Colin

Flyer with information about Strategies for Transformative Action Event 3/5/26 - Speakers: Jasmine Jones, Dr. Lisette E. Torres-Gerald, & Arthur Mitchell

Please join us for our 1st webinar in the “Strategies for Transformative Action” series. Gain insights & form new alliances with science educators committed to social justice & transformative action!
NEXT Thurs 3/5/26
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM (PST)
REGISTER HERE: sefedasj.wildapricot.org/event-657769...

The Trump Administration Can’t Kill Black History Month We don’t need permission from the government to commemorate a complex past.

Last week, my mother took me and my kids to see the school where, 60 years ago, she was among the first wave of Black students to integrate a previously all-White school. We wanted to remind my kids that Black history is not just famous people in textbooks, it is often the people right next to you.

Kids: Study political science

Think about this.

Armies of people out there, incentivized by a company hired by politicians to post AI-generated political messaging as if it’s their real, organic thought.

Dystopian sci-fi? Nope. Reality.

I’m partnering with @nationalobserver.com to share @rorywh.bsky.social’s huge story:

St. John's University says it no longer recognizes faculty unions after 56 years St. John's University in Queens, New York, notified employees on Feb. 19 that it will no longer recognize the two unions that have represented faculty members at the Catholic university since 1970.

"This shameful attack on the St. John's faculty union betrays the university's history and most deeply-held Catholic values. It's outrageous that religious leaders are joining in the assaults on higher education that are happening nationwide."

— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

kind of amazing how many people are still on X

Netflix's counsel did a jump for joy because now they have a smoking gun in the event that DOJ clumsily tries to block a merger to make daddy Trump happy

Drikanis @drikanis@mstdn.ca @ludicity For the record, I work at a software company that employs ~10k developers. Before LLMs, I'd encounter such engineers a couple of times a month, but I interact with a lot of engineers, specifically the ones that need help or are new at the company or industry at large, so it's a selected sample. Even the most inexperienced ones are willing and able to learn with some guidance. After LLMs, there's been a significant uptick, and these new ones are grossly incompetent, incurious, impatient, and behave like addicts if their supply of tokens is at all interrupted. If they run out of prompt credits, its an emergency because they claim they can't do any work at all. They can't even explain the architecture of what they are making anymore, and can't even file tickets or send emails without an LLM writing it for them, and they certainly lack in any kind of reading comprehension. It's bleak and depressing, and makes me want to quit the industry altogether.

mstdn.ca/@drikanis/11...

THAT'S RIGHT

RFK Jr., once poisoned by mercury, is silent as EPA weakens rules against it The HHS secretary has fought mercury pollution for years. He’s now in an administration that wants to make it easier for industries to dump it into the air

RFK Jr spent years denouncing mercury pollution from power plants. He was one of Trump's most public opponents when he tried to roll back mercury limits in 2017. He himself actually got mercury poisoning (eating too much fish). On Friday, Trump's EPA weakened mercury rules. RFK Jr said nothing.

What Happens When ICE Detention Facilities Conflict with Land-Use Rules Designed to Promote the Public’s Interest? Though the federal government may be exempt from some local regulations, some states and localities are exploring policy options to ensure ICE facilities ade…

ICE plans to spend $38 billion to buy warehouses for immigrant detention. But cities are fighting back, arguing doing so violates zoning (& human decency).

In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social w/ UNC Law's Rick Su, we investigate just how much power the federal govt has to overrule locals.

The National Science Foundation’s entire budget is $10 billion.

If you missed the news about Elsevier and Wiley (and doubtless the rest to follow) remaking themselves as AI companies with plans to profit from selling AI summaries of academic work back to the institutions that produced the original work:
bsky.app/profile/benp...

A white woman with blonde hair named MacKenzie Price smiles a tight-lipped smile. Her words, "and without a single teacher" appear beneath her face. The image is from an interview on The Today show. The video's title is, "No teachers, no homework: School solely uses AI to teach students".

You cannot seriously be telling me that Alpha School - with its incredible 2 Hour Learning™, cutting-edge AI platform, ceaseless surveillance, and contempt for teachers - is bound to fail! Say it ain't so!

Open licenses like Creative Commons, GPL, and Copyleft have license terms that you are legally obligated to follow in order to use the licensed content. LLM/GenAI companies refuse to follow the license terms even for something really open like a CC-BY license.

the actual story of what happened at the National Endowment for the Humanities last year is even more infuriating than we thought

“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.””

Why fake AI videos of UK urban decline are taking over social media Deepfakes showing grim taxpayer-funded waterparks have gone viral and drawn some racist responses.

Because that’s why these products exist.

i've decided not to listen to the audio of a teacher reporting a kindergartender because frankly I don't want to become the person that that event would turn me into. but one thing I hope we are collectively coming to grips with is what it meant that we have lived among such people this whole time

This rant is something I deeply connect with as someone who genuinely enjoy messing around with the computer.

Absolutely f*** them and may everything they do crash and burn with them being trapped inside because the invisible door-handles won't show.

NYT is an enemy of democracy & rule-of-law.

NYT's Adam Liptak (and host of new The Docket "competitor" to @marcelias.bsky.social) is either an idiot or actively collaborating with Trump & Roberts, and I do not think Adam is an idiot.

Stolen $$

A black and white illustration with text reading "Substack is creating a walled garden you have to share with white supremacists". The illustration shows a round brick wall holding part of quote, some flowers, and a draped nazi flag. this is surrounded by barbed wire

I have watched more & more friends turn to Substack in the past few months. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! #Substack has well-documented problems with platforming literal Nazis, as well as writers spreading Covid misinformation, anti-vaccine propaganda, & transphobia. Long post here:
bit.ly/substacksux

cool

Shame on NYU Langone for ending gender-affirming care & kicking trans New Yorkers to the curb. It's a violation of their promise to treat all people equally, kindly, and respectfully — and a violation of NYC's human rights law as well. Bending the knee is bad; denying people care is even worse.

me when the students have done the reading

DJ cardamom comeback?