Chris Brockett
@chrisbrockett.bsky.social
5.2K followers 7.2K following 1.9K posts
Data janitor and leftover linguist (retired). Tsundoku expert. Language & Cognition. NLP. Japanese literature. Anti-authoritarian. Pro-science.
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Reposted by Chris Brockett
beijingpalmer.bsky.social
Dune is a badly written novel but it’s very exciting if you read it at the right age for the ideas to captivate you enough that your brain can compensate for the prose.
rachelfeder.bsky.social
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
Reposted by Chris Brockett
artcrimeprof.bsky.social
UGH finishing a book means formatting citations and tracking down missing first names and not allowing myself to follow the rabbit hole that opens up when I find out an author was involved in a blackmail scheme involving sheet shooting, Van Dyck, and possibly fake royal titles. NO FUN.
Reposted by Chris Brockett
briantylercohen.bsky.social
Multiple airports are now announcing they will refuse to play Kristi Noem’s government-funded video blaming “Democrats” for the government shutdown.

“We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” one airport said.
Reposted by Chris Brockett
Reposted by Chris Brockett
dustinbwright.com
Which, whose, and how much knowledge do LLMs represent?

I'm excited to share our preprint answering these questions:

"Epistemic Diversity and Knowledge Collapse in Large Language Models"

📄Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2510.04226
💻Code: github.com/dwright37/ll...

1/10
Reposted by Chris Brockett
bearnurse.bsky.social
China invents a bone glue. Japan invents a medicine that regrows teeth naturally. America is saying Tylenol causes autism
Reposted by Chris Brockett
Reposted by Chris Brockett
publichealthguy1.bsky.social
the gutting of the national center for health statistics should be considered its own five alarm fire
altcdc.altgov.info
Eliminated at NCHS:
❌ Office of Informatics, Governance and Assurance
❌ Office of Information Sevices (communications)
❌ Office of the Director for the Division of Vital Statistics, which is now without all leadership
❌ Planning/Operations in the Division of Healthcare Statistics
Reposted by Chris Brockett
quirinpress.bsky.social
There is a set of double spouted sake vessel 酒器 in Wajima-nuri 輪島塗 lacquerware for sale on the web, 🙏 does anyone know if there is a specific name for such vessels that seem inspired by the tripod candle stick holders of Japan ❓
chrisbrockett.bsky.social
They are highly organized. They overcame their ADHD long enough to organize themselves into inflatable suits. Let the wild rumpus begin!
michaelehayden.bsky.social
“They are highly organized … [they] have purchased their own animal costumes”
Andy ngo mad about muppets again — this time in Chicago
Reposted by Chris Brockett
jamellebouie.net
federal agents stealing children and sending them south. where have i heard about that before?
caitlindeangelis.bsky.social
ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...
Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility
By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago



31
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo.

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview.

“My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese.

From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett.

The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.
chrisbrockett.bsky.social
Well said! I was wondering when the regime would turn its attention to Washington State.
governorferguson.bsky.social
We are not bending the knee.

My response to AG Bondi and President Trump.
Reposted by Chris Brockett
cajunblue.bsky.social
🚨🚨🚨WA Governor Bob Ferguson responds to a letter he received from AG Pam Bondi in which she threatened to place him in jail. 🧯He is on fire! 1/2
Reposted by Chris Brockett
gregsargent.bsky.social
If the data doesn't confirm the unhinged despot's lies, the data has failed him and must be wrong, says Very Serious Intellectual JD Vance
atrupar.com
WELKER: Are you looking at invoking the Insurrection Act?

VANCE: We have to remember we are talking about this bc crime has gotten out of control

W: Crime is down in both Chicago & Portland

V: Crime is down bc they are so overwhelmed at the local level they are not even keeping stats properly
Reposted by Chris Brockett
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

Archives banned making copies.
philistella.bsky.social
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.
impavid.us
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.
Reposted by Chris Brockett
eric-reinhart.com
New article out this month on how doctors become fascists.

50% of German physicians joined the Nazi Party––twice the proportion of any other profession. US doctors today are arguably the most conservative in the world, and we're heading along a similar path.
drive.google.com/file/d/1CAk9...
chrisbrockett.bsky.social
Pinochet used sports stadiums and one-way helicopter rides.
Reposted by Chris Brockett
helenkennedy.bsky.social
This was my first thought too. When the military became reliant on the leader and not the state, the republic died.
kjephd.bsky.social
Many historians of Rome identify Roman generals becoming the personal sources of payment for their armies as a key step in the downfall of the Republic, since it personalized military authority and freed armies to fight for their immediate leader, who paid them, instead of for the Republic
Reposted by Chris Brockett
rebeccasear.bsky.social
“More than half of the work done by women in the period between the 16th and 18th centuries took place outside of the home, and around half of all housework and three-quarters of care work was conducted professionally for other households” [England]

phys.org/news/2025-10...
A woman's place was not in the home: Challenging the assumptions about women's work in early modern history
New research has revealed that women played a fundamental role in the development of England's national economy before 1700.
phys.org
Reposted by Chris Brockett
samhalpert.bsky.social
Dems floated a narrow bill to fund the military, which can’t move because the House isn’t in session. Meanwhile, DoD is now going to spend funds not appropriated by Congress to ensure military paychecks continue.

POTUS now both commands and provisions the military. Unconstitutional and SO dangerous
The Office of Management and Budget sent a notification to Congress about their intent to use research and development funds to pay members of the military, two sources with direct knowledge tell NBC News.
A spokesperson for the OMB confirmed to NBC
News that it plans to use the research and development funds and that there are two years' worth of funds available within the Department of Defense.
chrisbrockett.bsky.social
The inflatable Antifa dancers should bill ICE for their services providing entertainment for the troops.
Reposted by Chris Brockett
kenwhite.bsky.social
Also: if you work for ICE, even if you’re not one of the ones arresting citizens or tackling 15-year-olds or zip-tying kids together and segregating them by race, you’re part of the mechanism making it happen, and you should suffer long-term social and post-regime-change consequences.
aricohn.com
Some weirdo on Twitter has been absolutely melting down for like 36 straight hours because I posted:

When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt.