iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 10h

There's a long discussion going on in my mentions about whether or not "LLMs" (quotes explained in a sec) apparently getting mostly* correct answers to arithmetic questions is "inconsistent" with the stochastic parrots metaphor. >>

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 26/09/2026

anti-homeless sweeps of encampments, tent cities, and individual squats result in the systematic theft of everything the targeted people hold dear. don't fucking call the cops on your neighbors. www.tumblr.com/westernsunri...

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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 28/09/2026

Let the history books show that STUDENT reporters brought national attention to unchecked abuse. I hope that their cups and opportunities forever overfloweth.This is courage.

abcnews.com

District attorney reopens case of alleged Cornell University 'gang rape'

Prosecutors in central New York say they are reopening the case of alleged gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity.

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Anita Devineni @anitadevineni.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Emory Biology department is hiring a tenure-track ecologist at any rank. Deadline is Nov 1, link below! As I've said many times before, I couldn't ask for a more supportive department. Our faculty colleagues, dept chair, and admin staff are truly awesome ❤️ apply.interfolio.com/191783

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

For the last 34 years I have been on the faculty of the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Biology and have never regretted that decision. This year we are hiring TWO new Assistant Professors in the broad area of Molecular, Cell, Developmental Biology 1/n bio.unc.edu

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AFT @aft.org · 28/09/2026

“A students opportunity to pursue an education should be determined by their dreams, not by their family’s bank account.” - @neatoday.bsky.social’s Noel Candelaria #AffordableCollegeNow @apscuf.org @afthighered.bsky.social @aaup.org

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Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026

We're publishing new guidance to support trans people who do fieldwork (any work outside the office)! Now we need your help to get them seen so please share! inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/trans/

a cartoon of three fieldworkers. One has a small trans flag. The logos of the university of leeds, research england, and canopy robin are shown, as well as the URL: InclusiveFieldwork (dot) Leeds (dot) AC (dot) UK (slash) trans

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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Science peeps: Looks like SciENcv updated the digital certificate used to sign Biosketch and Current & Pending documents without notification. The old certificate expires Saturday, September 26, 2026. SciENcv docs before that date may fail validation in eRA Commons delaying or blocking submission.

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UFF-UF @uffuf.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The newest issue of the Faculty Voice is live! DM us or stop by our office (Yon Hall 308) to get your copy, and make sure all your coworkers stay in the know too.

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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle. "The state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen."

nytimes.com

From 15,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle

It was the Trump administration’s latest stumble in its effort to find proof of widespread noncitizen voting, despite decades of evidence that it is extremely rare.

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The more we buy into the logic that academia needs to be more like "the real world"--the more we buy into the idea that all we're doing is training students to go out and be good workers--the less we are fulfilling any sort of distinct mission, and the less exciting our work is our students.

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That's the point--and, frankly, I think the more most students are exposed to what is truly unique about the academy, the more they love it. A university is one of the only places where people can play with ideas without needing to expect any sort of commercializability.

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There's a lot to say about this, and other folks are saying most of it. I just want to focus on one thing: the claim about the relationship between universities and "the real world."

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Ethan White @ethanwhite.weecology.org · 22/09/2026

Interested in airborne monitoring using computer vision? We (@weecology) just released annotated data with bounding boxes and species IDs for over 50,000 individual birds of 6 widely distributed species from our drone work in the Everglades. doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

doi.org

EverWatch airborne bird imagery dataset for detection and classification of Everglades wading birds

Large-scale monitoring of populations and communities using airborne remote sensing is increasingly central to a broad range of research, management, and decision-making efforts. Performing this work....

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SageNatural @sagenatural.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Another month begins, and per the advice of a respected friend, I’m sharing the thread of ways in which you can support the work that I do – in and out of the shop. You can listen to the thread here: wp.me/a404LV-2Nv No links. But a Real Voice. (1/?)

wp.me

Monthly Thread 2026 09

“Monthly Thread 2026 09” from Information and Updates by Desert Sage Natural. Released: 2026. Track 6. Genre: Spoken Word.

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Rex Chapman @rexchapman.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

This is wild…

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Ethan White @ethanwhite.weecology.org · 18/09/2026

Super excited to have @danielskatz.org at the helm of @joss-openjournals.bsky.social and super thankful for @arfon.bsky.social's leadership and ongoing roll at the journal.

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Mike Kaspari @mikekaspari.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If you are wondering why your paper is taking a lot more time to get published…

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Ethan White @ethanwhite.weecology.org · 18/09/2026

An editor at a journal with surging submissions reached out to the authors of 10 papers that were going to be desk rejected. The result indicates a disturbing time for the scientific literature.

Of the ten submissions:
- Authors of one paper withdrew their submission.
- Authors of one paper said they were unavailable due to other commitments.
- Authors of one paper scheduled a meeting but did not show up.
- Authors of three papers were unable to answer basic questions about the paper.
- Authors of three papers answered questions about high-level ideas in the paper but had difficulty when asked further questions on technical details.
- Authors of one paper answered all of my questions (although I identified a major flaw in that paper).

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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 18/09/2026

if you EVER get called for a meeting and they say “don’t bring a union rep” bring a union rep

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Emilio M Bruna @brunalab.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This is nuclear. I don’t think any of my i ternational students *didn’t* go OPT after graduation. This is a very clever way to decimate US science AND higher ed simultanously.

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Ethan White @ethanwhite.weecology.org · 16/09/2026

Just heard that NSF panels now cannot have anyone on panel from the same institution as any of the PI's. This is going to make assembling panels really challenging going forward. Folks with these conflicts used to be able to serve, but step out when a proposal from their institution was discussed.

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Shout out to @chanda.blacksky.app for recommending people start the day with an RRS feed instead of doomscrolling. I settled on newsblur, mostly because I didn't want to set up my own server and needed an easy to set up program with an easy GUI. Happy with it so far!

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Unlike Macklemore, these support acts don’t have big followings and they are giving up their chance to perform to stadiums to push back against censorship, not of themselves but of a fellow artist. Respect.

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UFF-UF @uffuf.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Texas A&M Administration CANCELS AAUP President Dr. Leonard Bright’s graduate class on ethics in public policy over content state legislators dislike. When policymakers adhere to the myth that teaching about a topic is itself “advocacy,” there is no placating them.

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Ethan White @ethanwhite.weecology.org · 30/07/2026

It is amazing to think about the scope of influence that @carpentries.carpentries.org has had on scientific computing. I still remember the chaos of the 1st workshop we ran at Utah State in 2012. @gvwilson.bsky.social would say "you know what would be useful" and then I'd run off to try to find it.

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The Carpentries @carpentries.carpentries.org · 30/07/2026

🎉 The Carpentries has reached a significant milestone today: we have hosted our 5,000th registered workshop! 🎊 This monumental achievement is testament to the strengths and efforts of members of our incredible global community. None of this would have been possible without their inspired service! 🙌

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Please contact your member of Congress and submit a comment on the new policy to (further) politicize science, and encourage others to do so. You don’t have to be a scientist! Some very good guidnace here: bsky.app/profile/eliz...

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

The new Trump policy does not occur in isolation. It combines 5 distinct tactics of politicization, the latter 3 of which really are relatively novel under Trump. #1: Centralize policy #2: Strategic use of appointees #3: Demand personal loyalty #4: Threaten #5: Weaken civil service protections

What we are seeing with the new science policy illustrates the interactive effect of the different politicization tactics. Vought sitting atop America’s scientific enterprise is a classic example of centralizing authority (tactic #1), away from career scientists and agencies (#2). Demands that science serve one man’s agenda is an example of personalism (tactic #3). Telling scientists that they will lose their grants based on political affiliations fits with the tactic #4 reliance on fear and threats. The career program officers overseeing science (themselves typically PhDs) know from grim experience that pushing back against appointees to defend science will mean being fired or put on administrative leave (tactic #5).

In this context then, dissent within government or the scientific community against not just this policy, but Trump’s government becomes more risky, more costly, and therefore more rare. Science is silenced.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

The new policy would allow Vought, the Director of the OMB, to move scientific decisions away from the scientists and into the hands of political appointees. This is the complete politicization of every stage of science. It also allows exceptions from usual review for crony organizations.

Under the new policy, political appointees determine which grants should be funded, and can cancel them whenever they want. Grants must meet partisan litmus tests like “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities” but political identity can also be used in punitive ways: a scientist’s ties to disfavored groups can be used as a basis for cancelling grants. Using federal funding to attend scientific conferences, engage with non-US scientists, or communicate to the public or media is actively discouraged.

The peer review process, the cornerstone of scientific rigor, is not just devalued in federal grants processes. Vought also carves out exceptions to public notice when it is in the “national interest.” This creates the potential for a back-door slush fund for favored universities or companies to receive public dollars for research. At the same time OMB would have a credible lever to punish disfavored individuals or institutions by withholding grants.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

A proposed Trump policy would put Russ Vought in charge of American science. Its an example of the slow creep of politicization into processes that both parties traditionally understood as needing nonpartisan and expert guidance. What can you do about it? 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-creep-...

donmoynihan.substack.com

The Creep of Politicization

A new assault on science highlights a broader pattern

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Jackson: "NSF’s flagrant disregard of its own mechanism for receiving and considering stakeholder and public feedback further illustrates the arbitrary and capricious nature of the agency’s decision."

Beginning on December 17, when NSF first announced its intent to review
and restructure NCAR’s “research and observational capabilities,” it repeatedly
assured NCAR, UCAR, other stakeholders, and the public that it would solicit and
consider feedback to “inform the agency’s follow-on actions.” ECF No. 18-11; ECF
No. 18-4; ECF No. 18-12. That was the ostensible purpose of the DCL issued on
January 23, 2026, which explained that NSF was “exploring options to transfer
stewardship of the NWSC to an appropriate operator,” and set a March 13 deadline
for responses. ECF No. 18-2. Yet, fewer than three weeks after issuing the DCL—
and more than a month before the official deadline—NSF informed UCAR that it
had already decided to transfer stewardship and publicly announced the same.
NSF’s flagrant disregard of its own mechanism for receiving and considering
stakeholder and public feedback further illustrates the arbitrary and capricious nature
of the agency’s decision.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Jackson: "The Court begins with NSF’s failure to articulate any rationale for divesting UCAR of stewardship over the NWSC and transferring its operations and maintenance responsibilities to another entity. This failure is dispositive."

Some internal NSF and OMB communications suggest that the transfer
decision may have been motivated, at least in part, by concerns regarding UCAR’s
promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives and the use of its
Case No. 1:26-cv-01061-RBJ Document 47 filed 06/01/26 USDC Colorado pg 26
of 38
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research in support of climate-change policies. See ECF No. 32-12; ECF No. 32-14
at 4–5. However, these rationales are not properly before the Court because NSF
has never invoked them as the basis for its action. Regents, 591 U.S. at 65. Even if
the Court were to consider them, the current record does not demonstrate “a rational
connection between the facts found and the choice made,” especially because NSF
intends to leave UCAR’s research and development functions intact while
transferring only operations and maintenance responsibilities for the NWSC. State
Farm, 463 U.S. at 43. Nor is it apparent how transferring stewardship of the NWSC
meaningfully addresses NSF’s concern with UCAR’s purported DEI initiatives. In
short, the agencies’ passing references to these rationales in internal communications
are not a basis on which the action can be upheld.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Breaking: Judge Jackson blocks NSF from dismantling NCAR. www.courtlistener.com/docket/72496...

For the reasons stated above, Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction,
ECF No. 18, is hereby GRANTED. Defendants are hereby PRELIMINARY
ENJOINED from divesting UCAR or NCAR of any rights, resources, or
responsibilities related to the NWSC.
SO ORDERED this 1st day of June, 2026.

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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI chatbot to change the email on the account. Meta's AI does it, hacker gets password reset code, they're in. A staggering security issue www.404media.co/hackers-simp...

404media.co

Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked

The exploit shows the extreme risk of offloading technical support to AI.

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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I think one thing the AI age has taught me is how many of my colleagues: 1. genuinely hate writing. 2. are bad at writing. 3. are bad at assessing writing. 4. really do not care about how the writing gets done. Which seems bad, because writing=thinking.

Alexander Kustov reposted
Alexander Kustov
@akoustov
I've seen
@ATabarrok
and some other folks recently joke that they're using Pangram to filter out the human-written content. Funny, except this is increasingly more true than funny: AI-assisted writing is often the more readable kind, and especially so in academia.

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

“agencies may consider an applicant’s history of questionable practices based on publicly available and verifiable information.” Potential perma bans for any University which ever supported any type of DEI activity.

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 28/05/2026

BREAKING: New proposed OMB regulation, applying to all federal grants, requiring grant reviews by senior political appointees and re-emphasizes that "peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion". #standupforscience public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10817.pdf

public-inspection.federalregister.gov

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Public information should be public. Demand your local authorities make emergency information available to everyone.

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Katy Montgomerie 🦗 @katymontgomerie.com · 26/05/2026

Could there be a better example of "the trans debate" than 98% of women supporting trans people and then one single lone person voting against them and getting their way regardless. It's all such a fucking sham

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🎃 Killy Witches 👻 @tillybridges.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

today is the last day to comment! fill up their inbox! 👇

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Dave Jones @cleanpowerdave.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

A NEW TWIST in Africa's soaring solar story: It's now manufacturing its own panels. The factories use imported Chinese cells, which are 40% of the value of panels, keeping much of the value domestically. 9 GW of cells+wafers in Mar/Apr alone🧵

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

"It’s as if much of big media has decided that it’s too much trouble to focus, in any sustained way, on developments that would have resulted in weeks of headlines, if not impeachment and conviction, in the pre-Trump era." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Trump self-deals, lies and seems to fall asleep in meetings. The media treats it all as ‘priced in’ | Margaret Sullivan

As the outrages continue, mainstream outlets just see Trump being Trump

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