Jay Varner
@jayvarner.bsky.social
Author of NOTHING LEFT TO BURN (Algonquin), first-year writing and rhetoric lecturer at James Madison University, recovering Central Pennsylvanian, studying how to write about climate change. Avid home gardener at the end of the world. Susquehanna U, UNCW.
Reposted by Jay Varner
"AI works to destroy the parts of ourselves - our empathy, creativity, defiance -that combat authoritarianism. They are attempting to mold the ideal fascist objects."
@sarahkendzior.bsky.social
@sarahkendzior.bsky.social
The answers to my reader Q & A are up! Topics covered include GOP crimes, Dem complicity, Ukraine, Epstein, the best Christmas movies, and much more! Read here:
sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/welcome-to...
Welcome to Leaving the Party, Pal!
Your questions answered on Dem party failures, GOP crimes, Die Hard, and more!
sarahkendzior.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 4:07 PM
"AI works to destroy the parts of ourselves - our empathy, creativity, defiance -that combat authoritarianism. They are attempting to mold the ideal fascist objects."
@sarahkendzior.bsky.social
@sarahkendzior.bsky.social
Reposted by Jay Varner
Today is the last bandcamp Friday of the year! I’m still very proud of this record, made with only one guitar and a drum machine. Hoping to find someone to get a physical release of this one someday, but get it here for the time being. ❤️🔥
Moving Through Light | Daniel Bachman
Moving Through Light | Daniel Bachman
Moving Through Light, by Daniel Bachman
15 track album
danielbachman.bandcamp.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Today is the last bandcamp Friday of the year! I’m still very proud of this record, made with only one guitar and a drum machine. Hoping to find someone to get a physical release of this one someday, but get it here for the time being. ❤️🔥
Moving Through Light | Daniel Bachman
Moving Through Light | Daniel Bachman
Reposted by Jay Varner
Official, on-paper, United States policy is that the price of appeasing it is to consent to a species-level murder-suicide pact.
December 5, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Official, on-paper, United States policy is that the price of appeasing it is to consent to a species-level murder-suicide pact.
Cold night. Look at front coming in!
December 4, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Cold night. Look at front coming in!
I don’t use the f bomb much on here, but these craven assholes stole my book and plenty of others to build their lying machine. Their tech makes modern existence worse in every way possible. So, eternally fuck them and anyone who embraces this shit.
December 4, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I don’t use the f bomb much on here, but these craven assholes stole my book and plenty of others to build their lying machine. Their tech makes modern existence worse in every way possible. So, eternally fuck them and anyone who embraces this shit.
Reposted by Jay Varner
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
December 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Reposted by Jay Varner
If I, or any other civil servant or contractor, refused to do either of these things, let alone both, my access would be suspended & I would expect my clearance would be yanked & I’d ultimately be terminated.
MORE Breaking on MS NOW: Pete Hegseth refused an interview request for the Pentagon Inspector General's investigation into Signalgate, according to two sources who read and were briefed on report.
Hegseth would not turn over his phone, a source who read the report told MS NOW.
Hegseth would not turn over his phone, a source who read the report told MS NOW.
Breaking on MS NOW: The Signalgate report contradicts Pete Hegseth's claims he did nothing wrong. It shows he "violated policy by using a non-approved device," a source who read the report says.
Hegseth failed to preserve records. The report says he put the operations and service people at risk.
Hegseth failed to preserve records. The report says he put the operations and service people at risk.
December 3, 2025 at 10:16 PM
If I, or any other civil servant or contractor, refused to do either of these things, let alone both, my access would be suspended & I would expect my clearance would be yanked & I’d ultimately be terminated.
Taught the last section of my Writing Climate Change course today. Absolutely the best class I’ve ever taught, and wouldn’t have been anything without amazing students. Grateful.
December 3, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Taught the last section of my Writing Climate Change course today. Absolutely the best class I’ve ever taught, and wouldn’t have been anything without amazing students. Grateful.
Reposted by Jay Varner
Can't think of a single perverse incentive here. Sounds great! Should definitely be partnering with news organizations!
The co-founder of Kalshi says: " The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion."
December 3, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Can't think of a single perverse incentive here. Sounds great! Should definitely be partnering with news organizations!
Reposted by Jay Varner
Our Misfits cohort is gearing up work on our spring publication, and one of our colleagues plans to focus on *NIGHT WORK* — the misalignments of wrkg the night shift. We've found plenty of scholarship, but I'm wondering if folks know of relevant creative nonfiction, poetry, documentary forms, etc? 🙏
[2/5] Our first class, in the fall, focuses on MISFITS: we're celebrating things and ideas that defy classification, containment, and discipline. We'll meet in NYC libraries for discussion, take behind-the-scenes tours, visit artists' + design studios, learn with curators + catalogers, etc...
Join Us For Misfits: A Fall Course From The Cross-Reference Coalition
We’re thrilled to share the Call for Applications for a fall course from the Cross-Reference Coalition: a new, interdisciplinary community learning project from the Metropolitan New York Library Counc...
metro.org
December 3, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Our Misfits cohort is gearing up work on our spring publication, and one of our colleagues plans to focus on *NIGHT WORK* — the misalignments of wrkg the night shift. We've found plenty of scholarship, but I'm wondering if folks know of relevant creative nonfiction, poetry, documentary forms, etc? 🙏
Reposted by Jay Varner
„CSU—US’s largest public uni system—went all-in with a $17mill partnership with OpenAI. . .CSU unveiled its grand technological gesture just as it proposed slashing $375mill from its budget. While admin cut ribbons on AI, they were cutting faculty positions, academic programs, student services.“
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:43 AM
„CSU—US’s largest public uni system—went all-in with a $17mill partnership with OpenAI. . .CSU unveiled its grand technological gesture just as it proposed slashing $375mill from its budget. While admin cut ribbons on AI, they were cutting faculty positions, academic programs, student services.“
Reposted by Jay Varner
Judging from the quotes in here, university admins are some of the least “ai literate” people in existence. No wonder they think students need to be taught how to use it.
After mass AI college-cheating freakout, many admissions offices are using it to screen student applications | Fortune
It wasn't long ago they began banning student use of it for homework or test-taking. Admissions offices are different, though.
fortune.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Judging from the quotes in here, university admins are some of the least “ai literate” people in existence. No wonder they think students need to be taught how to use it.
Reposted by Jay Varner
Click through and read the assignment feedback, which was constructive, kind, and frankly very gentle. Suspending the instructor over this is a deranged overreaction in support of a clearly bad faith student, and the university choosing this action is once again another stain on higher education.
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Click through and read the assignment feedback, which was constructive, kind, and frankly very gentle. Suspending the instructor over this is a deranged overreaction in support of a clearly bad faith student, and the university choosing this action is once again another stain on higher education.
Reposted by Jay Varner
“When you allow a machine to summarize your reading, to generate the ideas for your essay, and then to write that essay, you’re not learning how to read, think, or write.“
November 30, 2025 at 9:40 AM
“When you allow a machine to summarize your reading, to generate the ideas for your essay, and then to write that essay, you’re not learning how to read, think, or write.“
Reposted by Jay Varner
Universities are racing to incorporate AI into their curriculum—but there’s a better way to prepare students for the future, Michael Clune argues.
Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize
The skills that students will need in an age of automation are precisely those that are eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.
bit.ly
November 30, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Universities are racing to incorporate AI into their curriculum—but there’s a better way to prepare students for the future, Michael Clune argues.
Reposted by Jay Varner
2 HONEY 2 CRISP
November 29, 2025 at 9:29 PM
2 HONEY 2 CRISP
Reposted by Jay Varner
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
November 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
@profanity.accountant how many cuss words have I used this year?
November 29, 2025 at 8:56 PM
@profanity.accountant how many cuss words have I used this year?
Reposted by Jay Varner
Over 1000 Amazon employees have signed a letter warning that the company's race for AI is trampling over workers and the climate.
Read the full letter from @amzn4climate.bsky.social here: www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter
Read the full letter from @amzn4climate.bsky.social here: www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter
More than 1,000 Amazon workers warn rapid AI rollout threatens jobs and climate
Workers say the firm’s ‘warp-speed’ approach fuels pressure, layoffs and rising emissions
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Over 1000 Amazon employees have signed a letter warning that the company's race for AI is trampling over workers and the climate.
Read the full letter from @amzn4climate.bsky.social here: www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter
Read the full letter from @amzn4climate.bsky.social here: www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter
It’s Last Waltz Day!
November 28, 2025 at 3:30 AM
It’s Last Waltz Day!
Reposted by Jay Varner
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
www.vulture.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
I will burn the roof of my mouth in his honor.
Looking for a product to sell to the expanding fast-food industry, Duane Roberts helped mainstream the burrito in the U.S. He died Nov. 1 at the age of 88.
Duane Roberts, Father of the Frozen Burrito, Dies at 88
Looking for a product to sell to the expanding fast-food industry, he helped mainstream the burrito in the U.S.
on.wsj.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:47 PM
I will burn the roof of my mouth in his honor.
Reposted by Jay Varner
The Trump regime wants to make us less healthy and more dead.
Trump EPA moves to abandon rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution
The Trump administration is seeking to abandon a rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution, arguing that the Biden administration did not have authority to set the tighter standard on p...
www.independent.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 4:01 PM
The Trump regime wants to make us less healthy and more dead.
It’s beautiful. All of it. Every single bit of it.
November 25, 2025 at 10:24 PM
It’s beautiful. All of it. Every single bit of it.
Reposted by Jay Varner
Tech bros really can't understand why we're hostile to technology that a) is frequently confidently wrong and b) threatens to ruin our already terrible lives
November 24, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Tech bros really can't understand why we're hostile to technology that a) is frequently confidently wrong and b) threatens to ruin our already terrible lives