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Reposted by Sarah Barrett

Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 11h

Uptown and North Downtown need a library. Eastlake needs a library. Georgetown needs a library. Madison Valley/Park needs a library. Alaska Junction needs a library. Ballard needs more than one library.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 1d

Have you seen the “Baby You Knock Me Out” number from It’s Always Fair Weather? It’s not a great movie, but it’s my all time favorite of her performances
youtu.be/W9H5b6Dj4bE?...

Cyd Charisse performs Baby You Knock Me Out in IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER | Mad About Musicals | TCM

YouTube video by Turner Classic Movies

youtu.be

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Trond Hjorteland @trond.hjorteland.com · 1d

Suspect many will get a hands-on experience of what the ironies of automation is all about with all this LLM assisted coding.

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neongrey @neongrey.bsky.social · 2d

all discourse aside, there is one machine with consciousness. it's printers. they are alive and conscious and they hate you and they'd take your arm clean off if you let them. never trust a printer.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 2d

Maybe even a good use case for a voice note

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 2d

“Made perfect sense to me. And when I brought it up to Stephen Sondheim, he said, ‘Elaine, I have to go to the bathroom.’”

Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 2d

"That is, in fact, not what happened to Ophelia."

A personal gripe I have is that the first song on the album (which seems like it's meant to be the lead single), "The Fate of Ophelia," does not seem to have any understanding of Hamlet. Swift admitted in a BBC radio interview with Greg James that she "didn't really need to reread [Hamlet]. I wanted to sprinkle some references in the bridge, so like the the bridge references kind of some paraphrasing of some lines from Hamlet, so I did like do a little brushup. But I just love the idea that like, You saved me from love driving me mad, right?
'Cause that's what happened to Ophelia. Spoiler alert."

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 2d

When I brought this up at Microsoft, just as a hypothetical, “What if we’re wrong?“ The response was, “you don’t actually think that, do you?” Not an answer.

And the thing is, that’s a pretty essential question to ask about things, even things you’re confident about or firmly believe in.

Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 2d

There are two questions I ask people making a product bet:
1) How will you know if you were wrong?
2) What can you do if you're wrong?

The answers for a bad bet are "we won't" and "nothing."

And that's exactly what big tech is doing: rushing forward with eyes closed and fingers in their ears.

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 2d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 2d

pictured: gemini, claude, sora, grok, llama, magistral, terminus, and qwen

screenshot from arrested development of the Alliance of Magicians standing on steps holding a sign that says "We demand to be taken seriously"

they look pretty silly in a variety of costumes from wizard with a pointy hat to like 18th century posh guy in a cloak

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 3d

Is it a reference to the Trojan War being long? It went on for ten years, but the Iliad itself takes place over the last six weeks or so of that war, bringing it to a conclusion.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 3d

Ok, this is not remotely the most important point in this good article, but I cannot get over Amazon calling an interminable task “the Iliad flow.“ Like. Did they confuse it with the Odyssey? Is the main thing they know about the Iliad that it’s a long poem?

Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 3d

Big tech is laying off user researchers in droves, because it believes that coercing its customers is more profitable than silly things like "making good products people want to buy."

But now the FAFO pendulum is coming around, with Amazon's $2.5B dark pattern settlement and #a11y lawsuits galore.

UX so bad that it's illegal

Big tech is divesting from user-centered design, and getting into hot water with the law.

productpicnic.beehiiv.com

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👻madeline boOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 3d

There’s a secret underground room at the Bodleian Library where they were installing a new boiler system and the old one was too hard to remove so they just bricked up the entire room and then dug a new underground room somewhere else

Nicole Guenther Discenza @ndiscenza1.bsky.social · 3d

The same addition had a water heater closet built around the water heater—stop me if I've told you this one before. It was a holiday weekend when the heater went, and the plumber couldn't remove the busted one
He installed a new, smaller one and pushed the old one to one side.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 3d

oh my GOD. Going straight into my folder of examples for talks

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you for all the resources, I will look at them!

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

And I think it also provides a handful of examples every week that the world is beautiful and interesting. Life is a rich tapestry, there are weird dinosaurs everywhere, their classmates are people with multiple dimensions, all their interests are important parts of them. Essential ideas right now.

Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

Even the students who say nothing get 5-10 chances to see that anything that is shared is met with honest enthusiasm and care, in a way that is farther away from the subject matter and any intellectual pressure they might feel.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

I think it also functions as easy reps for trust-building. It calibrates to where each student is, those who are more comfortable or confident can share something more personal, while students who are just testing the waters can try something less vulnerable.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

As part of my teaching strategy, it's one of several things I'm doing to promote easy, free-flowing discussion in the class. It also supports some of the more creative work I'm asking them to do, since an essential part of creativity is learning to notice and follow your enthusiasms.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

It runs a really delightful gamut from a specific song from a ballet to a fantasy football league that's going really well. I ask some follow up questions if they're open to it, like about how fantasy football works (since I don't know), and I like the chance for them to be the experts.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

I start by sharing whatever random thing is interesting me at the moment (this week, a book all about how to gussy up instant ramen and the Led Zeppelin song, "Tangerine), and then turn it over to anyone who wants to share. So far, I'm getting about 1/4 of the class to volunteer something.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

Building on this idea of how to make life a little happier (even in trying times): This quarter, one of the things I'm doing every week is asking my students, "What are you into this week?"

Daniel Dockery @dandock.bsky.social · 6d

Get really into dinosaurs. That's my recommendation for a happier life. Each day, I get news like "Look at this big freak that used roam the Earth!" or "Ya know the big freak you already loved? Fossils show it was even more freakish!" and it's a blessing every time.

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Daniel Dockery @dandock.bsky.social · 6d

Get really into dinosaurs. That's my recommendation for a happier life. Each day, I get news like "Look at this big freak that used roam the Earth!" or "Ya know the big freak you already loved? Fossils show it was even more freakish!" and it's a blessing every time.

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 5d

This is an interesting and useful distinction. I colloquially refer to "AI tools" when working with students, etc, but it does seem useful to think through the ways that the products we are currently confronted with are not meaningfully tool-like.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Aug 25

Perhaps related, but definitely related to the conceptual distinction the linked piece tried to make: I think it's a problem to say AI (of any kind actually) is a tool (or is definitely a tool), maybe useful extract attached from: arxiv.org/abs/2507.19960

extract from page 5 and 6 from https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.19960

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jseattle @jseattle.bsky.social · 5d

‘Khampaeng’s Medical Journey’ — Community raising funds to support Taurus Ox owner

Friends and fans are rallying to support restaurateur Khampaeng “KP” Panyathong, owner of Capitol Hill’s Taurus Ox. The restaurant announced Panyathong was scheduled to undergo a craniotomy Thursday to address a tumor discovered on his brain. “Let’s surround him with love … Continue reading →

dlvr.it

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 6d

to avoid confusion I have made a little table of Mitford siblings

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Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 6d

Really wanting to weaponize the "WELL AS A HOMEOWNER IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, I WASN'T CONSULTED" tactic here that so effectively advocates against housing.

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