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alextheplaid.bsky.social

@alextheplaid.bsky.social
535 followers 1.5K following 187 posts

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Reposted by @alextheplaid.bsky.social
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
If you get a $3bn no-bid contract from Pete Hegseth for which you are not remotely qualified, part of the quid pro quo is taking to the airwaves to talk up Peter Hegseth. This is part of the pay-to-play system.
motherjones.com
Pete Hegseth's firing squad livestream has fans in the defense industry
Co-founders of Palantir and defense tech firm Anduril are defending "public and brutal" executions.
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
My probe into how local cops in Pa.'s York County teamed with ICE to bust 500-plus immigrants on busy highways, terrifying the Haitian community and shattering families over a busted headlight 287(g) has made York the worst place for immigrants in the eastern U.S. www.inquirer.com/opinion/york...
inquirer.com
How York County became the most dangerous place for immigrants in the eastern U.S. | Will Bunch
Local cops working with ICE in York County, Pa. have made hundreds of arrests, with many more afraid to leave home.
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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Really tired of repellent computer dweebs talking like they're hardened warriors
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Ireland against Fascism @irlagainstfascism.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Chants of 'Don't protect the women, we can fight. We don't need your fascist shite' rang out in Glasgow tonight. As anti-fascists, women's rights groups and trade unionists protested against 'patriot platform' and their supporters pushing their racist agenda in the city. Things you love to see ✊
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The latest issue of Brutus, a Japanese style magazine, is devoted to dogs. Features include menswear writer @wdavidmarx.bsky.social and his dog, tips on coordinating outfits with your dog, and guides to Japan’s best dog-friendly restaurants and parks.
Menswear writer David Marx is reading a book while his dog is standing in the foreground. A feature on how to coordinate outfits with your dog. A feature on places in Japan to take your dog, including parks, restaurants, and recreation centers. A feature on cafes, bookstores, and bars with resident dogs.
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 11/10/2026
And we’ve long passed it.
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Roy Edroso @edroso.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"Democrats may be discovering the political power of calling something rigged." Come on guys, even Politico sees it!! www.politico.com/news/2026/10...
politico.com
Democrats are making corruption messaging a pocketbook issue
Running against corruption is not new. But Democrats have turned the familiar attack into a broader message tied to voters’ economic pain.
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Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium @ptdefiancezoo.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Ice chips? Don’t mind if I do! 🧊🦭 Growing sea lion pup Owen is snacking on ice chips as he takes some early steps in the weaning process. These moments also help him build trust and a positive relationship with his animal care team. 📹: Animal care staff Kelsie
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Todd Woody @toddwoody.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
New: AI data centers’ indirect water use - water consumed by power plants to generate electricity for power-hungry server farms - is magnitudes larger than the facilities’ onsite water consumption and is largely undisclosed. Free link. With @mchediak.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
AI's Water Strain Includes Surging Demand From Electricity Use
It takes a lot of water to generate the power consumed by server farms.
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
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Lakota Man 🪶 @lakotaman.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
So, a Trump supporter told me that, “nobody gives a sh*t” about Indigenous Peoples Day. Please, tell me, do you care about Indigenous Peoples Day?
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 12/10/2026
"AI researchers are taking up smoking because they expect AI to cure cancer, says Palantir CTO"
businessinsider.com
AI researchers are taking up smoking because they expect AI to cure cancer, says Palantir CTO
Some AI believers expect the technology to make smoking-related health risks like cancer a thing of the past, Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said.
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Karen Elder @karenelder.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Self-correcting ... but not fast enough.
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Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
it would work for me www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ha...
wsj.com
Hardware Stores Have a Secret Weapon for Wooing Customers
Once hired purely for pest control, these employees are driving foot traffic and racking up thousands of viral views on social media
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
In honor of C**umbus Day, Artemis has decided to pose an acute risk to local, fragile ecosystems.
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Roy Edroso @edroso.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
The full weight of the fascist state is employed against Ilhan Omar and here's what Jonathan Chait is exercised about www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...
theatlantic.com
What Hasan Piker Believes
He’s right to complain that a few provocative quotes do not capture his worldview.
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alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
lest I give the impression that my kids are easy or reasonable, pls know that they begged to go to the pool this weekend & the 8yo got out after five minutes due to "crocodile feeling," which is the feeling that, despite the logistical challenges, there are crocodiles behind you
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I don’t care what the woke mob says I proudly celebrate Columbo Day
static.klipy.com
Columbo Detective
Alt: Columbo Detective just one more thing
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Reuters Legal @legal.reuters.com · 09/10/2026
Conservation groups sued the US government this week over plans to pave eastern Utah's Gate Canyon and build an oil truck highway. The project would destroy 100-foot cliffs with at least 47 historic sites, including 19th century inscriptions by Black American Buffalo Soldiers reut.rs/3Ugnsy8
reut.rs
US sued over plan to blast Utah canyon inscribed by 19th century 'Buffalo Soldiers,' European pioneers
Conservation groups sued the US government this week over plans to blast the cliff walls of an eastern Utah canyon and build an oil truck highway through an area covered in ​historic inscriptions and ...
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explore.org @explore.org · 09/10/2026
A little glimpses of Patches.
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I've been immersed in research on Reconstruction in Lousiana and it's a very difficult truth to absorb that the white terrorist movement in the South was among the most successful terrorist movements in global history. Took 10 years but it won a total & complete victory through murder and atrocity.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
🚨BREAKING: Federal court BLOCKS Dept. of Justice policy of collecting unredacted voter rolls, checking them against federal citizenship databases, and urging states to remove voters flagged as ineligible. www.democracydocket.com/cases/doj-na...
democracydocket.com
🚨 Common Cause v. U.S. Department of Justice
Learn more.
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DC Council @councilofdc.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This is clearly not acceptable
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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Yesterday afternoon, ICE agents — who did not present a warrant, and who appear to have been disguised as construction workers — fired 7 shots into a car with a 5-year-old child, hitting Oscar Belgal in the neck.
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This review of "Musk" is great because it gives me most of the important information without me needing to sit through 4 hours of listening to Musk. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/elon...
rogerebert.com
Musk review: Alex Gibney shows Elon, warts and all (mostly warts)
May be the most important film of the year.
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 09/10/2026
“You don’t know if they’re law enforcement officers or just attacking someone on the street. And when it comes to ice it begs the question, what’s the difference?”
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
You have disturbed this giant Bernese mountain dog’s sleep
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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
OOH. Ever since the National Maritime Museum installed their huge Ocean Map (the Spilhaus projection), I've been encouraging them to design matching ocean merchandise & here's a start: an A2 wall print & a 500 piece jigsaw. Ocean ppl, encourage more by buying these! 🌊🌊 shop.rmg.co.uk/collections/...
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
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Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Because art is associated with the feminine? Because, unlike sports, art is not primarily about dominance and hierarchy? Because art feeds our imagination of a better world, and that destabilizes existing hierarchies?
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 28/09/2026
New Horizons is now *three days away* from shutting off its two heliophysics instruments, simply because NASA has not provided the $2M in funding it had promised to the mission last year or this year. There is no science basis for shutting these off. Our earlier coverage:
science.org
NASA’s New Horizons mission may shut down two instruments over lack of funding
Decision risks “incalculable loss” of data from the edge of the Sun’s influence, scientists say
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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/09/2026
Read more about MySky, from @jonathanstray.com and @noupside.bsky.social: newpublic.substack.com/p/meet-the-a...
newpublic.substack.com
🎛️📲 Meet the algorithm you can actually control and understand
Jonathan Stray and Renée DiResta introduce MySky, a feed that shows its work
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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/09/2026
New_ Public’s @joshpkramer.bsky.social shows what it looks like to manually control your social media algorithm with @mysky.social, a new experimental feed project. Just like the 🍔👑 says… Have it your way!
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Celeste Headlee @celesteheadlee.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
So, Banksy bought a used yacht, repaired it and retrofitted it to serve as a rescue boat to save migrants in the central Mediterranean. The whole project cost the artist $860,000. Since 2020, the boat has saved more than 3,800 people. londondaily.com/banksy-funds...
londondaily.com
Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean - London Daily
Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authorities
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 24/09/2026
Just when I think I can’t hate OpenAI and Sam Altman any more, new details come out about how ChatGPT helped a shooter plan one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history in Tumbler Ridge, BC. OpenAI made an explicit decision not to report the user to authorities.
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I just read an AP article referring to Trump engaging in "high stakes talks" with Xi. Does anyone really think Trump is coherent enough to do any such thing? Plus, he's an idiot. Reupping: presswatchers.org/2026/09/dona...
presswatchers.org
Donald Trump is an idiot, and the mainstream press is covering up for him | Press Watch
He does incredibly stupid things and doesn’t understand basic concepts, for starters
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Bloomberg Opinion @opinion.bloomberg.com · 25/09/2026
Normalizing talk of annihilation in our nuclear age is neither normal nor limited to Trump, and it risks taking on a life of its own
bloom.bg
Make Threats of Annihilation Taboo Again
Visiting mixed villages in former Yugoslavia before it careened toward its violent breakup in 1992, I spoke to neighbors who dismissed the idea of a coming war as simply unimaginable. But as each tuned in to the increasingly nationalistic TV stations of their respective Serbian or Croatian capitals, they were bombarded by commentary posing as news that recalled historical wrongs and alleged plots for coming atrocities. Steeped in these bilious alternative realties, the neighbors stopped talking.
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Dave Krantz @weskrantz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
he thinks breakfast was insufficient
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Pip Wren @lollibeepop.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A joyous fat bear week to all 🐻
A painting of fat blobby bears
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (R) will face “legal consequences” after the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that his seizure of roughly 650,000 ballots violated state law. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
California Attorney General vows ‘legal consequences’ for GOP sheriff who seized ballots
The ballot seizure case highlights the risks to democracy when election deniers in positions of authority abuse their power to interfere with vote counting. Bianco seized an estimated 650,000 ballots ...
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alextheplaid.bsky.social @alextheplaid.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
An N.Y.U. Mathematician Clashed With OpenAI Over a $1 Million Proof www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/s...
nytimes.com
An N.Y.U. Mathematician Clashed With OpenAI Over a $1 Million Proof
Tristan Buckmaster was on the path toward an important proof when one of the A.I. giants used its staggering resources to get there first.
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Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I am suing the Attorney General of the United States. In my opinion, the judge in my case has been strategically laying the foundation for contempt.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Maybe the most important political story of our time. People just want the bullshit to stop.
gizmodo.com
71% of Americans Say They're Completely Exhausted
A CDC report shows that people are not feeling relaxed and restful in the United States.
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
That’s a big NOPE from me. If skimming a five page paper to find one numerical value is too hard for you, you shouldn’t be in science.
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Happy Constitution Day theonion.com/area-man-pas...
theonion.com
Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be
ESCONDIDO, CA—Spurred by an administration he believes to be guilty of numerous transgressions, self-described American patriot Kyle Mortensen, 47, is a vehement defender of ideas he seems to think ar...
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 17/09/2026
“A senior executive at Microsoft said A.I. systems built on the work of others will be seen as ‘an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions’ and possibly the greatest robbery of labor in human history, according to court documents unredacted Thursday in an ongoing Manhattan lawsuit.”
orlandosentinel.com
Docs in A.I. copyright suit reveal startling admission by Microsoft exec over ‘astonishing theft’
The admission appeared in a newly unredacted filing in the landmark copyright infringement legal battle playing out between newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and tech companies Microsoft and OpenAI...
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
great, more cats
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 16/09/2026
UK mathematician debunks myth around Parthenon’s optical illusions
theguardian.com
UK mathematician debunks myth around Parthenon’s optical illusions
Study challenges belief that temple’s curves were designed to correct optical illusions that would have ruined its clean lines A mathematician has uncovered what may be one of the longest-running myths in history after studying optical illusions and the Parthenon, the famed Greek temple that overlooks Athens. Scholars have marvelled at the building on the Acropolis hill for more than 2,000 years and heaped praise on its architects for their clever use of geometry. Its subtle curves are said to correct optical illusions that would have otherwise ruined the Parthenon’s clean lines. Continue reading...
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 16/09/2026
NBC helicopter crash in LA kills at least three people with others injured
theguardian.com
NBC helicopter crash in LA kills at least three people with others injured
Accident occurred as news crews in Los Angeles were covering a bus crash that had killed at least two people hours earlier A news helicopter crash in a Los Angeles neighborhood has killed at least three people, after it came to the ground and burst into flames near the site of a bus crash that occurred hours earlier. The helicopter crashed near a one-storey commercial building in the neighborhood of Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley, as news crews were covering the bus crash that left at least two people dead and six others injured, according the Los Angeles Fire Department. Continue reading...
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