Preeti Posts

Cancel ChatGPT Edu. Invest in Humans. In February 2025, the California State University system announced a $17 million contract with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu to all faculty, staff, and students on its 22 CSU campuses as part of a lar...

Sign and share this call on CSU to cancel its multimillion dollar OpenAI contract. CSU is in a budget crisis, OpenAI wants to reduce us all into tools of AI, and our public money should be invested in humans!

actionnetwork.org/petitions/ca...

The number of #Parkland survivors sharing that they have survived yet another shooting at #FSU breaks my heart to the core.

Only in America.

As we await verified reports of the tragedy at Florida State, let’s hold the entire community in our thoughts.

A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.

Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.

Solidarity with Sesame Workers The recent unjust layoffs of dedicated Sesame Workshop workers following their announcement to form a union with OPEIU Local 153 contradicts the core principles of the community that Sesame Street cla...

S is for SOLIDARITY—let’s help the Sesame Street workers as they fight the expropriation of kid’s media! Sign the below and spread the word! @kimkelly.bsky.social @ericblanc.bsky.social @maximillianalvarez.bsky.social @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social @astra.bsky.social

actionnetwork.org/letters/soli...

Potential revised Muslim Ban coming. @aaup.bsky.social

An SBWU ally holds up a sign that says "Strong Coffee - Strong Union"

ALLIES: You may have heard about stores hosting "sip-ins" to show union solidarity with baristas.

Now, we're asking for your help in spreading the sip-in love to your communities from March 8th-11th!

Learn more + Sign up here! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The people that get paid off indirect funds are the secretaries, maintenance workers, security guards, HVAC techs etc. It’s the pool of money that pays for the blue collar stuff, and that’s who they will have to lay off.

Research universities are often the largest employers in their region. They are often the primary health care providers to communities. This funding shift will not only reduce US research leadership, it will put working people out of work and reduce healthcare access.

The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...

40% OFF Haymarket Books on the Struggle for Black Liberation Black History Month is not only a celebration of the rich history of Black life, politics, culture, and struggle. It is also a reminder to engage every day with that history as we ...

For #BlackHistoryMonth we're offering 40% OFF Haymarket Books on the Struggle for Black Liberation

Building codes matter. All of SoCal lives on the San Andreas fault, but we have earthquake building codes that mitigate potential losses. WUI building codes only went into effect in CA in 2007, so older homes were not built to resist fire. New homes are much more resistant thanks to better science.

Why am I making this point? Because as usual, the discussion over "letting people live in high fire risk areas" has begun. It's my job to point out that people have lived here for millennia, and because they knew the fire risk, they managed the fuel. Limited fuel = limited fire.

This is not a forest. You can't just rake the leaves. It's a shrubland that used to be a lot more grassland when it was burned by the original Indigenous people and grazed during the ranching era. With climate change, increasing drought that intersects with Santa Ana winds is the recipe for fire.

Over time, vegetation grew. Fires burned, again and again, but not everywhere because we suppressed them. Recreational users liked being in nature with tall shrubs and trees along canyon bottoms to block out the hot sun. Homeowners liked nature and privacy, and they planted landscaping that matched.

Until the 1960s, much of Santa Monica Mountains was still ranched, including what is now Topanga State Park that surrounds Pacific Palisades. Ranching is an active land use where grazing animals consume fine fuels and reduce shrub growth. That stopped when the SMMNRA and Topanga SP were established.

So what's different this time? Why the disaster? Most homes in Pacific Palisades are 40-100 years old, why haven't they burned before? Two key factors: heavy fuel load from changing land use and decades of effective fire suppression, and an extremely strong, very dry Santa Ana and anomalous drought.

"The smoke is a toxic soup. It’s not just the brush that’s burning, but homes are burning and homes contain plastics that are built from petrochemical compounds." - California Professional Firefighters president on CNN today.

This. When Santa Cruz was on fire a few years ago, this was the app to have. #SoCalFires

In labor-friendly California, 2025 ushers in more worker protections. Here's what to know California lawmakers, by and large, are a labor-friendly bunch and, as in past years, they passed new workplace protections that take effect this year.

California lawmakers, by and large, are a labor-friendly bunch and, as in past years, they passed a host of new workplace protections that took effect when the new year struck.

By @suhauna.bsky.social

www.latimes.com/business/sto...

Starbucks workers are on strike at OVER 300 stores today. 5,000 baristas have walked out. I’ll post updates here throughout the day!

Vijay and Zakir Hussain performing at Ojai Music Festival, 2017

Zakir Hussain being interviewed by Vijay at Banff, 2015

Vijay’s article about Zakir Hussain in GQ India, 2011

Sir, we’d barely begun. Thank you for your music, your wisdom, your kindness, and your massive influence on our world.

🙏🏾🕊️

Zakir Hussain
1951-2024

UMN Graduate Labor Union UMN-GLU: UE Local 1105

Congratulations to the UMN Graduate Labor Union-UE for ratifying its first collective bargaining contract--a historic victory and a model for higher ed unions. Now they need the Board of Regents to move quickly and approve the contract. See their webpage for details on how to support them umnglu.org

Dozens of luxury condos, hotels in Miami sinking at ‘unexpected’ rates, new study reveals First-ever observation of continuous subsidence shows as much as 70 percent of high-rises affected in some areas of Miami

Yikes, .8-3” of sinking, 2016-2023.“Globally, similar subsidence within such a large area has never been reported…this could be a sign that rising sea levels [are] accelerating the erosion of the limestone on which South Florida is built.” www.miamiherald.com/news/local/e...

College freshman today were 6 years old in the 2012 election.

A student of mine (age 20) told me after class that he appreciates when I explain how US politics and media were different before, because the Trump era is all he’s seen.

This is what young Americans think politics is. It’s normal now.

Nikki Giovanni

We’re saddened to hear about the passing of poetry great and Black Arts Movement icon, Nikki Giovanni.

According to NPR, she passed away today, following her third cancer diagnosis.

She was 81 years old.

Rest in power, Nikki Giovanni ✨

Dane County judge strikes down Act 10 Judge Jacob Frost ruled that certain sections of the law were unconstitutional.

BREAKING: Collective bargaining powers for public workers in Wisconsin have been restored by a judge's ruling.

Judge Jacob Frost ruled that certain sections of Scott Walker's notorious Act 10 are no longer enforceable.

spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee...

Oh I will try this list, my challenge has been lack of ability to find/make time :/