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Reposted by Michael Ekstra Scary

Marcus Hutchins @malwaretech.com · 1h

He isn't an undocumented immigrant, not even an immigrant, a natural born US citizen. He's the second most streamed artist on Spotify, second only to Taylor Swift. A logical choice to play the Super Bowl, but Republicans are extremely mad about it. And absolutely everyone knows why. 2/2

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 6h

(I don’t remember if this piece does it, but some in RecSys have used the terms “justification” and “explanation” to distinguish between post-hoc justifications of why a recommendation is good vs. internally-faithful explanations of why it was actually recommended. IMO that’s very useful.)

Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 6h

I guess I do maybe have a paper lol. IMO Tintarev’s work does a good job of laying out the relationship of purpose and explanation in recommender systems, e.g. doi.org/10.1007/978-....

(IMSaltyO, some XAI has been rediscovering concepts the RecSys explanation people were figuring out a while ago.)

Explaining Recommendations: Design and Evaluation

This chapter gives an overview of the area of explanations in recommender systems. We approach the literature from the angle of evaluation: that is, we are interested in what makes an explanation “good”. The chapter starts by describing how explanations...

doi.org

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 6h

I don’t have a paper, but have a grumpy opinion that disagrees with a lot of the literature and manifests as a question: what is a human going to use this explanation to understand or accomplish? That’s the problem to solve.

But I view explanation as fundamentally relational, not inherent 🤷🏻.

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 7h

“Everyone has a plan until Portland shows up with a butt-naked peloton and inflatable dinosaur costumes.” — ancient proverb

Constant Scream @ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 7h

It's interesting seeing the different ways resistance has formed in different cities. Los Angeles Organized, Chicago Radicalized, and Portland Got Weird as Fuck. All 3 have had success unifying their respective cities.

I guess my point is there are multiple paths to ungovernability.

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 8h

this statement I agree with. I also think my perspective on the week's discourse has shifted w/ reading & convo.

some (not hailey, AFAIK) seem to claim “rejecting ‘AI’ is inherently bigoted”, which I think is false. some (including me initially, tbh) wrongly interpreted hailey as saying that.

rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 8h

"It's bad to use terms derived from real-world slurs that cause significant harm to real marginalized people, because that use further harms those people, even if you're using it for a thing you hate" is not, by any stretch of the imagination, saying "AI is sentient". It's just not!

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Reposted by Michael Ekstra Scary

Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 13h

"It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it. If any schools capitulate, the pressure will be enormous on all to fold. The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher" ed.

Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 4d

Chemerinsky: The Trump extortion demands are unconstitutional as well as odious (gift link). Me: Any school that signs must be shunned, faculty affected must walk. No room for this.

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 14h

Heartbreaking. www.reddit.com/r/publicheal...

From the publichealth community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the publichealth community

www.reddit.com

Reposted by Michael Ekstra Scary

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 17h

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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Reposted by Michael Ekstra Scary

Andrew Gelman et al. @statmodeling.bsky.social · 16h

Aki looking for a doctoral student to develop Bayesian workflow
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/10/08/a...

Aki looking for a doctoral student to develop Bayesian workflow | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 15h

lmao.

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 15h

love it!

Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 1d

misread YouTube’s “Post you might like from Communities” as “Posts you might like from Communists” and thought “recommender getting a little spicy?”

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 1d

a stuffed white cat is sitting on top of a box and asking why ?

Alt: a white monkey is sitting on top of a box and asking why ?

media.tenor.com

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 1d

Our system follows the data!

<opens the data>

<finds redlining, racist Reddit posts, every slur a Twitter user has ever hurled at another, the complete archives of the Annals of Eugenics, the collected writings of ESR, and so much more…>

Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 1d

The current paradigm of "AI" encodes & recapitulates eugenicist, fascist, and generally bigoted tendencies— but previous paradigms did, too, & if these facts had been addressed, then, in the culture of technology specifically and our sociotechnical culture writ large, it might not still be like that

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 1d

Yep. For at least two reasons:

• do you want CBP rifling through your shit?
• if your phone is root-of-trust for your online life, as it probably should be (most secure device you likely own and it isn’t close), rooting your root of trust gets the spooks into all / a lot of your other shit.

Ari Cohn @aricohn.com · 1d

Reminder: Never travel out of the country with your main cell phone (or without backing it up and then doing a factory reset) or laptop.

CBP agents are effectively Redcoats and they WILL delight in reminding you that they owe you no rights.

Eric Brakey
@Eric8rekey
I was detained by Border Patrol and Customs for 90 minutes coming
back from a @RoyalCa ribbean cruise today in Florida.
After they rifled through all my belongings, read my personal joumal, and
confiscated rny phone and computer, I had to explain to them that the
aFreeStateNH is a non-violent, peaceful libertarian movernent that
builds community, culture and political change.
We were invited to New Hampshire in the early 2000s bythe Govemor
of the state. We reject violence as a path to creating change.
In detail, I had to explain the nature of the Defend the Guard rnovernent
and assure them that I was not part of a violent extremist group seeking
to raise a militia for insurrection against the government.
At one point during my detention, I asked for clarification on what rights I
had here as a US. citizen and was told that they did not næd a warrant
for anything in my possession, including all my elæ•tronic devices.
They eventually let me gu
Truth be told, I am shaken up and in shock right now.
Rate "oposed CMnmu nity
11:59 AM 5,
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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 1d

definitely better than my current draft related work section that just says “many papers have been written on this. They are wrong. We are right.”

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 1d

Typeform was the one I was looking for the name of to answer. I don’t have a lot of experience but my encounters have been generally positive for simple stuff. I like Qualtrics better but $$ (my uni pays for it).

IDK its anti-spam capabilities, but CryptPad forms might be worth a look too?

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Reposted by Michael Ekstra Scary

Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 1d

I can’t believe my life is being affected by the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 2d

when I was young I liked a cheap-ass hot dog, wrapped in an off-brand single American “cheese”, with a side of Cheetos. Still not convinced that was a bad idea.

Reposted by Michael Ekstra Scary

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d

Chris Murphy and I also discussed the need for more Democrats to say loudly and clearly, right now, that many Trump accomplices may be carrying out illegal orders, and if so they should prepare to face consequences later.

Murphy offers a good way to do this here. 6/

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 2d

i like statistics but it can be a real bugbear some days.

Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 2d

just finished a meeting where we took two of the papers out of the trench coat and told them to wait their turns.

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 2d

sometimes, you need to, because one of the papers could never be published on its own, typically because of disciplinary bullshit.

but that's the exception, not the rule.

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Michael Ekstra Scary @md.ekstrandom.net · 2d

one of the fun? frustrating? interesting? parts of research is realizing "this paper concept is actually three papers in a trench coat, and we should maybe not do that".

applied too much it becomes salami slicing, but usually, no one benefits from three papers in a trench coat.

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