Helen Shin
@h-x-s.bsky.social
She/her.
Formerly @H_X_S on Twitter.
Formerly @H_X_S on Twitter.
Reposted by Helen Shin
things change:
authors and wizards are not always to be trusted:
nobody can explain a dragon.
authors and wizards are not always to be trusted:
nobody can explain a dragon.
November 23, 2025 at 10:40 AM
things change:
authors and wizards are not always to be trusted:
nobody can explain a dragon.
authors and wizards are not always to be trusted:
nobody can explain a dragon.
Reposted by Helen Shin
'...as [the ISS] nears the end of its life, the space race is changing again and likely with it the end of the internationalist space era'.
#ISS
#ISS
How Cold War foes became close colleagues — until toilets got in the way
It was November 20, 1998, and a rocket wasn't an unusual sight in this remote part of Kazakhstan. But today's cargo was a piece of history that would have seemed impossible just years before.
www.abc.net.au
November 23, 2025 at 10:40 AM
'...as [the ISS] nears the end of its life, the space race is changing again and likely with it the end of the internationalist space era'.
#ISS
#ISS
Reposted by Helen Shin
Scary stuff - and well done @theguardian.com for exposing such a sordid, sad, dangerous business.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Scary stuff - and well done @theguardian.com for exposing such a sordid, sad, dangerous business.
Reposted by Helen Shin
The usual suspects are trying to position LLMs as being sabotaged by the bubble not its cause
Trump's economic policies have made the US dollar more vulnerable and the overall finance system more opaque
The US federal infrastructure is weak, limiting its capability at containing the damage 2/4
Trump's economic policies have made the US dollar more vulnerable and the overall finance system more opaque
The US federal infrastructure is weak, limiting its capability at containing the damage 2/4
November 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
The usual suspects are trying to position LLMs as being sabotaged by the bubble not its cause
Trump's economic policies have made the US dollar more vulnerable and the overall finance system more opaque
The US federal infrastructure is weak, limiting its capability at containing the damage 2/4
Trump's economic policies have made the US dollar more vulnerable and the overall finance system more opaque
The US federal infrastructure is weak, limiting its capability at containing the damage 2/4
Reposted by Helen Shin
“Desire to Pop”
https://tante.cc/2025/11/23/desire-to-pop/
> I love the abstraction of the “AI” bubble popping. But the very probably effects haunt me.
Been having similar concerns. Except I think things are genuinely worse than most expect. 1/4
https://tante.cc/2025/11/23/desire-to-pop/
> I love the abstraction of the “AI” bubble popping. But the very probably effects haunt me.
Been having similar concerns. Except I think things are genuinely worse than most expect. 1/4
November 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
“Desire to Pop”
https://tante.cc/2025/11/23/desire-to-pop/
> I love the abstraction of the “AI” bubble popping. But the very probably effects haunt me.
Been having similar concerns. Except I think things are genuinely worse than most expect. 1/4
https://tante.cc/2025/11/23/desire-to-pop/
> I love the abstraction of the “AI” bubble popping. But the very probably effects haunt me.
Been having similar concerns. Except I think things are genuinely worse than most expect. 1/4
Reposted by Helen Shin
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
![Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less."
She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards.
They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it.
This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil.
The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option.
"We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents.
"We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreiber7g4o5pujmzmjjzsp5dkz7blfexburuwjispfpv6dki7akjb7a@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 12:07 AM
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
Reposted by Helen Shin
It's Doctor Who Day. To celebrate, I've edited and designed a new digital bookazine for @radiotimes.bsky.social, collecting the best of the magazine's articles and rare photography from the show's early years. Download it FREE from www.radiotimes.com/doctor-who-t...
November 23, 2025 at 10:11 AM
It's Doctor Who Day. To celebrate, I've edited and designed a new digital bookazine for @radiotimes.bsky.social, collecting the best of the magazine's articles and rare photography from the show's early years. Download it FREE from www.radiotimes.com/doctor-who-t...
Reposted by Helen Shin
I mean it's not complicated. Twenty people who were there have confirmed that Nigel Farage said all of these things.
He's the only one denying it, which means just one thing. He is a liar
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
He's the only one denying it, which means just one thing. He is a liar
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?
Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I mean it's not complicated. Twenty people who were there have confirmed that Nigel Farage said all of these things.
He's the only one denying it, which means just one thing. He is a liar
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
He's the only one denying it, which means just one thing. He is a liar
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Helen Shin
oh also develop a deep understanding of how humans work in organizations and how not enough people have had therapy
November 23, 2025 at 3:53 AM
oh also develop a deep understanding of how humans work in organizations and how not enough people have had therapy
Reposted by Helen Shin
become a systems thinker, they said
you'll have a better understanding of how the world works, they said
yeah and you'll also spend every waking moment in despair
you'll have a better understanding of how the world works, they said
yeah and you'll also spend every waking moment in despair
November 23, 2025 at 3:47 AM
become a systems thinker, they said
you'll have a better understanding of how the world works, they said
yeah and you'll also spend every waking moment in despair
you'll have a better understanding of how the world works, they said
yeah and you'll also spend every waking moment in despair
Reposted by Helen Shin
and I really am old enough to remember those far-off days before 2011 or so when most people *didn’t* assume that big tech was the Face of Creeping Evil - tech fucked up bad! by means of actually being evil all the time!
November 23, 2025 at 8:33 AM
and I really am old enough to remember those far-off days before 2011 or so when most people *didn’t* assume that big tech was the Face of Creeping Evil - tech fucked up bad! by means of actually being evil all the time!
Reposted by Helen Shin
it is absolutely the tech companies fault that people now assume they’re doing something evil and sneaky even when they actually aren’t (regarding the latest Google kerfuffle)
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
November 23, 2025 at 8:33 AM
it is absolutely the tech companies fault that people now assume they’re doing something evil and sneaky even when they actually aren’t (regarding the latest Google kerfuffle)
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
like, no kidding that people have zero willingness to cut big tech the benefit of the doubt anymore
Reposted by Helen Shin
Today on Volts: the subset of cleantech known as "electrotech" -- solar, batteries, heat pumps, etc. -- is marching toward inevitable victory, not because it's low-emissions (though it is), but because it's more efficient & cheaper. I discuss the good news with @kingsmillbond.bsky.social.
Clean electrification is inevitable
Kingsmill Bond explains why the global march of "electrotech" has moved beyond the reach of US political interference.
www.volts.wtf
November 21, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Today on Volts: the subset of cleantech known as "electrotech" -- solar, batteries, heat pumps, etc. -- is marching toward inevitable victory, not because it's low-emissions (though it is), but because it's more efficient & cheaper. I discuss the good news with @kingsmillbond.bsky.social.
Reposted by Helen Shin
I've grown more conservative as I've grown older but the things I want to conserve are democracy and decency
November 23, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I've grown more conservative as I've grown older but the things I want to conserve are democracy and decency
Reposted by Helen Shin
I was in product dev in the early aughts before I had babies and I’m the tech support for my family and what drives me completely batshit are the men in my life still in tech who act like I’m the unreasonable one for remembering when the tech made life easier
November 23, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I was in product dev in the early aughts before I had babies and I’m the tech support for my family and what drives me completely batshit are the men in my life still in tech who act like I’m the unreasonable one for remembering when the tech made life easier
Reposted by Helen Shin
My wife is trying to run our school auction and coming back to having to use tech in anger after 15 years or so. "Why is everything so bad now?!"
November 23, 2025 at 3:19 AM
My wife is trying to run our school auction and coming back to having to use tech in anger after 15 years or so. "Why is everything so bad now?!"
Reposted by Helen Shin
Big kid has had to explain to friends why they're not allowed on Roblox and it goes a bit like "because my dad works in tech"
Every parent whose career has to do with online safety also bans Roblox.
Every game designer parent I know bans Roblox for their kids
November 23, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Big kid has had to explain to friends why they're not allowed on Roblox and it goes a bit like "because my dad works in tech"
Reposted by Helen Shin
Happy Doctor Who day! To celebrate here is the greatest of Doctor Who images: Verity Lambert using a Mechanoid as a lighter.
November 23, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Happy Doctor Who day! To celebrate here is the greatest of Doctor Who images: Verity Lambert using a Mechanoid as a lighter.
Reposted by Helen Shin
Actual conversation I had recently:
"What LLM do you use?"
"None."
"W...what? why?
"I work faster without it!"
"But you have a grad school degree in AI!"
"Mhmm, shouldn't that tell you something?"
"What LLM do you use?"
"None."
"W...what? why?
"I work faster without it!"
"But you have a grad school degree in AI!"
"Mhmm, shouldn't that tell you something?"
June 29, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Actual conversation I had recently:
"What LLM do you use?"
"None."
"W...what? why?
"I work faster without it!"
"But you have a grad school degree in AI!"
"Mhmm, shouldn't that tell you something?"
"What LLM do you use?"
"None."
"W...what? why?
"I work faster without it!"
"But you have a grad school degree in AI!"
"Mhmm, shouldn't that tell you something?"
Reposted by Helen Shin
Reposted by Helen Shin
Reposted by Helen Shin
Trumpistas clearly believe that U.S. military personnel SHOULD obey illegal orders and anybody saying they shouldn’t is a traitor. The upsidedownism of the current regime worsens by the day.
November 23, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Trumpistas clearly believe that U.S. military personnel SHOULD obey illegal orders and anybody saying they shouldn’t is a traitor. The upsidedownism of the current regime worsens by the day.
Reposted by Helen Shin
Getting the garden railway ready for winter... youtu.be/a1lg8PlP3VM...
Letzter Herbstfahrtag und Gartenbahn wird winterfest gemacht 🚂🍂😺
YouTube video by Mapic2
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Getting the garden railway ready for winter... youtu.be/a1lg8PlP3VM...
Reposted by Helen Shin
This is joyous. Total catnip for a geek like me.
The Dalek Documentaries are back!
🚨NEW EPISODE OUT NOW🚨
The Lost Dalek of Dr. Barnardos!
youtu.be/Cv6ZWjVnhM0?...
🚨NEW EPISODE OUT NOW🚨
The Lost Dalek of Dr. Barnardos!
youtu.be/Cv6ZWjVnhM0?...
The Forgotten 60s Dalek: Uncovering Dr. Barnardo’s Hidden Dalek Story
YouTube video by Dalek 63•88
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This is joyous. Total catnip for a geek like me.
Reposted by Helen Shin
Considering the plan was done by Kirill Dimitriev, Putin’s banker, who met with 2 US individuals in Miami, likely bribes are involved.
November 23, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Considering the plan was done by Kirill Dimitriev, Putin’s banker, who met with 2 US individuals in Miami, likely bribes are involved.