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T. Scott Johnson

@ekphrastictactic.bsky.social
898 followers 1.7K following 285 posts

historian, cook, baker, swimmer Assistant Professor of History. CUNY-Grad Alum. All tweets reflect me not any institutional affiliation.

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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 10h
Once in a zoom interview when I was asked a version of this question I (probably stupidly) said something to the effect of “it’s a job.” Did not get called back for some reason…
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AP Stylebook @apstylebook.com · 23/09/2026
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics.
apnews.com
https://apnews.com/article/openai-safety-ai-framework-089e75b95bc935af092da7b79d92706d
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”
APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.
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Annie Wu @anniewu.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Batman Day isn't fun for everybody. Please check on your superstitious and cowardly loved ones today.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"In 1948 Los Angeles, everyone uses magic." --> "In 2026 Los Angeles, everyone uses AI."
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ok. Hear me out. It's a remake of the 90s HBO made for tv movie Cast a Deadly Spell. But instead of everyone using magic, it's AI. “My collar may be frayed. I may need a shoeshine. But nobody’s got a mortgage on my soul.” www.imdb.com/title/tt0101...
imdb.com
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Steely Dandan Noodles
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Jerad Walker @jeradwalker.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I’m not saying Ted Cruz is cursed… that’s not what I’m saying.
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United Farm Workers @ufw.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's hot. After last month's historic heat wave, many CA temps will be in the 100's again. Remember the farm workers out harvesting the chilled snack you're enjoying. #WeFeedYou
Mixed berries close-up above a farm worker harvesting fruit in the sun, text highlights extreme heat in Coachella, CA at 118°F and labor behind fruit harvest during a heat wave.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Poor Rutgers
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
What makes them so revolting? How about shrimp sphincters? Or the basic assumption that the picture should match a potentially digestible reality? FFS.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This is a ridiculous flight. I bet that 93 was special.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
And just like that my Great Lakes mnemonic goes from HOMES to SHAME.
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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 26/08/2026
It's my hater-versary! Spoiler:
anthonymoser.github.io
I Am Still An AI Hater
I mean, you’re not surprised, right?
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I may steal this ritual for my fascism course this semester!
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Jonathyne Briggs @jonathynebriggs.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
My campus opens on Monday and I have staff who haven’t had power in 12 days and counting #PowerToGary
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I came back with a suitcase full last trip!
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
So good! And priced well, to boot!
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amulya.bsky.social @amulya.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
My husband Drew wrote this at breakneck speed while moving cross-country and caring for an 8 month old, bc he felt it was necessary, ethically and politically, to correct the record. If you read Tyler Austin Harper's piece, I hope you'll read this.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Literally the last person I want to hear from on this.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
You don't escape this team. You only learn to live with the hardship.
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
(to the tune of "Fridaye Ich am Yn Love"): 🎵 Mondaye you kan fall apart Mondaye, Mondaye, fall apart Oh Mondaye doth not even starte Fuck Mondaye quite a lot 🎵
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Pairs well with the author's conversation on Know Your Enemy know-your-enemy-1682b684.simplecast.com/episodes/gre...
know-your-enemy-1682b684.simplecast.com
Great Books and the AI Apocalypse (w/ Matt Dinan) [Teaser] | Know Your Enemy
Matt and Sam talk to Matt Dinan about teaching, the AI apocalypse, and the state of our souls.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Slimey, 10-1. He’s from them (Sesame) streets.
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Crystal Fleming is on sabbatical @alwaystheself.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
All of this happening in the same week as that Atlantic article is disgusting, actually.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
We used to make things in this country
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Fascism in Western Europe
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
There's also, in the slightly lighter-hearted side of things, Shadow of the Vampire, with John Malkovitch and Willem Defoe. www.imdb.com/title/tt0189...
imdb.com
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse, or any other Coffin Joe joint, really. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Ni...
en.wikipedia.org
This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse - Wikipedia
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Hausu/House, an acid trip of a Japanese folk horror film that's also sort of like 70s children's programming? www.imdb.com/title/tt0076...
imdb.com
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
You might also check out the Impresso project. There’s a lot of vaguely “AI” handwaving about their tools, but fundamentally it’s an aggregated search tool. The periodicals searched are eclectic for the 60s, but searches can be interesting. impresso-project.ch/app/
impresso-project.ch
impresso | Media Monitoring of the Past
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Bryan Edward Stone (שָׁלוֹם) @bestonetx.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
My college is losing $3.5 million promised by the Legislature that they aren't delivering. Why not? Because our students have done better than expected. www.caller.com/story/news/e...
caller.com
Texas falls short on funding promises to Del Mar College
Del Mar College is receiving $3.5 million less than expected in state appropriations.
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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 09/08/2026
Does The New York Times reporter in Washington D.C. not understand that fighting Steelers fans at a Browns game will flip you thousands of votes in Ohio? That is not a campaign liability, unlike slamming your ex-wife against a wall, pouring hot water on her head, and drawing a gun at her!

Emily Davies
@ELaserDavies
Amid abuse claims against Max Miller, Democrats think they have a candidate who can flip his solidly Republican seat: 

Brian Poindexter, an ironworker and self-described “regular guy” who was once arrested for fighting Pittsburgh fans at a Browns game.
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Absolute travesty. Academic freedom simply does not exist at Texas Tech University.
After appealing my tenure denial the 
Tenure Hearing Panel unanimously found that “the promotion & tenure process was ‘significantly noncompliant with the university’s established standards and procedures’. The President however upheld his original decision to deny me tenure.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Haven't been in ages, but Jungle Jim's is awesome.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
As someone who probably would take one out for coffee, I don't think I can answer this honestly...
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
There are some promising coffee trends there of late, though! One example is Café Maa (attached to the Institut Finlandais, across from the Thermes de Cluny), which has really good stuff.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
On the one hand, I'm glad the Chronicle is demystifying this sort of jargon. On the other hand, in this environment of ideological capture of higher ed, how can you not talk about institutional "alignment" without at least glossing gleichsaltung? www.chronicle.com/article/high...
chronicle.com
Higher Ed Has Entered the Age of ‘Alignment’
What one word says about this moment.
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AAUP @aaup.org · 04/08/2026
BOOM. The AAUP is suing Texas A&M University System over their censorship policy that prohibits faculty from discussing topics & viewpoints related to race, sexual orientation, & gender. www.aclutx.org/app/uploads/... 1
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS, LEONARD BRIGHT, VANITA REDDY, LANDON SADLER, and AARON GEORGE,
Plaintiffs,
V.
ROBERT L. ALBRITTON, JAY GRAHAM, DAVID
C. BAGGETT, JOHN W. BELLINGER, JAMES R.
BROOKS, MICHAEL A. HERNANDEZ III,
WILLIAM MAHOMES JR., KELLEY SULLIVAN GEORGIADES, and SAM TORN, in their official capacities as members of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents,
Defendants.
CIVIL ACTION NO.
COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
COMPLAINT
Plaintiffs American Association of University Professors ("AAUP"), on behalf of
its members in the Texas A&M University System ("Texas A&M"), and individually named member professors Leonard Bright, Vanita Reddy, Landon Sadler, and Aaron George (collectively, "Plaintiffs") challenge Texas A&M System Policy ("System Policy") 08.01's prohibition on teaching "gender and race ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation, and gender identity" in academic coursework (the "Censorship Policy" or the "Policy").
On its face, the Censorship Policy imposes a complete prohibition, in all core-
curriculum courses, on courses "advocat[ing]" particular disfavored views of race or gender, or
any topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity, but the Policy does not impose any corresponding ban on opposing views on these issues.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I feel like my childhood pbs programming let me down. Never heard of this, but would have totally been my jam.
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Truth
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
What?!? I worked as a research assistant and assistant for Justice on Trial for her years ago. This is absolutely terrible.
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“Hope is an element of struggle, is it not?” he said. “As we used to say in the old days, ‘A luta continua’.”
theguardian.com
Imprisoned writer Mumia Abu-Jamal seeks UN intervention after 44 years behind bars
The former Black Panther’s lawyers ask a UN panel to review his detention after US legal avenues were exhausted
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I don't know if mine were the 1967 edition, but the Cold War specific entries definitely made homework that little bit weirder (for school in the 90s).
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
What a great cover
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New-Cleckit Dominie @ncdominie.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 27/07/2026
I like the ones who stop hellish jungle indeed and finally I say okay you try you get high and bright and try then you say oh just praise what you can you smiling bag of death ‘Smile’, a poem by Anne Carson. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Anne Carson · Poem: ‘Smile’
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T. Scott Johnson @ekphrastictactic.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
YYYYYYYY
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open mike eagle @mike-eagle.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
AI event flyers are ruining my life cause I didn't know I had so many friends with bad taste
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I feel like I’ve heard this before.
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