Ry Terran
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hereticmasked.bsky.social
Ry Terran
@hereticmasked.bsky.social
Exvangelical, atheist, DiY religious studies, cult studies, failed-apocalypse cringe-posting, weird shit, counter-extremism

School of Making Poor Life Choices

Only Slightly Doomed

She/They/bad at gender

My apologies for continuing to be relevant
Pinned
Thread here with articles about my personal work tracking hybrid threat networks that blend occult aesthetics with mass casualty violence
Phoebe did an absolutely incredible job understanding and communicating our research, even as the latest tragic events were unfolding. Give her article a read for a better understanding of the online subcultures that can drive children to violence.
I’d been speaking w/ these researchers since the night of the Madison attack. That day, they quickly located the shooter in the online network they were tracking. We were writing THAT story this week. Then Nashville happened, and the researchers realized: another one.
Gotta try this, I bought creamed corn without thinking about the fact that it's really not something I ever eat
November 27, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Ry Terran
A workforce trained to normalize generative AI is a workforce that *will not be able to understand* people talking about creativity and pride in gaining skills and the value of their labor. It'll be alien to them.
November 25, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
This entire thread is exactly it:
There's a part of learning, which generative AI completely turns into dogshit, which is *doing something you could not have done before*

Whether it's drawing, playing an instrument, solving a physics problem, organizing an essay, you find yourself doing easily what previously you found overwhelming
November 26, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
This is unbelievably irresponsible of the Post to do this.
very odd that the Post would write up someone’s speciation as if it’s news. What are we doing here
November 27, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Ry Terran
NEW: When Propecy Fails is one of the most famous social psychology books of all time, a look at a small group of UFO believers when the “spacemen” failed to land. I wrote about a new study from an independent researcher who says the book is not what it seems. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
It’s one of the most influential social psychology studies ever. Was it all a lie?
A classic book on UFO believers and their "cognitive dissonance" after aliens failed to land is called into question.
www.motherjones.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
Grandparents are experiencing their own kids using boundaries that they weren't allowed to have when they were living under their thumb. I mean roof.
November 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
“Some parents have ‘gone wild with boundaries’” is a completely unhinged thing to say about children not wanting an adult to touch them
Yep this sounds like someone who would speak to a representative sample of grandparents
November 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
"A woman with a family connection to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Revere, Massachusetts."

www.wcvb.com/article/karo...
November 26, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Reposted by Ry Terran
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:

www.404media.co/americas-pol...
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
I'm looking to talk to Tea users who were impacted by the hack we covered a few months ago. If you're one of those people please email me at [email protected] or hit me up on signal at @emanuel.404 www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
How Tea’s Founder Convinced Millions of Women to Spill Their Secrets, Then Exposed Them to the World
A 404 Media investigation reveals how the man who started Tea, the ‘women dating safety’ app, tried to hire a female ‘face’ for the company and then hijack her grassroots community.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
A new study finds that about half of the physical variation seen in modern dogs existed during the Stone Age. n.pr/3MmIfM2
The origins of your dog's unique look may be older than you think
A new study finds that about half of the physical variation seen in modern dogs existed during the Stone Age.
n.pr
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Ry Terran
shortly after a cargo plane crashed in Louisville earlier this month, someone called JWoods86 joined wikipedia to upload this very eerie pic of it!
November 26, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Ry Terran
Aside from all the very obvious problems with the idea that consumers are to blame for not wanting or needing your product, there's a reasonable chance I would buy a new phone if it wasn't stuffed to the gills with un-turnoffable AI bloat
stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.
November 26, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by Ry Terran
The CDC has turned off its vaccine search tool.

The vaccines.gov site now gives an error when you enter a valid zip code.

They also removed text saying “Vaccines can help you stay healthy” and added a banner saying the site is being updated.
November 26, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Ry Terran
Manisha doing God's work here to show just how desperate Musk is to be seen as funny....
Elon Musk claims Grok's "epic vulgar roasts" can "make people really laugh at a party" so I took him up on it and used my coworkers as guinea pigs: www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
Elon Musk Said Grok’s Roasts Would Be ‘Epic’ at Parties—So I Tried It on My Coworkers
It went about as well as you’d expect.
www.wired.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
“Within hours of CT announcing that longtime pastor and scholar Nicole Massie Martin had been elected its next president and CEO, a familiar chorus of online racist and patriarchal critics declared the flagship evangelical magazine is no longer really ‘Christian.’”
baptistnews.com/article/chri...
Christianity Today hires a Black woman and the right goes nuts
Nicole Massie Martin’s appointment comes during a season of turnover and turmoil at the flagship evangelical magazine.
baptistnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Lots of good advice and resources in this thread for parents and teachers.

It's not reasonable or practical to ban kids from the internet until adulthood, but keeping an open dialogue can go a long way in mitigating harms and teaching skills that will be beneficial for a lifetime.
Steps parents can take now:

1) Check whether your child is using a school-issued computer or device for online gaming or chats.

2) Talk with your child about how they use the device: games, apps, chat features, who they’re talking to, how long they’re online.

5/
November 25, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
(A) stop feeling pressure to be perfect;
(B) normalize asking questions, because that is normalizing learning;
(C) do not ask AI if your turkey is done; ask a meat thermometer
This is so soulless, I can't stand it. We have BRAINS. We can USE THEM.
November 25, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
In 1924, Calvin Coolidge's 16-yr-old son played tennis on the White House grounds w/o wearing socks. He got a blister and was dead from infection a week later.

This is unthinkable today—which is why I wrote this series. Cuz the systems that save us from this kind of fate are in urgent need of care.
For a yr, I've been working on a series for The New Atlantis about the vast systems that underlie our lives. Our ancestors built them up over decades to fend off hunger, thirst, darkness and disease. But too few of us know about them—and they're all at risk. The conclusion is now available online:
Why We Are Better Off Than a Century Ago
Our ancestors built grand public systems to conquer hunger, thirst, darkness, and squalor. That progress can be lost if we forget it.
www.thenewatlantis.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
A parent in Nova Scotia discovered that her child had been targeted by online predators while using a school-issued Chromebook. The device, provided by the school board, gave access to apps and games including Roblox. 1/

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
N.S. mom alarmed after teen targeted by predators on school-issued laptop | CBC News
Timestamps on the computer showed that messages were accessed both at home and at school.
www.cbc.ca
November 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
I’ve gotta get this book by @aaronfountainjr.bsky.social (go IU!) about what he found in FOIA requests: white parents alerting the COINTELPRO-era FBI to their kids’ “radicalism.” Their language that their kids got sucked in by outside agitators and were too young to understand remains today.
November 23, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
The only thing better than dinner-party fun fact pedantry is being able to out-pedant someone else.
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Ry Terran
So Hegseth did Awana, eh? Funny thing is, Awana actually does what Hegseth is bitching about with the Scouts, and all of the activities that they cribbed from scouting are gender inclusive.
November 25, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Did a survey recently about points rewards programs and my general response was "I do not have the mental energy to keep track of things like that in the year 2025"
November 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM