Author | Lightnews

Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 23h

“Faced with a broken confidence in the constancy of the world, people worked to repair it, by changing what they “know,” by modifying their behavior, and by acting to make their environment more predictable and dependable.” 5|

Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 23h

“These disruptions were channeled
through uncertain knowledge, along with a restricted ability to enact critical social roles, rituals,
and processes.” 4/

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 23h

“What was the crisis of the
Covid-19 pandemic? Not the virus itself, nor individuals’ experiences of illness. The crisis was
one of ontological insecurity—dissolution of relational ties to people, places and things, along
with disruption of self-identity and the rhythms of social time.” 3/

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 23h

“repertoires fall into two categories: making changes to what people know, by acquiring new knowledge, limiting exposure to destabilizing knowledge, or reframing expectations for what can be known, [and] changing the social or material environment to restore predictability and a sense of control.”

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 23h

“theorists of late modernity were preoccupied with how … social actors became ‘paralyzed by increasingly uncertain futures.’ Quite to the contrary, we find that people actively develop cultural tools to adapt to ‘new species of trouble.’ We refer to these tools as repertoires of repair.” /1

Repertoires of repair: managing ontological insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract. This article examines the practices used by people who, while in a state of crisis, attempt to restore the sense of continuity and dependability

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Ryan Hagen

Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 2d

Japan's "Mundane Halloween" costume contest is back!

Each year website DailyPortalZ holds a contest where people dress up as something super duper ordinary.

Here's a thread of some of my favorites from the 2025 contest!

#MundaneHalloween

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 3d

How do people react when they face a crisis that breaks their trust in the world around them? In a new paper, I and Denise Milstein analyze the ‘repertoires of repair’ people used during the first months of the COVID pandemic to cope with pervasive uncertainty and isolation.

(Gift link)

Repertoires of repair: managing ontological insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract. This article examines the practices used by people who, while in a state of crisis, attempt to restore the sense of continuity and dependability

urldefense.com

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Reposted by Ryan Hagen

Contexts Magazine @contexts.org · 5d

"...the idea that plants should be considered part of society is not a new one; it’s just new to some people," writes @sarahelton.bsky.social. 🌿

Free to read, download, and share ➡️ journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 6d

Because they think Vance is Medvedev? I mean, that’s the template.

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 6d

… bundled with another excellent collection on risk and uncertainty.

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 6d

“What we need to elaborate is … a distinct project of probing how life and death, growth and destruction, prosperity and peril, are made routine or exceptional.”

The fine folks at Sociologica have reissued my & Rebecca Elliott’s 2021 essay collection on critical disaster studies as an e-book…

amsacta.unibo.it

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Reposted by Ryan Hagen

Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 8d

A major front of the current information war: getting your facts, frames, propaganda, disinformation, etc. into the AI systems that create so much of the content we see and are rapidly becoming the de facto “ground truth” of the internet.

Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 8d

"ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds." www.wired.com/story/chatbo...

Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda

ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok are serving users propaganda from Russian-backed media when asked about the invasion of Ukraine, new research finds.

www.wired.com

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 9d

I kept thinking during House of Dynamite that I hadn’t been so stressed out by a movie since Uncut Gems. Then realized that what we need but will never get is a Safdie Brothers adaptation of The 2020 Commission Report.

The 2020 Commission Report On The North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against The U.s.: A Speculative Novel

A Speculative Novel

bookshop.org

Reposted by Ryan Hagen

Frank Cogliano @frankcogliano.bsky.social · 13d

Graduate seminar did a deep dive on Thomas Paine’s Common Sense yesterday. At the line, “in America the law is king,” they (14 students from 6 countries) burst out laughing. I've been doing this for 35 years and this is the first time that was a laugh line.

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 13d

Wow

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 13d

Source:

NEJM and public health group are launching rival to CDC’s MMWR publication

Two institutions are coming together to create an alternative to the CDC’s vaunted Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

www.statnews.com

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 15d

🙏

Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 15d

Reject?

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Reposted by Ryan Hagen

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 24d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · 28d

I mean it was definitely unheard until they found it.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 28d

‘Almost unheard of’: experts find more music by English composer Henry Purcell

Printed score and keyboard manuscript by Purcell, who died in 1695, unearthed in Worcestershire and Norfolk He was the leading English composer of the 17th century, writing masterpieces such as Dido and Aeneas and The Fairy Queen before his life was cut short in 1695, aged just 36. Now two significant discoveries of music by Henry Purcell have been made, to the excitement of musicians. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · Oct 4

Very good thread here

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · Oct 4

In all the endless discussions of LLMs, there’s a point that is, on one level, obvious, but that I feel does not get sufficiently foregrounded: LLMs are transforming material that people have put up on the internet.

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · Oct 4

Etiology is when you study what to have for a snack

Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · Oct 1

September 30. October 1.

Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley

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Reposted by Ryan Hagen

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · Oct 1

(Reuters) - More than 150,000 federal employees will leave the U.S. government payroll this week after accepting buyouts - the largest single-year exodus of civil servants in nearly 80 years ..

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

US government faces brain drain as 154,000 federal workers exit this week

More than 150,000 federal employees will leave the U.S. government payroll this week after accepting buyouts - the largest single-year exodus of civil servants in nearly 80 years, triggering what unions and governance experts warn is a damaging loss of institutional expertise.

www.reuters.com

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Reposted by Ryan Hagen

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Sep 30

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains

Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’ Scientists have linked the impact of living in an unequal society to structural changes in the brains of children – regardless of individual wealth – for the first time. The study of more than 10,000 young people in the US discovered altered brain development in children from wealthy and lower-income families in areas with higher rates of inequality, which were also associated with poorer mental health. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Ryan Hagen @alltheshapes.bsky.social · Sep 29

Oh definitely. You don’t believe material objects have agency? Well, now we made it you have to argue with your refrigerator, you’re welcome.

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