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kat

@katbamkapow.bsky.social

2.5K followers 260 following 1.1K posts

over-explainer for fame & fortune, 9-5 academic, 24/7 analog enthusiast. PhD of computer/networking/net histories, LGBTQ+ activism, STS, critical HIV/AIDS studies. you might know me from video games once: uc irvine now: u of michigan 💾🌿💽 kb.place 💽🌿💾

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · Nov 26

pub day +1 & i am so thrilled to share this piece!! are you interested in the queer roots of the 'net, alternative networking politics, and radical, anarchist, queer ideologies we might use to imagine the future of networking? wahoo, is this piece for you!!

pls consider this a bsky walkthrough...

kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · Nov 22

pub day! please welcome "Network breakdown: the queer anarchist politics at the heart of the ‘net from FidoNet to HOMOCORE" to the world

the piece puts Tom Jennings' work as the co-architect of FidoNet alongside the queer, anarchist politics in his zine HOMOCORE

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Network breakdown: the queer anarchist politics at the heart of the ‘net from FidoNet to HOMOCORE

In a 1993 interview for the anarchist magazine FringeWare Review, software developer Tom Jennings remarked to his interviewer, “Think you can mention somewhere that I’m a fag anarcho nerd troublema...

www.tandfonline.com

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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 3h

Turns out when @hypervisible.blacksky.app called OpenAI a "social arsonist" last week, he had no idea just how accurate that was.

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 8h

sorry this is an earnest response but it looks sarcastic i genuinely relate to this anguish

kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 8h

wow very real

kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 9h

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 9h

I'm on the slowest bus line in the city with the slowest buses in the nation to talk to New Yorkers about what it would mean for their lives if we made them fast and free.

Zohran sits on a bus talking to a rider sitting behind him.

Reposted by kat

Lauren Klein @laurenfklein.bsky.social · 10h

The syllabus and schedule for my fall semester quantitative literary analysis course is now online, better late than never! github.com/laurenfklein...

GitHub - laurenfklein/2025-quant-lit: Class labs for Fall 2025 ENG 385 on quantitative literary analysis

Class labs for Fall 2025 ENG 385 on quantitative literary analysis - GitHub - laurenfklein/2025-quant-lit: Class labs for Fall 2025 ENG 385 on quantitative literary analysis

github.com

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 15h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Aura/Moom @moomanibe.bsky.social · 2d

when I was defending itch I heard from a lot of - frankly to my shock - other queers who were like "it's a platform, platforms are the enemy" and until we're able to distinguish _as users_ the ways in which worker owned services aren't your enemy and deserve grace, we won't be seeing very many

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K. Chen @tznkai.bsky.social · Oct 28

It's open enrollment time so here's a convenient peg to hang a little tutorial about how to choose your health insurance.

Most of the advice you get is bad. Most of your instincts are bad. I however used to work for a health insurance company and I do arithmetic for a living so I can help.

Bionic Woman @batmansrobyn.bsky.social · Oct 28

Personally I think it's great that my company's HR sends out an official looking tool where they even ask you to pre-populate your healthcare providers and instead of being the actual insurance enrollment process it's just some bullshit checklist to try and convince me I actually don't want a PPO

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 2d

ah, “the michigan of the east“

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Niko Stratis @nikostratis.com · 2d

there should be a slightly smaller MacArthur Genius Grant I could get to figure out which gas station has the best coffee

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Lori Emerson @loriemerson.net · 2d

if you'd like to hear my #othernetworks talk and/or gather virtually with likeminded people who are part of @metagov.bsky.social, please join us Wednesday Oct. 8th 10am MDT! luma.com/4kfjgd6a

Seminar: Other Networks with Dr. Lori Emerson · Zoom · Luma

For this seminar, we will welcome Dr. Lori Emerson (from the Media Studies Department at University of Colorado Boulder) to give a talk about some of her…

luma.com

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Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 2d

Are you an adjunct or VAP? Someone who works in history but outside academia? Check out this call for papers!

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 3d

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

CFP: A Time of Monsters

The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

contingentmagazine.org

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 2d

that's from here btw (www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/m...) also who decided on the colors for this pie chart bc i'm going to survey 50 data viz experts to talk shit about these colors

‘Bow to the Emperor’:We Asked 50 Legal Experts About the Trump Presidency

www.nytimes.com

kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 2d

is that good

a pie chart reflecting survey responses to the question "has trump's second term posed a greater or lesser threat to the rule of law than you expected?"

red reflects: much more threat than i expected
light grey: more threat than i expected
grey: similar threat to what i expected
dark grey: less threat to what i expected
black: much less threat than i expected

it is approximately over 60% red, roughly 25% light grey, roughly 10% grey, and roughly 5% black

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da share z0ne @dasharez0ne.bsky.social · 3d

THIS SHIT IS COOKED - dashare.zone ADMIN

A SKELATAN JINGLEN THERE KEYS AT YOU !!! LOOK AT THE KEYS!!!! ARENT THEY SHINY AND THERE LOUD!!! WOWWWWWW AND DA TEXT " SEEMS HOTTER IDK , BEER AND FOOD TO EXPENSIVE, FASCISM CREEPING BUT NOW ITS GOING FAST, SOCIAL MEDIA TURNING OUT TO BE NEITHER ONE , BUT STILL KICKEN ASS" - IN A WORLD WHERE EVERY FOOT SEEMS TO BE KICKEN YOUR ASS YOU MUST BE THE FOOT THAT KICKS BACK MOTHER FUCKER!!!!!! "WHAT ARE YA GONGA DO , GO TO MASTODON" NO IM NOT STUPID I JUST HATE SOCIAL MEDIA!!! WORK AROUND ALL CONTROL SYSTEM'S SUCH AS "SOCIAL MEDIA", "THE ALGORITHYM", "STREAMING VIDEO" AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!! YOU ARE A PERSON NOT AN ACCOUNT! YOU ARE A PERSON NOT A WALLET TO BE OPENED! YOU ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY RICH PERSON PAST PRESENT OR FUTURE! YOU ARE A REAL HUMMAN BEING AND NO ONE MAY TREAT YOU IN THIS WAY!!!!!!!!!! YOUR ATTENTON SPAN AND YOUR TIME IS YOUR OWN TO DO WITH AS YOU WISH , DO NOT RELINQUISH CONTROL, AND IF YA ALREADY DID THEN TAKE IT BACK CAUSE YA DIDNT SIGN ANYTHING - DASHARE.ZONE ADMIN

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Jason Scott @textfiles.com · 3d

It's here to stay.

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 3d

just listened to a college radio dj introduce the phoebe bridgers cover of bo burnham's 2020 "that funny feeling" with a disclaimer that the "internet humor" hadn't aged well, and if you cringe at the lyrics it's because "it's just old" and internet humor is different now. there it is again, that fu

kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 3d

we’re going to play as much clock tower as is humanly possible on a reasonable & sustainable schedule all october :)

Jack de Quidt @notquitereal.bsky.social · 3d

Hallowstream 2025 is CLOCK TOWER: REWIND! You can watch the first episode on twitch here, though this link will break in 60 days. www.twitch.tv/videos/25834...

Twitch

Twitch is the world

www.twitch.tv

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Jack de Quidt @notquitereal.bsky.social · 3d

as part of our clock tower hallowstream's first episode last night, i broke down the game's release timeline in a clear and understandable way

a list of the clock tower releases. the numbers of the games don't clearly match up with the actual release order, and there are a number of red arrows pointing out things like "this is the fourth game" and "the problem has gotten worse."

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Nicole Carpenter @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social · 3d

i wrote about consume me for @theverge.com ✨

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 4d

i genuinely recommend this — we are so lucky to have a thoughtful & engaged viewership, and we play these games with as much care as we can afford. i’ll probably talk about foucault at some point, jack will go off on a tangent about some arthouse horror, and we’ll really try to play the game too

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 4d

in abt 15 minutes, jack and i will kick off our annual tradition: playing a horror game thru the month of october & engaging critically with what scares us, what we like about the genre, and what makes horror game classics tick. it is one of my favorite things & you should come twitch.tv/katbamkapow

katbamkapow - Twitch

i got a phd and i still play video games on the weekends

twitch.tv

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Jack de Quidt @notquitereal.bsky.social · 4d

. @katbamkapow.bsky.social and my yearly celebration of horror games and talking—Hallowstream—begins tonight at 6.30 ET on twitch.tv/katbamkapow

Twitch

Twitch is the world

twitch.tv

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kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 4d

the other day i got vaccinated & had to very quickly find several tasks to accomplish as i raced against my own body demanding a three hour nap to recover. i got like ten things off my to do list in one fell swoop — i think we’re onto something here

kat @katbamkapow.bsky.social · 4d

yes yes yes exactly