medievalmvb
@medievalmvb.bsky.social
medievalist (researching climate in medieval literature) | working remotely at Durham University, UK | lost decade at The SunBreak & Seattlest | outdoor photographer see https://mikevanbaker.myportfolio.com/work
Anna’s hummingbird running a pre-flight check
January 4, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Anna’s hummingbird running a pre-flight check
Reposted by medievalmvb
In the early hours of this test, @cnn.com is showing poorly. Its focus on the logistics of the military operation is sorely misplaced. In the decades to come, few will care about how the U.S. invaded Venezuela, but rather why it did, under what authorization it did, and what was to follow.
January 3, 2026 at 8:33 PM
In the early hours of this test, @cnn.com is showing poorly. Its focus on the logistics of the military operation is sorely misplaced. In the decades to come, few will care about how the U.S. invaded Venezuela, but rather why it did, under what authorization it did, and what was to follow.
Paul Musgrave, writing about the recent “hostile takeover,” thinks it likely that it will be treated as a successful fait accompli by media and Congress (can’t unscramble an omelette), concluding:
January 3, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Paul Musgrave, writing about the recent “hostile takeover,” thinks it likely that it will be treated as a successful fait accompli by media and Congress (can’t unscramble an omelette), concluding:
Reposted by medievalmvb
he’s monologuing his crimes like a pixar villain—it’s not even that he can’t help himself, it’s that he has no conception of lawfulness, it’s like explaining cold fission to a sea cucumber
did he just say we’re going to run the country
January 3, 2026 at 5:21 PM
he’s monologuing his crimes like a pixar villain—it’s not even that he can’t help himself, it’s that he has no conception of lawfulness, it’s like explaining cold fission to a sea cucumber
Reposted by medievalmvb
Going outside to bang pots and pans together to thank content creators
January 3, 2026 at 5:25 AM
Going outside to bang pots and pans together to thank content creators
I’ve been working on new business names that nod more to the Hobbity heart of LotR than Palantir & Sauron
By Gamgees! Sammiches of Ham ‘n’ Cheese
Fro-Do Frozen Cookie Dough
Full of Toques! (Canadian franchise)
By Gamgees! Sammiches of Ham ‘n’ Cheese
Fro-Do Frozen Cookie Dough
Full of Toques! (Canadian franchise)
January 3, 2026 at 5:45 AM
I’ve been working on new business names that nod more to the Hobbity heart of LotR than Palantir & Sauron
By Gamgees! Sammiches of Ham ‘n’ Cheese
Fro-Do Frozen Cookie Dough
Full of Toques! (Canadian franchise)
By Gamgees! Sammiches of Ham ‘n’ Cheese
Fro-Do Frozen Cookie Dough
Full of Toques! (Canadian franchise)
can you make New Year’s resolutions for someone else
like for instance movie studios in search of mostly unexplored IP?
#oceansarebattlefields
like for instance movie studios in search of mostly unexplored IP?
#oceansarebattlefields
January 2, 2026 at 11:19 PM
can you make New Year’s resolutions for someone else
like for instance movie studios in search of mostly unexplored IP?
#oceansarebattlefields
like for instance movie studios in search of mostly unexplored IP?
#oceansarebattlefields
Reposted by medievalmvb
And this bird you cannot change, your honor
May 30, 2025 at 1:43 AM
And this bird you cannot change, your honor
incredible mandolin solo in “Everybody Says You Look Like a Whore in that Dress But Not Me, Who Told You I Did, Aw, You’re Drunk, You Crazy Bitch”
January 2, 2026 at 12:47 AM
incredible mandolin solo in “Everybody Says You Look Like a Whore in that Dress But Not Me, Who Told You I Did, Aw, You’re Drunk, You Crazy Bitch”
Reposted by medievalmvb
Happy Emancipation Day and Happy Happy Haitian Independdence Day!
Emancipation Day parade in Lincolnville, Florida, January 1, 1920 - image by photographer Richard Twine who was born there in 1896, a town formed by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War & a vigorous, dynamic Black community despite legalized segregation in early 20th century Florida.
January 1, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Happy Emancipation Day and Happy Happy Haitian Independdence Day!
Reposted by medievalmvb
Hello i own a news business, every three months i print the same bullshit and everyone links to it saying how dumb it is. I make 80% of my money this way. I will for sure stop next time you link to my story and say how dumb it is.
December 31, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Hello i own a news business, every three months i print the same bullshit and everyone links to it saying how dumb it is. I make 80% of my money this way. I will for sure stop next time you link to my story and say how dumb it is.
TIL: “Both tobacco and tomatoes are members of the Solanaceae or nightshade family, and tomatoes do have nicotine in them, albeit in trace amounts.”
I Just Realized This 26-Year Old ‘Simpsons’ Episode Featured A Very Unusual Limousine Choice www.theautopian.com/i-just-reali...
I Just Realized This 26-Year Old 'Simpsons' Episode Featured A Very Unusual Limousine Choice - The Autopian
In order to make sure that my child does not lack in his appreciation of the finer things that our culture has to offer, sometimes I’ll sit with him and make sure he takes in some of the important fou...
www.theautopian.com
December 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
TIL: “Both tobacco and tomatoes are members of the Solanaceae or nightshade family, and tomatoes do have nicotine in them, albeit in trace amounts.”
If I’m reading this right a white male journo is telling a Black woman working on prison abolition that she’s speaking from “immense privilege” bc she thinks ppl who voted for guy running on mass deportation wanted mass deportation and were not cruelly misled
December 30, 2025 at 10:12 PM
If I’m reading this right a white male journo is telling a Black woman working on prison abolition that she’s speaking from “immense privilege” bc she thinks ppl who voted for guy running on mass deportation wanted mass deportation and were not cruelly misled
This is a side note from Musgrave but it really is a significant, if socially manufactured, problem that’s only getting worse
“…England has more grand offices than sound men to fill them, or maybe even just people period.”
“…England has more grand offices than sound men to fill them, or maybe even just people period.”
When Tests Changed
How Oxford and Cambridge went from oral to written tests
open.substack.com
December 30, 2025 at 8:35 PM
This is a side note from Musgrave but it really is a significant, if socially manufactured, problem that’s only getting worse
“…England has more grand offices than sound men to fill them, or maybe even just people period.”
“…England has more grand offices than sound men to fill them, or maybe even just people period.”
Oh, crumbs!
subscribers to the new yorker and vanity fair now at risk of being exposed as erudite sophisticates
December 30, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Oh, crumbs!
Reposted by medievalmvb
in hindsight, this one was a little too birder-specific to make it into the New Yorker
December 30, 2025 at 7:44 PM
in hindsight, this one was a little too birder-specific to make it into the New Yorker
Reposted by medievalmvb
“the Jimmy Buffett” should be a reincarnated spiritual leader like the Dalai Lama. a living demigod of relaxation
December 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
“the Jimmy Buffett” should be a reincarnated spiritual leader like the Dalai Lama. a living demigod of relaxation
Intriguing use of “Flubber” as an analytic tool from Hardigree, here
Tesla Just Did Something Weird(er Than Usual) www.theautopian.com/tesla-just-d...
Tesla Just Did Something Weird(er Than Usual) - The Autopian
It wouldn’t be the end of the year without the sometimes-automaker known as Tesla doing something strategically strange. If you’re going to attempt an out-of-the-ordinary maneuver, this is the week to...
www.theautopian.com
December 30, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Intriguing use of “Flubber” as an analytic tool from Hardigree, here
there’s a weird vibe to all these “successful” use cases for AI chatbots where it’s like the person is telling you this dream they had where everyone voted them King and then they look at you meaningfully
December 30, 2025 at 6:06 PM
there’s a weird vibe to all these “successful” use cases for AI chatbots where it’s like the person is telling you this dream they had where everyone voted them King and then they look at you meaningfully
Reposted by medievalmvb
There was a nice spherical boulder sticking out of the side of a rock wall beside a rural road that I would drive past sometimes in the '90s, and I loved it enough to pull over and take a picture once.
December 30, 2025 at 5:42 PM
There was a nice spherical boulder sticking out of the side of a rock wall beside a rural road that I would drive past sometimes in the '90s, and I loved it enough to pull over and take a picture once.
…and no one ever needed to travel between Seattle & Tacoma again 🤩
#OnThisDay in 1928, interurban train service between Seattle and Tacoma ended. historylink.org/File/2671
December 30, 2025 at 5:55 PM
…and no one ever needed to travel between Seattle & Tacoma again 🤩
Reposted by medievalmvb
I die ... surrounded by people that don't season their food
December 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I die ... surrounded by people that don't season their food
Reposted by medievalmvb
Fifth, the equivocation of human-human & human-AI relationships; a slip that is so ubiquitous that most seem to ignore it, but it's harmful and even probably illegal or against codes of conduct in many settings that involve professional psychologists. See section 7: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
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![These problematic beliefs exist on a spectrum, from the assumption that AI products can help in mental health (e.g. Dehbozorgi et al., 2025; Siddals et al., 2024; Wellcome, 2025) to the
assertion that a chatbot can be a therapist (Kilgore, 2025), which
is a regulated profession (e.g. European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations, 2025) with codes of ethics (e.g. American Psychological Association, 2017; British Psychological Society, 2021).
Proponents of these beliefs use the guise of labour shortages and
the global mental health crisis (Kaplan, 2024), as cover to deskill
(for an alarming case, see Budzyń et al., 2025; also Akingbola et
al., 2024; Lebovitz et al., 2021), contributing to the polycrises the
technology industry and their allies uniquely profit from (McConnell & Jacobs, 2025).
All AI, and indeed any technology in mental or other healthcare settings requires “keeping users safe [and this in turn] requires substantial input from clinicians and careful planning to
reduce risk.” (Abrams, 2025) This is key because it is not possible to keep people safe without a highly qualified human-in-theloop (Amironesei et al., 2021; El-Mhamdi et al., 2022; T. Liu et
al., 2025; Salecha et al., 2024; Sharma et al., 2025; Weidinger et al.,
2022) and even then the risk of deskilling is present (e.g. Budzyń
et al., 2025; recall section 4: Outsourcing Programming to Companies). Relatedly, and taking the example of the therapist-client
relationship, dehumanising parallels encoded in expressions such
as: “the country needs all the quality therapists we can get —
be they human or bot” (Riddle, 2025) cannot become normal
in our scientific discussions. No therapist under proper ethical
functioning would cause their client to be addicted to their therapy (Huntington, 2025) nor would they, as in the Replika example (The Luddite, 2024), introduce a sexual relationship between
them and their client (Pettit, 2024b). Any such suggestions to
use a chatbot as a therapist would go aga…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsyj5jtayxcq5dw5mtja4xtb/bafkreigr3wk3yvqjp5vxuc3esobfssy64gnx2xhlkxe4ahac27gxlri6p4@jpeg)
October 4, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Fifth, the equivocation of human-human & human-AI relationships; a slip that is so ubiquitous that most seem to ignore it, but it's harmful and even probably illegal or against codes of conduct in many settings that involve professional psychologists. See section 7: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
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what it looks like when the Eagles are winning
December 30, 2025 at 2:44 AM
what it looks like when the Eagles are winning