Sarah Emily Duff
@sarahemilyduff.bsky.social
Radiant ambiguity/unclassified residuum (historian of age, gender, reproduction, opinions my own and not my employer’s etc.)
https://www.colby.edu/people/people-directory/sarah-duff/
https://www.colby.edu/people/people-directory/sarah-duff/
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Hiroo Isono (1945-2013), Untitled (detail)
November 21, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Hiroo Isono (1945-2013), Untitled (detail)
‘This previously unknown study … was intended for the figure of a legendary priestess known as the Libyan Sibyl at the east end of the Sistine ceiling cycle.’
His Right Foot: One Tiny Drawing for Sale, Said to Be by Michelangelo
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
‘This previously unknown study … was intended for the figure of a legendary priestess known as the Libyan Sibyl at the east end of the Sistine ceiling cycle.’
‘an AI system might remix and recycle our knowledge in interesting ways. But that’s all it will be able to do. It will be forever trapped in the vocabulary we’ve encoded in our data and trained it upon — a dead-metaphor machine.’
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
Is language the same as intelligence? The AI industry desperately needs it to be
The AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake.
www.theverge.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:16 PM
‘an AI system might remix and recycle our knowledge in interesting ways. But that’s all it will be able to do. It will be forever trapped in the vocabulary we’ve encoded in our data and trained it upon — a dead-metaphor machine.’
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
By @benjaminjriley.bsky.social
‘Researchers also point to the mass closure of home birth services in the UK during the pandemic as a factor pushing women towards free births. …”in areas which are doing really well with their home birth teams, there’s hardly any freebirthing” …’
NHS directed pregnant women to controversial Free Birth Society via charity
Exclusive: NHS websites pointed women to factsheet featuring podcast by ‘dangerous’ influencers linked to baby deaths
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:10 PM
‘Researchers also point to the mass closure of home birth services in the UK during the pandemic as a factor pushing women towards free births. …”in areas which are doing really well with their home birth teams, there’s hardly any freebirthing” …’
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
I just want to point out that there is a lane for someone to start a small media company whose express mission statement is "nothing we put on the internet was made by AI" & every time a category gets overrun like this, they branch out
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I just want to point out that there is a lane for someone to start a small media company whose express mission statement is "nothing we put on the internet was made by AI" & every time a category gets overrun like this, they branch out
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Morning.
Pompeii, 100 AD.
Pompeii, 100 AD.
November 16, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Morning.
Pompeii, 100 AD.
Pompeii, 100 AD.
‘just before he separated from Mary in the 1970s, wrote to her: “What you must realize is that once I begin a story you become a character, not a person; Monet’s haystacks didn’t complain that they weren’t really purple.”’
A Life in Letters by John Updike — a personality revealed vividly
This collection of the late writer’s correspondence is pure gold, shining with insights about literature and life
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
‘just before he separated from Mary in the 1970s, wrote to her: “What you must realize is that once I begin a story you become a character, not a person; Monet’s haystacks didn’t complain that they weren’t really purple.”’
‘Spring later became one of the first restaurants in the country to eliminate single-use plastics, and in 2016 introduced a “scratch” menu using waste products at a lower price.’
On Skye Gingell:
On Skye Gingell:
Skye Gyngell, pioneering chef, 1962-2025
At Petersham Nurseries and Spring, she brought style and beauty to seasonal cooking
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM
‘Spring later became one of the first restaurants in the country to eliminate single-use plastics, and in 2016 introduced a “scratch” menu using waste products at a lower price.’
On Skye Gingell:
On Skye Gingell:
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
it is not customary for such venerable leviathans to be at all social
November 24, 2025 at 3:47 PM
it is not customary for such venerable leviathans to be at all social
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Judith — Georgione, ca. 1504
November 9, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Judith — Georgione, ca. 1504
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Born OTD in 1654, in Antwerp, Jan van Kessel the Younger. Like his father, a painter of bugs, beasts, & other naturalia. Occasionally humans too. Here, butterflies, shells, etc in 1680.
November 23, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Born OTD in 1654, in Antwerp, Jan van Kessel the Younger. Like his father, a painter of bugs, beasts, & other naturalia. Occasionally humans too. Here, butterflies, shells, etc in 1680.
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
November 22, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
(Relatedly, I love Lye's 1935 A Colour Box, commissioned by the British General Post Office)
A Colour Box - Len Lye (1935)
YouTube video by optimisticwombatninja08
www.youtube.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:53 AM
(Relatedly, I love Lye's 1935 A Colour Box, commissioned by the British General Post Office)
‘Aren’t learning new skills and trying new things sort of the whole point of life? … Perhaps one thing AI is revealing is that a certain percentage of the population has no real interest in doing, learning, or enjoying anything at all.’
By @thelincoln.bsky.social
By @thelincoln.bsky.social
Short Little Difficult Books
Novels that challenge with style, story, or form that you can read in a day.
countercraft.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:04 PM
‘Aren’t learning new skills and trying new things sort of the whole point of life? … Perhaps one thing AI is revealing is that a certain percentage of the population has no real interest in doing, learning, or enjoying anything at all.’
By @thelincoln.bsky.social
By @thelincoln.bsky.social
‘She found a more lasting outlet for her geometric preoccupations during a summer in Mexico, where she learned to “knit” with wire. In the markets of Toluca, venders used the technique to make egg carriers, but Asawa was captivated by the material’s “insect wing” transparency.’
Ruth Asawa’s Art of Defiant Hospitality
A retrospective at MOMA puts forth a persuasive case for an artist who saw making her work and living with others as inextricably entwined.
www.newyorker.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
‘She found a more lasting outlet for her geometric preoccupations during a summer in Mexico, where she learned to “knit” with wire. In the markets of Toluca, venders used the technique to make egg carriers, but Asawa was captivated by the material’s “insect wing” transparency.’
‘“We want to involve as many people as possible but with almost €20m in pledges obviously some people will be disappointed,” Marciano said.
Since the company became a staff cooperative, turnover has increased by 22% and Marciano said he hoped Duralex would be breaking even by 2027.’
Since the company became a staff cooperative, turnover has increased by 22% and Marciano said he hoped Duralex would be breaking even by 2027.’
‘The French people want to save us’: help pours in for glassmaker Duralex
The brand, which evokes nostalgia and pride, hit its €5m fundraising target within hours and orders have soared
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
‘“We want to involve as many people as possible but with almost €20m in pledges obviously some people will be disappointed,” Marciano said.
Since the company became a staff cooperative, turnover has increased by 22% and Marciano said he hoped Duralex would be breaking even by 2027.’
Since the company became a staff cooperative, turnover has increased by 22% and Marciano said he hoped Duralex would be breaking even by 2027.’
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
relinquish this turbulence
November 24, 2025 at 3:47 AM
relinquish this turbulence
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
The slightly sinister world of Pelican Originals.
November 23, 2025 at 8:51 AM
The slightly sinister world of Pelican Originals.
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Untitled blue monochrome (IKB 82) by Yves Klein, 1959
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137339
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137339
November 15, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Untitled blue monochrome (IKB 82) by Yves Klein, 1959
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137339
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137339
Reposted by Sarah Emily Duff
Paul Klee♥️
Flower Myth ,1918
Watercolour on pastel foundation on fabric
Flower Myth ,1918
Watercolour on pastel foundation on fabric
November 14, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Paul Klee♥️
Flower Myth ,1918
Watercolour on pastel foundation on fabric
Flower Myth ,1918
Watercolour on pastel foundation on fabric