Reposted by Sarah Burke Cahalan
My favorite part about this story is that the plastic disk (of whale songs recorded in 1949) was titled "fish noises," which makes it sound like Ishmael labeled it 🐋
In 1949, WHOI researchers recorded what ended up being the earliest-preserved whale song—without realizing what they'd captured! 🐳🎶
Nearly 80 years later, that sound has resurfaced!
🎉Celebrate World Whale Day with the full story: go.whoi.edu/whoi-1949
Nearly 80 years later, that sound has resurfaced!
🎉Celebrate World Whale Day with the full story: go.whoi.edu/whoi-1949
February 19, 2026 at 1:46 AM
My favorite part about this story is that the plastic disk (of whale songs recorded in 1949) was titled "fish noises," which makes it sound like Ishmael labeled it 🐋
I've learned from some wonderfully talented teachers over the years, and it's not a competition, but LIS 407 with Allen Smith, Reference/Information Services, might have been the best class I ever took. Here is a sample (50-page) syllabus 📚 📜
simmons.access.preservica.com/uncategorize...
Simmons has a syllabus or two up on their digital archives!
Simmons has a syllabus or two up on their digital archives!
February 18, 2026 at 1:31 PM
I've learned from some wonderfully talented teachers over the years, and it's not a competition, but LIS 407 with Allen Smith, Reference/Information Services, might have been the best class I ever took. Here is a sample (50-page) syllabus 📚 📜
Reposted by Sarah Burke Cahalan
Hey @chapotraphousereal.bsky.social loved the new ep but I want to flag that your girl’s book has a whole essay on Larry Summers’s destruction of the Russian economy and how that created a wholesale global market for young women! bookshop.org/p/books/y2k-...
Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was)
How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was)
bookshop.org
February 4, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Hey @chapotraphousereal.bsky.social loved the new ep but I want to flag that your girl’s book has a whole essay on Larry Summers’s destruction of the Russian economy and how that created a wholesale global market for young women! bookshop.org/p/books/y2k-...
Reposted by Sarah Burke Cahalan
In "DSC 13: Goodbye Friends, Goodbye" I wrote about finding Scott Enderle's StackOverflow posts randomly when trying to solve a problem, even after he died. I loathe the idea of all those digital footprints of his getting turned into AI slop, and losing that trace of him in the process.
February 16, 2026 at 3:16 PM
In "DSC 13: Goodbye Friends, Goodbye" I wrote about finding Scott Enderle's StackOverflow posts randomly when trying to solve a problem, even after he died. I loathe the idea of all those digital footprints of his getting turned into AI slop, and losing that trace of him in the process.
I guess what I'm saying is that crappy "AI" search layers & reference chatbots alienate humans not just from other humans today but also from humans who have produced knowledge in the past.
I was thinking about Allen Smith recently, @jbd1.bsky.social, how despite years of being a curious person I finally understood systems of info organization thanks to his reference class. It was such a pro-human exercise, learning how much work individuals have done to collect info for other humans.
February 16, 2026 at 3:04 PM
I guess what I'm saying is that crappy "AI" search layers & reference chatbots alienate humans not just from other humans today but also from humans who have produced knowledge in the past.
Reposted by Sarah Burke Cahalan
Libraries adopting “ai search tools“ which encourage patrons to ask an LLM to “explore information” instead of identifying sources and facilitating access seems so stupid I have trouble knowing how to respond. I wonder how many librarians (or books) will be left at places like that in 5 years.
February 16, 2026 at 12:41 PM
Libraries adopting “ai search tools“ which encourage patrons to ask an LLM to “explore information” instead of identifying sources and facilitating access seems so stupid I have trouble knowing how to respond. I wonder how many librarians (or books) will be left at places like that in 5 years.
"The more you build your own little fortress of expertise, the bigger the rest of the map of 'terra incognita' reveals itself to be. Curiosity is necessary to survival." 🗺
Proud to say @jasonwdean.com and I have stayed on schedule and managed to produce another newsletter on time—this month, On Curiosity. Check it out and subscribe (free always) if you’re into it!
twohalfsheets.substack.com/p/on-curiosity
twohalfsheets.substack.com/p/on-curiosity
February 16, 2026 at 12:31 AM
"The more you build your own little fortress of expertise, the bigger the rest of the map of 'terra incognita' reveals itself to be. Curiosity is necessary to survival." 🗺
Reposted by Sarah Burke Cahalan
February 14, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Should I make this extremely weird by saying I dreamt I was trying to turn breast milk into honey? (It didn’t work and I was very upset about it.)
I dreamt that someone walked up to me and told me I make great coffee.
Dreamt I was at a show, and in between songs I shouted out “Sister Ray!” and the band actually started playing all 17 minutes of “Sister Ray.”
February 15, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Should I make this extremely weird by saying I dreamt I was trying to turn breast milk into honey? (It didn’t work and I was very upset about it.)
So terribly sad.
When the shore freezes, it can be really difficult to tell where the beach ends and water begins... and that sweet dog 😢
When the shore freezes, it can be really difficult to tell where the beach ends and water begins... and that sweet dog 😢
An Eastham couple fell through the ice at First Encounter Beach while walking their dog. The wife's body was found just offshore, the recover effort for her husband remains ongoing. https://www.wcvb.com/article/first-encounter-beach-eastham-water-ice-rescue/70359650
February 15, 2026 at 12:15 PM
So terribly sad.
When the shore freezes, it can be really difficult to tell where the beach ends and water begins... and that sweet dog 😢
When the shore freezes, it can be really difficult to tell where the beach ends and water begins... and that sweet dog 😢
The last decade aged some of us exponentially ok
“A 2010 study found the average Wikipedia contributor was in their mid-twenties; today, many of those same editors are now in their forties or fifties.”
a close up of a cat 's face with mathematical equations on it
Alt: a close up of a cat 's face with mathematical equations on it
media.tenor.com
February 14, 2026 at 11:36 PM
The last decade aged some of us exponentially ok
I don’t care what the groundhog says, this horse’s hair says spring is coming
February 14, 2026 at 10:32 PM
I don’t care what the groundhog says, this horse’s hair says spring is coming
We are so lucky that tools are developed for individuals with specific disabilities because they exist when all of a sudden we are the individuals with those disabilities.
PSA for podcasters & other reviewers of stuff:
It's disabled people.
When you say "but does anyone really need this [device that helps cut/peel/prep food]…
Or "I can't imagine who would use this [widget for making household tasks easier]…
It's us.
We exist. You absolute prize lawn ornaments.
It's disabled people.
When you say "but does anyone really need this [device that helps cut/peel/prep food]…
Or "I can't imagine who would use this [widget for making household tasks easier]…
It's us.
We exist. You absolute prize lawn ornaments.
February 14, 2026 at 3:55 PM
We are so lucky that tools are developed for individuals with specific disabilities because they exist when all of a sudden we are the individuals with those disabilities.
Someone write the rein in reign of raining ice ghazal ... I'd just mess it up.
C’mon, Chuck. You’re fighting to “rein in” ICE? DEFUND ICE.
This is why there must be a full, independent investigation of every incident that ICE has been involved in. DHS and this administration cannot be trusted to carry out investigations on their own.
And it’s why Democrats are fighting to rein in ICE.
And it’s why Democrats are fighting to rein in ICE.
February 14, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Someone write the rein in reign of raining ice ghazal ... I'd just mess it up.
For many of us, it's really hard to ask these questions in front of a crowd.
Which is why I am quietly indoctrinating my kids against garbage AI "tools" from the comfort of our home.
We're all in this together :)
Which is why I am quietly indoctrinating my kids against garbage AI "tools" from the comfort of our home.
We're all in this together :)
"I know several teens, including my own college-age kid, who are vehemently AI. They choose not to use AI for environmental reasons, for ethical reasons, for creative reasons, or just because they want to use their own thinking. What do we tell those students? Do we have to force them to use AI?
February 14, 2026 at 1:49 PM
For many of us, it's really hard to ask these questions in front of a crowd.
Which is why I am quietly indoctrinating my kids against garbage AI "tools" from the comfort of our home.
We're all in this together :)
Which is why I am quietly indoctrinating my kids against garbage AI "tools" from the comfort of our home.
We're all in this together :)
"Advent's back!" my kid shouted.
Liturgical confusion caused by using the same chocolate for Valentine's Day as I gave them on Sundays in Advent 🤦♀️
💕
Liturgical confusion caused by using the same chocolate for Valentine's Day as I gave them on Sundays in Advent 🤦♀️
💕
February 14, 2026 at 1:35 PM
"Advent's back!" my kid shouted.
Liturgical confusion caused by using the same chocolate for Valentine's Day as I gave them on Sundays in Advent 🤦♀️
💕
Liturgical confusion caused by using the same chocolate for Valentine's Day as I gave them on Sundays in Advent 🤦♀️
💕
I've never seen them in the same place.
Wait, Mary Berry and Mary Beard are two different people?
February 13, 2026 at 10:51 PM
I've never seen them in the same place.
📚 📜
On ransomware and under-funded GLAMs: 'At no point was the British Library particularly negligent or unprepared. Instead, it was hindered by vulnerabilities shared by the majority of cultural institutions. ...the attack [is] a warning to the whole sector.' informationsecuritybuzz.com/the-cyberatt...
The Cyberattack That Exposed The Fragility Of Digital Heritage
Saturday 28 October 2023 is a date that will live long in the memory of staff at the British Library. As they arrived for work that day, they encountered
informationsecuritybuzz.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:32 PM
📚 📜
Reposted by Sarah Burke Cahalan
Happy 300th birthday to the time that Johann Beringer got pranked so hard by his colleagues that he ended up publishing an entire book about fake fossils. 🧪 mixture.substack.com/p/a-300-year...
A 300-year-old science hoax
Plus research into Bigfoot-hunters, a lonely robin and other science links.
mixture.substack.com
February 13, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Happy 300th birthday to the time that Johann Beringer got pranked so hard by his colleagues that he ended up publishing an entire book about fake fossils. 🧪 mixture.substack.com/p/a-300-year...
If you've ever wondered "what's one way #autism can show up in girls?" here is my daughter spending the 45 minutes of her brother's swim class watching the ants that live in the floor beneath the lobby. (She's wrapped in a blanket because the lobby is cold.) 🐜
February 13, 2026 at 4:18 PM
If you've ever wondered "what's one way #autism can show up in girls?" here is my daughter spending the 45 minutes of her brother's swim class watching the ants that live in the floor beneath the lobby. (She's wrapped in a blanket because the lobby is cold.) 🐜