Michael Ekstrand
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md.ekstrandom.net
Michael Ekstrand
@md.ekstrandom.net
2K followers 910 following 2.2K posts
Info sci prof @ Drexel, trying to keep the machines (esp. RecSys & IR) from learning bigotry and discrimination. ADHDS9. Usually self-propelled. Opinions those of the Vulcan Science Academy. 🐰x2.
🏡 https://md.ekstrandom.net
🧪 https://inertial.science
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md.ekstrandom.net
Would love a painting of this goofy little guy! (Not sure which pic works best as reference.)
December 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
I was looking for how to manage secrets in Woodpecker CI.
"Search Assist", claiming "Woodpecker secrets refer to the unique adaptations of woodpeckers, particularly their long tongues, which help them access food hidden in tree crevices. These specialized tongues can be coiled inside their heads and are essential for their feeding habits."
December 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
The #1 movie the year you were 10 years old is how your 2026 is going to go:

Chaotic, full of questionable aesthetic choices, and generally remembered as an inferior offering? I hope not, I’m going up for second tenure.

(Yes, Batman Forever out-grossed Toy Story, according to Wikipedia.)
The poster for Batman Forever
December 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
who wrote an unnecessary opinionated web server?
The Ghoul from Fallout (TV series), having captured Lucy, explaining the wasteland’s golden rule: “thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time.”
December 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
You will be visited by three spirits.
A blue book with a sculpted loop: Calculus, 7th Edition by Larson, Hostetler, and Edwards.
December 9, 2025 at 11:51 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
#DS9 and Garak… such a character and such talent in the performance.

If you haven’t read or listened to A Stitch in Time, the audiobook is read by Andrew Robinson and is fucking brilliant.

This is a Garak stan account, I will not apologize.
Garak with a big grin and his hands spread, with “die mad about it” in rainbow letters between his hands.
November 30, 2025 at 3:08 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
remember.
Tumblr post from wongbal Hello and welcome to Deep Space Nine. We are a space station, not a starship, so you be spending a lot of time with all these delightful side characters like: bisexual fashion lizard. hologram of Frank Sinatra. goblins. goblin comes in 3 varieties: bartender, nephew, and idiot, our doctor is a twink, our commander is antifa and the captain talks to the gods sometimes. our policeman is sometimes a liquid and the science lady is part worm. we have many fine storylines, such as: Goblin Does A Crime, Watch The Irishman Suffer, or The Horrors Of War. As you stroll along our promenade enjoying a raktajino or delicious jumja stick, watch out for our nefarious villains: Pope Karen. clones of Jeffrey Combs. and a horny bastard reptile man who seems convinced this is actually his show. we suspect he may be possessed by demons. Have fun! Deep Space Nine: now with Worf™!
November 29, 2025 at 3:50 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
bünny have metal record
A fluffy black lionhead rabbit looking at an orange and red splatter LP (Deceivers by Arch Enemy).
November 20, 2025 at 1:47 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
Tonight’s weekly planning ritual accompanied by Jura and Arch Enemy
An orange and red record spinning in a black turntable, with an amber whisky and the album cover (Deceivers by Arch Enemy) resting on the dust cover.
November 17, 2025 at 12:06 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
bünnÿ
A black lionhead rabbit investigating an orange and read spatter/sunburst LP (Deceivers by Arch Enemy).
November 14, 2025 at 12:55 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
Has Vatican Security been suitably briefed on persistent threats?
A still from The Blues Brothers of Carrie Fisher as the Mysterious Woman, carrying a military assault rifle, preparing to murder Elwood Blues.
November 13, 2025 at 12:39 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
nothing to see, just the AI "search assist" making up complete bullshit about trivially verifiable technical matters. Yet again.

(pyproject.toml has no 'constraints' option in any widely-supported specification, including both of the sources linked below. unfortunately.)
DuckDuckGo "search assist" informing me that "To specify dependency constraints in a pyproject.toml file, you can use the constraints key within the [project] table to define version limits for dependencies. This allows you to impose specific version requirements for packages that your project indirectly relies on, ensuring that secure or compatible versions are used.", sourced from packaging.python.org and python-poetry.org.
November 3, 2025 at 2:22 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
Sunday night, so just chilling with some symphonic power metal.
A black rabbit resting on a yellow blanket on a chair.
November 3, 2025 at 3:31 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
The cover of Keep Me Fed by The Warning Hurts 2B Human by P!nk The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monae Parts of Speech by Dessa
October 23, 2025 at 9:25 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
Pope summed up my whole-ass research agenda.
Screenshot: "Free access to information is a pillar that upholds the edifice of our societies, and for this reason, we are called to defend and guarantee it," he said. "Current events call for particular discernment and responsibility, and it is clear that the media has a crucial role in forming consciences and helping critical thinking". The pope also spoke about the challenges facing news media with the rise of AI. "Artificial intelligence is changing the way we receive information and communicate, but who directs it and for what purposes? We must be vigilant in order to ensure that technology does not replace human beings, and that the information and algorithms that govern it today are not in the hands of a few," he said. He nominated "transparency of sources of ownership, accountability, quality and objectivity" as key to news media.
October 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
It is not my finest plating work but it was a success.
A white plate containing green and white beans, mashed potatoes, and a white fish with brown glaze.
October 5, 2025 at 11:40 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
10 years ago, @drchole.bsky.social & I discussed “should Michael move to Boise?”, and I did, and we started the PIReT Ship.

7 years ago, we welcomed 800 friends to #RecSys2018 in Vancouver.

Super excited that this year she's program chair (w/ Marco de Gemmis) for #RecSys2025!
Sole and Marco introducing the RecSys 2025 program.
September 23, 2025 at 7:56 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
For comparison, my usual style + personal visual branding look a lot more like this.
A black title card for a talk entitled "Searching for Fairness", with clear colors on black, and a mostly-grayscale photo of a winter climber on a mountain holding a camera on the right third of the slide.
September 14, 2025 at 11:06 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
experimenting with a very different aesthetic than my usual, and we'll see if I actually go with this but I kinda like it.
A title card showing purple-pink cityscape under a pink sky, with the title "Where are the People?" in an Art Deco font, and the subtitle "Political, Ethical, and Humanist Foundations of Information Access" in a medium-formal script font below it.
September 14, 2025 at 11:05 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
this week's planning accompanied by both US land border neighbors: Saint Laurent Rye and The Warning: Live from Auditorio Nacional, CDMX.
A white record playing on a black turntable, with a light amber whisky and the liner resting on the dust cover. The liner is white with a cutout, showing the road case lyric booklet inside the liner.
August 25, 2025 at 12:39 AM
md.ekstrandom.net
is this anything?
A black and white photo of Johnny Cash in his older years, looking at the camera with a guitar on his hands. A caption in large white letters reads “HERE’S JOHNNY”.
August 13, 2025 at 12:48 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
Sure…
A bibliographic database entry for Pedagogy of the Oppressed, with a generated TLDR reading "A single, unpressurized, gravity/centrifugal, entirely internal lubricating system is described for can end seamers and similar apparatus."
August 2, 2025 at 11:30 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
It is also worth highlighting the dishonest sleight-of-hand here.

Nowhere in the first paragraph does it establish that anyone was excluded from consideration. Only that they sought to expand the applicant pool and consider more people. If his scholarship is this sloppy too…
In addition to orchestrating the discriminatory hiring scheme, Cornell created other racially filtered hiring pipelines, including a $16 million National Institutes of Health-funded initiative called the Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation program. or First. This program, the stated purpose of which is “enhancing compositional diversity,” required hiring committees to revise applicant lists repeatedly until they were diverse enough. If the applicant pool wasn’t diverse enough, the process was paused for “additional robust outreach.” Imagine if the races were reversed. Suppose a whistleblower uncovered internal emails showing that a university had run a secret search to ensure that qualified black applicants were excluded from consideration. Suppose the school selected only white candidates to produce a racially predetermined outcome. There would—rightfully—be national outrage. It would be a landmark civil-rights case. That’s exactly what Cornell did—except I’m white.
July 31, 2025 at 10:32 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
I have now watched Section 31, so I believe catching up on Strange New Worlds is all I have left to finish watching Star Trek.
A 4-panel meme of Bashir and Garak B: We're watching all the Star Trek? G: Yes, my dear Doctor. B: Even the bad Star Trek? G: Especially the bad Star Trek.
July 26, 2025 at 10:59 PM
md.ekstrandom.net
The customers we haven’t chased off can then enjoy Face/Off (1997) and The A-Team (2010).
Nicolas Cage and John Travolta talking through a wall. A tank falling with a parachute.
July 21, 2025 at 12:53 AM