themba
@themba.bsky.social
Libraries. Tech. Linguistics. Education. Infosec. Musica. Portuguese. Spanish. Kriolu. 🇨🇻🇧🇷🇺🇸
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themba
@themba.bsky.social
· Feb 16
The fact that the United States has a federal department named after a meme should tell you everything you need to know.
Reposted by themba
American Samoans, unique among *everyone* born in US states or territories, are denied US citizenship.
That means they are banned from voting.
That's made some a target of vicious GOP prosecution for fraud; even if they were told incorrect info from public officials.
A. New. Must. Read.
That means they are banned from voting.
That's made some a target of vicious GOP prosecution for fraud; even if they were told incorrect info from public officials.
A. New. Must. Read.
Americans by Name, Punished for Believing It - Bolts
This story was produced in partnership with High Country News. I. The state troopers came first for Tupe Smith. They arrived in a pair on November 30, 2023, traveling a stretch... Read More
boltsmag.org
January 8, 2026 at 4:26 PM
American Samoans, unique among *everyone* born in US states or territories, are denied US citizenship.
That means they are banned from voting.
That's made some a target of vicious GOP prosecution for fraud; even if they were told incorrect info from public officials.
A. New. Must. Read.
That means they are banned from voting.
That's made some a target of vicious GOP prosecution for fraud; even if they were told incorrect info from public officials.
A. New. Must. Read.
Reposted by themba
not that far off from an act of war
The US Department of Agriculture suspends all federal funding to Minnesota, effective immediately.
January 10, 2026 at 1:13 AM
not that far off from an act of war
Reposted by themba
Feels to me like the Dept of Agriculture cutting all funding to Minnesota including SNAP “because fuck you that’s why” should be a bigger story!
January 10, 2026 at 1:33 AM
Feels to me like the Dept of Agriculture cutting all funding to Minnesota including SNAP “because fuck you that’s why” should be a bigger story!
Reposted by themba
Worth waiting for! @alexhanna.bsky.social and I did a LOT of podcast guesting last spring & summer and this one, one of my favorites, is finally available:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmk...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmk...
Thinking Through...The AI Con & Deconstructing the Hype
YouTube video by Thinking Through Podcast
www.youtube.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Worth waiting for! @alexhanna.bsky.social and I did a LOT of podcast guesting last spring & summer and this one, one of my favorites, is finally available:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmk...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmk...
Reposted by themba
Oop: #NutmegSky
Hot damn, part 2
Big ups to the folks who have been a small but continual presence at Tweed, to the Elicker admin for prohibiting city use of Avelo, and to the New Haven Road Race for dropping them as a sponsor.
New Haven sez no to kidnapping.
www.newhavenindependent.org/2026/01/07/a...
Big ups to the folks who have been a small but continual presence at Tweed, to the Elicker admin for prohibiting city use of Avelo, and to the New Haven Road Race for dropping them as a sponsor.
New Haven sez no to kidnapping.
www.newhavenindependent.org/2026/01/07/a...
Avelo To Exit Deportation Biz - New Haven Independent
Avelo Airlines plans to stop running deportation flights for the Trump administration later this month after deciding that its participation in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program is too...
www.newhavenindependent.org
January 7, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Oop: #NutmegSky
Reposted by themba
Absolutely fucking not.
New @axios.com: OpenAI debuts ChatGPT Health, letting users bring in data from electronic health records, apple health and myfitnesspal.
January 7, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Absolutely fucking not.
Reposted by themba
INVESTIGATIONUsing easily accessible advertising data, Le Monde was able to pinpoint the identities, home addresses and daily routines of several dozen people working for sensitive official entities.
www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/ar...
#adtechharms
HT @wchr.bsky.social
www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/ar...
#adtechharms
HT @wchr.bsky.social
How French spies, police and military personnel are betrayed by advertising data
Using easily accessible advertising data, Le Monde was able to pinpoint the identities, home addresses and daily routines of several dozen people working for sensitive official entities.
www.lemonde.fr
January 7, 2026 at 11:49 AM
INVESTIGATIONUsing easily accessible advertising data, Le Monde was able to pinpoint the identities, home addresses and daily routines of several dozen people working for sensitive official entities.
www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/ar...
#adtechharms
HT @wchr.bsky.social
www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/ar...
#adtechharms
HT @wchr.bsky.social
Reposted by themba
Missing from this story: prohibiting qualified women from combat roles limits their upward mobility w/in military.
Hegseth doesn't just want to resegregate the rank & file, he wants to reserve leadership positions for men.
In other words: he wants institutionalized discrimination. Merit be damned.
Hegseth doesn't just want to resegregate the rank & file, he wants to reserve leadership positions for men.
In other words: he wants institutionalized discrimination. Merit be damned.
Pentagon will begin review of 'effectiveness' of women in ground combat positions
The review, outlined in a Pentagon memo obtained by NPR, comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told admirals and generals in September that women must meet the "highest male standard."
www.npr.org
January 7, 2026 at 1:23 PM
Missing from this story: prohibiting qualified women from combat roles limits their upward mobility w/in military.
Hegseth doesn't just want to resegregate the rank & file, he wants to reserve leadership positions for men.
In other words: he wants institutionalized discrimination. Merit be damned.
Hegseth doesn't just want to resegregate the rank & file, he wants to reserve leadership positions for men.
In other words: he wants institutionalized discrimination. Merit be damned.
Came up for air and listened to the news this weekend for the first time in … “captured Venezuelan president … US Companies will control Venezuelan oil … Marco Rubio will be in control” - I pulled the car over like, wtf?
a black and white drawing of a brain with a loading sign on it .
ALT: a black and white drawing of a brain with a loading sign on it .
media.tenor.com
January 7, 2026 at 1:31 AM
Came up for air and listened to the news this weekend for the first time in … “captured Venezuelan president … US Companies will control Venezuelan oil … Marco Rubio will be in control” - I pulled the car over like, wtf?
Reposted by themba
“Once an AI pathology tool had identified a person’s race, they became overly-obsessed with finding previous analyses that fit that particular identifier.”
December 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
“Once an AI pathology tool had identified a person’s race, they became overly-obsessed with finding previous analyses that fit that particular identifier.”
Reposted by themba
I have come to the idea that we have to collectively, brutally, ritualistically kill Target just to show capital that we truly aren’t fucking around.
December 1, 2025 at 7:39 PM
I have come to the idea that we have to collectively, brutally, ritualistically kill Target just to show capital that we truly aren’t fucking around.
I was in @emilymbender.bsky.social syntax and semantics class at berkeley 25 years ago! if you've ever taken a #semantics class, please fill out the form 🙏🏽
hey #linguistics peeps! have you ever taken (or taught) a syntax class? we want to hear your opinions (good or bad) about it! We're doing focus group interviews (on zoom, or in person at select conferences) - if you're at all interested, you can fill out our interest form: forms.gle/nhBtz78hQXNA...
SynTeach Focus Group Interest Form
SynTeach is a project researching peoples' experiences teaching and learning syntax in higher education. We have conducted surveys of the field including syntax instructors and students, and we are pl...
forms.gle
November 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I was in @emilymbender.bsky.social syntax and semantics class at berkeley 25 years ago! if you've ever taken a #semantics class, please fill out the form 🙏🏽
i am dying. not hyperbole.
November 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
i am dying. not hyperbole.
Reposted by themba
“Ironically, while naming AI psychosis might seem like a step toward addressing an emerging, unmet public health need, this term easily becomes a distraction from the underlying problem it exposes — by pathologizing users instead of penalizing companies.”
October 29, 2025 at 12:55 PM
“Ironically, while naming AI psychosis might seem like a step toward addressing an emerging, unmet public health need, this term easily becomes a distraction from the underlying problem it exposes — by pathologizing users instead of penalizing companies.”
Reposted by themba
I regret to inform everyone that my pedantic brain couldn’t let me live until I knew whether or not dodger blue and blue jays blue are the same blue. They are ONE PANTONE NUMBER APART.
October 29, 2025 at 2:18 AM
I regret to inform everyone that my pedantic brain couldn’t let me live until I knew whether or not dodger blue and blue jays blue are the same blue. They are ONE PANTONE NUMBER APART.
Reposted by themba
Having lived through two cat 5 Caribbean hurricanes: Jamaica will require aid for years. The devastation's hard to overstate. This is our new norm under climate change.
Infra like elec/water will be disrupted for weeks for critical locations, months for residents.
DO NOT DONATE TO USA RED CROSS.
Infra like elec/water will be disrupted for weeks for critical locations, months for residents.
DO NOT DONATE TO USA RED CROSS.
Lightning flashes within the powerful eye wall of Hurricane Melissa.
Incredible imagery this morning of Melissa, a Category 5 storm, south of Jamaica.
Incredible imagery this morning of Melissa, a Category 5 storm, south of Jamaica.
October 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Having lived through two cat 5 Caribbean hurricanes: Jamaica will require aid for years. The devastation's hard to overstate. This is our new norm under climate change.
Infra like elec/water will be disrupted for weeks for critical locations, months for residents.
DO NOT DONATE TO USA RED CROSS.
Infra like elec/water will be disrupted for weeks for critical locations, months for residents.
DO NOT DONATE TO USA RED CROSS.
how am I just realizing that Mamdani's mother is Mira Nair?!?
October 28, 2025 at 1:03 AM
how am I just realizing that Mamdani's mother is Mira Nair?!?
Damn. Not even one response. Back in the day I woulda got at least 6 😔 if not much more.
Okay y'all, some friends got pretty bad news recently. please send/share 🎶 tunes to help — any genre: house, EDM, reggae, alternative, rock, indie, hip-hop, whatever. 🙏🏽 #music #community
October 26, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Damn. Not even one response. Back in the day I woulda got at least 6 😔 if not much more.
Reposted by themba
Stop hiring humans? Don't stop hiring humans? Make up your minds!
(Photos by me in San Francisco, October 25, 2025)
(Photos by me in San Francisco, October 25, 2025)
October 26, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Stop hiring humans? Don't stop hiring humans? Make up your minds!
(Photos by me in San Francisco, October 25, 2025)
(Photos by me in San Francisco, October 25, 2025)
Okay y'all, some friends got pretty bad news recently. please send/share 🎶 tunes to help — any genre: house, EDM, reggae, alternative, rock, indie, hip-hop, whatever. 🙏🏽 #music #community
October 23, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Okay y'all, some friends got pretty bad news recently. please send/share 🎶 tunes to help — any genre: house, EDM, reggae, alternative, rock, indie, hip-hop, whatever. 🙏🏽 #music #community
Reposted by themba
Writing up my thoughts on this into a long piece. The one thing that worries me is that large scale protests in competitive authoritarian regimes often precede authoritarian consolidation rather than a reversal of autocracy. Russia, Hungary, Turkey also saw large protests before backsliding further.
Can I ask, what did the No Kings protest actually accomplish? I mean, in real terms, what have these protests materially changed? I can't help but feel these one off protests are merely a heatsink for energy and anger rather than a path for meaningful change and disruption of the system.
October 22, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Writing up my thoughts on this into a long piece. The one thing that worries me is that large scale protests in competitive authoritarian regimes often precede authoritarian consolidation rather than a reversal of autocracy. Russia, Hungary, Turkey also saw large protests before backsliding further.
Dammit Apple. I never upgrade my OS because you always break ish. I just mistakenly/begrudgingly upgraded to Tahoe and now my music library is in shambles. JFC. WTF.
October 21, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Dammit Apple. I never upgrade my OS because you always break ish. I just mistakenly/begrudgingly upgraded to Tahoe and now my music library is in shambles. JFC. WTF.
Reposted by themba
Reposted by themba
For my friend's dissertation: Looking for Black girls between 10-24 years old to take a dissertation survey on positive messages they hear about themselves in general and in hip hop. Chance to win a gift card. 20-40 mins to complete. Please see the flyer for info! #Blackademics
October 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
For my friend's dissertation: Looking for Black girls between 10-24 years old to take a dissertation survey on positive messages they hear about themselves in general and in hip hop. Chance to win a gift card. 20-40 mins to complete. Please see the flyer for info! #Blackademics
