Enough with this fucking ignorance. 'Experts' do not believe this. Shills do. There's a difference.

I actually would be interested to hear what other phil language and linguistics folks think of the phrase "greater modicum" as used in the Trumpian propaganda under discussion here. It feels obviously marked to me but I'm not exactly sure how to characterize what's off.

Destatis released almost final death data up to 5/7 for Germany (there will be some minor correction upwards from reporting delays for the last days) The heat wave generated ~12,000 excess deaths vs. the ~2,500 daily expected before the heat wave I added some perspective on this below 1/

The "McConnell is dead" thing is starting to cross the line from wild mass speculation to actual conspiracy theory. As a noted conspiracy theory hater and killjoy: It's time to stop now.

Here's the list of anti rights groups in the UK as documented by Amnesty International.

Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.

Anyone who wants to understand what it was like to be a 2e Paladin who broke their oath…this is kinda it.

We're in Eurovision. We have a land border with Denmark. Can we please join Schengen zone already? (The ERC would also be a good add)

"schism" and "schismatics" are both fantastically fun words to say. We really don't get nearly enough opportunities to use them these days.

Literally tapping the sign.

I'm looking forward to goading my German colleagues about how Canada has gone further than them in the world cup 😏

I visited Meta's metaverse on the day it was supposed to shut down. I ended up in a virtual reality off-brand McDonald's car park – "a horribly designed, ultra-capitalistic space—a car park with no cars, for a restaurant that can sell no food, an earthly purgatory we have built for ourselves".

Me: Okay, there's been a thunderstorm, the heatwave should be over now. (New health bar appears) (The sun is now named 'Sol, Starflame of Regret') (Objectively the greatest piece of classical music ever recorded starts playing).

Oh man, this is the first kind of social media I've been excited for in *years*. Satisfies me as both a bird appreciator and communication history nerd. Get a free a bird (or snail??) Sign up with my code 2GZRGA. roostsocial.app/invite/2GZRGA

It's actually a perfect day to lie on a log in a grove of trees.

Whenever I visit a predominately anglophone country these days I find it sooo hard not to eavesdrop on basically everyone.

This here is the difference between flying in the EU where there are robust passenger protections, and flying in North America where there are basically none.

I finally figured out why AI causes such a visceral reaction in thinking humans: I am writing my book chapter on PLAY, and AI is the opposite of play. We play for the joy of the process, not for the outcome. Yes it is nice to win, to have the art/ poem, but the point of life is to play.

I have been working on societal impacts of language technology since late 2016, and my nightmare example since pretty early on has been using automatic transcription in emergency services systems. And today I learn it's happening *in my own city* www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news... Short 🧵>>

Yes. The key issue is that social media should be regulated as essential public infrastructure rather than driven solely by shareholder value maximisation (which underpins a lot of the damaging algorithmic structuring) or by the whims of mad, racist oligarchs. All this is lost in the ban discourse.

A federal judge just ordered the Trump administration to reinstall exhibits and signs relating to slavery ​and climate change that it ⁠had removed from ​parks and monuments nationwide

The horrors in Belfast last night demonstrate just how bold and unchecked the extremist right in the UK are now. Add to that a full week of the news media coddling and amplifying their thinly veiled incitements to violence and this is what you get.

That's a pogrom. She's describing a pogrom

Whenever these age related tech bans come up, I think back to when I was a teenager and the school board kept installing these filters that were supposed to stop us from searching for "boobies" and the like.

Meanwhile on stackexchange; nice #aiethics #fow academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22... nice answer linking to a bunch of other nice answers, but I love the "question closed" notice.

It's kind of interesting that the Onion's plan for Infowars is essentially to revive the old Colbert Report formula.

sudden death | noun | extra play to break a tie in a sports contest in which the first to score or gain the lead wins

Please read this extremely thoughtful & careful post on Tim Walz, Anne Frank, & the US Holocaust Memorial Museum from Martin Shuster, philosopher, Isaac Swift Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, former Holocaust Memorial Museum Fellow, & scholar of genocide, the Holocaust, & authoritarianism:

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

🎁 link www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

So. ICE has murdered a civilian. Again. And they are blatantly lying about it despite video documentation. Again. This will continue until they are disbanded. How much more clear can it get? How many more extra judicial executions does it take?

Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out. As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class. Here's what happened:

I went to Minneapolis last week. What I saw was horrifying and inspiring in equal measure. Gift link to my latest column: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

thinking of this again

I knew it was coming, but this is still a tremendous loss. I'm so sad I never got to meet Helen in person.

If James Lindsay is serious about "atonement" he should start by redirecting all the oodles of money he made from his grift toward relevant causes. Legal aid for the hundreds of students across the US currently being stripped of their visas for exercising their free speech, perhaps?

“The court’s decision means there are now multiple legal classes of ‘woman’ and ‘man', each of which invites a different interpretation of the [Equality Act]… Their decision shows that parliament urgently needs to look again at the [act].”

I kind of feel like at the international level, it's almost as important that the Bukele administration face severe consequences as it is for the Trump administration. Otherwise, we've set a precedent under which a trans-national ideological alliance can render any national constitution irrelevant

Harvard will not comply. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” — Harvard President Alan M. Garber www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

This really does feel like a turning point. Like if the US is going to walk back from the cliff's edge, it must do so now or it will be too late. There are things that cannot be undone.

It's really very hard to overstate just how deeply bad it is that Trump is now openly talking about deporting millions of more people to El Salvador, including US citizens.

I know a lot of people have strongly negative feelings about the academic work of Jason Stanley, but he is entirely correct about this. (www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...)

Would really love some of that good old fashioned immediate wide scale structural change for the better where everybody's needs are met and everyone can meaningfully thrive without fear of bigotry or threats to our lives. Sure would hit the fucking spot.

I am not at a US university, so I can't sign this. But Jewish colleagues in the US, not matter what your views are on the Gaza war, Israel, etc., you might want to consider signing this letter. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Frankly I don't think there has been nearly enough reporting on how quickly Trump is speed running becoming an autocrat. With the flagrant disregard of the courts on display this week, the matter is urgent: Americans should be out on the streets *now* .

Voici l’article du NYT au complet, libre d’accès (en mode cadeau). C’est important. Le plus de gens possible devraient le lire. 👇

If you are a TTRPG nerd and haven’t read about Jay’s palette yet, then now you really should.

“If you’re always consumed by the next outrage, you can’t look closely at the last one. The impression of Trump’s power remains; the fact that he keeps stepping on rakes is missed. The projection of strength obscures the reality of weakness.” #Trumpland www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/o...