rom comrade

Hey folks. Today, I'm officially coming out as trans. You can read the blog post about it if you're interested: coyoteandcrow.net/2025/08/05/k...
From here on out, please refer to me as Kenna Alexander. My pronouns are she/her or they/them.

(this is about my previous post on AI shit in our LMS lol sorry I meant to reply to that post but am angry)

also are there any suggestions for self-hosted/created LMS type set ups so I can opt out of eclass? I really don’t have the time or infrastructural knowledge to build a bespoke thing but I need to do something to get out of that system

can someone share the text of a letter they’ve seen or sent to their university? I want to get something started and collect signatures maybe. I don’t believe these things do anything, but I’d like to at least signal some sort of critical pushback. sigh.

a screenshot from my university website; brand colours are red and white. this is the title of an article in the internal magazine, “New AI tools in eClass to empower instructors, advance student learning”

yay

sending this to my department, sigh.

Can you spare a minute to help this campaign? Stop Mass Redundancies at Lancaster University – Hold Senior Management Accountable

The situation in many UK universities is awful, but the news coming out of Lancaster is especially bad: 1/4 jobs to go, with senior management either leaving or not taking a pay cut. Please sign and share this petition to support colleagues there: chng.it/X6g46TjMSC

Requiem for the nearly lost Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. They are not yet gone. But for thousands of species, the Earth is…

[FOUNDER'S BRIEF - @rhettayersbutler.bsky.social]

They are not yet gone. But for thousands of species, the Earth is already holding its breath.

A new review confirms what conservationists have long suspected: more than 10,000 species now sit on the precipice.

A student-led mass uprising liberated Bangladesh from 16 yrs of fascist authoritarian dictatorship on Aug 5, 2024. Today we honor the young people who were massacred (1400+) & injured (20,000) in the July Revolution to help rebuild democracy in Bangladesh.
My oped: thehill.com/opinion/inte...

I'm sorry, but getting AI to perform as a projection of dead artists, activists, and victims of atrocities feels like a form of techno grave robbery. Putting your words in the mouths of the dead is abhorrent, honestly.

Subscriptions have really ruined our way of life. We own nothing anymore.

wow.

I might have lost funding but at least I can do what I want. :) And I want to teach people about AI ethics in 90 second increments! bit.ly/ai-ethics-sy...

Anyway, I’m going to share my piece for Disability Visibility on why medical museums like the Mütter are problematic spaces for those seeking disability pasts/histories

disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2023/07/28/m...

A Medical-History Museum Contends with Its Collection of Human Remains Supporters saw the Mütter’s preserved fetuses, skulls, and “Soap Lady” as a celebration of human difference. New management saw an ethical and a political minefield.

Did you see this piece about that? Unbelievable to me how they treated her. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

If I'm remembering this correctly, Kate Quinn, the ex-museum director, was the one that started the museum audit. She was then pushed out of her job when people (including Neil Gaiman) didn't like her looking into the ethics of their favorite "gothy" museum.

And WELP.

the Jim Acosta thing seems well-timed for this sigh.

how very sad.

it's scary to even think of, I'll be honest :(

I was surprised when my doctor asked if they could use AI to transcribe their notes (or something to that effect), and I said no, I would not like that. glad they asked, but I feel like docs probably don't ask all their patients and if they do, I doubt patients opt out? bleh.

omggggg loool

This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen.

By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza

World Athletics’ mandatory genetic test for women athletes is misguided. I should know – I discovered the relevant gene in 1990 World Athletics says its genetic test for women ensures ‘the integrity of women’s sport’ – but science does not support this overly simplistic idea.

World Athletics says that "The SRY gene is a reliable proxy for determining biological sex." The guy who literally discovered the gene and has spent the last 35 years researching it says they're wrong. theconversation.com/world-athlet...

I would also like to remind folks that OpenAI wrote a paper in which they prompted GPT-4 on which jobs they thought would be most exposed to automation.

They validated it by comparing it to responses that people who worked OpenAI gave to the same question.

arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130

good question!

oh, thank you for this! I am sad to see a substack link, but I will check it out :)

looool

It was driving me nuts and then I figured it out.

yeah I wondered about PAR too, but I'm not sure it fits this context in that the participants are part of a demographic community, but not a specific community group or organization, if that makes sense.