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Ellen Ireland

@emireland.bsky.social
1.1K followers 241 following 21 posts

Public health specialist, but most people ask me "What's this plant?"

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Reposted by Ellen Ireland
Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
What is kind of terrifying about this, aside from everything else, is that this "company" used the actual likenesses and reputations of actual human academics/scientists without their consent or knowledge to make itself sound authentic. Scary times. www.404media.co/company-offe...
404media.co
Company Offering ‘100% Human-Written, Never AI’ Medical Research Is Entirely AI
Research Gold's team of human methodologists are either AI generated or using the identity of real people without their permission
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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Somehow without mentioning cybernetics, corporations, or emotional trauma someone really nailed the mood of the Murderbot series
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Steve Jobs was the Beau Brummell of technology. I want phones with transparent purple cases. I want buttons.
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
The secret to eating mulberries is to go fast and don't look too closely
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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Yesterday my daughter asked me what’s the difference between prisons and universities, and I failed to think of a witty response in time. But thinking about it, prisons do still give you tenure for a really significant contribution to your field
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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."
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Fight for the Future @fightforthefuture.org · 13/04/2026
With many newspapers closed & no clear path for local public libraries to preserve digital-only reporting, the work of safeguarding journalism’s record increasingly falls to @archive.org - and their ability to preserve knowledge for the public good is under attack www.wired.com/story/the-in...
wired.com
The Internet's Most Powerful Archiving Tool Is in Peril
As major news outlets cut off the Wayback Machine, journalists and advocacy groups are rallying to protect the Internet Archive’s vast collection of web pages.
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Ramin Nasibov @nasibov.me · 14/01/2026
No longer my computer
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The Ken In Yellow @kenlowery.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
I don't know what the answer is to keep local journalism going but it probably isn't web pages so choked with ads they stutter in my browser even WITH ad blocking turned on
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Debjit Dutta @debjitduttaart.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
What a great headline
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Deb Cares 4 Iowa @debcares4iowa.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Bluesky has nearly 40 million left-leaning users. Since many Democratic leaders & candidates are slow to build reach and engagement on Bluesky, my goal is to have 25k Iowa-focused followers by the end of '25 so I can amplify Democrats in 2026. Everyone in #Iowa, please follow and share. #VoteBlue
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
I know that switching to paying cash for physical media isn't a realistic solution for everything, but consumers should start considering workarounds and solutions, because corporations do not and will not make things better. Airgaps & flashdrives.
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Teen Vogue @teenvogue.com · 12/08/2025
#OpEd: The Tea app claims to make dating safer for straight women, but a copycat app for men shows the danger of allowing digital surveillance to stand in for "safety." Screenshots from TeaOnHer—already the second-most popular app in the Apple store—show it being used for misogyny and racism.
tnvge.co
The Tea App Markets Itself As a Safe Whisper Network. It's Just More Digital Surveillance
The biggest red flag is that the Tea app seems to be an attempt to quick-fix on an individual level what is a structural problem — that is, misogyny — via surveillance culture.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
The CDC’s Publications on Demand office is closing, but you can order free materials until Friday, August 15. Informational, fact-based materials are available here: wwwn.cdc.gov/pubs/
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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 17/07/2025
Activating a national surveillance network to share with the police amidst a mass deportation push is comic book villainy.
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Deva Woodly @devawo.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Have just realized that the silly “Bezos wants to buy Vogue as a lavish wedding gift for his bride” story that’s been circulating is inaccurate - Bezos wants to buy Condé Nast which owns The New Yorker,Teen Vogue, Wired & Arts Technica because he is an oligarch who wants to crush all dissent.
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WIRED @wired.com · 03/07/2025
So… how can you protect yourself? Customs and Border Protection has broad authority to search travelers’ devices when they cross into the United States. Here’s what you can do to protect your digital life while at the US border.
wired.com
How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border
Customs and Border Protection has broad authority to search travelers’ devices when they cross into the United States. Here’s what you can do to protect your digital life while at the US border.
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
There are options other than using Spotify. If for some reason you really want to pay to stream music, I guess there's Tidal and others. Older article but still true. inthesetimes.com/article/spot...
inthesetimes.com
How Spotify Is Quietly Supporting the Military-Industrial Complex
Unbeknownst to most users, Spotify has a secret endeavor—backing the efforts of war.
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Deb Cares 4 Iowa @debcares4iowa.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Kevin Techau is suspending his campaign for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, citing insufficient fundraising. His exit leaves Democrats without a challenger to GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, who has won three straight terms in the northeastern Iowa district.
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Jarod K. Anderson @jarodkanderson.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
I feel like young David Cronenberg opened a drawer and was surprised by a very old potato at a formative age.
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
I love the thing where a mystery/suspense show will have a theme song called "the midnight dance of the creepy dolls" and it is basically a minor key version of the Leave It To Beaver theme
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
The Minnesota shooter apparently used data broker websites to find the home addresses of the people he shot and murdered. Congress has had years to do something about data brokers and they've sided with the tech lobby over and over again. Their inaction is deadly.
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OlderGeeks.com @oldergeeks.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Don't be shy. Grab yourself a heapin' helpin' of free software. 🍴 Today's list of free software from OlderGeeks.com Please share. No ads - no crapware - no b.s. since 2008! #computer #computers #tech
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
We talk about scientists in the US leaving the country. Many will leave science altogether, and many more will never become scientists. This is an old post I made about how grad school sucks.
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WIRED @wired.com · 22/05/2025
tired: people AI-generating rando images of themselves as anime WIRED: AI’s energy use already represents as much as 20 percent of global data-center power demand, new analysis has found
wired.com
AI Is Eating Data Center Power Demand—and It’s Only Getting Worse
A new analysis of AI hardware being produced and how it is being used attempts to estimate the vast amount of electricity being consumed by AI.
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 23/05/2025
pitching my comic idea to DC: aquaman's new archnemesis is called Man Ray. no, not a half human half manta ray monster. Man Ray, the surrealist painter and photographer. he just challenges aquaman's preconceptions about formalism
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Microsoft's Recall feature is now part of Windows 11. It does a screenshot every 3 seconds and feeds it into AI. They made it opt-in...for now. Please place your bets now for which update will switch it to opt-out! Or get Steam or Mint or something, I don't know, I'm not your mom.
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Time for another digital security PSA with guitar … here’s “All the Small Things” but it’s about scrubbing metadata from your photos before you post them 🤘
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Quick reminder that Google bought Fitbit a few years back, and was subject to a DOJ investigation as a result. At the time they said they would protect user privacy, but now they are forcing users to migrate from the Fitbit website to a Google account.
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ceej @ceej.online · 21/03/2025
chatgpt has fully broken-through to every facet of the corporate environment. I'm spending a not-insignificant amount of my time every week now explaining to people that just because chatgpt told you that something was possible doesn't mean that it a) is or b) even exists
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Morgan Dawn @morgandawn.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Corey Doctorow: "Even by Amazon standards, this is extraordinarily sleazy: starting March 28, each Amazon Echo device will cease processing audio on-device and instead upload all the audio it captures to Amazon's cloud for processing, even if you have previously opted out of cloud-based processing"
arstechnica.com
Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
Amazon is killing a privacy feature to bolster Alexa+, the new subscription assistant.
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WIRED @wired.com · 13/03/2025
Alright doomscroll friends, here's a thread to 📌 on safeguarding yourself. First, a guide to protecting yourself from government surveillance as Donald Trump vows to go after his enemies and exploit America’s digital surveillance machine to do so.
wired.com
The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance
Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions and jail his enemies. To carry out that agenda, his administration will exploit America’s digital surveillance machine. Here are some steps you can take to ev...
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MurderBotBot @murderbotbot.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
(Corporations didn’t actually invent space and planets, despite the patents the company had tried to file.)
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cya 西田 🩵 working on comm/zine @cyanishida.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Pinterest updated their terms of use and they're going to use all of the content you saved to train their AI. Go to options > your privacy rights > disable GenAI Please do it 🫠
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Therixenosaurus @therixenosaurus.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
As someone who has worked in ad tech, I can tell @chrislhayes.bsky.social‘s book The Sirens’ Call may be one of the most important books of the year. It’s vital reading for everyone who worries about the monetization of their every waking moment, and wonders who benefits from your anger and fear.
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
My friend met some baseball hall of famers but I wasn't reading carefully
If I was the curator of the Hall of Farmers it wouldn't be portraits it would be like a haunted house
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 05/03/2025
I think one of the things that bothers me about my work is the people asking me to justify my positions and cynicism against the big AI companies. For some reason the billion dollar companies are treated as if they're always acting in good faith and with good intentions.
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Julia Skinner, PhD @bookishjulia.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
You can also register your interest to be on local nominated (rather than elected) city/county commissions. I was on the city’s Tree Conservation Commission because I emailed and had a professional background that was a good fit, so they put me forward. So that’s another option too!
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Will “Available for Contracts” Smith @willsmith.fun · 23/02/2025
Amazon's changing the way the Kindle works on Tuesday, so if you want to download and de-DRM your books, you have until the 26th to get it done. I wrote a quick how-to, for anyone who is interested: next.content.town/p/kindle-drm...
next.content.town
The Kindle DRM Deadline is Approaching!
On the 26th, Amazon is disabling a feature that makes backing up your Kindle eBooks easy. You have a couple of days to download them before it’s too late
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The Haunted Bookshop @thehauntedbookshop.com · 21/02/2025
They're rushing this bill because they know most Iowans will oppose it. We don't want criminal penalties for librarians. We don't want the government deciding which books are in our public libraries. bookriot.com/iowa-rushes-...
bookriot.com
Iowa Rushes, Advances Librarian Criminalization Bill
Introduced last week, Iowa's librarian criminalization bill has already made it to the House floor.
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e.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 16/02/2025
I feel like I'm going insane every time I see a media story about DOGE that doesn't also mention the fact that the Government Accountability Office exists and performs the exact function that DOGE pretends to, only in a credibly constitutional, non-partisan, and conflict-of-interest-free manner
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Ellen Ireland @emireland.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I think I'm most surprised by how wrong The X-Files was about how the federal government works, while somehow Stargate: SG1 really nailed it.
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MurderBotBot @murderbotbot.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Duckduckgo is your new search engine. Stop using meta. Invest in a VPN. Be aware of the cop📱 in your pocket. Wear a mask. Get your vaccines. Stop drinking raw fucking milk.
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission @cpsc.gov · 03/02/2025
Thank you for shouting about safety. Please never stop.
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Julia Skinner, PhD @bookishjulia.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Hello, here’s a useful resource for archiving things from the internet you want to save before they go away. If we all archive a bit, it makes a big difference. zinebakery.com/homemade-zin...
zinebakery.com
DIY Web Archiving | Zine Bakery
Zine Bakery Bakeshop #2, by Quinn Dombrowski, Tessa Walsh, Anna Kijas, Ilya Kremer, and Amanda Wyatt Visconti
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