. The sheer amount of friction these “tools” cause makes me want to fling my laptop across the room.

Bullet from MIT Sloan: "Experts said the five risks with highest expected severity are AI possessing dangerous capabilities, competitive dynamics, weapons and cyberattacks, power centralization, and AI spreading false or misleading information."

IRAN WAR COVER UP Pentagon Withheld Dozens of U.S. Military Injuries in Iran War www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...

Want to see a public collection of all the times cops have been busted abusing Flock systems to stalk exes, spy on protests, or deport migrants? You can check it out here 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 HT @deflock library.kansas.watch

We just won a court order stopping the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. while our lawsuit continues.     We’re going to keep fighting to keep costs down for consumers, protect jobs, and stop this illegal merger.

I heard this post in the voice of the Nervive TV ad doctor walking down the stairs... "with confidence!" (Unfortunately, I'll need another context when I give this post to my first-year students) #AI #confidence #CognitiveBias

Here's a short fediverse thread 🧵 from Gerry McGovern on how #SiliconValley #techbro elites have shielded their own kids from too much screen/device use over the decades. Weird that it's a decades-long issue! But we've been on this timeline for a while. Suck it up. mastodon.green/@gerrymcgove...

It was weirdly reassuring to meet another former UX advocate who has declared war on Big Tech. New from me, a conversation with Gerry McGovern: buttondown.com/creativegood...

well, I never expected to be published in a Stanford journal, but the McKnight Foundation asked me write my thesis to the philanthropic world after the MN ICE surge: when there is an emergency, just... give money to people on the ground doing the actual work. as fast as possible. radical, I know.

⚠️WOKE CONTENT⚠️™️ 🧵 In 1942, these men didn't just enlist to fight a world war—they fought a grueling battle at home just for the right to wear the uniform. They are the Montford Point Marines. Pull up a seat🪑, my friends.(cont) #ProudBlue #ResistanceRoots #USDemocracy #Voices4Victory

This gives me renewed interest in campus website #chatbots for some reason. What would high-schoolers and parents ask? Would they easily stump a campus chatbot? Would it lie? This involves some retro thinking for me. (My college hunt was pre-Web.) #HigherEd #LLM

I really want to watch someone else do it first, but I know I’ll be the one in my group who’s talked into it

Watching the 1980 and then the 1934 versions of Little Miss Marker tonight on TCM. No surprise: The original has way more Runyonesque dialogue throughout. Casting surprise: Twice as many Black people in the original—FWIW two in menial roles instead of one. #TCMParty #LittleMissMarker

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Blocking reading materials and censoring writing are both ways that prisons erase expression before it can reach an audience. Story via @inquest.bsky.social.

“Americans” and “despite court order“ appearing in the same sentence yet again

My gastroenterologist's office is admirably accommodating to time travelers from the Middle Ages, many of whom probably do have gastroenterological issues

Just an FYI

Hypothesis: One of the reasons universities are struggling to adapt pedagogical policies and curricula to an AI world is that the vast majority of university administrators do not teach classes. It’s much harder to solve a problem you haven’t encountered yourself.

When admins spend more time talking to donors and local corporate types than they do talking to students and faculty, you get lots of boosterism and no solutions to the actual problems

I don’t hang out at Letterboxd but needed to see this! We need some #humor and #serendipity in our feeds, people.

> Schools and workplaces don’t have the same protections that the safest buildings and most privileged members of society do. The phrase “Davos safe” exists to show the protections that the wealthiest in the world get, when they meet yearly at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Billion-dollar California salad company exploits undocumented migrants, say workers and Teamsters Taylor Farms denies claims it threatened to call immigration officials to keep workers on ‘temporary’ status, exposing them to dangerous working conditions www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014...

The man on the bus station bench with the woman and kids sure looked familiar… made me think of Lee Tracy, only better behaved. Anyone? Bueller? #DarkPassage #TCMParty #NoirAlley

I’m not at full speed tonight for #DarkPassage, had a long day. But watching, and dropping in to acknowledge that over-the-top montage! #TCMParty #NoirAlley

“Solar farms just get wrecked by hail, they’re useless!” ME: New solar panels have been invented and successfully tested that automatically fold up when hail, snow or otherwise strong storm approaches. This drastically reduces any damage from said storms.

This is the way. I was taking a walk locally and had to put a random elderly lady’s eyedrops in for her. She was at the curb waiting for her daughter to show up. Small towns, I tell ya

They made her choose: leave the country, or be torn from her daughters. This week a judge undid it. www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/trump-had-...

“At this time, Taylor Fresh Foods has not publicly provided distribution information or a list of customers who received the product that was voluntarily removed from the market,” said the FDA. The fact that they have a choice in this is a problem. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/h...

A gentle reminder: libraries are still here, still free, still open to everyone. No appointment required. No subscription fee. Just walk in.

A fair request

I first saw #Aliens in the late '80s with a gaggle of military folk on home video, and it was a LOT like this post about a room full of fifth-graders. Matt is right—you can't have a true "do-over" of your first viewing of any formative film, but it'd be fun to try. #movies #scifi #reviews

Every time a journalist comes to me with a story like this one, they say something along the lines of "At least it's good that they're catching the bad apples on the force that abuse the technology right?" and I have to point out that only a tiny fraction of abuse ever leads to consequences.

Assuming this bothers you (if it doesn't, you're already not following me on here) you're really not gonna like some of the related stories shared in the replies. P.S. It's easy to pick on the South—they're OG in pulling public school $$ for private gain—but it happens all over.

New Kansas law limits efforts to document ICE activity. Video shows how officers utilize the law. Reporting by @bayaburgess.bsky.social kansasreflector.com/2026/07/17/n...

One reason to care about state supreme courts: They are only defender of abortion rights in some places. In Kansas, Wyoming, Missouri, New Mexico, justices who ruled in favor of abortion access are on ballot this year. And Right is going after them. Time to learn more—I covered all states:

I asked the FDA one yes-or-no question about this outbreak. They dodged. The lab check that confirms we can even detect this parasite was cut last year. Watch how they answer. Read & subscribe: celinegounder.com