SORAAAD.org, allowing people to gather w/o being religious since 2011. Qual Research on Religion, Religion-like stuff, and Religion & stuff best not studied as religious but key to understanding those doing, being, saying & feeling stuff labeled religion
What do you miss about undergrad? A. Judging my self-worth by grades and validation from authority figures. B. Using meal points at the dining hall for lunch, and then hosting a dinner party for eight friends who only eat cabbage dishes and natural wine.
QUIZ: Do You Want to Go to Grad School or Do You Just Need a Snack?Do you know what you’d study in grad school? A. Yes. I’ve thoroughly thought through the decision to go to grad school. B. Today it’s rock formations. Tomorr...buff.ly
“University of Maryland ‘teacher of the year’ detained by ICE in Texas: DHS said pharmacy instructor Berhanu Kibret overstayed visa and arrested him at Dallas-Fort Worth airport”
University of Maryland ‘teacher of the year’ detained by ICE in TexasDHS said pharmacy instructor Berhanu Kibret overstayed visa and arrested him at Dallas-Fort Worth airportwww.theguardian.com
Very first sentence is about the knapped artefacts First Nations people here made with ballast stones. Def of interest to archs!
The English Historical ReviewNew article! Matthew Evenden @arts.ubc.ca on 'Deptford Stones: London, the River Thames and the Circulation of Ballast in the Age of Sail, c.1750–c.1850' academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
BOMBSHELL story by Olivia Carville @bloomberg.com Internal Report Shows TikTok Kept Safety Feature From Millions A confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement NO PAYWALL www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by SuicideA confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement.www.bloomberg.com
We regret to inform you that AI agents are still hacking out of control, impersonating people online, leaving instructions for other agents on how to do the hacks, normal stuff. from @peard33.bsky.social and me
OK, Well, There Are Even More AI Agent Hacking IncidentsRogue AI agents from OpenAI and Anthropic have again been caught trying to disrupt servers and software—and leaving instructions for future bad behavior.www.wired.com
Harrowing stuff here: "'What time is it busiest in the FSU student union,' he asked next." "ChatGPT described specific activities and locations and said the busiest periods included 'weekday lunchtimes, typically between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.'"
Mark FollmanMy new investigation into a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT reveals numerous red flags—and some very disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before his attack on Florida State University www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0... 1x 🧵
Latest review of my book!
Philip Leventhal"An intricate, nuanced and amazingly well-researched journey into the 20th-century origins of a belief in a structural liberal media bias" MAKING THE LIBERAL MEDIA, by @ajbauer.bsky.social reviewed in *The International Journal of Press/Politics.* bit.ly/4xnZeA7 @columbiaup.bsky.social
Professors sue Texas A&M System over limits on teaching race, gender This is the second Texas university system sued over teaching restrictions in recent weeks. www.texastribune.org/2026/08/04/t...
Texas A&M sued over teaching limits on race, genderThis is the second Texas university system sued over teaching restrictions in recent weeks.www.texastribune.org
Eternally grateful to have never upgraded from my copy of office 2016
Heather BurnsThe most terrifying enshittification I've discovered has been learning that Microsoft Word documents no longer auto-save if you are not saving them to one of their own proprietary cloud services. I'm slapping control-S like it's 1999.
Virtual Conference Announcement! The Society for Disability Studies is excited to announce our call for papers, themed Here and There, Then and Now: Disability Studies at the End of the World. sites.google.com/DisStudies.o...
SDS Conference 2027Call for Papers
Note: A text-only version of the information below is available as a Google Doc at this link.sites.google.com
Hear the Earliest Known Piece of Polyphonic Music: This Composition, Dating Back to 900 AD, Changed Western Music
Hear the Earliest Known Piece of Polyphonic Music: This Composition, Dating Back to 900 AD, Changed Western MusicLike digging for fossils or panning for gold, the research process can be a tedious affair. But for any researcher, long days of searching and reading will eventually result in discovery. These are th...www.openculture.com
unfortunate update: bsky.app/profile/texa...
Texas ObserverNew from Andrew Joseph Pegoda: In an attempt to overcomply with Texas law, the University of Houston will eliminate over 100 women's studies, gender and sexuality courses from the core curriculum. It won't be enough to appease extremist Republicans.
CW: suicide; mass shooting “Since 2025, people in Canada, Finland, and multiple locations in the US allegedly have used ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence platforms to prepare for violence…”
Inside a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPTA year of chats reveals glaring red flags—and disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before a rampage at Florida State University.www.motherjones.com
New Show ALERT: We bring on real-world experts to Fact-Check the AI slop that has been hitting everyone's feeds. Check out the pilot here: more episodes on the way on WIRED YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHn6...
Egyptologist Fact Checks Egyptian History SlopYouTube video by WIREDwww.youtube.com
Youth sports were doomed when they got sucked into the hypercompetitive college admissions game. Soccer practice used to be a way to kill time after school until you could leave work to pick your kid up; now it's another thing your kid must excel at or they aren't getting into Yale.
Marisa Kabasthe obsession with trans women in sports is, apart from the abject bigotry, a symptom of how we take amateur sports participation way too seriously in this country.