Levi
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rubeck.bsky.social
Levi
@rubeck.bsky.social
230 followers 220 following 60 posts
he/him // managing ed + Funeral Rites ed at Unwinnable, writer there and others // poet // http://linktr.ee/levirubeck ; http://dice.camp/@leaves
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Reposted by Levi
moreperfectunion.bsky.social
BREAKING: Starbucks workers have launched a massive, nationwide strike.

Baristas in 40 cities have walked off the job on the busiest day of Starbucks' year.

Upwards of 12,000 @sbworkersunited.org members could ultimately go on strike as the union escalates.
November 13, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Levi
dropsitenews.com
Starbucks workers launched a nationwide strike on Thursday, with more than 1,000 union baristas walking out across 40+ U.S. cities. The open-ended work stoppage, organized by Starbucks Workers United, began on the company’s high-traffic “Red Cup Day” to maximize pressure.

Roughly 65 stores were...
Starbucks workers launched a nationwide strike on Thursday, with more than 1,000 union baristas walking out across 40+ U.S. cities. The open-ended work stoppage, organized by Starbucks Workers United, began on the company’s high-traffic “Red Cup Day” to maximize pressure. Roughly 65 stores were initially affected, though the union says disruptions will expand as more locations join. Workers accuse Starbucks of stalling contract talks, refusing to bargain in good faith, and ignoring unfair-labor practice rulings. Starbucks downplayed the impact, saying less than 1% of its U.S. stores are affected and that most locations remain open. The strike marks one of the largest coordinated actions since the union campaign began in 2021 and signals escalating frustration over wages, scheduling, and stalled negotiations. Starbucks Workers United @SBWorkersUnited As of today, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history. Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Levi
iiotenki.bsky.social
I wrote more words about how it feels to be a translator watching the games press report on AI and labor, coming from a field that's fought these battles for decades. It may look like I'm beating up on one outlet, but it's not about them; I've been trying to write this for me and my peers all year.
You Can't Report on Hunger While Taking Bread Off the Table
On the proliferation of machine translation in video game outlets covering the effects of AI on labor.
dateemups.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Reposted by Levi
ethangach.bsky.social
"We found out later that Keighley had a party in another room with all the influencers and industry people. You know where Future Class met that day? At a Starbucks.”
‘We were effectively props’: young stars of game development feel let down by the ‘gaming Oscars’
Announced in 2020 by the Game Awards as an inclusive programme for the industry’s next generation, the Future Class initiative has now been discontinued. Inductees describe clashes with organisers and...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Levi
bulletpointsvg.bsky.social
We're entirely reader supported. You can keep us going (and get stuff for doing so) by signing up to our Patreon right here: www.patreon.com/bulletpoints
Get more from Bullet Points on Patreon
creating videogame criticism
www.patreon.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Levi
natclayton.bsky.social
sort of incredible to read a review that doesn't just made a vague nod at AI being bad, but actively reckons with the ways in which falling obsessively to AI usage actively obliterates the artistic intent and integrity of the work you've made.
November 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Levi
strida.bsky.social
i wrote about silent hill f which is moving & intense, but ultimately set on dispelling “the fog” of its strong points…
November 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Levi
danifroom.bsky.social
"Are there even any-" it doesn't matter. Banning the few trans athletes isn't the point. The point, from Trump's ban on trans people in government to Britain's bathroom ban to Newsom's sports ban, is to make sure everyone knows trans women are OTHER and to act accordingly to us in their daily lives.
November 10, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Levi
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Levi
luminouslyiii.bsky.social
Not to be the fun police but I do hope people know that Arc Raiders does use generative AI for voice acting, and by supporting the game you're letting higher-ups know that this is an okay practice.

They try to downplay this on the Steam store page by describing the AI usage as vaguely as possible.
AI generated content disclosure via Arc Raider's Steam page: The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this: During the development process, we may use procedural- and AI-based tools to assist with content creation. In all such cases, the final product reflects the creativity and expression of our own development team.
November 8, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Reposted by Levi
assignedmedia.org
9 Nov 2025 --Heartbreaking op-ed in Teen Vogue by Katelyn Burns --"Politicizing Transgender Athletes Is Dangerous. Lia Smith Deserved Better" @rikiwilchins.bsky.social
Politicizing Transgender Athletes Is Dangerous. Lia Smith Deserved Better.
"Let her passing be an inflection point for how you think about trans rights and trans people more generally."
www.teenvogue.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Levi
newyorker.com
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Levi
unwinnable.com
ICYMI: "[H]arrier’s life exists as a powerful parallel to a trans person’s process of self-discovery and change."

Feature Excerpt: @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social examines how Disco Elysium's Harrier Du Bois provides a reflection of the transgender experience:
I Don’t Want to Be This Kind of Animal Anymore - Unwinnable
You’re not crazy. You’re just different. You have a vast soul. This life is all you have, but it’s still something. You have to keep going.
unwinnable.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Levi
billiejsweeney.bsky.social
That’s a hell of a way to run a news organisation.

I worked 43 years in journalism, for a lot of news organisations, but I never encountered such political pressure being exerted by the top on news stories.

Stories with predetermined narratives that fit the leader’s personal views.
November 6, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Levi
unwinnable.com
Don't get caught in the rain. This month's Exploits includes writing on a missing player two, The Casket Lottery, My Good Side, Misery, Andor and Somerville.

Buy: buff.ly/hH7iYQ7

Subscribe: buff.ly/ffBGA2W

Read @vandennis.bsky.social's essay on Andor: buff.ly/MBxx1Z8
The cover of the November 2025 issue of Exploits, featuring “Les Gendarmes” by Eugène Girardet, an 1884 artwork depicting two French policemen escorting two people in chains in the rain. Text at the bottom incdicates that this issue covers the concept of player two, The Casket Lottery, My Good Side, Misery, Andor and Somerville.
November 3, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Levi
ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social
will kim is still in ICE detention
ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social regular meghan 나영지 🇵🇸 @ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social · Sep 4
will taeheung kim, a korean american scientist and doctoral candidate with a green card, is still being detained by ICE. he's been in detention since July 21, first at SFO for over a week and then in various ICE facilities all over the country.
Instagram post from Stop AAPI HAte; horrific new details emerge about CBP's unlawful detainment of u.s. permanent resident returning from south korea. reports detail how CBP trapped tae heung "will" kim under inhumane conditions for over eight days at an airport. officers moved kim several times to "confuse and disorient him" kept the lights on at all times, gave him minimal food and no bed--forcing hi to sleep on a row of chairs.
October 30, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Levi
orringrey.com
Today is my birthday, and the best present you could get me would be to buy yourself a little something from among my @wordhorde.bsky.social books!

wordhorde.com/authors/orri...
A photograph of a woman reading an issue of Weird Tales, taken by Allan Grant.
October 30, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Levi
theautumnwright.bsky.social
read about this in Unwinnable months ago
October 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Levi
luvamistoole.bsky.social
With SNAP/EBT cuts looming I highly recommend downloading this app! Basically restaurants and other food businesses will have available bags of random food they don’t wanna waste for ppl to buy for hella cheap! This has saved me sooooo many times when I only have $5 and need some food.
October 28, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Levi
lukeoneil47.bsky.social
If you're looking for a food pantry to donate to, or if you're looking for a place to find food, this one I've done some volunteering at in MA is recommended. www.opentable.org/give-now/
As the government shutdown continues, over 41,000 households in our service area stand to lose their SNAP benefits in the coming days. For some, this loss comes on top of month-long furloughs and work without pay requirements. We know this strain will push many members of our community into a desperate situation. We are already seeing the impact; over the past week the number of new clients that signed up for Open Table more than tripled. In the face of these unprecedented challenges, we want you to know that Open Table is ready. Our shelves are stocked, our meals are prepared, and our doors are open to those who needs us. If you need help or want to help, please reach out to us!
October 30, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Levi
unwinnable.com
"This is not a write-up scolding anyone, don’t worry. Let’s just have fun for a bit."

@claribel.ink ponders where the boundaries of a game's identity lie in a world of mods and extra settings:
How Much of a Game Can You Change Before it Stops Being Itself? - Unwinnable
We can make and unmake Doom at our pleasure.
unwinnable.com
October 25, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Levi
orringrey.com
Exploits is looking for movie essays. $10 for 350 words on just about any movie you want. New writers and contributors especially welcome! Feel free to DM me with pitches. And it should probably go without saying but any use of AI will not only disqualify you but get you permanently banned.
A crowd of moviegoers wear 3D glasses to watch the fictional movie MOSQUITO in the real movie POPCORN (1991).
October 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Levi
unwinnable.com
Find tricks and treats galore in this month's issue of Unwinnable Monthly, including @jhensliterature.bsky.social on myhouse.wad, @orringrey.com on Sepulchre, and our regular crew on all things spooky.

Buy: unwinnable.bigcartel.com/product/unwi...

Subscribe: unwinnable.com/subscribe/
The cover of the October 2025 issue of Unwinnable Monthly, featuring art of zombies playing the Life board game in a graveyard as three kids play a board game about death in a house in the background.
October 21, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Levi
speculativeinsight.bsky.social
New subscriber essay! Moth Paulson looks at @annleckie.com's Radch series and the way it examines justice and injustice.

Subscribe to read it now: AUD 30/yr (about GBP15 or USD19) to read this and eleven other cool essays! www.speculativeinsight.com/subs
Purple background, white text, which says In this essay... I look at how Leckie's stories tie into an abolitionist framework, mirroring real-world injustices, and how her solutions reflect the aims and tactics of modern protest and civil disobedience movements. "The Empire of the Radch and the Injustice of 'Justice'" -- Moth Paulson
October 18, 2025 at 9:50 AM