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Reposted by Greg Specter

Jennifer Kretchmer @dreamwisp.bsky.social · 1d

Because it feels relevant as we continue to evaluate the media and our representatives’ statements, my favorite way to identify the active vs. passive voice.

A post by Rebecca Johnson:
“I finally learned how to teach my guys to ID the passive voice. If you can insert "by zombies" after the verb, you have passive voice.”

A tumblr respond from mightymur:
“The final, brilliant word on passive voice.
"She was killed [by zombies.]"<--passive
"Zombies killed [by zombies] her." <-- active”

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.com · 1d

we showed the brutality of the anti-Black (and anti-ally) violence by police in 2020 (and before) yet we still got Trump for a second term and police violence has only worsened.

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 1d

We’re in a moment now where it would be worth people taking three hours to watch Gandhi, particularly the scene of the salt march. There is value to making the brutality of your opponent so plain as day that no one can argue with it. The clarity of that brought down an empire

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Dr. Syntax @drsyntax.bsky.social · 1d

Teachers of #Frankenstein - anyone have favorite essays/articles you like to use with undergraduates that engage the novel in terms of artificial intelligence (AI)? Thanks!

a man in a black suit is walking down stairs

ALT: a man in a black suit is walking down stairs

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 4d

Currently at:
— only buy tech too old to have AI built in
— painstakingly disable AI every time they add it to something that used to work perfectly well
— if it can't be switched off, abandon the platform or tool
— if there are no good alternatives, avoid the AI parts
— patiently wait for the crash

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 5d

🫡

How to Turn Off AI Tools Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, and More - Consumer Reports

AI features are crowding into Google search, Gmail, iPhones, Windows laptops, and other products. If you're suffering from AI overload, these settings can help.

www.consumerreports.org

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Reposted by Greg Specter

The Second Mrs. de ShinyGoth👻 @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 5d

This photo goes unnecessarily hard.

An image of my chest and my hands clasped so that you can see my tie and my 1984 sticker. It's captioned English lecturer Daniel Kasper wears a book ban sticker during a banned books discussion Oct. 1 in Carlisle Hall. Stickers and bookmarks were provided for attendees.
Photo by Elvis Martinez-Cartagena

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Greg Specter @gregspecter.bsky.social · 5d

Finally, Henry Ward Beecher getting some attention.

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Reposted by Greg Specter

https://kolektiva.social/@noescape_vg 🏴🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸 @noescapevg.com · 7d

Then what the fuck is the point of you

Important: The Horror Zine does NOT accept any material that contains adult or sexually explicit content; abuse or harming of women or children; any rape scenes; serial killers; slasher; gore for gore's sake, or splatter punk. We do NOT accept any religious or political themes. We do NOT accept any submissions written in Olde English, Victorian, or 19th Century styles. We do NOT accept any submissions told in a diary or letter or journal format, written in numbered chapters, told as memories, or told entirely as dialogue (someone recounting past events). We do NOT accept any submissions created with the use of, or any assistance form, Artificial Intelligence (AI). We do NOT accept fan fiction.

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Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 6d

Good news! The full table of contents for THE CAMPUS CRISIS TOOLKIT, edited by @thetattooedprof.bsky.social and Lisa Di Bartolommeo, is now available on the @sunypress.bsky.social website: sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-.... Follow the link or see next post for screenshots. 🤗

The Campus Crisis Toolkit

sunypress.edu

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Josh | writer, painter, tinkerer @tworuru.com · 7d

Moby Duck: How to Buy

People have been asking for prints of Moby Duck, so I've prepared the following options, to gather everything in one place.

Moby Duck: How to Buy

People have been asking for prints of Moby Duck, so I've prepared the following options, to gather everything in one place.

www.tworuru.com

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Brandon Sheffield @brandon.insertcredit.com · 7d

Folks who create videos about games on the internet: I have questions for you if you'd be so kind. I'm trying to determine the relationship between traditional media and those who create videos about games and have never worked for the games press. Sharing is appreciated!

forms.gle/cG3BEkGqwuoh...

Games influencer press relationship query

I'm trying to determine to what extend people who create videos about games engage with "traditional" press as a source for what games to cover. Please only answer these questions if you are someone w...

forms.gle

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 8d

perfect. this is it.

ai is a political project, arguing about its usefulness as an office tool misses the point

dylan @dylnbkr.bsky.social · 8d

$Across the top of the image is a fractured black rectangle where the left half is labeled "Frame: F is happening!" and the right side is labeled "Negation: F is not true!" left side of the box: "AI*" is so useful, it's revolutionizing everything. *massive, generative commercial "AI" models. right side of the box: "AI" capabilities are overblown, it's mostly slop. Below the box is a large image of Kirby, a pink blob inhaling and the "Frame F" fragment. In a box next to Kirby is the text: Kirby. K is happening. That's why they're saying F. In the pink box is the text: "AI" is functioning to fuel mass surveillance, exploitation of workers & the environment, and the consolidation of wealth and power on a massive scale.$

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Greg Specter @gregspecter.bsky.social · 9d

He's giving Sibrand energy.

All the way down (up?) to his hairline.

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule.bsky.social · 9d

Staffers claim Pete Hegseth is crumbling under the pressure and his mental state has reached new, frenzied heights after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Hegseth is being described by staffers as “manic,” erupting into fits of rage and tumultuous tirades.

www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-aid...

Pentagon Pete's 'Manic' Meltdowns Exposed by Aides

The former Fox News host is reportedly spiraling out of control.

www.thedailybeast.com

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 9d

America could use an organization opposed to antisemitism. You know, the sort of group that says it’s bad when the executive branch hires antisemites and the president’s biggest donor does Hitler salutes. We could call it the League Against Defamation, or something.

Jonathan V. Last @jvl.bsky.social · 9d

Into my veins. gizmodo.com/the-adl-defe...

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 10d

“Stay woke” was always used by black people to implore each other to be aware of our history and our rights, because our freedom has always been tenuous here. Judah is spot on about how its perversion in the mainstream is a spot on representation of our current moment.

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 10d

This is, after all, the original and authentic meaning of "stay woke." In fact, the perversion of "woke" into an epithet is perhaps the defining metaphor of our moment: Historical victims are not only being revictimized, but also mocked for never forgetting this is always a possibility in the US.

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

It’s interesting how we are asked to justify why there is an English Department at a college but not why there is an athletics program

I think both are valuable but it’s interesting which one is more likely to be on the ropes, again, at a college

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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 12d

Frame: this public service costs too much, it isn't making money

Negation: it's actually very efficient and it could make more money

Kirby: they are attacking the very idea of public services

Thomas P @tpshea.bsky.social · 12d

And yet here we are. The Postal Workers union needs to Kirby the frame they're being trapped in.

They don't need to make the case that there is a path to profitability.

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 13d

i made a template you can use to think about what "frame/negation/kirby" looks like for other issues.
For example:

Frame: DOGE is a govt efficiency project to save $

Negation: Actually it made things less efficient and cost $

Kirby: DOGE was a project to break and privatize federal bureaucracy

Top is an empty rectangle with a jagged line in the middle.
The left side is labeled "Frame" "F is happening!"
The right side is labeled "Negation" "F is not true!"
Below is a large image of Kirby, a round pink blob with eyes with a small version of the Frame F shape flying into his mouth. To the right is a large pink rectangle labeled "Kirby" "K is happening, that's why they're saying F"

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 14d

i made a helpful reference

$top right: a fractured black rectangle where one half is labeled "autism is bad" and the other side is labeled "FACT CHECK: autistic people are productive members of society". top left: WRONG -negating their frame reinforces it -starts with what it isn't instead of what it is - your argument is shaped like their argument bottom right: large image of Kirby, a pink blob inhaling and the "autism is bad" fragment, labeled THEY'RE DOING EUGENICS bottom left: RIGHT - you eat their frame -starts with what's actually happening -contains and explains what they're doing -your argument is shaped like kirby$

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 28d

What, exactly, does this string of words mean? Why does everyone who stands to profit from selling "AI" love to repeat it? And what's the value of slogans that masquerade as history?

sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...

"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer

The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself.  It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...

sonjadrimmer.com

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Brooke @brooklynmarie.bsky.social · 12d

For you, my beloved Bsky

Lætus @bajamothblast.bsky.social · 12d

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Greg Specter @gregspecter.bsky.social · 12d

Federal law enforcement after that incident (and other events) put out the warnings about right wing extremism in this country.

Greg Specter @gregspecter.bsky.social · 12d

People largely forgot about the Tree of Life pogrom. The shooter picked that target because they were Jews. And picked those specific Jews because their synagogue's charity worked helped local immigrants. The rhetoric of the president at the time inspired the shooter.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 12d

News --> Steve Bannon tells me he fully expects Trump to use the Texas ICE office shooting as the hook to unleash law enforcement on liberal immigration groups by connecting political violence to anti-ICE rhetoric.

This is going to get ugly. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2009...

Trump’s Eruption of Rage at Texas ICE Shooting Hints at a Darker Story

To Trumpworld, the Dallas shooting appears to provide the perfect pretext to start silencing wholly lawful advocacy groups—for inciting “violence and terrorism.”

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Greg Specter

BOOOOlioraptor, PhD (spooky version) @biblioraptorphd.bsky.social · 12d

Austen folks - could you point me to work on Austen as a walker? Her bios mention it and I think Solnit touches on it in Wanderlust but I’m not sure if anyone has done a deeper dive

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Zinn Education Project @zinnedproject.bsky.social · 18d

#tdih 1830

Forty African Americans, elected by communities in nine states, met in Philadelphia.

They founded the National Colored Conventions movement.

Read ⬇️, follow @ccp-org.bsky.social, and visit digital collection with essays here. 🧵
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/fi...

Sept. 20, 1830: The First Meeting of the Colored Conventions Movement

Forty African Americans, elected by communities in nine states, met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1830 to organize for improving the lives of Black people in North America. That week, they founded ...

www.zinnedproject.org

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Reposted by Greg Specter

Jim Casey @jimccasey1.bsky.social · 14d

Happy 195th birthday to the Colored Conventions movement!

The first convention debated whether this country would ever be a place for Black people to enjoy their full civil rights and citizenship. As those fights continue today, it is powerful reading omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/70

Constitution of the American Society of Free Persons of Colour, for improving their condition in the United States; for purchasing lands; and for the establishment of a settlement in upper Canada, als...

omeka.coloredconventions.org

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