Melissa Dowell
@glukkake.bsky.social
Product designer, screenprinter, perpetually exhausted pigeon
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
PSA: there’s been an exploit for Signal and WhatsApp released that can be used to silently track you.
Temp fixes for both can be done in your settings:
For WhatsApp: Settings>Privacy>Advanced>Block unknown messages.
For Signal: Settings>Privacy>Phone number>Who can find me by number>Nobody
Temp fixes for both can be done in your settings:
For WhatsApp: Settings>Privacy>Advanced>Block unknown messages.
For Signal: Settings>Privacy>Phone number>Who can find me by number>Nobody
December 15, 2025 at 1:28 AM
PSA: there’s been an exploit for Signal and WhatsApp released that can be used to silently track you.
Temp fixes for both can be done in your settings:
For WhatsApp: Settings>Privacy>Advanced>Block unknown messages.
For Signal: Settings>Privacy>Phone number>Who can find me by number>Nobody
Temp fixes for both can be done in your settings:
For WhatsApp: Settings>Privacy>Advanced>Block unknown messages.
For Signal: Settings>Privacy>Phone number>Who can find me by number>Nobody
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Sam Altman: hey I made a machine that stole literally all your stuff in order to make CSAM of your child actors, sometimes it encourages people to kill themselves
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
December 12, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Sam Altman: hey I made a machine that stole literally all your stuff in order to make CSAM of your child actors, sometimes it encourages people to kill themselves
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
We now learn that Fifa had a very specific "ask" in exchange for its "Peace Award" to Trump, with loads of gold trinkets, and that was dismissal of a criminal corruption case against senior Fifa officials. And Trump granted it. Another corrupt bargain, barely noticed (and ignored by US media).
December 11, 2025 at 12:59 AM
We now learn that Fifa had a very specific "ask" in exchange for its "Peace Award" to Trump, with loads of gold trinkets, and that was dismissal of a criminal corruption case against senior Fifa officials. And Trump granted it. Another corrupt bargain, barely noticed (and ignored by US media).
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
If this is what we know about the place, imagine what hasn’t even come out yet
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:40 PM
If this is what we know about the place, imagine what hasn’t even come out yet
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
This is the most Starship Troopers coded shit. Paul Verhoeven is like, "shit I should have gone further"
jesus christ
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 PM
This is the most Starship Troopers coded shit. Paul Verhoeven is like, "shit I should have gone further"
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
I've become deeply radicalized against gambling. It's just getting more evil the longer it's allowed to fester unregulated
"Soon, CNN will run live odds on world events where its viewers can gamble on them in real time on their smartphones."
CNN Partners With a Gambling App That Lets You Wager on Starvation in Gaza
The app company’s two biggest investors are also heavily invested in the Israeli military.
truthout.org
December 6, 2025 at 3:36 AM
I've become deeply radicalized against gambling. It's just getting more evil the longer it's allowed to fester unregulated
As a woman who lives alone, I cannot tell you enough how tickled pink I get about doing my own handiwork around the house. Today I installed a new lock and door handle for my front door. It is a smart lock & I’ll no longer be beholden to remember my keys. What a world!
December 5, 2025 at 10:08 PM
As a woman who lives alone, I cannot tell you enough how tickled pink I get about doing my own handiwork around the house. Today I installed a new lock and door handle for my front door. It is a smart lock & I’ll no longer be beholden to remember my keys. What a world!
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Thanks to the man who inspired one of our household's most-used Simpsons quotes.
December 5, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Thanks to the man who inspired one of our household's most-used Simpsons quotes.
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
AI chatbots “exceed the persuasiveness of even elite human persuaders, given their unique ability to generate large quantities of information almost instantaneously during conversation [⋯] the most persuasive models and prompting strategies tended to produce the least accurate information”
NEW: AI chatbots used inaccurate information to change people’s political opinions, study finds www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...
AI chatbots used inaccurate information to change people’s political opinions, study finds
A paper published in the journal Science found that chatbots become more persuasive when they share large amounts of information.
www.nbcnews.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:19 PM
AI chatbots “exceed the persuasiveness of even elite human persuaders, given their unique ability to generate large quantities of information almost instantaneously during conversation [⋯] the most persuasive models and prompting strategies tended to produce the least accurate information”
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Netherlands and Spain taking a stand after Israel allowed to compete in Eurovision.
Netherlands and Spain boycott Eurovision after Israel allowed to compete
There had been calls for Israel to be excluded over the conduct of the war in Gaza.
www.bbc.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Netherlands and Spain taking a stand after Israel allowed to compete in Eurovision.
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
This is the most consequential story for the 2026 midterms. Yet, I cannot find it anywhere on legacy media. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
DOJ Sues Six More States in Sweeping Push to Obtain Unredacted Voter Rolls
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:21 PM
This is the most consequential story for the 2026 midterms. Yet, I cannot find it anywhere on legacy media. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Hey all,
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
Fellowship
theonion.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Hey all,
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
Moving woes: I have lost my dried bird feet and I wanted to use them this week for an art project. Ordered new ones but I am skeptical if they’ll arrive in time…
December 2, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Moving woes: I have lost my dried bird feet and I wanted to use them this week for an art project. Ordered new ones but I am skeptical if they’ll arrive in time…
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
My new Intercept piece on the NYPD’s targeting of MLK is up today, with never-before-published police surveillance photos of King.
November 29, 2025 at 2:22 PM
My new Intercept piece on the NYPD’s targeting of MLK is up today, with never-before-published police surveillance photos of King.
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Fleshed out the breaking story from earlier in the day so if you saw it before a couple hours ago, it is muuuuuch longer now
www.comicsbeat.com/angouleme-20...
www.comicsbeat.com/angouleme-20...
ANGOULÊME 2026 cancelled, Bondoux defiant [UPDATED]
ANGOULÊME 2026 cancelled, Bondoux defiant [UPDATED]
www.comicsbeat.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Fleshed out the breaking story from earlier in the day so if you saw it before a couple hours ago, it is muuuuuch longer now
www.comicsbeat.com/angouleme-20...
www.comicsbeat.com/angouleme-20...
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
All the cabs playing the most dog shit too stupid to parody propaganda (the glorious president has reversed the vaccine demands for our noble troops!) all the time is going to push me over the edge - it was bad enough when it just real estate agents failing to operate their human suits
cab screen opened with bari weiss giving some stupid ted talk thing, immediately hit mute, looked up now and it’s newsmax doing war propaganda. love to live in an age of billionaire funded right wing agitprop funneled directly into every public and semi-public space around
December 1, 2025 at 7:39 PM
All the cabs playing the most dog shit too stupid to parody propaganda (the glorious president has reversed the vaccine demands for our noble troops!) all the time is going to push me over the edge - it was bad enough when it just real estate agents failing to operate their human suits
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
“Imagine if we truly understand complex whale communication & can extend our term ‘language’ to them. Such breakthroughs would not only rewrite biology textbooks but also fundamentally redefine what it means to be human & pave the way to instituting new protections for whales, the ocean & beyond”🧪
November 30, 2025 at 9:20 PM
“Imagine if we truly understand complex whale communication & can extend our term ‘language’ to them. Such breakthroughs would not only rewrite biology textbooks but also fundamentally redefine what it means to be human & pave the way to instituting new protections for whales, the ocean & beyond”🧪
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
"The current disinformation and slop phenomenon on the internet today makes the days of ‘Russian bot farms’ seem quaint; the problem is now fully decentralized and distributed across the world and is almost entirely funded by social media companies themselves."
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.
www.404media.co
November 28, 2025 at 11:20 AM
"The current disinformation and slop phenomenon on the internet today makes the days of ‘Russian bot farms’ seem quaint; the problem is now fully decentralized and distributed across the world and is almost entirely funded by social media companies themselves."
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
the primary thing that TPUSA provides to young conservatives is a blueprint for weaponizing the abject cowardice of university administrators against individual teachers and instructors, and university admins should take a long look in the mirror and think about what that says about them
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 8:51 PM
the primary thing that TPUSA provides to young conservatives is a blueprint for weaponizing the abject cowardice of university administrators against individual teachers and instructors, and university admins should take a long look in the mirror and think about what that says about them
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
A reminder for those who are not aware: "remigration" is the process of deporting all non-white people from a country. It includes citizens and is, by definition, ethnic cleansing.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
November 28, 2025 at 6:12 PM
A reminder for those who are not aware: "remigration" is the process of deporting all non-white people from a country. It includes citizens and is, by definition, ethnic cleansing.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
Reposted by Melissa Dowell
@naomiaklein.bsky.social: ”Where the Surrealists made irreverent and untameable art, the fascists sought a world of perfect symmetry. While the Surrealists embraced the frailties and mysteries of the human body, the fascists waged war on deviance.’’ www.equator.org/articles/sur...
www.equator.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:30 PM
@naomiaklein.bsky.social: ”Where the Surrealists made irreverent and untameable art, the fascists sought a world of perfect symmetry. While the Surrealists embraced the frailties and mysteries of the human body, the fascists waged war on deviance.’’ www.equator.org/articles/sur...
I am not a phd student but this looks very interesting (if only I knew someone in Cincinnati!)
Call for abstracts for the first conference of our new Center for Humanities and Technology. Please share!
uchumanitiestech.org/2026-confere...
uchumanitiestech.org/2026-confere...
2026 Conference
Call for Papers: Science and Technology in the Anthropocene April 2 – 3, 2026 A conference about human experience in a world with non-biological intelligent systems and the environmental prob…
uchumanitiestech.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:40 PM
I am not a phd student but this looks very interesting (if only I knew someone in Cincinnati!)