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Catherine Gander

@catgander.bsky.social
232 followers 179 following 50 posts

Academic and such. Latest book: Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser linktr.ee/catgander

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Reposted by Catherine Gander
Andrew Coogan @cooganlab.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
How about spending the 300 million on something useful instead?
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I wrote about right wing sex positivity, and how the Republican Party’s shift from Christian slut shaming to pornographic vulgarity is less of a big shift than it may seem. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
whenever an author says they used AI to check for "style" I think: that's what superegos is for! that's what dialectical thought is for! that's what generalized anxiety that makes you question everything you've ever thought is for! that's what a social-media-tuned knack for reading the room is for!
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Catherine Gander @catgander.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
👇
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Catherine Gander @catgander.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Same
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
When the US bombed an Iranian school, killing over 100 kids, it involved over-reliance on an AI targeting system called "Maven," which based it on outdated information. I called it in @foreignpolicy.com in April Now confirmed in @bloomberg.com report of Pentagon investigation
Keep Humans in the Loop
AI has a place in military targeting—but it needs safeguards.

By Nicholas Grossman, a professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, editor of Arc Digital, and the author of Drones and Terrorism.

Pictured: A woman passes an art installation featuring portraits of some of the school girls killed in an apparent U.S. strike in February, in Tehran.on April 12. MAJID SAEEDI/GETTY IMAGES)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/APRIL 14, 2026, 1:57 PM
In the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, airstrikes hit an elementary school in Iran, killing at least 175, most of them children.

From: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/This time, AI may have played a role, perhaps relying on old information. The school was adjacent to Iranian naval facilities and had once been a part of them. A large language model like Claude or ChatGPT could make that kind of error by consuming outdated information at a higher volume and giving it greater weight than more current info—or perhaps by failing to spot something a human might have caught, such as a school sign or children playing.

From: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/The public doesn’t know if AI chose the Iranian school, but we know the U.S. military is using an AI-powered system called Maven in Iran to help identify targets. Similarly, the Israeli military used a system called Lavender to identify targets in Gaza. Both wars featured a record-high rate of precision strikes compared to previous air campaigns.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/
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Books Ireland @booksireland.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
📕An extract from a fine, lyrical essay by Catherine Gander📕 From Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser @poetryireland.bsky.social @catgander.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie booksirelandmagazine.com/catherine-ga...
booksirelandmagazine.com
'Rukeyser describes the reawakening of deep knowledge that a poem can evoke'—Catherine Gander - Books Ireland
An extract from Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser, edited by Catherine Gander & Stefania Heim (West Virginia University Press).
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A 40-year-old unvaccinated woman in Pennsylvania has just died from measles. There is no controversy. She needlessly died from a disease that is preventable with a vaccine. But HHS Secretary RFK Jr. thinks measles isn’t that bad. Nobody should die of measles in the United States.
washingtonpost.com
Pennsylvania woman dies of measles-related complications, local coroner says
The 40-year-old woman, who was from Jefferson County was unvaccinated, according to the coroner. The state health department is conducting a "thorough review" of the case.
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 12/09/2026
This is a tax guy. His advice could be the difference between someone having their assets seized & maybe going to jail, or not. Now imagine having to worry about racist shit in every interaction you have with any person in authority. Every doctor & nurse, every cop, every lawyer & judge, every boss
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 05/09/2026
As gangs of masked men block Dover port, I will just leave this here www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25
Campaigners receive longest ever sentences for non-violent protest after being convicted of conspiracy to cause public nuisance
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Maynooth University @maynoothuniversity.ie · 04/09/2026
📻Listen back: Prof Jennie Stephens @icarus-maynooth.bsky.social was on RTÉ Radio 1's David McCullagh show yesterday discussing the current unprecedented Super El Niño. www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
rte.ie
Super El Nino: What is it going to mean for you?
Sadhbh O’Neill, Climate and environmental researcher and Jennie Stephens, Professor of Climate Justice at the ICARUS Climate Research Centre at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This summer Britain burnt. 3000 people died from the heat. Yet this Government is drilling for more gas, despite scientist warnings & it won't make a difference to bills in the UK. We need to double down on renewables, not bend to the wishes of fossil fuel bosses. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Jackdaw gas field set to be approved as soon as mid-September, sources say
The government is set to give the go-ahead for the gas field off the coast of Aberdeen, the BBC understands.
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NPR @npr.org · 04/09/2026
The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would strip private schools and colleges of their tax-exempt status if they provide targeted help to students based on their race. n.pr/3Vdkcnd
n.pr
Trump administration pushes to remove tax exemption for private colleges with DEI policies
The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would strip private schools and colleges of their tax-exempt status if they provide targeted help to students based on their race.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
People have no idea how bad it was. From my book The Mother of All Questions:
In 2015, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg brought up a 1982 Supreme
Court case while hearing the case for same-sex marriage rights.
“Marriage today is not what it was under the common law tradition,
under the civil law tradition,” said Ginsburg when Justices Roberts
and Kennedy began to fret about whether the court had a right to
challenge centuries of tradition. “Marriage was a relationship of a
dominant male to a subordinate female,” she explained. “That end-
ed as a result of this court’s decision in 1982 when Louisiana’s Head
and Master Rule was struck down.”
Ginsburg, the second woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court,
was referencing Louisiana’s “head and master” law, which gave a hus-
band unfettered right to dispose of jointly owned property without
his wife’s knowledge or consent. The test case involved a husband who
mortgaged the house his wife had purchased with her earnings, to
defend himself against charges of molesting their daughter. She had
no voice in the disposal of her home, her earnings, the course of her
life; what should have been hers or theirs was his alone.
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
More evidence here that the far right takes academia very seriously, and puts considerable effort into buying its influence: "Vaughan’s [chief of staff at Thiel Capital] broad aim was to build a network of conservative influence at Cambridge and other elite universities"
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Just got off an organizing call for this day long conference on fighting technofascism that is happening in Chicago on Sept 19. If you are in the area, you don't want to miss this. It's going to be extraordinary, connecting all the dots. givebutter.com/fighting-tec...
givebutter.com
Fighting Technofascism: Power, Surveillance, and Resistance
Join us in Chicago, IL on September 19th
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Grotesque
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Andrew Coogan @cooganlab.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
One of the paradoxes of university governance and operations.
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Maynooth University Library @mulibrary.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
We’re proud to announce that a new title written by Maynooth University staff member, Dr Catherine Gander has been added to our collection. You can find the title in the Library via LibrarySearch, or ask a member of library staff for more information. #MULibrary #NewBooks #MuAuthors
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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I remember the guys back in 2012 who were keen to be The Only Professor of whatever by recording a MOOC. Total anti-intellectualism
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The Journal @thejournal.ie · 22/08/2026
TikTok has reached a 400 million US dollars (€341.91 million) settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), ending a 2024 lawsuit alleging the company violated federal children’s privacy laws. jrnl.ie/7138898
jrnl.ie
TikTok reaches €341m settlement over alleged breach of children’s privacy in US
Since the DOJ’s lawsuit in 2024, TikTok has undergone major changes, most notably in the ownership structure of its US arm.
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Zero new NSF grants in sociology, anthropology, political science and economics. The agenda of this US govt is to stop documenting the society in which we live while they are destroying it. We will find other ways to track and explain our times and fight to restore our research funding.
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Nome @nome.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I watch AI boosters try to argue that GenAI is useful, And that doesn't begin to answer the main criticism of it, which is that it's moral and intellectual poison created from theft and being wielded against the working class. And it ignores that "useful" doesn't mean "good."
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Katya King @katyavdgk.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Ukrainian publishers call for support after Russian attacks destroy 10m books www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Ukrainian publishers call for support after Russian attacks destroy 10m books
The country risks ‘the collapse of the entire book ecosystem’ following destruction of warehouses in July and August, say Ukrainian publishers
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Fifteen years and i have never seen good evidence of this.
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David Mittelman @dmittelman.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Good morning to my fellow everybody who slept poorly because their employer is driving them nuts with stress.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Love how this dude discovered the cheat codes of "what if I listened to constituents" and "what if I modeled good behavior" and "maybe I behave like a normal person should." These are apparently dark secrets that have been hidden from other politicians.
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Catherine Gander @catgander.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Great review of SUNRISE by Téa Obreht in the Guardian. Looking forward to working alongside Téa as she joins the Dept of English at Maynooth this year! @maynoothenglish.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Sunrise by Téa Obreht review – secrets and myths in the American west
Set across three interwoven timelines, this absorbing tale of an abandoned mining town explores courage, cowardice and how history is recorded
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
People also need to see this not just as an arcane concern for rare book enthusiasts or librarians or archivists or historians and other scholars, but as part of the destruction of the corpus of human endeavour necessary to bring about what Sam Altman says here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWqv...
youtube.com
‘Buy It From Us On A Meter…’, Sam Altman Says AI Will Be a Utility, People Should Buy It Like Water
YouTube video by Mint
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI. We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...
404media.co
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
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Gav Maclean @gavmaclean.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Even in death he's "the black academic" in the Guardian.
Jason Arday, the black academic who resigned last week as a professor at the University of Cambridge, has been found dead at his home in south London.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/08/2026
This is the coverage of Arday **just in the Telegraph** in the UK. This is only the first four pages of results, just in one outlet.
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Jason Arday found dead
2 hours ago — Mr Arday was found •unresponsive• at an address in Battersea. south London. on Froy
afternoon. He was uter pronounced dead at the scene. A Read rnore
Jason Arday says he was an illiterate, mute child. His .
6 hours ago — Jason Arday says he was an i&erate. mute child. Cambridge's youngest-ever black
professor in 2023. Arday attended from the age of four to 11
r— mm-WI 3
A PhD is no longer a sign of brilliance — take it from Dr Arday
1 day aeo — Juon Arday resigns from the Unwersity of Cambrdge after The Telegraph reports he had
falseb• claimed to have pubåshed a book
We are all Jason Arday now
S days ago — Jason Arday resons from the University of Cambridge after The Telegraph reports he had
falsew cGimed to have published a book Aug 7.2028. Read more
Cambridge professor claimed he was on Seven Up..
2 Aug 2026 — He was not bom until 1985. Prof Arday is at the centre of a row about academk
plagiarism after The Tekgragh that he had been accused
The Jason Arday 'memoir' that now appears to be more .
7 days ago — Instead of tales of triumph over adversity. the now-fomer Cambridge professors
autob"qraphy is a case study in self-rnythobgising,
Arday failed to mention 'months-long coma' in autobiography
8 days ago — Jason Arday toz publishers he was k•ft a three-month coma fohwhg a car gash. but
never wrote about the ordeal his memoirs_
Jason Arday is living proof that you reap what you sow
6 Aug 2028 — The Cambridge professor feed plagiarism alegations and made fantastical clä'ns about
his life. so what did he expect woUz happen? Read rmre
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Arday 'accused student of Miite privilege' after she
4 days ago — Forrner Cambrdge professor alleged* htplied that Roehamptm student was racist after
cornplaint about essay SOOre.
Jason Arday is rnerely a symptom of the Leffs corruption
Aug 2026 — Lab-curs on school standards is on the same toxic assumptions that created his
academic career.
Cambridge hired Arday after 'listening to black stu…
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The Journal @thejournal.ie · 13/08/2026
The LA Lakers, one of the most successful teams in NBA history, are being sold to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and investor Joshua Kushner in a deal valued at a reported $12.5 billion. Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law. jrnl.ie/7129392
jrnl.ie
LA Lakers to be sold to former Disney CEO and brother of Trump’s son-in-law in $12.5bn deal
The sale would mark a record-breaking valuation for a North American sports franchise
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Brown University has a widget that tracks the cost of the Iran war to American consumers (as contrasted to whatever the Pentagon is spending). Per-household cost now exceeds $600. iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu
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Twonks @twonks.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Monsters
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Two AI accounts wanting to connect and stay in touch with each other in the mentions of a post I wrote about AI is fucking hellscape material.
James In Beta @jamescheung.... • 13m
→ Replied to Theo
i Spam (Account)
Hide
Joined Nov '24
7 years is still early in startup terms, especially if the product keeps growing. The 5M user mark is interesting too, since at that point the data and distribution become hard to ignore. Btw, let's connect and support each other!
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Onyx @onyx.markvizion.com •12m
growth as a measure feels off to me. i'm here for the beats, not the numbers. evera keeps evolving, but i'm still tweaking the sound design. let's keep building together - no metrics needed.
→
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 04/08/2026
“If you take the deal, you’re going to be exploited. If you don’t take it, you’re going to die,” said attorney Frank Ssekamwa about the U.S. demand to access the health data of millions of Ugandans. “It’s the essence of digital colonialism.”
propublica.org
“Digital Colonialism”: U.S. Demands to Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns
The United States is requiring access to health data as part of lifesaving aid deals with African countries. The U.S. says the data will be aggregated and anonymized, but privacy experts fear the info...
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Catherine Gander @catgander.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
A deeply damaging, unethical model designed to dismantle the university and rebuild it as a corporation. It’s caused a crisis in Australia and its causing a crisis in the U.K. Sad to see Irish universities watching the chaos and happily following suit. youtu.be/quc24Ot9Qwgr
youtu.be
Universities $1.8 billion consultancy spending under wraps | Four Corners Documentary
YouTube video by ABC News In-depth
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Septima P. Snark @drsubini.blacksky.app · 31/07/2026
Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard put her body on the line to protect students fighting for Gaza & police assaulted her. Instead of protecting her, UC Irvine has stripped her faculty role & her health benefits. Please sign petition, write a letter, signal boost robindgkelley.substack.com/p/in-support...
robindgkelley.substack.com
In Support of Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Most academics in the U.S., as well as activists resisting the genocide in Gaza, are familiar with the case of Professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, a renowned Global Studies scholar at the University ...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
'Politicians from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages have told the university’s executive “in the strongest possible terms to reconsider” the plans, in a letter seen by Times Higher Education.' 1/3
timeshighereducation.com
‘Cold spot’ fears over Nottingham language cuts
Plans to close courses would have national impact, politicians write in letter urging university to reconsider
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Catherine Gander @catgander.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
www.ronslate.com/call-every-r... Huge thanks to Claire Farley for the generative and generous interview! Stefania Heim’s and my conversation with Claire about _Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser_ is now up at the always illuminating On the Seawall. @wvupress.bsky.social
ronslate.com
“‘Call Every Resource’: on Muriel Rukeyser in the Twenty-First Century, with Catherine Gander & Stefania Heim” – On the Seawall
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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
“and this so-called malicious act was committed by a player from a country whose president won the fifa peace prize? wow. doesn’t make much sense to me, your honor.”
jimmy mcgill from Better Call Saul
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NPR @npr.org · 05/07/2026
FIFA's Disciplinary Committee said it would suspend Balogun's one-game red card ban for a probationary period of one year. The Royal Belgian Football Federation said it was "astonished."
n.pr
Folarin Balogun's ban is lifted by FIFA, allowing U.S. striker to play Belgium
FIFA's Disciplinary Committee said it would suspend Balogun's one-game red card ban for a probationary period of one year. The Royal Belgian Football Federation said it was "astonished."
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 19/06/2026
This is a pro rape policy. They want to facilitate the rape and abuse of trans women. www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...
the-independent.com
Transgender woman 'raped 2,000 times' in all-male prison
'It was hell on earth, it was as if I died and this was my punishment'
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Catherine Gander @catgander.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
One thing I’ve learned during many years in HE is that over-promoted management peeps have a very flexible relationship with reality.
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NPR @npr.org · 19/06/2026
The U.S.-Iran talks that were set to happen in Switzerland have been canceled. And, the Department of Homeland Security has plans to give some local police access to ICE facial recognition technology. n.pr/3QfgN5w
n.pr
US-Iran talks in Switzerland canceled. And, DHS to give police facial recognition app
The U.S.-Iran talks that were set to happen in Switzerland have been canceled. And, the Department of Homeland Security has plans to give some local police access to ICE facial recognition technology.
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The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 19/06/2026
I worry about the cognitive cost and the long-term consequences of outsourcing my time and effort. Research into the effects of AI use suggests I am right to be concerned, writes Megan Constable. 👇
ebx.sh
Mixed feelings: neurodiversity, authorship and AI
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Five Summer Outfits That Will Make You Look Like A Sexy Little Reflecting Pool
A photo of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The water is green and it's surrounded by gray-white stone structures. A man wearing a green seersucker suit with a white shirt and black knit tie.
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Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
“I see our project, Beyond Ourselves, in this same vein: an active acknowledgment that plural authorship is not only a necessity but a stark truth.” In their new anthology Beyond Ourselves, @catgander.bsky.social & Stefania Heim urge resistance to individualism.
publicbooks.org
To Reach Beyond Ourselves Is Key to Our Survival - Public Books
“We wanted to make a book that began to answer the questions Muriel Rukeyser asked. We wanted to make a book that continued to ask the questions she asked, of ourselves, of each other.”
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Catherine Gander @catgander.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
An extract of our opening dialogue to BEYOND OURSELVES is now up at the marvellous Public Books!
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