Sign in

C.M.Pettitt

@cmpettitt.bsky.social
869 followers 801 following 2K posts

Californian. Interests: history, especially military history; journalism/politics/muckraking; technology; books; growing aggressive native plants to combat aggressive non-native plants. Also: fuck the gender police.

PostsRepliesMedia
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 1m
Have been reading @karenhao.bsky.social's excellent "Empire of AI" and what I've gathered is AI job automation isn't the main hell. The hell is AI already being used for global worker super exploitation and surveillance on a level an 1830s piecework factory boss could only dream of.
000
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 7h
A commenter on an IG post about specific AI annihilation scenarios said, “it's very irresponsible to post this story on the internet where AI can see it.“ 😂
2835
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Tara O’Connor @taraocomics.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What the fuck, Joyce. I don’t even read romance novels but this kind of thinking pisses me the fuck off. It further pushes that mentality that some books as “lesser” which is bullshit! All books count!
Joyce Carol Oates 
This is why Al-generated romance novels make perfect sense. Formulaic fiction doesn't need to be written by hand, so to speak; what difference does it make if a machine "writes" it? There are machine-made clothes & there are custom-made clothes. They appeal to different consumers.
1421654214
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Garth Marenghi's Catbus @catbus.phd · 30/09/2026
when u run out of olive oil but just spent your last twenty bucks putting three gallons of gas in your car
3816
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Jacobin @jacobinmag.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Amazon has long been synonymous with workplace surveillance. With the introduction of “smart delivery glasses,” the logistics giant may soon ensure that not a moment of its drivers’ time on the clock will go unwatched.
jacobin.com
Amazon Is Perfecting Total Surveillance of Its Workforce
Amazon has long been synonymous with workplace surveillance. With the introduction of “smart delivery glasses,” the logistics giant may soon ensure that not a moment of its drivers’ time on the clock will go unwatched.
22615
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When you're an old tech person and an even older non-tech person sends you an image: imagejpeg_0(1).jpg
010
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
American Library Association @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Works Progress Administration was created in May 1935 as part of the New Deal to provide jobs to the unemployed during the Great Depression. One of the WPA’s most idealistic goals was to send books and librarians to areas where there were none. Read more: bit.ly/4hkgtNC #ALA150
Sepia tone photo of factory workers standing around a rolling book cart at the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio, circa 1915. Text over photo reads "Libraries During the Great Depression". American Library Association logo
06430
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Cecil @milonsecretcastle.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The idea that cats yearn for Outside because it is essential to their wellbeing is such wild projection and it bugs me. Cats also yearn to be in the bathroom when I am pooping and to be given anything i ever dare to pick up in the kitchen, even when it is a knife or some asprin
1576
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Tim Osborne Photography 🍁 @timosborne.ca · 27/09/2026
From @atlanticbirding.bsky.social, today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Seabirds; any bird found at sea or the coast. Here's an Atlantic Puffin on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. #birds #puffin
A puffin with wings outstretched, standing on rock along the edge of a cliff. The ocean can be seen in the background.
218014
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
nancy 🦋✨ @nancyk5.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Anok Yai closing for Ferragamo Spring 2027 #fashionsky
313743
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
so called free thinkers when mommy takes the warm soft sheets out of the dryer
orange cat asleep under a navy blue pillowcase
283460302
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It's Sunday, the traditional day to stealthily unfollow accounts you finally notice never add alt-txt to images.
010
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
So much of what we are confronting today is best understood by the actions undertaken by white communities in response to integration orders. White supremacy is a form of democratic nihilism. Every institution, norm, and value of democracy will be sacrificed for it. calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...
calendar.eji.org
Sep. 27, 1958 | White Little Rock Voters Choose to Close Public Schools Rather Than Integrate
Learn more about our history of racial injustice
251142437
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Accessibility Awareness @a11yawareness.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The same image can be used in multiple contexts and need to have different alt text in each instance. As Sheri Byrne-Haber points out in this blog post, context is a critical aspect of alt text that many people miss. www.sheribyrnehaber.com/context-is-t...
sheribyrnehaber.com
Context is the most critical aspect of alt-text everyone seems to miss - Sheri Byrne-Haber's Blog
This is the article I SWORE I would never write. But I have a different perspective on alt-text than most accessibility managers, so I decided to share it.
0179
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Damn, these new trains are NIIIICE.
Coach seats on AiroBusiness class seatsBike rackDigital display showing which seats are available
1131224
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 26/09/2026
omg I got DOZENS of crows in front of the Moon, mostly like this shot. can't wait to go home and find the best one. tho. I can. because I need to buy some broth first. 🪶 🐦‍⬛
a crow flying in front of the full moon, which is out of focus
1243981
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
All hail the neighbors. #halloween
Along a sidewalk is a huge display of ceramic, resin, and plastic jack'o'lanterns in every conceivable style anchored by a full-size black robed figure with a grinning sharp-toothed pumpkinhead.A doleful black-robed and hooded figure with a raven's head holds a lantern. In the background is a spooky selection of white driftwood, rocks, black bird figures, cobwebs, and bones.
A tall arch made of pumpkin art surrounds a scary scarecrow with corn straw protruding from its sleeves. The scarecrow's face is wizened flesh. More corn straw and pumpkin art covers the ground.
Another view of the full-size spooky raven personage with a foot tall raven figure in the foreground. A bedraggled tree made of white driftwood is festooned with bird figures and bird cages.
131
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Dr. Heather Hinam 🍁 🇨🇦 @secondnaturemb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Sunrise song. You'll want the volume up for this one, but not too high. Every coyote within a half kilometre radius decided to make themselves known this morning while I was enjoying the sunrise from the kayak. A truly magical moment. #mammals 🌿
42556151
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is awesome
abc.net.au
Pumpkin mosaic of David Attenborough breaks world record
A British farm used more than 10,000 pumpkins and squashes to create a portrait to celebrate the 100th birthday of Britain's most famous naturalist.
10449102
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Mashable @mashable.com · 23/09/2026
Netflix's new reality show "Wonka's Golden Ticket" uses AI Gene Wilder as its host. The beloved comedian passed away in 2016, but his voice lives on in AI form. At least Netflix didn't use AI to create the new Oompa Loompas. What do you think of this AI resurrection? Let us know in the comments 👇
bit.ly
'Wonka’s Golden Ticket' on Netflix: How it uses AI Gene Wilder
The Oompa Loompas are back as well.
3673910
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
FrontRangeWildflowers @frwildflowers.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Two years ago today 🌿 Monarch Pass aspen
Yellow and orange aspen leaves
211613
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Georgia’s second-largest school district has abruptly banned Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” from school library shelves
gpb.org
Georgia school system abruptly bans Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’
Georgia’s second-largest school district is once again at the center of a political controversy over the appropriateness of school materials.
43511284
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Any AI news story starting off with "rogue" or "swarm" remains unread. There is no rogue AI; there is bad security. There is no AI swarm; computer programs contain many instructions, some repeating by design.
022
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Cool Bike Art @coolbikeart1.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
"She Bought a Bicycle and Bloomers Instead of the Furniture" The Illustrated Police News (UK) November 21, 1896
Illustration featuring a woman dressed in a puffy-sleeved outfit with bloomers riding a bicycle on a street and waving to a many in a sailor uniform standing on the sidewalk holding a sack.
930976
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 22/09/2026
Due to the terrible gating of scientific and other academic works, the actual text of the Stanford two-brain study is not available online to the public. But you can read the pre-print which was released last year www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Two parallel lineage-committed progenitors contribute to the developing brain
The hindbrain is a life-sustaining brain region. In one model, a common neural progenitor generates all brain regions. Here our studies of mouse embryos and human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) suppor...
0296
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A local business's restroom wallpaper always perks me up. #skulls #dayofthedead #diadelosmuertos
A colorful Day of the Dead skull design with a black floral background. Purple aster-like flowers are in the eye sockets.
010
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Tim Osborne Photography 🍁 @timosborne.ca · 22/09/2026
One of nature's cutest little creatures, this is the Pika. #wildlife #pika
A small gerbil-looking critter standing on a rock. Pikas are actually not rodents, but rather more closely related to rabbits.
733647
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Matt @mattlibrarian.eurosky.social · 16/06/2024
“Satan is in Libraries” Well if he can provide photo ID with his current address then he is entitled to sign up for a library card. We also have other ways he can sign up if he is currently without identification
351846554
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Please for the love of my blood pressure tag anything with the vile hate monger #hegseth.
010
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Garth Marenghi's Catbus @catbus.phd · 21/09/2026
Monsieur Noir in the Yellow Room (2026) Elena Polishchuk

seated black cat observing a large fishbowl of goldfish against a bright yellow background
014934
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
#bookcover #1970s #artificialintelligence #computers #techhistory @doctorow.pluralistic.net
A 1979 bookcover titled "Machines Who Think" by Pamela McCorduck. Background is white graph paper with tiny squares. Illustration shows a humanoid head and shoulders made by filling in graph paper squares in shades of black and gray. The top of the head has a blurred effect. Eyes are staring and bright green. A small green image of circuits is on the forehead. The title and author name are also in green. I first read this book when it was published and it is still well worth reading.
000
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Joseph Fink, we're going to win @planetoffinks.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
As an American Jew, this is why the proposition of Israel never made sense to me. You do not create a place where Jews are safe by making it so only Jews are safe. You do so by creating a place where everyone is safe and free. There is no other way
012619
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
I need folks on #bluesky to stop casually posting disturbing racist imagery and/or at least flag it as a trigger warning please.
412827
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
I hand over an invisible ‘Tree Of The Day’ award to the most charismatic tree I see on each of my walks. Here are just a few past winners of this esteemed but still largely unknown prize.
A tree on Exmoor which has some fucking stories to tell even though it doesn't go around shouting about it.A tree on Dartmoor which, though old, is still quite cheeky, and likes using its branches to sneakily tickle cattle, ponies and people when they pass it.A tree which is so endlessly proud of the village where it lives that it stands permanently on the threshold of it, welcoming everyone who arrives with a wave and a smile.An angry man with branch hands pretending to be two inosculated Sycamore trees on Kinder Scout in the Peak District.
925954
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
20th century historical facts: chopped ham loaf and American cheese on white bread with mayonnaise is what flavor-averse children lived on exclusively before the arrival of chicken nuggets.
000
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 17/09/2026
Well they finally did it. DOGE got rid of my friend Anne, the only remaining person at the web design system for the entire US government. The replacement appears to be AI-generated code with no dedicated human oversight.
nextgov.com
GSA’s web design system head replaced with Treasury AI engineer
The U.S. Web Design System is intended to help the federal government build accessible and mobile-friendly websites.
23740393
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 16/09/2026
“Our burritos aren’t evil enough. How can we fix that?”
wired.com
Chipotle Is Working With Palantir to Track Food Safety Risks
The burrito chain has enlisted Palantir for a platform that monitors pest incidents, employee illnesses, and other factors. The partnership comes after a nightmare summer for food safety across the US...
931463
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 16/09/2026
Aerospace Flowchart xkcd.com/3298/
Comic: Aerospace Engineer Problem-Solving Flowchart. [Start→Could we solve this problem by building giant airships again?→(No)→Try other solutions→(four arrows leading off-panel)]
543321414
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
AI isn't capable of thought or emotions but it is capable of vandalism.
021
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Corinne Green @ket.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
can those of you mad because you think trans whining on microblogs will depress support for dem politicians please imagine for one second how dem politicians spouting transphobia on enormous mainstream platforms depresses support for trans people
152189591
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 14/09/2026
Cis people do not understand how much trans people's rights have regressed in just 5 years. 5 years ago, there were none of these restrictions. 19 states banned legal recognition 21 states have bathroom bans 8 states ban gender marker changes on DLs 25 ban gender affirming care for trans youth
11177653629
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Was about to blame trash pandas, but a visual poop analysis proves the festival thrown in the basement junk pile awaiting curbside junk pickup day was organized by possums.
A gray and white adult possum, alongside a pizza box liner, lounges in a leaf-filled greens bin. Photo taken by me in September of 2025. Possum escaped greens bin after I rolled the bin into some backyard shrubbery, slowly turned the bin onto its side, and made myself scarce.
030
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Michaela Joffe @joffeorama.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"if trans people criticize the democrats then the republicans will make sure there's no future elections!" wow that sounds bad. I guess you better make sure trans people have nothing to criticize then. unless you love republicans and hate democracy, I mean. seems like a lot of you hate democracy tho
119759
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 12/09/2026
lol the vibe shift in AI hype feels like a ploy by U.S. tech bros to permanently keep out competitors. They are cosplaying concern so they can "regulate" their competitors out of existence. It's not about safety. It's about money.
16487107
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
The NewsGuild-CWA @newsguild.org · 11/09/2026
An earlier post incorrectly stated that McClatchy laid off 40% of its unionized workers. McClatchy laid off at least 90 workers out of about 300 workers represented by TNG-CWA.
142
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
The NewsGuild-CWA @newsguild.org · 11/09/2026
These are the journalists and the coverage communities are now left without, as told by the publications’ workers: newsguild.org/mcclatchy-la...
newsguild.org
McClatchy laid off 40% of its unionized workers; here’s how local coverage will suffer | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA
11813
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Aleksandra Vaca @transiticsnews.com · 10/09/2026
I’m a Texan trans kid who almost died because of Ken Paxton. The world should know what he’s done. This was very difficult for me to write, but given what's at stake, I cannot bear to stay silent about what I went through at Paxton's hands. He must not be rewarded for what he's done to trans kids.
transiticsnews.com
I’m a Texan Trans Kid Who Almost Died Because of Ken Paxton. The World Should Know What He’s Done.
Regardless of Talarico’s recent statements on trans people, Paxton cannot be rewarded for the extreme suffering he’s inflicted on me and tens of thousands of Texan trans kids.
9064162557
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
Beatgrrrl @beatgrrrl.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Black Panther Party 60th Anniversary Oakland, California October 15-18 2026
DR. HUEY P. NEWTON FOUNDATION AND IT'S ABOUT TIME BPP PRESENTS

BLACK PANTHER PARTY GOTH ANNIVERSARY

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

OCTOBER 15-18,2026
14011
Reposted by C.M.Pettitt
C.M.Pettitt @cmpettitt.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Monty Don taught me how to divide and move plants. This canna lily and dozens of other plants give thanks.
A four foot tall canna lily with broad banana-like leaves and bright orange-red flowers. In the background is a Matilija poppy shrub and a wooden gree-stained fence.
041