Ben Sharkey
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bsharkey.bsky.social
Ben Sharkey
@bsharkey.bsky.social
120 followers 160 following 85 posts
astronomer, archivist at U. Maryland (Small Bodies Node). aspiring killjoy.
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davidbermanbot.bsky.social
I was so far gone in Fargo
South Dakota got annoyed
January 10, 2026 at 8:28 AM
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proptermalone.bsky.social
i have watched the shooter's video. it's going to make you way the fuck madder.
proptermalone.bsky.social post malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 5d
I have watched the video. I think you probably do not need to watch the video. it shows what you think it's gonna show in terms of lack of justification.
January 9, 2026 at 6:38 PM
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davemazella.bsky.social
The democratic collapse of my country is making it hard to focus on the collapse of my profession
January 9, 2026 at 6:57 PM
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mskellymhayes.bsky.social
Tonight, I was one of more than 200 people who gathered on Chicago’s North Side to mourn Renee Nicole Good. Several people asked me to publish my remarks from the vigil, so I’m sharing them here.
The Cost of Staying Human
Remarks from a vigil for Renee Nicole Good
organizingmythoughts.org
January 8, 2026 at 1:47 AM
bsharkey.bsky.social
thinking about that time last year i sat behind some ice freaks on a flight, and watched them read an email from their boss about a recent dui in their unit and how important it is that they stop drinking and driving
January 8, 2026 at 2:23 AM
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jamellebouie.net
a few thoughts youtu.be/lERS4kJIQR8
Abolish ICE
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
youtu.be
January 8, 2026 at 1:42 AM
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miasato.bsky.social
A 23 year old larping as a journalist made a misleading and inaccurate YouTube video that the administration full of chronically online shitposters used to justify the “largest immigration operation ever” and now someone is dead
January 7, 2026 at 6:58 PM
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jaredlholt.bsky.social
If officials can’t bring themselves to arrest someone who is captured on camera from multiple angles killing someone in cold blood, they should just step aside so someone with a backbone can lead
bencollins.bsky.social Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 5d
Arrest the murderer and arrest Bovino. Not complicated.
January 7, 2026 at 7:01 PM
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bencollins.bsky.social
Every second the murderer is not arrested is another second for feds to hide him in a place that would create a jurisdictional fight. He's on video killing a person. You have to arrest this guy an hour ago, but you might still have time now.
January 7, 2026 at 7:09 PM
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whisperingpines.bsky.social
It is now confirmed from multiple sources that ICE shot a legal observer dead on Portland in Minneapolis between 34th and 33rd street. The victim is dead
January 7, 2026 at 4:28 PM
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austinwalker.bsky.social
One thing I keep thinking about is the Rubio interview towards the start of last year. Whether he actually believes this fully or if it’s rhetorical positioning, it’s an argument that lays the groundwork for this and possibly future acts of global banditry.

(www.state.gov/secretary-ma...)
QUESTION: America first. SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, and that’s the way the world has always worked. The way the world has always worked is that the Chinese will do what’s in the best interests of China, the Russians will do what’s in the best interest of Russia, the Chileans are going to do what’s in the best interest of Chile, and the United States needs to do what’s in the best interest of the United States. Where our interests align, that’s where you have partnerships and alliances; where our differences are not aligned, that is where the job of diplomacy is to prevent conflict while still furthering our national interests and understanding they’re going to further theirs. And that’s been lost. And I think that was lost at the end of the Cold War, because we were the only power in the world, and so we assumed this responsibility of sort of becoming the global government in many cases, trying to solve every problem. And there are terrible things happening in the world. There are. And then there are things that are terrible that impact our national interest directly, and we need to prioritize those again. So it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power. That was not – that was an anomaly. It was a product of the end of the Cold War, but eventually you were going to reach back to a point where you had a multipolar world, multi-great powers in different parts of the planet. We face that now with China and to some extent Russia, and then you have rogue states like Iran and North Korea you have to deal with. So now more than ever we need to remember that foreign policy should always be about furthering the national interest of the United States and doing so, to the extent possible, avoiding war and armed conflict, which we have seen two times in the last century be very costly. They’re celebrating the 80th anniversary this year of the end of the Second World War. That – I think if you look at the scale and scope of destruction and loss of life that occurred, it would be far worse if we had a global conflict now. It may end life on the planet. And it sounds like hyperbole, but that’s – you have multiple countries now who have the capability to end life on Earth. And so we need to really work hard to avoid armed conflict as much as possible, but never at the expense of our national interest. So that’s the tricky balance. So I think returning us to that, now you can have a framework by which you analyze not just diplomacy but foreign aid and who we would line up with and the return of pragmatism. And that’s not an abandonment of our principles. I’m not a fan or a giddy supporter of some horrifying human rights violator somewhere in the world. By the same token, diplomacy has always required us and foreign policy has always required us to work in the national interest, sometimes in cooperation with people who we wouldn’t invite over for dinner or people who we wouldn’t necessarily ever want to be led by. And so that’s a balance, but it’s the sort of pragmatic and mature balance we have to have in foreign policy.
January 4, 2026 at 3:47 AM
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chanda.blacksky.app
👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
nneka.bsky.social Dr. Nneka D. Dennie @nneka.bsky.social · 23d
a big part of the issue surrounding the use of chatgpt/LLMs in academic research comes down to process vs. product. a lot of us know that the process of doing research matters because that's where intellectual work is done; but some "academics" and lots of techies only care about a fast product
December 21, 2025 at 4:26 PM
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katjathieme.bsky.social
„CSU—US’s largest public uni system—went all-in with a $17mill partnership with OpenAI. . .CSU unveiled its grand technological gesture just as it proposed slashing $375mill from its budget. While admin cut ribbons on AI, they were cutting faculty positions, academic programs, student services.“
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:43 AM
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nbedera.bsky.social
In light of today’s conversation on academic accommodations, I’m going to revive a thread lost to time when I deleted my Twitter profile.

It’s about a bunch of academic accommodations that instructors can offer in lieu of an extension on an assignment. 🧵
December 2, 2025 at 8:02 PM
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cheatlines.co
When I encounter myself as a different colored cursor because I have the Google Doc open in two tabs
Natalie Portman in Black Swan being menaced by a doppelganger in the mirror
December 21, 2023 at 10:09 PM
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edsbs.bsky.social
Me: [drinks straight from OJ carton]

Troy Aikman, appearing from behind the fridge door: That’s why he struggles, Joe, and it’s not getting better
November 11, 2025 at 2:29 AM
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sstpmutualaid.bsky.social
Please help an Afghan refugee family of 5 with 3 children under 7! They have been affected by the SNAP defending and need help with their rent. They need help with their rent. They need $1,350 and every little bit helps! Wahabk94 on PayPal.
Please help an Afghan refugee family of 5 with 3 children under 7! They have been affected by the SNAP defending and need help with their rent. They need help with their rent. They need $1,350 and every little bit helps! Wahabk94 on PayPal.
November 3, 2025 at 11:36 PM
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michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Nothing can prepare you for the factual basis behind this 'wokeness gone too far' anecdote.
The criticism of Springer Nature group, which publishes the journal, was made by Anna Krylov, an American professor who has been a supporter of President Trump’s drive to stop American universities from promoting diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) in their admissions policies. Krylov, a chemistry professor at the University of Southern California (USC), said she had been invited to act as a peer-reviewer — a scientist asked to provide independent scrutiny — of a study being published in the journal Nature Communications. In an open letter to bosses at Springer Nature, she said the topic was “within my field of expertise” and that she would “normally welcome the opportunity”, but asked if she had been contacted “because of my expertise in the subject matter or because of my reproductive organs”.
October 28, 2025 at 1:06 PM
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mlandis.bsky.social
I’m looking for a post doc! Come join us at ASU! apply.interfolio.com/176300
October 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM
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ruralindexing.bsky.social
Welcome sign
Toronto, SD
October 15, 2025 at 10:25 PM
bsharkey.bsky.social
24 year olds will say the craziest shit. at a dinner tonight a dude said to me “you know, the costco guys? boom boom boom? they work with the rizzler”
October 13, 2025 at 1:17 AM
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shaunvids.bsky.social
actually our AI programs are like people so its racist to say you don't like them. anyway would you like to buy one
October 5, 2025 at 12:53 PM
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jamellebouie.net
the usual story. rich guy wants to punish universities for not clamping down on pro-palestinian protests and for doing too much to recruit minorities. at base these guys want the top tier of american universities to become, once more, safe-spaces for their dunderheaded failsons
The Billionaire Behind Trump’s Deal for Universities
www.nytimes.com
October 4, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Ben Sharkey
lizneeley.bsky.social
Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.

Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
October 2, 2025 at 6:14 AM