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Colin Megill

@colinmegill.com
1.2K followers 1.1K following 237 posts

Cofounder pol.is President compdemocracy.org San Francisco, CA

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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 20/06/2026
Iran, which because history civilization geography and physics has had to play actual 8d chess for 4000 years Is up against two ferrets looking for grapes DEFINITELY won't crack the whip when Israel attacks Lebanon lest Vance immediately go to Switzerland www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
reuters.com
Vance expects Iran talks soon, as Guards say Hormuz is closed again
Iran said that the closure was the first step in response to what it described as breaches of commitments and ​warned that ​further measures ⁠would be taken if aggression continued.
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 08/06/2026
@seattlejs.com you guys delete all your old videos? was there a reason? was surprised
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scott⚡️mccloud @scottmccloud.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
“Died of sadness,” according to family. An immeasurable loss.
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scott⚡️mccloud @scottmccloud.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Persepolis was read all over the world—a true international phenomenon. Assigned in every class subject under the sun. During the Obama years, West Point cadets were assigned the book. There's never been anything like it; never anyone like her. What an awful world that couldn't hold her longer.
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scott⚡️mccloud @scottmccloud.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Photograph of Satrapi next to quote:

“The world is not divided into countries.
The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you.
And our governments are very much the same...”

“Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist”
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 28/05/2026
What an opener www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY_O...
youtube.com
The Barr Brothers - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)
YouTube video by KEXP
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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
1/ Ukraine's incessant drone strikes on the Russian rear are causing deep concern among Russian warbloggers. One points out that the entire region's logistics depend completely on road transport and forecasts a "very serious situation" developing. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/noel...
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gquaggiotto.bsky.social @gquaggiotto.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
"In the American context, the idea of a small party unifying voters across left and right sounds like a pipe dream. But there is evidence it worked in Japan" www.techpolicy.press/japans-team-...
techpolicy.press
Japan's Team Mirai Uses Tech to Bolster Democracy, Not Undermine It
Team Mirai illustrates the viability of a different way to do politics, write Nathan Sanders and Bruce Schneier.
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hardmaru @hardmaru.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Reproducing all of Jürgen Schmidhuber’s papers (1990-2025) using an AI coding assistant. Cool project by Yaroslav! It even reproduced the “World Models” paper by me and Schmidhuber (2018) using a toy environment, with a full VAE + RNN world model implementation. Project: github.com/cybertronai/...
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MAKS 26 👀🇺🇦 @maks23.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
😄 A red notebook with the inscription "List of assholes 2026" was noticed on the desk of the head of OP Budanov.
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 10/02/2026
Parenting in SF right now to kids in public school and I kinda think this is the big one. As a former teacher talking to teacher friends... I think this needs divine intervention (...@governor.ca.gov) or it's going very long. Negotiations were already a year in.
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Keith Meyers @rwk-keith.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Mushrooms along the Silver River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for #MushroomMonday!
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Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 06/11/2025
Well, it’s dark and rainy all the time now. But the mushrooms are thriving.
shaggy mane mushroom little mushrooms in mosshen of the woods? not sure maybe a russala? unidentified mushroom peeking through moss
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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 04/11/2025
I cannot
Screenshot of a tweet by former NYC mayor Bill de Blasio. It's a photo of de Blasio wearing a bright-blue "Hot Girls for Zohran" T-shirt and smiling while looking into the sun next to a brick wall with a "vote here" sign taped to it. The main text of the tweet reads: One of the happiest votes I ever cast! What a beautiful day for NYC! sun emoji. at zohran k mamdani at hot girls four zohran.
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mySociety @mysociety.org · 31/10/2025
@colinmegill.com made the grand reveal of Pol.is 2.0 - the new generation of the software that allows for people with different opinions to reach consensus, at #TICTeC 2025 - another great one to rewatch! youtu.be/Q8kMOg4EPQA
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thekoolaidmom.bsky.social @thekoolaidmom.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
#NoKings event in Fairhope, Al. A woman was arrested for "lewd conduct" because she was dressed in penis suit with a sign that said "No dick-tator" 3 cops on a 53 yo woman.
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Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Of all the clerics they could have popped, those ICE idiots had to hit Hot Priest.
Presbyterian minister David Black on CNN, who was shot with pepper balls  while praying outside an ICE facility.
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Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 09/10/2025
New reddit alternative built on AT
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Liz Webster 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @lizwebster.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
‘Brexit is a tragedy and it will be reversed.’ 💥 #Heseltine is the best political communicator by a long way. His emphatic call for rejoining the EU cuts through the noise, grounded in truth, while the counterarguments cling to a dwindling minority of Brexit believers. 1/2
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Michael Bernstein @mbernst.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Stanford Engineering (@StanfordEng) launched an open-rank faculty search in design. It can place candidates in any department in our School of Engineering: facultypositions.stanford.edu/en-us/job/49... I'm thrilled to bring in more colleagues at the intersection of engineering+design!
facultypositions.stanford.edu
Stanford | Faculty Positions: Details - Open Rank Faculty Position in School of Engineering, Design
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Marcin Wichary @aresluna.org · 09/07/2025
I wrote something new! It’s a UI design history essay about Mac’s Control Panel, and it uses emulation in some… maybe new and maybe interesting ways? aresluna.org/frame-of-pre...
aresluna.org
Frame of preference
A story of early Mac settings told by 10 emulators.
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 13/08/2025
4.5 was the one they should have open sourced.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 02/07/2025
Bluesky's near-consensus that AI doesn't work and won't be a technology that has major knock-on effects on society is…not grounded in reality. No mater how loudly and repetitively people say it.
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mySociety @mysociety.org · 11/06/2025
And now we have a panel 'Growing the Open Society: Tech and democratic innovation' with @fecampagnucci.com, @colinmegill.com from Polis (a real time system for gathering and analysing what real people think), and Lula Chen from MIT Governance Lab. #TICTeC
Panel on Growing the Open Society: Tech and democratic innovation
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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Fantastic panel at #TICTeC Day 2 ✨ @fecampagnucci.com ✨Lula Chen from MIT GOV/LAB ✨ @colinmegill.com from Pol.is
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(((E. Glen Weyl/衛谷倫))) ⿻ 🇺🇸/🇩🇪/🇹🇼 @glenweyl.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
I might go as far as to say that the attempt to “get past” process is actually a part of that problem because it further undermines the attempt to have the conversation we need about process.
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 04/06/2025
Agree with @glenweyl.bsky.social: "We cannot "get past" process. We must improve on it."
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(((E. Glen Weyl/衛谷倫))) ⿻ 🇺🇸/🇩🇪/🇹🇼 @glenweyl.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
or thinking that what they believe is the answer will appear unattractive to the "hoi poloi" and therefore needs to be hidden. Making the case for why I think this is bad practice is hard to do briefly, but I think it is a strategic mistake.We cannot "get past" process. We must improve on it.
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mySociety @mysociety.org · 27/05/2025
TICTeC day 2's plenary sees @fecampagnucci.com of @internetlab.bsky.social; @colinmegill.com‬ of Polis & the Computational Democracy Project; ‪@martintisne.bsky.social‬ of the AI Collaborative and our own @itscrowbot.bsky.social‬. Join the conversation: tictec.mysociety.org/event/tictec... ‬ ‬
TICTeC 2025 Growing the Open Society: tech and democratic innovation. Fernanda Campagnucci, InternetLab/University of Muenster; Colin Megill Polis/The Computational Democracy Project; Martin Tisne, AI Collaborative; Louise Crow mySociety. Day 2 of TICTeC June 11 2025, 10:15-11:00, Mechelen and online
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 14/05/2025
deepmind.google/discover/blo...
deepmind.google
AlphaEvolve: A Gemini-powered coding agent for designing advanced algorithms
New AI agent evolves algorithms for math and practical applications in computing by combining the creativity of large language models with automated evaluators
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 13/05/2025
not the wedge issue platform, the union issue platform at some point there's a tip-over
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 11/05/2025
Older parents are constantly telling those in the early days to cherish it. But that can be very hard advice to follow when you’re in the thick of it. In the Wonder Reader, Isabel Fattal rounds up stories on the gems and the challenges of parenting:
bit.ly
Nostalgia for the Early Days of Parenting
“Cherish it while you can” is hard advice to follow for many new parents.
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Benjamin Dewey @benjamindewey.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
I hardly ever draw on paper anymore and I miss it. I miss the results.
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Josh Johnson @joshjohnsoncomedy.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
The 100 Men Vs 1 Gorilla debate
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 07/05/2025
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Colin Megill @colinmegill.com · 05/05/2025
Lost a dear friend to cancer today, absolute force of nature. As a doctor, Dana was hope for many patients. Joyous, generous, humble. Impossible that she's gone, leaving behind a young daughter. We loved you Dana Lott — you'll be in our hearts forever. today.duke.edu/2019/09/blue...
today.duke.edu
Blue Devil of the Week: Helping Patients Take Steps Toward Healing | Duke Today
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John David Pressman @jdp.extropian.net · 27/04/2025
Oh hell yes.
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MIT Technology Review @technologyreview.com · 15/04/2025
Bowling Green, Kentucky, is home to 75,000 residents who recently wrapped up an experiment in using AI for democracy: Can an online polling platform, powered by machine learning, capture what residents want to see happen in their city?
technologyreview.com
A small US city experiments with AI to find out what residents want
Residents of Bowling Green, Kentucky, used machine learning to shape civic debate. The real test is whether the government acts on the results.
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James O'Donnell @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
A fascinating democracy experiment in Kentucky saw good participation. There's still a debate though: can a self-selecting group of residents ever really represent a city's ideas? Great to speak with @politicsprof.bsky.social @bethnoveck.bsky.social www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/15/1...
technologyreview.com
A small US city experiments with AI to find out what residents want
Residents of Bowling Green, Kentucky, used machine learning to shape civic debate. The real test is whether the government acts on the results.
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Neal Parikh @nparikh.org · 16/04/2025
Really interesting story about essentially using AI for participatory (non-AI) governance; a lot of stuff about participatory methods in AI is about using crowds or voting or things like that to design the AI itself, this is sort of the reverse. www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/15/1...
technologyreview.com
A small US city experiments with AI to find out what residents want
Residents of Bowling Green, Kentucky, used machine learning to shape civic debate. The real test is whether the government acts on the results.
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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Also curious!
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P(aul) Frazee @pfrazee.com · 08/04/2025
Team's been working hard on a new "Explore" page (what you see before you search). Apparently the dodgers are hot rn. Shout out to Darrin ( @mrnuma.bsky.social ) for showing us all the upside of hiring a designer
a screenshot of the new Explore page. The title is "Explore." Underneath there's "Search for posts, users, or feeds." Under that there are trending topics listed 1 through 5, which are Dodgers, Roberts Stay, Iran Talks, Minecraft Movie, and Trump and Netanyahu.
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c.c. o'hanlon @ccohanlon.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Debbie Harry, wearing a dress that was purportedly once Marilyn Monroe's, in the fire damaged apartment she shared with Chris Stein at 17th Street and 6th Avenue, New York City, 1970. Photo by Chris Stein.
A dishevelled Debbie Harry in a long dress, in a dingy, fire-scarred kitchen, furnished with makeshift shelves and aged appliances, holding a burning frying pan out in front of her.
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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
CNBC's Steve Liesman doesn't mince words about the way the White House calculated its tariff rates: "Nobody ever heard of this formula. Nobody has ever used this formula. So I’m sorry, but the conclusion seems to be the president kind of made this up as he went along... these are off the charts."
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Santo Nucifora @vintagecomputer.ca · 02/04/2025
Got my Northern Technologies Vision 1000 VT-100 workalike terminal sort of working. It comes up all weird and when it warms up, it's fine. This one is quite stylish and was designed by Bertoni (the Ferrari Bertoni). It has a built-in tilt screen and a keyboard garage underneath. #vintagecomputer
This is a picture of the Northern Technologies Vision 1000 computer terminal from the early 80s.  It's in the "set up" screen where various settings can be changed including switching from 80 columns to 132 columns.  #retrocomputer
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Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 29/03/2025
Here’s my account on Flashes, a photo sharing app. All my followers can automatically find me as soon as they log in! This is what we mean when we say Bluesky is open: your identity and followers belong to you. It took 30s to sign up for this new, independent app, and everything is there.
my profile page on flashes, a photo sharing app. recent photos i posted show up there in a grid display
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Margaret Mitchell @mmitchell.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
This is horrifying. She co-wrote an OpEd at her school, then was grabbed by masked people, put into an unmarked black van, is now detained in an ICE facility over 1000 miles away. youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY Trying to limit the topics I post about, but this is my country and this one shook me. =(
youtu.be
Surveillance shows Tufts graduate student detained
YouTube video by WCVB Channel 5 Boston
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Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
You can read the oped Rumeysa Ozturk co-authored that got her added to Canary Mission’s website: www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024...
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Joe Katz @joekatz45.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
ICE kidnapped another student. This time a grad student at Tufts, Rumeysa Ozturk. Turkish national, in the United States on a student visa. Her lawyer does not know where she is being held. Rumeysa wrote op-eds criticizing the university's response to student demands on Gaza.
wbur.org
Tufts says federal authorities detained graduate student
The university received reports that an international graduate student was taken into custody from an off-campus apartment Tuesday night, President Sunil Kumar wrote in a letter to the school communit...
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Her name is Rumeysa Ozturk, she's a student from Turkey, and even her lawyer doesn't know where she is right now.
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