michelle

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BBC: “Al Jazeera’s entire team in Gaza city has been killed.”

Canadian CEOs are embracing generative AI’s speed and efficiency. The impact on their employees is less certain Instead of tentative pilot project conceived by executives, some companies are mandating that employees use AI tools – or else

This piece captures my sense that using AI is often rational for individual firms for certain tasks, while the aggregate effects/risks (e.g. job loss, inequality, breakdown in early career skills acquisition) are externalized and socialized.

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www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

BILL BURR: “There’s nothing wrong with being a billionaire, but if someone’s working 40 hours/week and can’t make rent you’re not paying them enough… maybe you should just be worth $900 Million. How do you take an 8 figure bonus and none of your employees have dental insurance?”

Planning to seed the term “digital asbestos” among my students next semester - thx!

8.8 magnitude earthquake near Russia prompts tsunami alerts in Hawaii, Alaska and West Coast Tsunami alerts were issued for Alaska and Hawaii on Tuesday after a major, 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia, according to officials.

“The first tsunami wave is forecast to reach Hawaii just after 7:15 p.m. local time, which is 1:15 a.m. ET.” Be safe, everyone abcnews.go.com/US/tsunami-w...

“.. The news on Israel’s main TV channel had just finished a segment on how hunger in Gaza is portrayed around the world when the anchor looked up and said: ‘Maybe it’s finally time to acknowledge that this isn’t a public relations failure, but a moral one.’”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Let me tell you about the women’s washroom that I had to back into when pregnant because I couldn’t go in front wise and turn around. They never expected so many women in the profs’ office wing so struggled to squish in more loos

France will recognize Palestinian state, President Macron says Country is biggest and most powerful in Europe to recognize statehood for Palestinians

The question is why UK and Canada didn’t join France in this act of recognition, as pledged in May. And absent any other explanation, I fear it’s because both have trade talks with Trump underway and prioritized one man’s ego over a humanitarian emergency

www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

This is very bad. Although entirely predictable. Once more the humanities are being cut back to prop up STEM and, increasingly, AI investment (including at the expense of bench science). In the past, cuts to humanities were promoted on two separate logic streams that do not hold true: /1

Winston Peters intervened to stop diplomat accounts posting about Pride Month Exclusive: After years of posting generic sentiments during Pride Month, New Zealand's diplomatic posts were silent this year following a directive from the foreign affairs minister.

NEW from me: Winston Peters directly intervened to stop diplomatic accounts posting about Pride Month. thespinoff.co.nz/politics/25-...

I can feel this demon lurking by me as I write 👀

Saint Bernard de Menthon et le diable (Titivillus) Tours BM – ms. 2104, fol-149. Book of Hours, Use of Rome. France, c. 1510. Temptation of St. Bernard.

I was not aware that 1) there is a demon of typos called Titivillus or that 2) typos are held against scribes in heaven. Truly thought this was a drawing of me resisting the urge to send reels (I’m old) to my besties instead of writing that book review. medievalstudies.princeton.edu/event/the-de...

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations “In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is...

"Just because I’m not on the keyboard—and you have to add two extra steps for me to appear correctly—I’m suddenly the product of some soulless technology?"

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

Ontario's proposed changes to water permit system raise ire of environmental, Indigenous interests | CBC News Proposed changes to Ontario's water-taking permit process would make permits transferrable if a business is sold. There are concerns, however, that this may lead to skipping environmental assessments ...

Water is necessary for life. No private companies should be able to take it without environmental assessments and consulting with Indigenous nations and the public. No company should inherit water rights.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Globe and Mail reporter targeted by online campaign, photographed surreptitiously in public settings An anonymous X account posted photos of Alberta reporter Carrie Tait and described her movements as she reported on a health authority controversy

Globe and Mail reporter investigating allegations of political interference at Alberta’s provincial health authority targeted by online campaign, photographed surreptitiously in public settings www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Find out more at nationalnewswatch.com

🤣🤣🤣

The GOP's reaction to Black Lives Matter is "No, they don't".

I’m right there with you

Can’t exactly ❤️ that …

A very powerful essay by Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov, arguing that:
a) Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and
b) denying this threatens to "undermine everything that Holocaust scholarship and commemoration have stood for."

Do read the whole thing www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...

Finally, I can post this video I've been hanging on to since somebody sent it to me.

👀

Narratively speaking, the tightest ending to this screenplay is probably the freed J6 protestors storming the White House to demand the release of the Epstein files.

What it took to get tenure in the Batman Studies Department in the 1960s, and what it takes to get tenure in Batman Studies today...

Start Budgeting Now Households will pay an average of $2,400 more for goods this year, thanks to Trump’s policies.

Better start tightening those wallets now, people.

www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

and when applying to US PhD programs from Aotearoa New Zealand I was told by one to sit the TOEFL since their definition of “English speaking” was the UK and North America only (in Aotearoa English is an official language along with Māori and sign language) [2/2]

Sort of overlooks Americas role in establishing Liberia doesn’t it? This has happened to friends from Singapore and Fiji (English an official language in both) [1/2]

Today marks 40 years since French govt agents bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, killing Fernando Pereira. It didn’t stop the campaign for Nuclear Free Pacific. Of course there had to be some spontaneous protest songs like Nuclear Waste by Alec Hawke & Moana