Sign in

Barb the Birb

@barbthebirb.bsky.social
57 followers 85 following 101 posts

Bird & word nerd. Devotedly rhotic.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 10/10/2026
The argument against trains is that our cities are insufficiently dense to support trains, and that is certainly true for many cities at this moment. However, we should not be designing and zoning for this moment. We should be thinking about our infrastructure in thirty years.
743536
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 10/10/2026
Here is my pitch for anyone who has worries about rail: I think that building out rail is a necessary (but not sufficient) step in transforming American cities from totally car dependent to slightly walkable, in a way that no other form of transit is.
231481204
Reposted by Barb the Birb
McNutcase @mcnutcase.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yeah, that question is a dog whistle and I'm not taking my browser history into those seas.
031
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Adrienne @adrienneleigh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Hey, folks, this quiz that's circulating? The guy who made it is Emil Kirkegaard, a pretty prominent "race-realist" aka white supremacist who's also virulently misogynist. I really recommend not giving it any of your attention.
918385
Reposted by Barb the Birb
bleddwgan🦑 @radekllundain.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
They're doing Loserstrata
163
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Laura Chapin @laurachapin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It is illegal for Trump to print money with his face on it. It is illegal *and unconstitutional* for the USPS to decide who gets mail, including mail ballots. These are not 'critics say'. These are objective facts. News organizations need to say so. Their JOB is to state facts.
651578528
Reposted by Barb the Birb
4fuxake @blueheartedly1.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
School meals should be free for everybody. Charging children to eat somewhere they are legally required to be for the entire day is crazy.
308104022095
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The LIST of actors telling us they do not give a SHIT abt the lives, safety, personhood, dignity of human beings that this woman is trying to legislate out of existence* because a tiny bit more fame and a bigger paycheck matter more whew *yes that's genocide **trans people will always exist
10509153
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Hoping for the Indigenous woman trifecta in November: Gov. Deb Haaland seems a sure thing here in blue New Mexico, but sending Peggy Flanagan and Mary Peltola to the senate (which has never had a Native woman senator) would be amazing.
641564
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
They could always sign up to give comment at a public meeting.
325414890
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Russ The Tedious Ghost @russ41.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Wild what powerful people will just straight-up say on the record.
“Twenty or 30 years ago, real estate in New York City could single-handedly stop something or make something happen,” said James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York and one of the board members who was dismissed from the Mayor’s Fund. But
223053
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 05/08/2026
This is so beautiful.
735728
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Aaron Meyers @aaronmeyers.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
"Today is August 4, 2026" There Will Come Soft Rains By: Ray Bradbury
231545898
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Imperialism story: 1st c. CE, a Celtic (Catuvellauni) chieftain named probably Karadeg (Recorded as Caratacus) resisted the Romans for almost a decade, was ultimately defeated was dragged to Rome where he said: "You who have got such possessions & so many of them, still covet our poor huts?"
12481104
Reposted by Barb the Birb
DENVER’S FUCKING WEATHER @denversweather.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 💀💀 96° AT 6 P.M. 💀💀 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
3278
Reposted by Barb the Birb
ShellsTheMerryZionist @stayscathed.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Many get upset when you post about things like the Red Sox getting their 13th straight win. 💛🩵 & who could blame them. The world is burning and no one’s stopping it. But in order to fight you have to have a reason to fight & the reason is going to have to be that there’s still much to live for.
162
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Any kind of person can be "authentic" because it's not any one type, trait or way of being. It simply means you are who you appear. But, instead, "authentic" became the new way to say what consultants always have: we need a white guy folks want a beer with. Is there anything more status quo?
2278
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
A San Francisco cable car ys the weirdest combinacioun of a benche, a litel house, a carriage, and a machyne to induce fear of heightes
41519
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Phil PlAIt @philplait.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
The opposite of doomscrolling is moodscrolling
624722
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
In my experience, scholars of a particular historical period are the LEAST uptight about "accuracy" in fictional representations of their period, which is why, as a medievalist, I can assure you that A Knight's Tale is the greatest movie set in medieval England that has ever been made.
531713305
Barb the Birb @barbthebirb.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Oh shozbot. RIP to-do list.
000
Reposted by Barb the Birb
19thnews @19thnews.org · 06/07/2026
We cannot know what the Black woman on the train was thinking or feeling at this moment. But we recognize the image as an indictment. It should make all of us pause to consider what it is that we are celebrating as America turns 250. The latest from @errinhaines.bsky.social:
19thnews.org
The Black woman on the train did not look away. How much longer will we?
A viral photo from July 4 captured an unidentified Black woman’s composure amid a sea of masked white men — and became a mirror for our democracy at 250.
48632
Reposted by Barb the Birb
mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
12855841231
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Rep. Dr. Jasmine Clark @jasmineclarkforga.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
When I head to Washington, I will be the first woman in Congress with a science PhD. That matters. At a time when science is under attack, Congress needs more leaders who understand the value of evidence-based decision-making.
274121822584
Barb the Birb @barbthebirb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
12:04 pm MDT. If you are in a position to go outside and look east, roughly 45° up in CO, and if you can find the faint crescent moon, look underneath less than a pinky width. You just might be able to pick out a white dot. That's Venus. It's going to pass behind the moon.
100
Reposted by Barb the Birb
HAD @havehashad.com · 16/06/2026
"Sexual Orientation • Heterosexual • Homosexual • Okay, so it’s 1999 and The Mummy is in theaters and everyone is falling in love with men and women and eyeliner as thick as the lid of a sarcophagus..." today from Frances Klein! www.havehashad.com/lk1uf
June 16, 2026
Demographics
Frances Klein
Sexual Orientation (select one)

Heterosexual
Homosexual
Okay, so it’s 1999 and The Mummy is in theaters and everyone is falling in love with men and women and eyeliner as thick as the lid of a sarcophagus and all the teens are doodling on their notebooks in loopy cursive, Mr. Rachel Weisz’s Belted Tanktop, and Mrs. Brendan Fraser’s Center-Part Bangs, and Arnold Vosloo’s Shaved Head and the small towns of America aren’t so small when you sit in the dark with desert stretching past the horizon, and we all see the movie every weekend, tickets are cheap if you smuggle in your own snacks, cargo pants pockets stuffed with Skittles, and the ticket taker doesn’t notice because he’s making eyes at the cardboard cutout of Brendan, we all are, we all want to be all four lips and two tongues inside the big kiss at the end, want to be every locust buzzing out of Imhotep’s unhinged jaws, we have no words for what we feel, know only that something inside us h
113654
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Modern Language Association @modernlanguage.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
A functional democracy depends on its participants being able to understand the operations of their government. In honor of the 250th anniversary of the US's founding, we've published five essays about the interpretative skills required of participants in a democracy. style.mla.org/the-mla-demo...
style.mla.org
The MLA Democracy Project: Essays on Teaching Democracy and Literature | MLA Style Center
A functional democracy depends on its participants being able to understand the operations of their government. The knowledge and skills that come from MLA disciplines–language, literature, writing, a...
05635
Reposted by Barb the Birb
David Seligman for Colorado Attorney General @seligmanforag.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
I miss my dad already.
2101
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 26/05/2026
I'm so fucking furious. So, here's my podcast in a podcast app, which now has this nice "show transcript" button Perhaps it's taking you to our free, high quality transcripts that we PAY A HUMAN to make? Absolutely not. 🧵
Lingthusiasm podcast in a podcast app
Episode 116: Cross-cultural communication (in space!)
Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics 
Play, mark played, playlist buttons 
A prominently displayed "view transcript" banner with the "AI sparkles"
Description: 
Sometimes, you're talking with someone and you just seem to click. Other times, you just can't seem to get comfortable: they're standing too close or too far away for comfort, making too much or too little eye contact, touching or not touching you in a way that just doesn't quite feel right. But where do our senses of what feels comfortable in a conversation come from, and how can they be so different from each other?
17826287
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin @ecmclaughlin.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This photo of Andy Kim in the moments before ICE gassed everyone at Delaney Hall is going into the history books. We need more of this from our electeds.
Senator Andy Kim runs into the street as an ICE armored vehicle behind him prepares to deploy chemical agents against protestors in front of Delaney Hall concentration camp in Newark, NJ. His hands are outstretched and he appears to be shouting.
190111133610
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Mina Li (she/her) @codenameminali.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
in support of this post, alt text so everyone can see how much of a badass Senator Kim is: "I ran up and put myself between the ICE officers and the crowd, and that's when they started to shoot at us with the pepper balls--as well as using the pepper spray--and were tackling people."
1918330
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Ryan (Ry) Warner @ryanhasaquestion.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
They revived this WWI slogan during COVID. I picked it up at a garage sale today. I find the message timeless.
The pennant says “Together We Will See It Through”
3667
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Star Trek Minus Context @nocontexttrek1.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Star Trek The Next Generation scene. We're in an older earth looking home with some antiquey lamps in the background and a bookcase. From the center, sitting with hands on lamp looking wistfully down as if lost and thought is Dr Beverly Crusher. She's in her blue uniform which here looks teal but we know. It's blue. There's another standing near her but mostly off camera. Closed caption reads, "Nana always kept it lit."
413080734
Reposted by Barb the Birb
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22/05/2026
One wonders how propaganda fares against the "Don't Engage, Just Block" ethos here. I imagine fairly poorly.
2551666
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Jeff Bezos havinge opiniouns on the economye ys lyke a pickpocket havinge opiniouns on pants
333189
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Burton’s Sleepy Hollow is a great rated R horror movie for kids @jdvdub.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
“Your empathy and ambition are weaknesses, humanity is irrelevant, you will service the machine.” I think it went great guys, thanks so much for the opportunity to share my perspective!
42795
Reposted by Barb the Birb
lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 17/05/2026
if i was going to give a college commencement speech i would make sure to start with something the students could rally behind. something like "we will mechanically suck the youth from your bones to feed a mechanical eschaton, which my generation will use to climb heaven and become new gods"
6856111067
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 14/05/2026
Someone telling you that you have to abandon tools of the trade just because AI picked it up does not have your best interests at heart.
525132
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Sarah Hörst @planetdr.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I was just contacted by a reporter asking for comment about the whole Pluto planet thing. Hanging on by a thread over here.
Honestly, I understand why you all are doing this because it is flashy- but we are struggling with existential issues in planetary science in the US right now and I'm really not interested in talking about this. If you want to write about any of that I would be happy to talk.
152002274
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame. -W. H. Auden
211825
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Doomerism & Denialism are two sides of the same obstructionist coin Have the self-respect to not do the dirty work of propaganda enabling the greedy fucks who want to profit from our suffering. Refuse their insidious manipulations It’s ok to not fight every battle But don’t fight to make it worse
14212
Barb the Birb @barbthebirb.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
@dannybate.bsky.social a little something interesting www.kunc.org/podcast/inth...
kunc.org
How a CU professor is helping to preserve the Arapaho language
The Arapaho language is at risk of disappearing, as fewer members of the tribe have learned to speak it. But a team of language experts at CU Boulder is working to preserve the Arapaho language – and ...
110
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Another symbol I learned today that I should have known: opposition folks cut circular holes in the middle of the Hungarian flag in a reference to the 1956 uprising, when protestors cut the red Communist star out of the flag
513739
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.com · 12/04/2026
So much of the etymologist's and lexicographer's job involves telling people that certain everyday words aren't originally acronyms – the exception to the rule being 'flak' (as in 'receiving a lot of flak'), from German Fliegerabwehrkanone.
86411
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I never ever want to hear one more word about how linguists who don’t worship this man are somehow inferior scholars. I always knew he was anti-black because of the way he talked about sociolinguistics; he’s consistently argued that considering what actual human beings do is a waste of time.
5609
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Thinkinge of askinge Chat GPT a questioun about your plannes, thoughtes, ideas? Trye a tarot deck ynstead. Cheaper, bettir for the environment, bettir resultes, not evil.
311391392
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Rep. Jason Crow @crow.house.gov · 20/01/2026
It’s insane how out of touch this administration is. Folks can’t afford to buy one damn home, let alone 12. Here’s an idea—let’s stop the foreign adventurism and end tax breaks for billionaires.
54700198
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
It was the Dunning of tymes. It was the Kruger of tymes.
440586
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Suz @suzspetals.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Sat next to a guy at a bar (in AZ) who said Denver would riot if we lost such a close game. I laughed. Denver fans are the best. We’re used to being an underdog and losing tough games. We cry in our beer and say “next year.” He conceded my point. #GoBroncos
011
Reposted by Barb the Birb
Prof. Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Do you know Zoom & other companies are encouraging discrimination against employees for things like "pausing too long" or not sounding sufficiently "charismatic"? Read all about our dystopian present in my new paper, out today in JASA! (Seriously, read it. It's important) doi.org/10.1121/10.0...
doi.org
Socially prescriptive speech technologies: Linguistic, technical, and ethical issues
Speech technology tools can be powerful and transformative for individuals, businesses, and governments. Socially prescriptive speech technology (SPST) systems
419672