Saw this lovely beast over the weekend on Mt St Helens #fungi #mushtodon

@gedankenstuecke As someone who had to take their name off off a paper because I got laid off, and the conference actively prohibited unafilliated scholars from submitting, yeah...

Tired of how AI somehow lives rent-free in your head? Done with the ways that it inhibits our collective ability to imagine how technologies could be, beyond next word prediction?

Now's your chance to gather with like-minded folks. Submissions due Oct 9. https://www.undonecs.org/2026/

Google's claim that each AI prompt uses the energy of 9 seconds of television is like throwing dispersant over an oil slick.

The only way to get a number that low is with massive scale, which you should definitely worry about […]

This. Is. Brilliant!

@volts.wtf also, to the bottled spring water drinker, bottled water has elevated levels of microplastics because it sits in the bottle and is under less stringent regulations than tap. Municipalities are required to report even the smallest of issues in real time, but bottled water companies […]

@volts.wtf but wait! It's worse! The plastic water industry actively sows doubt on tap water to stoke sales, preying on rural and minority communities where water quality issues are indeed more prevalent but not universal. They donated bottled water to flint specifically for this reason, and to […]

@volts.wtf I guess they worked out there aren't any immigrants inside shoes.

Switching my default web browser to https://lite.duckduckgo.com to get away from all the AI shit that is overrunning almost every search engine these days, it seems.

#search

Good on Signal! https://signal.org/blog/signal-doesnt-recall/

Not only are they doing the right thing, they’re publishing a clear, forceful, and occasionally amusing write-up on how and why:

For Example: “Take a screenshot every few seconds” legitimately sounds like a suggestion from a […]

Turns out you can't say "bubble" while working in an AI lab.

oh the irony

Sometimes all the shittiness of life just arrives all at once. LIke a big lump. Sigh.

@GottaLaff @spocko soo.... if one were to use this as an occasion for a DDoS attack, what would be the best technique? Asking for a friend.

@volts.wtf I've been saying for a while that this guy is more of a degrowther than anyone realizes.

@gedankenstuecke @PhilippBayer @i_dabble Wow, the end of an era, and a beautiful reflection. Thank you, both for the thoughtful action and the thoughtful reflection.

@heidilifeldman Spine found. Love to see it.

@briankrebs And just when you thought there was no meaningful use of AI.... I stand corrected.

@xankarn I can't like this hard enough and one thing to do could be for AI researchers to make *very* clear in this RFI that closes in 24 hours that they will NOT be participating in any federal-related, federal-involved AI research until they stop harassing universities […]

@GottaLaff I mean... I guess it's nice he's so into #degrowth

Any guess about an ID? Found in the Coast Range outside Portland, OR. Second growth forest. #mushtodon #FungiFriday

@brooklynsoc

Unions are the way to fight. That is the only power other than violence these cretins will listen to.

(I know you know this as a sociologist. I just feel like saying it a million times helps make it more doable.) […]

If I ever program chair a conference again, I'm just going to call the theme "Suitably Vague" and leave it at that.