Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
@writerethink.bsky.social
linguist / cognitive scientist / writing professor obsessed with all things relating to language, learning, and the mind. And knitting and sewing and music (especially violin and ukulele). And cats. Also a UU. neurodivergent. she/they. 🌈💖💜💙 /🖤🤍💜
A very late "monday musings" post on my #knitting blog: updates from "between the years".
zwischen den jahren
Well, it is in fact Monday (evening), though we're in that strange part "between the years" ("Zwischen den Jahren") where there's really barely a reason to know what day of the week it is! But since I've been attempting to stick to the "Monday Musings" format, I figured I should try to squeeze in a post today. Last week, kiddo and performed in two different Christmas Eve services at our UU church; we were a violin duet for the…
whitknits.wordpress.com
December 30, 2025 at 2:27 AM
A very late "monday musings" post on my #knitting blog: updates from "between the years".
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Hey so this also fucks everyone who is receiving any kind of government benefits
USPS quietly changed its postmark rules — mail is no longer dated when you drop it off. The “official” date is when it hits automated sorting — sometimes days later
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
December 29, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Hey so this also fucks everyone who is receiving any kind of government benefits
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Seems to me if voting didn’t matter the people who benefit most from the destruction of democracy wouldn’t be trying so hard to demolish democracy
USPS quietly changed its postmark rules — mail is no longer dated when you drop it off. The “official” date is when it hits automated sorting — sometimes days later
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
Which could have major implications for mail in voting — it’s a clever way to disenfranchise voters that’s going largely overlooked
December 29, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Seems to me if voting didn’t matter the people who benefit most from the destruction of democracy wouldn’t be trying so hard to demolish democracy
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Um. This is not good folks. There are too many opportunities for malfeasance, especially in heavily gerrymandered districts.
As of 12/24/25, USPS changed policy on when they postmark mail. Mail dropped off is no longer guaranteed a same-day postmark. Tax returns & other time-sensitive items are now stamped when they reach a regional processing center, which may be days later. Plan deadlines accordingly to avoid penalties.
USPS Announces Changes to the Postmark Date System
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has adopted a final rule (FR Doc.
share.google
December 29, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Um. This is not good folks. There are too many opportunities for malfeasance, especially in heavily gerrymandered districts.
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Definitely DO NOT outsource the reading/summarization of the legal contract to which you will be bound to a pattern matching program that can AND DOES willfully create misinformation when its algorithm tells it the misinformation is the statistically mostly likely next set of words.
a man with long hair and a beard is saying i 'm trying to help you
Alt: Gandalf saying "I'm trying to help you"
media.tenor.com
December 28, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Definitely DO NOT outsource the reading/summarization of the legal contract to which you will be bound to a pattern matching program that can AND DOES willfully create misinformation when its algorithm tells it the misinformation is the statistically mostly likely next set of words.
OMG, yes. I hate how impatient I am on this front, but it seriously kills me to wait and I’ve got a shockingly good accuracy, too. (Maybe it’s my autocomplete brain that makes my writing get flagged as AI-generated?)
December 28, 2025 at 12:33 AM
OMG, yes. I hate how impatient I am on this front, but it seriously kills me to wait and I’ve got a shockingly good accuracy, too. (Maybe it’s my autocomplete brain that makes my writing get flagged as AI-generated?)
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
We can live without billionaires but billionaires cannot live without us, in the same way that a body can live without cancer, but cancer cannot live without a body.
December 27, 2025 at 11:27 PM
We can live without billionaires but billionaires cannot live without us, in the same way that a body can live without cancer, but cancer cannot live without a body.
I was literally just listening to this Björk album yesterday while working out on our Nordic Track (which is also from the 90’s!)
But for my own contribution, I’ll go with:
But for my own contribution, I’ll go with:
December 27, 2025 at 11:30 PM
I was literally just listening to this Björk album yesterday while working out on our Nordic Track (which is also from the 90’s!)
But for my own contribution, I’ll go with:
But for my own contribution, I’ll go with:
Yeah, removing several inches of our mix of snow and ice this morning reminded me that I am in fact in my 40s with a bad back (L5-S1) and left knee.
And now my watch is telling me to “Move!” No thank you! I’m good!
And now my watch is telling me to “Move!” No thank you! I’m good!
There’s how old you think you are, and there’s how old shoveling six inches of snow tells you that you are.
December 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Yeah, removing several inches of our mix of snow and ice this morning reminded me that I am in fact in my 40s with a bad back (L5-S1) and left knee.
And now my watch is telling me to “Move!” No thank you! I’m good!
And now my watch is telling me to “Move!” No thank you! I’m good!
Our cats are jerks!! (Very cute jerks, but still. This is why we can’t have nice things…turn your head for a second and one of them will send them crashing to the floor!)
Measuring flour for pizza. Step out of the kitchen to ask @writerethink.bsky.social a question. ::CLANG:: Flour is everywhere. Both the lady-cats go sprinting from the kitchen. Flour is up the wall and across the entire kitchen floor. One cat has a floury face.
December 27, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Our cats are jerks!! (Very cute jerks, but still. This is why we can’t have nice things…turn your head for a second and one of them will send them crashing to the floor!)
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
No woman I know in academia would be surprised by this, but its good to see it documented like this, I guess.
Experimental evidence that students are more likely to contest grades when they are delivered by an evaluator with a female-sounding name.
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
December 26, 2025 at 12:38 PM
No woman I know in academia would be surprised by this, but its good to see it documented like this, I guess.
The prelude from yesterday’s masks-required service, for anyone who’d enjoy listening! (I’ll post the postlude in a reply.)
December 26, 2025 at 1:30 AM
The prelude from yesterday’s masks-required service, for anyone who’d enjoy listening! (I’ll post the postlude in a reply.)
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Capitalism, gen AI and tech bro bullshit has so ruined the internet. I wanted to watch a trailer on YouTube. Of the literally 50 videos returned in the search, 100% of them were fake, done by channels trying to get attention. It was literally impossible to find the real ones. Just slop far and wide.
December 25, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Capitalism, gen AI and tech bro bullshit has so ruined the internet. I wanted to watch a trailer on YouTube. Of the literally 50 videos returned in the search, 100% of them were fake, done by channels trying to get attention. It was literally impossible to find the real ones. Just slop far and wide.
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
I think it’s important to insist on recalling, at all available opportunities, that this was specifically an attack on a trans instructor over an assignment about gender. Neither of those details are incidental; they are the center of the story
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
December 24, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I think it’s important to insist on recalling, at all available opportunities, that this was specifically an attack on a trans instructor over an assignment about gender. Neither of those details are incidental; they are the center of the story
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it
December 24, 2025 at 6:21 PM
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
So fun making music with my kid, which we got to do as a violin duet for the masks-required Christmas Eve service this afternoon…and will get to do again at this evening’s service with the ukulele orchestra!
December 24, 2025 at 9:03 PM
So fun making music with my kid, which we got to do as a violin duet for the masks-required Christmas Eve service this afternoon…and will get to do again at this evening’s service with the ukulele orchestra!
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
You are painting a vision of a future in which teachers create lessons with "A.i.," students complete them with "A.i.," and teachers grade them with "A.i."
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
December 24, 2025 at 3:51 AM
You are painting a vision of a future in which teachers create lessons with "A.i.," students complete them with "A.i.," and teachers grade them with "A.i."
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
No learning takes place under this system.
The only benefactors of this system are the corporations being paid for the "A.i." products.
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
How do we get back to people feeling shame and disgust when their actions or words harm others? How do we become a more just and compassionate society when half of our current citizens have no empathy and relish in that? I'm so disheartened by the discourse of today, on social media especially.
December 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
How do we get back to people feeling shame and disgust when their actions or words harm others? How do we become a more just and compassionate society when half of our current citizens have no empathy and relish in that? I'm so disheartened by the discourse of today, on social media especially.
New post on my #knitting blog: finished mitts, the Winter Solstice, and thoughts on living life and finding joy in dark times.
Winter solstice 2025
We've made it through our darkest night! At least, that's true in the literal sense; thanks to axial tilt, the days really do get brighter and brighter from here. Whether that's true in the more metaphorical sense remains to be seen...it's been pretty grim, with mass shootings and a maliciously demented president and generative AI undermining our ability to know what is and isn't real and making professors' jobs so much harder, among other things.
whitknits.wordpress.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:35 PM
New post on my #knitting blog: finished mitts, the Winter Solstice, and thoughts on living life and finding joy in dark times.
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Absolutely right.
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
Not a historian but like to research. The AI might summarize what I'm looking for, but it doesn't find what I'm *not* looking for. The book on the shelf next to the one I wanted. The insight in chapter 6 based on the quote I needed from chapter 4.
December 21, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Absolutely right.
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.
Let me illustrate …
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
If you claim to be an 'academic' or a 'researcher' or similar and your position is that you should not have to read things and/or write things and you would like the plagiarism machine to do that for you then please step aside and let someone who would like to work in the field have your job.
December 20, 2025 at 8:43 PM
If you claim to be an 'academic' or a 'researcher' or similar and your position is that you should not have to read things and/or write things and you would like the plagiarism machine to do that for you then please step aside and let someone who would like to work in the field have your job.
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
This is what I don’t understand: How could extensive attention to clean indoor air make anything *worse*? Particulates and pollen and so on cause issues for people with allergies and asthma even before we think about anything else. It’s cheap and easy and we should just be doing it everywhere!
Study in Helsinki indicating benefits of portable air cleaners on lowering infection risk in daycare centers, less absences & parent absences from work in intervention vs. reference (no air cleaner) groups. Cleaning indoor air is not difficult and it works.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The effect of room air cleaners on infection control in day care centres
The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of air cleaning in reducing the risk of respiratory infection in two day care centres using a si…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 21, 2025 at 1:44 PM
This is what I don’t understand: How could extensive attention to clean indoor air make anything *worse*? Particulates and pollen and so on cause issues for people with allergies and asthma even before we think about anything else. It’s cheap and easy and we should just be doing it everywhere!
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Generative AI is also causing me more work as a college professor, in teaching, research, and admin work.
So far AI is causing me more work.
One of my main responsibilities is to use a database to find certain things. This database used to have humans look at the webpage of a thing and then write a description.
Bad AI descriptions have led to an increase in false positives I need to sift through.
One of my main responsibilities is to use a database to find certain things. This database used to have humans look at the webpage of a thing and then write a description.
Bad AI descriptions have led to an increase in false positives I need to sift through.
December 20, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Generative AI is also causing me more work as a college professor, in teaching, research, and admin work.
Reposted by Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Zohran: "I mean, think about when you fly. We have made it such a difficult experience to go through TSA that there's now a financial incentive to sign up for a separate program that can move you through it quicker. We have monetized the dysfunction."
December 18, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Zohran: "I mean, think about when you fly. We have made it such a difficult experience to go through TSA that there's now a financial incentive to sign up for a separate program that can move you through it quicker. We have monetized the dysfunction."