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Amy van der Hiel

@amyvdh.bsky.social
365 followers 122 following 490 posts

she/her (not a work account)

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Amy van der Hiel
Mel Buer @melbuer.bsky.social · 3h
Dark(er) times ahead, folks.
"It looks dangerously like the construction of an internal spying agency," said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, who has written extensively, on immigration agencies' mass surveillance. "It's a nightmare in the making."
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 08/10/2026
we have a policy for the use of genAI at the @aial.ie. we reflect on values key to scientific integrity, such as replicability, and err on the side of not using it blogpost: aial.ie/blog/gen-ai-... pdf: zenodo.org/records/2322...
A flowchart that guides reflective thinking around generative AI in the context of research. It highlights key, interconnected values underpinning scientific integrity, alongside practical and wider socio-political considerations when deciding whether to use generative AI for research.
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 01/10/2026
CEO compensation has increased 1,316% since 1978. And worker compensation? Just 28%. The system is rigged. We need to start taxing the rich so they pay their fair share.
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manic kirby dream land @loggingintoday.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
i would like for these people to go to jail. I would like for “i want these people in jail” to be a viable election strategy.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 27/09/2026
reading this, it does seem as if “rationalism” is an elaborate intellectual architecture designed primarily to support the idea that if you were born white, male and clever then you are the genetic elite and entitled to rule.
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Karla Ortiz @kortizart.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“An astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions” and the “largest theft of labor in human history” is what a Microsoft executive privately said about GenAi as shown in newly unsealed court filings. And these court filings get worse. These execs knew all along the immense theft they committed.
404media.co
‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft
"Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions."
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
gently tormenting a GenAlpha colleague, who I actually quite like, by sharing fairly GenX style memes with her Is there a word for pleasure in subjecting the youth to cringe?
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Reposted by Amy van der Hiel
Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 16/09/2026
Today, I'm calling to immediately press pause on the development of advanced AI while lawmakers and regulators put systems in place to keep people safe.
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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
“The logical response to material deprivation is to hate ethnic and sexual minorities“ - no, it’s not, it’s a choice! And to call it bigotry is not “name-calling”. It’s factual. These voters have agency. Let’s not patronise them by claiming that they don’t.
Interviewee on DW News saying “I’m not a Nazi or anything like that but”
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AnnieD @anniedemoranville.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Here you go...this should help you start the work week. youtu.be/yf0Amcgxot8
youtu.be
Tubthumping - They Might Be Giants & The AV Club Chorus
YouTube video by ParticleMen
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Josh Moretto @joshmoretto.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Art by @reforest-kelley.bsky.social. A reminder for Labor Day.
Fan art of Chief Miles O'Brien, Leeta, and Rom from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The three are seated in Quark's bar. Miles is explaining something to the other two. The upper caption reads, "The boss needs you, you don't need the boss"; the lower caption reads, "Labor is entitled to all it creates".
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FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Mayor Mamdani announces a ban on generative AI in schools through 8th grade: AI is not going to replace student-teacher interaction in NYC public schools. We have also heard the importance of protecting childhood—allowing students the opportunity to ask questions, to engage, to fail, to learn.
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
a mail header: “Everyone is talking about us but no one is talking to us” really got me today. Friends, would you also be willing to donate to the Trans Lifeline today to provide life-affirming, consent-based care to trans and non-binary people in need? give.translifeline.org/campaign/839...
us.list-manage.com
Donate to Gender-affirming care is Suicide Prevention | Trans Lifeline
Show your support for Trans Lifeline’s life-sustaining work during Suicide Prevention Month - give.translifeline.org/SuicidePreventionMonth2026
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 02/09/2026
👏🏾👏🏾 techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/m...
techcrunch.com
MapQuest's app surges to No. 1 in Navigation after refusing to rename Lake Ontario | TechCrunch
MapQuest is getting an unexpected boost from its decision to defy President Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario.
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Without saying how old you are, what is your favorite movie that came out when you were 20 years old?
Denzel Washington wearing sunglasses, driving a jeep, from “The Mighty Quinn”
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Paul @pawlbologna.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Seth Moulton wanted a debate over trans rights and he got one.
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Aliza Adi (she/her) @alizaadi.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
“To every trans kid/person, You are a part of MY community & tribe” “You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are. & you will always be protected by me” - Natasha Cloud
huffpost.com
'To Every Trans Kid/Person': WNBA Star Speaks Out After Confrontation With Former NBA Player
Cloud’s post arrives after her heated exchange with Enes Kanter Freedom, whose anti-trans activism has reportedly been dismissed as a “publicity stunt” by the WNBA.
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Katherine Alejandra Cross @quinnae.com · 26/08/2026
They remind us that such things are possible. And to honour them, we should believe in ourselves, in humanity writ large, as much as they did. For I will not stain their memories by saying they were wrong about us. That faith is the gift that people like Dolly Parton and Fred Rogers leave behind.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Real talk, all of this right now (in the U.S. anyway) is mostly about the fact that some people eked out the power to say, “no” and some other people lost their entitled minds over it.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23/08/2026
here is the thing. if you tell me that you believe that race is a biological category and that it is a guide to the objective superiority and inferiority of groups of people, i am not calling you a racist to *insult* you, i am calling you a racist because it best describes your beliefs.
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molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
the guy who said he wanted to chair the harvard department of eugenics and race science??? people are signing a letter in support of his right to bully black men to death in pursuit of his dream of eliminating black people entirely?? just making sure i’m reading this right!!
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 21/08/2026
Cofnas is not "an outspoken critic of DEI". he is an outspoken racist and a vile human being. any academic institute that harbors him is complicit in his racism and makes academia a hostile place for the rest of us
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SwiftOnSecurity @swiftonsecurity.com · 19/08/2026
Why is the Cat Screaming?
1. Why wouldn't the cat scream
2. If you were smart, you'd be doing the same thing
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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Occasional reminder that the Trump administration refuses to publicly disclose or tell Congress what is happening with Venezuela’s oil revenues.
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health." ysph.yale.edu/news-article...
ysph.yale.edu
Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects
A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
had my first sip of a La Croix and the memes and jokes about the taste don’t even begin to cover it. Ok, it’s water, but at what cost?
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Tom Scott @tomscott.name · 13/08/2026
I’ve written a thing about our recent trip around Namibia. Not really a travel log, more of an essay about landscape and time. tomscott.name/2026/08/13/t...
tomscott.name
The shape of time
Southern Namibia felt ancient and monumental, shaped by forces acting over spans of time that are difficult to comprehend. Further north, the abundance of Etosha surprised me by making the landscape f...
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It carried many sneering names over the decades: 'political correctness,' 'women's lib,' 'the gay agenda,' 'multiculturalism,' 'critical race theory,' among other things. Every single one was a weapon to denigrate the project of building a more inclusive America. That's it, that's the whole story.
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I'll go another step further: the research shows that BLM protests causally shifted Americans' racial attitudes leftward and helped Democrats in the 2020 election link.springer.com/article/10.1...
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REwadent Evil @ewacat.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
my theory is that classic hand-drawn stars have several points because many, many people over the millennia have had astigmatism and drew the stars as they saw them. my basis for this: my own astigmatism and being amazed when i had my first pair of proper glasses and realised they were just dots
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Katherine Alejandra Cross @quinnae.com · 09/08/2026
The insane thing about this take is that we're plagued by the opposite problem: too many people listening to shit on their phones *without* headphones. I do not want to hear your TikTok or your phonecall. Grow up, buy headphones and leave us the hell alone.
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ACLU of Massachusetts @aclum.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Say it loud, say it clear: IMMIGRANTS ARE WELCOME HERE. PROTECT Act is now a law which seeks to curtail the federal government’s brutal immigration enforcement activities, protect due process, and limit local agencies’ cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Cream yellow and red graphic that reads a quote from Carol Rose, Executive Director at ACLU Massachusetts on the signing of the PROTECT Act.
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Katherine Alejandra Cross @quinnae.com · 04/08/2026
I intend to write more thoroughly about this soon, but the fad for social media child bans should be resolutely resisted at all costs. There are genuine public health concerns about social media, yes. But unlike smoking, it has genuinely salubrious effects as well--including for teens.
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Katherine Alejandra Cross @quinnae.com · 04/08/2026
These bans are ineffective for their stated purpose, but they *do* empower states to create ugly architectures of surveillance and control. This will not solve the problems that lead social media to be a festering malignancy on democracy, it just erodes our freedoms for no discernible gain.
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 30/07/2026
this
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ACLU of Massachusetts @aclum.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
VICTORY: The PROTECT Act is now headed to the Governor's desk. Massachusetts lawmakers have sent a message to the Trump administration: We will not stand idly by while ICE agents tear apart families and terrorize our communities. Thank you to every lawmaker fighting to keep our communities safe.
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
film you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. hard mode: no star trek, star wars, lotr, marvel, disney or ghibli
static.klipy.com
Gomez & Morticia Addams: Unimpressed Holiday Mood
Alt: Raul Julia as Gomez & Angelic Houston as Morticia Addams: unimpressed in a school play audience
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pistachiOoOoOo 👻👻👻 @streetlightlily.horntforgood.com · 31/01/2026
You don’t want hands free driving, you want trains. You want trains you want trains you want TRAINS
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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Never. And it was BECAUSE it was such a good organizing tool. Labor movements, BLM, Arab Spring, #MeToo? All because of Twitter. He wanted (I continue to believe) to break solidarity and communication and he did, very effectively. (or maybe it was just ego + foolishness. Maybe.)
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Shepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Never let someone tell you that you must excuse owning enslaved people or participating in killing Native people because someone was "of their time". Silas Soule was of the same time.
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Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Transphobes are uniformly trash and we don't need to pretend otherwise. It isn't complicated.
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ACLU of Massachusetts @aclum.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Right now, Big Tech lobbyists are working overtime behind the scenes to block enforceable data privacy protections from becoming law in Massachusetts. Tell lawmakers: Stand up to Big Tech! action.aclu.org/send-message...
Tell your lawmakers: Protect us from Big Tech. Massachusetts needs strong, enforceable privacy law.
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I'm ethically opposed to AI. With exceptions like translation or some accessibility tools, I also doubt whether any output is worth the errors, cost, de-skilling and, with wildfires and deadly heatwaves, ecological impact I am sad, however, that this seems to make me a difficult person at work
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
the sky looks yellow today - eerie 🟨
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molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
despair is not a synonym for political clarity!! yes! it’s cool to care, it’s not cringe to dream. be realistic when you talk logistics but believe in impossible beautiful futures the rest of the time! we can all take turns being hopeful, you don’t have to do it full time. but you do have to try.
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Momo @heyheymomo.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Encounter
4 panel black and white lined comic. Simple and messy drawings. 
Panel 1: a man sees a cat. He says “hello small cat”
Panel 2. The cat replies “how may I help you?”
Panel 3: the man says “just you be you” and the cat replies “ok”
Panel 4: the man continues his walk. He just goes “thanks babe”
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molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
professors of bluesky, if you can get me login credentials for online access to the gale political extremism database, I will do anything. I'll speak to your students every semester until I die. I will personally mentor your weirdest grad student. idk. I really miss my unlimited uva library access.
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Amy van der Hiel @amyvdh.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
AI Compass test. I'm "Union Organizer” "AI is a real tool being used to extract real labor value from real people without paying them….you care about the artists, writers, and workers getting strip-mined by capital. You're not anti-technology. You're anti-theft” bambamramfan.github.io/ai-compass/
placement on a scatter graph at the bottom of the”bad” and “overhyped” sides of the grid, away from “transformative” and “good"
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Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
At the human level, the World Cup is beautiful snackstack.net/2026/06/29/t...
Have you seen the photos and videos of Lawrence, Kansas welcoming the Algerian World Cup team and its fans? I should have known that a Midwest college town could step up like that but, well, I didn't. There's the old Kansas guy who made an Algerian flag the size of a field. The University of Kansas marching band showing up at training sessions to play the Algerian national anthem. The partying when Algeria beat Jordan in their second game. The mayor trying harissa. The chamber of commerce (!). posting wild scenes from a watch party in a blocked-off street. The random Kansans yelling "inshallah Algeria wins tonight” or wearing Riyad Mahrez jerseys and tearing up while they talk about their pride in hosting this team.“We’re so happy they came here to be part of this community,” the mustachioed man in that last video says. I want to print that up and put it in every classroom and public space as an aspirational, neighborly ethos to replace the Pledge of Allegiance.
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