Orion🌈&sm9eb
@sm9eb.bsky.social
Archaeologist specializing in Late Neolithic/Halaf Şanlıurfa, Turkey; D.C.-born; foodie; astronomy & gardening buff; former guardian of Urfalı cat Commander Orion 🌈🖤; current guardian of not-a-Guest-anymore Cat Italy!
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
Lol, Zillow tried to rate the climate risks facing individual properties. The real estate industry *hated* it, precisely because it worked -- it made selling risky properties more difficult. So they rebelled & Zillow caved.
Don't look up!
Don't look up!
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Lol, Zillow tried to rate the climate risks facing individual properties. The real estate industry *hated* it, precisely because it worked -- it made selling risky properties more difficult. So they rebelled & Zillow caved.
Don't look up!
Don't look up!
I want one of these so badly and I have no $ again this holiday season. (#Adjunctlife: 3 steps forward, 5 steps back.)
December 1, 2025 at 1:41 AM
I want one of these so badly and I have no $ again this holiday season. (#Adjunctlife: 3 steps forward, 5 steps back.)
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
I'm just a g̶i̶r̶l̶ "Space Artist" standing in front of a "Bluesky" asking them to love my JWST ornament.
🔗 sciencesocks.co/collections/...
🔗 sciencesocks.co/collections/...
December 1, 2025 at 1:27 AM
I'm just a g̶i̶r̶l̶ "Space Artist" standing in front of a "Bluesky" asking them to love my JWST ornament.
🔗 sciencesocks.co/collections/...
🔗 sciencesocks.co/collections/...
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
Sooo here's a little public records request I just made to the University of Oklahoma.
November 30, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Sooo here's a little public records request I just made to the University of Oklahoma.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
2. the strange but often repeated cultish mantra that we need to "embrace the future" — this is so bizarre given, e.g. how destructive industry forces have proven to be in science, from petroleum to tobacco to pharmaceutical companies.
(Section 3.2 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
4/n
(Section 3.2 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
4/n
![3.2 We do not have to ‘embrace the future’ & we can turn back the tide
It must be the sheer magnitude of [artificial neural networks’] incompetence that makes
them so popular.
Jerry A. Fodor (2000, p. 47)
Related to the rejection of expertise is the rejection of imagining a better future and the rejection
of self-determination free from industry forces (Hajer and Oomen 2025; Stengers 2018; van Rossum
2025). Not only AI enthusiasts, but even some scholars whose expertise concentrates on identifying
and critically interrogating ideologies and sociotechnical relationships — such as historians and gender scholars — unfortunately fall prey to the teleological belief that AI is an unstoppable force. They
embrace it because alternative responses seem too difficult, incompatible with industry developments,
or non-existent. Instead of falling for this, we should “refuse [AI] adoption in schools and colleges,
and reject the narrative of its inevitability.” (Reynoldson et al. 2025, n.p., also Benjamin 2016; Campolo and Crawford 2020; CDH Team and Ruddick 2025; Garcia et al. 2022; Kelly et al. 2025; Lysen
and Wyatt 2024; Sano-Franchini et al. 2024; Stengers 2018). Such rejection is possible and has historical precedent, to name just a few successful examples: Amsterdammers kicked out cars, rejecting
that cycling through the Dutch capital should be deadly. Organised workers died for the eight-hour
workday, the weekend and other workers’ rights, and governments banned chlorofluorocarbons from
fridges to mitigate ozone depletion in the atmosphere. And we know that even the tide itself famously
turns back. People can undo things; and we will (cf. Albanese 2025; Boztas 2025; Kohnstamm Instituut 2025; van Laarhoven and van Vugt 2025). Besides, there will be no future to embrace if we deskill
our students and selves, and allow the technology industry’s immense contributions to climate crisis](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsyj5jtayxcq5dw5mtja4xtb/bafkreidzio5vcvzus3xjqxcpav64pwk2gwslwslogabl7b5dzhn6egf37i@jpeg)
November 30, 2025 at 11:28 PM
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
We are living at a time when university leadership amplifies anti-intellectual tropes and technologies
These are very troubling times
These are very troubling times
November 29, 2025 at 4:08 PM
We are living at a time when university leadership amplifies anti-intellectual tropes and technologies
These are very troubling times
These are very troubling times
Ninety percent chance every household in the US experienced this tonight because Second Dinner meant more leftover turkey. (I did.)
November 30, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Ninety percent chance every household in the US experienced this tonight because Second Dinner meant more leftover turkey. (I did.)
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
Enjoy a very large number of snow geese
Volume up
Bosque del Apache, New Mexico
Volume up
Bosque del Apache, New Mexico
November 29, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Enjoy a very large number of snow geese
Volume up
Bosque del Apache, New Mexico
Volume up
Bosque del Apache, New Mexico
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
Incompetent administrators think ecocide-plagiarism-psychosis machines can replace teachers & human-authored books.
"A massive government experiment in South Korean to roll out 76 AI-generated textbooks has ended just four months in, after the program proved to be a catastrophe."
Or kickbacks?
"A massive government experiment in South Korean to roll out 76 AI-generated textbooks has ended just four months in, after the program proved to be a catastrophe."
Or kickbacks?
November 30, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Incompetent administrators think ecocide-plagiarism-psychosis machines can replace teachers & human-authored books.
"A massive government experiment in South Korean to roll out 76 AI-generated textbooks has ended just four months in, after the program proved to be a catastrophe."
Or kickbacks?
"A massive government experiment in South Korean to roll out 76 AI-generated textbooks has ended just four months in, after the program proved to be a catastrophe."
Or kickbacks?
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
AI companies depend on psyching people out: on pretending that their brains don't matter, and that they can't make things or research things without slop machines.
They're wrong.
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
They're wrong.
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Basement adventures showed me why ChatGPT can only ever be garbage.
In The British Library. Photo by Surekha Davies. Hallo readers, First, a news flash: Join me for a virtual book launch for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY...
buttondown.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:20 AM
AI companies depend on psyching people out: on pretending that their brains don't matter, and that they can't make things or research things without slop machines.
They're wrong.
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
They're wrong.
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
Lol, in the early 1970s I wanted to do an experiment with plutonium. The Los Alamos plutonium facility had only a men's change room. They were going to have a women's any day now.
I waited a week, two weeks.
I lost patience.
I waited a week, two weeks.
I lost patience.
November 30, 2025 at 4:20 AM
Lol, in the early 1970s I wanted to do an experiment with plutonium. The Los Alamos plutonium facility had only a men's change room. They were going to have a women's any day now.
I waited a week, two weeks.
I lost patience.
I waited a week, two weeks.
I lost patience.
Need something heart warming this evening? Behold, Italy in a basket asleep.
November 30, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Need something heart warming this evening? Behold, Italy in a basket asleep.
Trying to get over all the fresh Taş Tepeler photos floating around on The Other Place and Oh My Goodness. Honestly it's going to force me to rewrite/rethink some of the Halaf/Late Neolithic material I've been working through at the speed of cold caramel. #HalafNotTwitter
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Trying to get over all the fresh Taş Tepeler photos floating around on The Other Place and Oh My Goodness. Honestly it's going to force me to rewrite/rethink some of the Halaf/Late Neolithic material I've been working through at the speed of cold caramel. #HalafNotTwitter
@davidwengrow.bsky.social You wrote about this interesting early lapis figurine in What Makes Civilization, no?
#FindsFriday This fabulous little figurine of a woman was found in Egypt from ~3000BC
But based on the pose she was probably carved in Mesopotamia
Buuuut she's made from Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan!
Quite a journey!
#archaeology #photooftheday
📍Seen in the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge🏺
But based on the pose she was probably carved in Mesopotamia
Buuuut she's made from Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan!
Quite a journey!
#archaeology #photooftheday
📍Seen in the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge🏺
November 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
@davidwengrow.bsky.social You wrote about this interesting early lapis figurine in What Makes Civilization, no?
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I would only add that I haven't been able to figure out what is going on in K-12 schools post-covid. In some cases I think parents are micro-managing their kids so much that when they get to college they just shut down if no one is riding them about *everything* (or doing their work for them).
I would only add that I haven't been able to figure out what is going on in K-12 schools post-covid. In some cases I think parents are micro-managing their kids so much that when they get to college they just shut down if no one is riding them about *everything* (or doing their work for them).
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 4:21 AM
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I would only add that I haven't been able to figure out what is going on in K-12 schools post-covid. In some cases I think parents are micro-managing their kids so much that when they get to college they just shut down if no one is riding them about *everything* (or doing their work for them).
I would only add that I haven't been able to figure out what is going on in K-12 schools post-covid. In some cases I think parents are micro-managing their kids so much that when they get to college they just shut down if no one is riding them about *everything* (or doing their work for them).
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
I feel like it is very hard to function on a daily basis if you think too hard about how many things in the US are completely falling apart and/or actively being destroyed right now, which is one upside to being recently laid off
November 29, 2025 at 3:05 AM
I feel like it is very hard to function on a daily basis if you think too hard about how many things in the US are completely falling apart and/or actively being destroyed right now, which is one upside to being recently laid off
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
When university admin has nothing but contempt for its faculty, students, staff, & wider community.
You've heard of the Friday night news dump. Here's the Friday night of Thanksgiving wknd dump. For special circumstances, like when the faculty assembly votes 595-4 against paying to end a shakedown and you do it anyway. Link to agreement here: bulkmail.northwestern.edu/trk/click?re...
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 2:42 AM
When university admin has nothing but contempt for its faculty, students, staff, & wider community.
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
Northwestern just paid Trump protection money. Full stop.
November 29, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Northwestern just paid Trump protection money. Full stop.
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
It's never been clear if the money goes to the Treasury or to Trump.
November 29, 2025 at 1:36 AM
It's never been clear if the money goes to the Treasury or to Trump.
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
I understand why faculty in Texas are unwilling to risk trying to exercise wildcat labor power in the face of an anti-labor state. In Illinois faculty have lots of power to use if they’re willing to be brave. Students will, I expect, stand with you. But you are going to have to be the leaders.
November 29, 2025 at 3:36 AM
I understand why faculty in Texas are unwilling to risk trying to exercise wildcat labor power in the face of an anti-labor state. In Illinois faculty have lots of power to use if they’re willing to be brave. Students will, I expect, stand with you. But you are going to have to be the leaders.
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
No grades get turned in. No tuition gets paid. This is winnable.
November 29, 2025 at 3:37 AM
No grades get turned in. No tuition gets paid. This is winnable.
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
"Ay there's the rub" (Hamlet,W.Shakespeare. NYT and other MSM are normalizing the grifting, the bribing, the lying, the buy outs and the pay offs. Call it what it is - extortion, a shakedown, protection money
November 29, 2025 at 1:39 AM
"Ay there's the rub" (Hamlet,W.Shakespeare. NYT and other MSM are normalizing the grifting, the bribing, the lying, the buy outs and the pay offs. Call it what it is - extortion, a shakedown, protection money
Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb
“Business?”
Civil rights are a business now?
Civil rights are a business now?
November 29, 2025 at 3:03 AM
“Business?”
Civil rights are a business now?
Civil rights are a business now?