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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · 8d

Not me the ex academic who can't get a retail or admin asst job going down a statistician-Bluesky rabbit hole on a Monday night

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · 8d

This post is so interesting and helpful to explain that whole YouGov "Americans think 21% of the country is trans" thing that was going around. Spoiler: survey respondents were actually more accurate than expected.

Jo Wood @jwolondon.bsky.social · 10d

A great post from @djnavarro.net, providing an accessible explanation of why statistics that can appear to reveal our ignorance may actually do the opposite. Makes excellent use of #datavis to provide visual support for the argument.

blog.djnavarro.net/posts/2025-0...

Some notes on probability judgement – Notes from a data witch

For the love of fuck, literally nobody thinks that 20% of the population is transgender. Please stop sharing that ridiculous YouGov statistic

blog.djnavarro.net

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · 8d

Wow, this paper is incredible. A bit technical for those of us outside the field(s), but so worth reading this thread & screenshots, for all (A) educators and (B) ppl critiquing AI.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

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Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 9d

Spooky season approaches, so I'm going to repost some of my Halloween comics from years past.

A four panel comic called Happy Halloween From The Birds. In panel 1, a pileated woodpecker has pecked its huge gaping rectangular holes in a pumpkin. In panel 2, a yellow-bellied sapsucker has pecked a face using its standard rows of small holes. In panel 3, a satin bowerbird has carved a pumpkin into a bower and placed its favorite blue candies all around it. In panel 4, a loggerhead shrike has impaled mini pumpkins on a fence's metal spikes and is saying "fight me."

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HAD @havehashad.com · 12d

you gotta click through for the footnotes and thus for the full power of Kristin Gustafson's piece today, but here's enough of a teaser to make you do said clicking through...

https://www.havehashad.com/2jj6l

A screenshot of a Twitter post featuring a bright yellow background with bold white text that reads "Stay Curious, Keep Learning". The design is simple and motivational, aimed at encouraging personal growth and exploration.

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Cornell Lab of Ornithology @cornellbirds.bsky.social · 12d

We’ve only crossed the “billion” threshold 1X before, in Oct. 23'. Last night, we rejoined the Billion Bird Night Club in spectacular fashion. Migration soared past 1.2 billion, marking the largest single night of bird migration ever recorded by BirdCast. Learn more: birdcast.info/news/a-new-r...

A new record night of migration for BirdCast!

Migration intensity goes off the charts, again, with a new record night of migration intensity for BirdCast!

birdcast.info

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · 13d

Thread!

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 14d

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

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Nicholas Slayton @nslayton.bsky.social · 16d

Fun story this morning. I spoke with Curtis Evans, the retired Marine in the viral photo below who took part in the anti-ICE protest at Broadview. He's a thoughtful guy, well read and with a dry sense of humor. Story @taskandpurpose.com taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-...

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O. Rose Broderick @rosebroderick.bsky.social · 14d

Trump, Kennedy say the data show that Tylenol use during pregnancy causes autism.

It doesn't, but the PACER files show that the researcher whose data is fueling their conclusions was paid $150,000 to testify in a case against Tylenol.

www.statnews.com/2025/09/23/r...

Trump’s Tylenol warning cited a Harvard dean’s research. But a judge called his shifting conclusions ‘unreliable’

A Harvard dean whose work was cited as justification for curtailing Tylenol use provided what a judge called 'unreliable' expert testimony against the drug’s maker

www.statnews.com

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Abbie Richards @abbierichards.bsky.social · 19d

THE HYPOCRISY IS THE POINT!!

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 19d

If you have an extra $10 a month to spare, here's a list of worker-owned cooperative news sites you might want to support:

• 404 Media
• Defector
• The Flytrap
• Flaming Hydra
• The Appeal
• Aftermath
• Racket
• Hell Gate
• The 51st
• The Colorado Sun
• Range Media
• Discourse Blog
• Pop Heist

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Sep 1

Here is my look at this weekend: www.lawdork.com/p/this-weeke...

This weekend in Trump's effort to make fascism happen

The Trump administration tried to illegally send children to Guatemala as troops walked aimlessly around Dupont Circle. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

www.lawdork.com

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · Aug 15

there's "charitable interpretation" and there's "being a mark" and the inability or refusal to distinguish between the two is practically a credential in some circles

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · Aug 13

The adamant elite refusal to call bullshit is a big part of How We Got Here.

The prevailing cultural attitude for years is you must not, under any circumstances, treat anything as bad faith. You are obligated to find some reasonable idea and engage with that, even if you distort to get there.

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · Aug 14

Press needs to stop repeating govt euphemism of “clearing homeless camps.” I’ve witnessed it in other cities: massive destruction of personal property. Not just bedrolls & tents; family photos, Bibles, meds. Times I’ve seen it people weren’t even given option to move their things.

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · Aug 15

Sigh, to dream.
A decent part of the public is actually doing alright on this, I think (see e.g. protests, resistance against ICE raids). The press... well.

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · Aug 11

Same as it ever was with police. They were the same way with journalists during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, also in blue states like MN. Journalists got their eyes shot out with "less lethal" munitions.

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · Aug 9

I'm glad you said this because there's so much talk in the autistic community of finding safe spaces to unmask, but for me... most of it is so automatic and ingrained in my brain, it's not undoable.

Some of it's like a suntan, it would fade with time if I could stay out of the sun.. but I can't.

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · Aug 9

Whoa. Now I understand those parents that schlep their kids around by car for trick or treating.

Reposted by What Would Baba Yaga Do?

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · Aug 9

People should scream bloody murder about RFK blocking vaccines for kids.

I mean it. Mothers and fathers should get hysterical.

I'd rarely advise this as a strategy. But, I think it's appropriate for this. What could be more clear and stark? It's not hard to explain to reporters.

HELLody SchreiBOO @melodyschreiber.com · Aug 9

NEW: The FDA may yank Pfizer's under-5 Covid vaccine this fall. Pfizer has the only pediatric vaccines for all kids over six months, not just those with health conditions. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Pfizer Covid vaccine for young children may not be renewed by FDA

Email obtained by Guardian says Pfizer was told approval may not be granted, meaning Moderna may have to fill gap

www.theguardian.com

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · Aug 9

Age verification is here, and now UK Redditors can’t access their favorite LGBTQ+, political, or public health communities without destroying their anonymity. Help us fight to avoid this future. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · Aug 8

After asking ChatGPT what to eat instead of salt, a man slowly poisoned himself over course of 3 months and gave himself a psychiatric illness that was common in the 19th century, according to a new medical case study:

www.404media.co/guy-gives-hi...

Guy Gives Himself 19th Century Psychiatric Illness After Consulting With ChatGPT

"For 3 months, he had replaced sodium chloride with sodium bromide obtained from the internet after consultation with ChatGPT."

www.404media.co

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · Aug 8

Sadly, we are being flooded with propaganda from the tech industry that it *does* have intelligence, and propaganda works.

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · Aug 8

We all saw Mr Robot s1 in 2015. Apparently the public learned nothing, and the techbro CEOs said "that looks awesome let's build another torment nexus"

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · Aug 6

NEW: In a likely first, security researchers have shown how generative AI agents can be hijacked to cause physical consequences.

They tricked Google's Gemini AI into turning off smart home lights, opening windows, and turning on a boiler.

They hid instructions to the AI in a *calendar invitation*

Hackers Hijacked Google’s Gemini AI With a Poisoned Calendar Invite to Take Over a Smart Home

For likely the first time ever, security researchers have shown how AI can be hacked to create real world havoc, allowing them to turn off lights, open smart shutters, and more.

www.wired.com

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What Would Baba Yaga Do? @babayagaacolyte.bsky.social · Aug 8

Truth. If Buttigieg is the candidate, I'm not giving him a cent & would hold my nose to vote for him over Trump. And I would not be very inclined to argue for him to my leftist friends. He has always been disappointing but now even moreso.

Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · Aug 7

Also gonna repeat myself here:

The cynical bus-tossing calculus isn't even good cynical calculus.

Even if you win over some cross-pressured voters, you alienate trans people and their friends and family. Even if they vote for you, they won't volunteer, donate or talk positively about you.