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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

@nicomaramckay.com

12K followers 600 following 18K posts

Historian in Tkaronto (Toronto). Likes bats, monsters, sincereposting, and alt text. Genderqueer. Trans. Autistic. 40s. 👬 🧛 nicomaramckay.com There will be typos. Ephemeral Record of trans and queer histories: patreon.com/ephemeralrecord

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · Oct 7

I added half a dozen new entries to the Bibliography of Medieval Trans Studies, with a shoutout to @tswingard.bsky.social who added a few things recently as well. (Thank you!!)

There are a ton of great resources on here, many of which are freely accessible.

Bibliography of Medieval Trans Studies

A Bibliography of Medieval Trans Studies This list builds on the works of several other great queer lists, namely: Lucy Allen's "A 'Queer Medieval' Reading List," Jeanne de Montbaston: Reading Mediev...

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 1d

Walked into a Canadian Tire and no longer know what holiday season we’re celebrating anymore

Grim Reaper plays heavy metal guitar next to a display of Christmas trees

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 9h

every single tech idea is like “soon our robots will be capable of playing catch with your kid, freeing you up to spend more time working on your employers’ spreadsheets”

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 9h

Happy birthday!

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 9h

Right??

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 10h

Now this is leadership.

Education, history, and unflinching commitment to making life better for a systemically marginalized community targeted by a hostile authoritarian regime.

The world needs more politicians like Zohran Mamdani.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 10h

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 10h

I'm not even from the US, but thank you for this. 🏳️‍⚧️

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Social History Society @socialhistsoc.bsky.social · 2d

CFP: Gender, Violence and the Early Moderns

🗓️ 22 May 2026
📍 European University Institute, Florence
👩‍🏫 Organiser: Dr Giada Pizzoni
🎤 Keynote: Dr Jonathan Davies (Warwick)

Submit abstracts (≤300 words) by 20 Dec 2025 👉

socialhistory.org.uk/shs_event/ge...

Gender, Violence and the Early Moderns

Call for Papers Gender, Violence and the Early Moderns European University Institute, Florence 22 May 2026 Organiser: Dr Giada Pizzoni Keynote Speaker: Dr Jonathan Davies (Warwick) Violence puts th…

socialhistory.org.uk

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv) @theserfstv.bsky.social · 17h

Entering the Anne Frank stage of the administration I see

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 1d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Mike W @gekido.bsky.social · 23h

so Google just added a bunch (more) AI bullshit to Chrome

Go through these steps to disable it:

opus.ing/posts/how-to...

#chrome #aibullshit

How to Remove AI From Your Google Chrome Experience - Opus

Follow these steps to resist the AI-pocalypse in your everyday web browsing.

opus.ing

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Blade Wielding Bisexual (Lordean arc) @shengokai.blacksky.app · 23h

Also, if someone says social media does nothing but harm, I can literally point to this thread and say it saves lives.

I have only been doing this for a day, I can’t imagine the number of people Link helped over months. This makes his ban even MORE disgusting.

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Blade Wielding Bisexual (Lordean arc) @shengokai.blacksky.app · 23h

I 100% get why Link did the mutual aid Fridays.

Like, every time someone replies by telling me the need is met is one less person struggling in the world.

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

eustace @eustace.justshootme.ca · 1d

I think this one’s decent.

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 5d

tl;dr: Bluesky began with genuine promise: a new social media platform where users could feel safer, but inconsistent moderation quickly eroded trust.

When systemically marginalized users pushed back, Bluesky’s leadership minimized concerns and began to target them for bans.

Bluesky’s CEO meltdown: How leadership continues to fail its most marginalized users

tl;dr: Bluesky began with genuine promise: a new social media platform where systemically marginalized users could feel safer, but…

plutopsyche.medium.com

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 1d

I'm sure there are some combatants among them, but it's difficult to know what percentage this might be when I can't find reliable stats.

US, Canadian, UK reporting is largely vague and self-interested, rather than reporting what's actually at stake for the people whose lives hang in the balance.

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 1d

It's been difficult for me to find more current numbers for how many Palestinian political prisoners have been abducted since October 2023.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 1d

"Since October 7, Israel has detained about 30,000 Palestinians. During the prisoner-captive exchanges with Hamas, Israel has released just more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners."

This is from a report published April 2025.

Why has Israel imprisoned 10,000 Palestinians?

For every Palestinian Israel freed in the ceasefire deal, it has apprehended 15 more.

www.aljazeera.com

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 1d

The media double-speak of "Israeli hostages" and "Palestinian prisoners" is infuriating.

Call them "Palestinian *political* prisoners" or "Palestinian hostages."

Hundreds of those detained without trial are Palestinian *children.*

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Not Writing Games @notwritinggames.bsky.social · 1d

I’m l not gonna lie, these questions suck but you should let them know how and why. We all need to tell them that this is mostly a grift. It is obvious by the way the questions are framed that they don’t know.

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 3d

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military.

If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership

Current status: Open from October 1 to October 31, 2025 Canada helped invent modern AI. To stay a leader—and protect our digital sovereignty—we're running a 30-day national sprint to shape a renewed...

ised-isde.canada.ca

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Blade Wielding Bisexual (Lordean arc) @shengokai.blacksky.app · 1d

Since Link is banned, his mutual aid Fridays have gone with him. This was one of the most altruistic things I’ve seen anyone on this site do.

In light of this, I’m gonna try to fill the gap.

Drop your mutual aid requests under this thread and I will repost them for as long as I can.

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 1d

This post, by @nicomaramckay.com, gives a fuller history of just how terribly Bluesky has handled moderation since the beginning and how users have reacted:

"Bluesky’s moderation is not neutral; it is selective."

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Genderflux Superfluid @rewhan.bsky.social · 1d

The questions are all very leading, but each answer can be up to two thousand characters, so feel free to tell AI Minister Solomon -exactly- how you feel about Canada's relationship with AI.

In polite, but excruciating detailed terms, of course; you don't want to be summarily discarded as a troll.

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 3d

Canadians: The federal government is seeking public input on how AI should be developed and used in business, research, and the military.

If this scares the shit out of you, please let them know:

Help define the next chapter of Canada's AI leadership

ised-isde.canada.ca

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 1d

Today is World Homeless Day, and after years reporting on this crisis, I'll just say: homelessness is neither inevitable nor intractable. It's the result of choices—political, economic, moral—that can be unmade.

And this: how we treat the unhoused is a bellwether for the violence we will tolerate.

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Cait 🦇 @gendercoffin.bsky.social · 2d

Nobody could have imagined the future world that would find this funny and why

A boy running alongside a train with a bindle on a stick. A word balloon reads “I’m through with school- it’s only for sissies anyway. I’ll run away and- and make money with my FEET”

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 1d

From the tech bro gospel: “someone was going to coarsen society and further immiserate people, it may as well be me.”

"We're already at the point where we can't tell what's real and what's not online, and OpenAI and other tech companies will have to solve around that," said the former OpenAI engineer, using tech lingo for finding a solution to a problem. "But that's not an argument for not trying to dominate this market. You can't stop progress. If OpenAI didn't release Sora, someone else would have."

In fact, Meta is also trying to, with its recent introduction of Vibes, a platform where people can make and share short AI-generated deepfakes. In July, Google introduced Veo 3, an AI video tool. But it wasn't until OpenAI's release of the Sora app that personalized AI slop really took off.

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Miriam @miriamboosh.bsky.social · 6d

Let me get this straight: Link, a Black user, got banned for calling out the Bluesky CEO for following a racist. That’s not a good look, especially given Bluesky’s historical treatment of Black users here on bluesky.

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Reposted by Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel)

Aveta👾🇭🇹 @aliafonzy.blacksky.app · 1d

Courtesy of Link himself

Fund Friday post :

Happy Friday Yall. Post fundraising links, cashapp links, whichever campaign needing help on . ♥️

Screenshot of a text message conversation on a purple background. The first message from AJ Link at 7:48 AM reads: “Howdy pals. Can I ask for a favor. If anyone has capacity or time today can they do a fund Friday post. I know lots of people need help.” This message has a heart reaction. The second message, also at 7:48 AM, replies: “Obviously what everyone does with their CPU is sacred. So no pressure.“

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