Kitten Whisperer

Tweet from @dril with an edit. Original says: “Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Candles $3,600 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying” The edit is that the candles line is crossed out and replaced with “Tariffs: $6 trillion”

Sarah Jeong noted this, too, but I was struck by the prevalence of public universities — from flagships to small regionals — on this list. Glaringly few Ivies, who obvs *should* be, given their resources, forming a first line of de/offense. Reminds us that the publics are higher ed's ethical core.

I love how Tolkien was like, "here's my dwarves! they like playing lil harps and making pretty jewelry. Gimli is a kindly silvertongued warrior who charmed an elven goddess 😊💫🎶"

and every depiction of dwarves since then has been "big buff weaponsmiths who have no patience for those GAY ELVES"

Show Up For Our Libraries! By eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services, the Trump administration's Executive Order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer. ALA American Library Association. #ForOurLibraries

🚨NEW🚨: Donald Trump is attempting to strip away federal support for libraries. We will NOT let that happen.

Last night the President signed an order to gut the Institute of Museum & Library Services. But together, we know we can show up & defeat it.

Full EO: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

You don’t say

This morning's quick reminder: generative AI is a natural resource-guzzling plagiarism machine that exploits creatives to enrich tech bros.

Do not use it to create art or writing.

Do not conduct "fun" experiments with it to show us how awful it is.

There is no ethical use for AI.

Let it die.

Dear Media:

Halting all aid to Gaza is not "pressuring Hamas." Collective punishment is a war crime. Starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime. Withholding medical care is a war crime. None of this is remotely controversial actually. Israel is doing war crimes, not "pressuring Hamas."

Today on the Assay Interview Project, Heidi Czerwiec's mighty interview with Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh

buff.ly/xFAUtDV

Graphic provided by NFID that says: 3 MEASLES AND VITAMIN A Measles is making a comeback around the world Every year, measles is brought into the US by unvaccinated travelers who get infected by the virus while in other countries. Anyone who is not vaccinated is at risk of getting measles. Misinformation continues to circulate about the role that vitamins, specifically vitamin A, plays in managing the disease. 1. Vitamins do NOT prevent measles Only the measles vaccine can prevent measles-All children should get 2 doses of MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine to prevent measles Vitamins should NOT be used to prevent measles 2. Giving high doses of vitamins may be dangerous Routinely getting an overload of vitamins can actually hurt you-For example, too much vitamin A can cause dizziness, nausea, headache, coma, and even death K Due to the danger of overdoses, high-dose vitamin A should only be used in the management of measles under the direct supervision of a healthcare professional once a diagnosis is confirmed 3. The best way to prevent measles is through vaccination Stay up-to-date with all recommended vaccines, including MMR Stay healthy by exercising and eating a balanced diet. The best sources of vitamin A include: milk, eggs, cheese, fortified breakfast cereals, leafy green vegetables, orange vegetables, and fish. #GetVaccinated to #PreventMeasles LEARN MORE AT www.nfid.org/measles

Measles guidance provided by RFK Jr. includes information about administering vitamin A to measles patients, so I wanted to share this helpful graphic from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Vitamin A alone does not prevent measles. Vaccination does. @nfidvaccines.bsky.social

As federal research grants continue to be frozen, and NIH staff is being gutted, please note this study was funded by federal research grants, including from NIH. If they continue with staff cuts, and continue to freeze new awards, this is just one example of what we lose.

Protect the people under attack not because you'll be next but because their lives matter and the world will be a sadder, more desolate place without them

(And also... You WILL be next)

A dating app but it's just one picture of someone's bookshelves, one of their usual grocery haul, one of their pets, and one their thermostat

Trump rode to political prominence on birtherism and spent the last month of his campaign claiming that Haitians were eating cats.

The rise of authoritarianism in America *must* be understood as a misinformation crisis.

Think of this--that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other.

A.S. Byatt, Possession

The literal wealthiest man in the world donating hundreds of millions of dollars to a presidential campaign and getting rewarded with a government post where he can award his companies with contracts is the most cartoonish possible rendering of what people warned about after Citizens United.

So one of the things that I think is lost on AI proponents is what I call the card catalog effect, a thing I shouldn’t call it because a lot of people probably have no experience with a card catalog.

Umberto Eco put together a now-famous list of 14 attributes of fascistic states. I'm going to discuss each of them in hopes this helps ppl understand that fascism is not just a buzzword. We're going to go through these by theme, so strap in. 🧵

Quote by Mark Strand: Poetry is language performing at its most beguiling and seductive while being, at the same time, elusive, even seeming to mock one’s desire for reduction, for plain and available order. It is not just that various meanings are preferable to a single dominant meaning; it may be that something beyond “meaning” is being communicated, something that originated not with the poet but in the first dim light of language, in some period of “beforeness.”

Mark Strand:

DJ [garbled noises]

Just wonderful writing on the 60 Minutes piece on President aMusk dismantling of USAID

"The world's richest man cut off aid for the world's poorest people."

Well done.

the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president

No one is immune from #disability.

Do yourselves a favor and reflect on that. Seriously.

#DisabilityJustice

roses are red
violets are blue
singular they
predates singular you

Strip clubs, topless bars, Hooters etc have an opportunity to do something really funny and insist on making their workforce 50% male in order to comply with anti-DEI mandates. Those ladies are taking jobs away from red-blooded American men who need the work

This is a very cool initiative to upcycle discarded plastic and turn it into TTRPG dice. Check it out. 👇

Yes. Important for all NIH people and scientists:

The executive orders are not law. The President *cannot* make laws.

And in fact, executive orders may violate the law. As a federal employee, you are obligated not to follow illegal orders. That includes illegal EOs.

If you live in:
● Alaska
● Alabama
● Arkansas
● Florida
● Georgia
● Indiana
● Iowa
● Kansas
● Louisiana
● Missouri
● Montana
● Nebraska
● South Carolina
● South Dakota
● Texas
● Utah
● West Virginia

You should be SCREAMING at your state's Attorney General to drop the case.
dredf.org/protect-504/

The wording of a "pause" in care is so malicious. If we were to "pause" other kinds of essential medical care, people would understand what that means. What if we "pause" someone's chemo? Very bad, right?