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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 7d

What will be the dark fiber of the #ai bubble? Unfinished data centers sinking into swamps? Power lines leading nowhere? Possums sleeping in an unused gas generator?

I keep thinking of those photos of scrapped ASICs, crypto mining gear that was already obsolete before it even came off the […]

Original post on aoir.social

aoir.social

Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 8d

Good night, AOL dial-up

Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 8d

Rumor has it that Air Force computers with Outlook have the sig auto-populated with "V/R" 📧🫡

https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/qwxanz/where_exactly_did_vr_come_from/

Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 8d

Learning about military #email etiquette and it's like an alt reality. How have I lived in VA for this long without seeing "V/R" or "/R"?

> "Hierarchy is extremely important in the military world [...] If you use just “/r,” for someone in a higher rank than yours, you will come across as rude […]

Original post on aoir.social

aoir.social

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 9d

@oddletters.bsky.social Yes. My sense is that scholars from outside ML assume that someone else, somewhere has a more robust theory about what's going on inside the black box than anyone actually does. And the hype around #ai does nothing to dissuade us of that misconception

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 9d

Ben Recht on the under-theorization of representation in #machinelearning:

> "In [ML], we take for granted that there is a measurement process that renders signals of interest as bit strings on the computer. All images start as pixels. All language starts as Unicode characters. All people start […]

Original post on aoir.social

aoir.social

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 12d

🏆 The #sigcis2025 awards are up!! 🏆

📖 Computer History Museum Prize ➡️ @apdamegriff
*The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet*
https://nyupress.org/9781479818310/the-two-revolutions/

📄 The Mahoney Prize ➡️ @theodorajewell
“Settler Computing: Water Algorithms and the Equitable […]

Original post on aoir.social

aoir.social

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Reposted by Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮

jesse jarnow @bourgwick.heads.social.ap.brid.gy · 13d

while we're mourning the soon-shuttered @WFMU blog, station manager ken's post about the very weird professional blacklist snitch harvey matusow (who ratted on pete seeger) is a big part of what set me on the path to write a book about the weavers […]

Original post on heads.social

heads.social

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 13d

Today, in media history class, we're talking about RADIO DRAMAS and early broadcasting. Last night, we all listened to *Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar*. Perfect for this rainy week.

https://archive.org/details/OTRR_YoursTrulyJohnnyDollar_Singles/YTJD+1955-11-14+261+The+Broderick+Matter+-+Ep+1.mp3 […]

Original post on aoir.social

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Reposted by Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮

Matt Blaze @mattblaze.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 14d

Mediumwave (AM) broadcast radio uses lower frequencies than other modern broadcasting and so requires much larger antennas (generally getting larger and larger as the frequency gets lower on the dial). This often entails highly customized antenna designs engineered for the particular site and […]

Original post on federate.social

federate.social

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Reposted by Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮

Lyle Solla-Yates @lyle.cville.online.ap.brid.gy · 14d

https://c-ville.com/car-light-families-in-cville-are-trading-car-trips-for-e-bike-rides/ “I totally understand why people would not feel comfortable biking around Charlottesville right now,” Gillikin says, “because we don’t have good bike infrastructure.” #BikeTooter #cville #parenting […]

Original post on cville.online

cville.online

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 15d

Here's an #autohotkey script that will send any highlighted text to ZoteroBib in a new browser tab. Typical usage: highlight a URL, hit the hotkeys, and generate a full bibliography entry. #dh #zotero

https://gist.github.com/driscoll/dfa86c8978bfae74cae8747d5545f513

Send highlighted text to ZoteroBib with AutoHotkey

Send highlighted text to ZoteroBib with AutoHotkey - zoterobib-autohotkey

gist.github.com

Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 16d

@tomjennings yiiiiikes. looks like UC faculty have been calling this out for months https://dailybruin.com/2025/07/13/uc-faculty-concerned-over-lack-of-consultation-privacy-on-cybersecurity-software

UC faculty concerned over lack of consultation, privacy on cybersecurity software - Daily Bruin

This post was updated July 20 at 7:40 p.m. Following the implementation of a systemwide cybersecurity program, UC faculty said they are concerned about privacy – and the University’s failure to consult the Academic Senate before requiring its installation.

dailybruin.com

Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 16d

RIP JD Twitch of Optimo, a true lifer music obsessive gonzo DJ -----
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/21/from-disco-to-slayer-a-dj-set-by-optimos-jd-twitch-made-life-feel-full-of-wild-possibility

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Reposted by Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮

Matt Blaze @mattblaze.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 16d

KGEI Transmitter Building, Redwood City, CA, 2024.

250 KW of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54131707918

#photography

A small concrete building with a staircase leading to a door set back by columns. Above the door, "KGEI / General Electric" is inlayed into the concrete.

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 16d

protip: pinch-and-zoom on your calendar app to get more time

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 21d

Ice cold call to arms from the editors of n+1:

"AI-made material is itself a waste product: flimsy, shoddy, disposable, a single-use plastic of the mind"

🤜💀🤛

https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the-intellectual-situation/large-language-muddle/

#ai

www.nplusonemag.com

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 21d

"One day, son, this will all be podcasts, with sponsored content and automated transcripts as far as the eye can see..."

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Reposted by Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮

Robert W. Gehl @rwg.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 23d

@kdriscoll This reminds me of the classic STS book, Cowan's "More Work for Mother." The shift from making simple stews to complex recipes meant the intensification of domestic labor for women -- time-saving devices turned out to create more demands on people's time.

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 23d

Is it OK for recipe writers to assume that readers own a stand mixer? Fascinating arguments based on food science and the history of technology:

> "When I talk about how important a stand mixer is for baking, folks usually respond with something along the lines of, 'Well, then how did they do […]

Original post on aoir.social

aoir.social

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 25d

🌍🎶 "There's no planet like my planet" 🎶🌎

Such a sweet little earworm from Ready, Jet, Go! (PBS Kids) #thisismyjam
https://youtu.be/fE9ShAaSnDE?feature=shared

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 26d

Walking the dog and my neighbors are playing early 00s crunk at max volume. I sweat I felt the call of the wild, all over print hoodies emerging from the shadows, the smell of vitamin water and offbrand red bull in the air

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 26d

"make it huge, make it pop"
live coding hypnotic hard acid in strudel is the cyberpunk we need
cc @darius @petersibley
https://youtu.be/HkgV_-nJOuE?si=5Ot5zGj8u430V6BF

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 27d

In Intro to #dh today, we explored the binary digit as a highly constrained symbolic system. In workshop, we tried recreating Susan Kare's early Mac icons using this fantastic 1-bit pixel art tool: https://beyondloom.com/tools/ditherpaint.html

DitherPaint

beyondloom.com

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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 28d

Never noticed the little bottles of Tabasco in the prison mess hall with Charlie Chaplin and his cellmate. Distracted by the cocaine in the salt shakers, I guess! ("Modern Times", 1936)

Still from Modern Times showing the Tramp and his cellmate in the prison mess hall. A bottle of Tabasco sauce is highlighted in the foreground.

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