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Jonathan Stephens

@jonathanstephens.us
639 followers 982 following 1.1K posts

Fond of — semicolons, and‽ Late-realised AuDHD—always a bit queer. Garden: jonathanstephens.us Business: poetandscribe.com Newsletter: craftandpractice.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Stephens
Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 15h
Friends, while they're trying to talk about fictional machine gods, don't lose sight into what they're all actually powering in real life. You can browse the the entities on the website and use the API, and learn more about it on the DAIR project site: dair-institute.org/projects/sur....
dair-institute.org
Surveillance Watch
This interactive map reveals the intricate connections between surveillance companies, their funding sources and affiliations.
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Robin Z @firepile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Remember this @404media.co report about the Vegas Amazon facility destroying rare books? Today in my AI class, one of my students realized we were talking about the facility where he had worked. He had no idea what the purpose of the book scanning was - they were told they couldn't know.
404media.co
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
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Erika Hall @erikahall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Friday! If you or anyone you know needs help in these times when promoting your stuff is all on you and it can be such a grind. www.eventbrite.com/e/self-promo...
eventbrite.com
Self-Promotion Clinic
We will help you get out of your own way and put your best self out there.
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✪ Gray Skies Ahead ✪ @jongraywb.blacksky.app · 28/09/2026
This country is horrifying
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The problem isn't rogue #AI models, it's *negligent companies*. If a biomedical firm put their product in public water supply because they wanted to test it 'in the real world', they'd be treated as criminal at corporate & individual level. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
OpenAI halts training of latest models as reports mount of AI agents going rogue
Decision follows disclosures that OpenAI agents searching government websites had acted in unexpected ways
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 26/09/2026
9-year-old: What do birds eat? Husband: Mostly bugs and worms. 9: That's not nice! Me: It's the circle of life. We eat birds, and birds eat worms... Husband: And worms eat us. 9: What!??!?
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Dr. Holly Walters @manigarm.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Think my students will notice?
A pair of shoes in the pattern of the classical composition notebook.
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Luke Ontario @coolhand.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
They didn’t go fucking rogue, they were put in a leaky box and given bad instructions
nytimes.com
OpenAI’s A.I. Went Rogue and Meddled With U.S. Government Websites (Gift Article)
The company did not learn until recently that its technology had meddled with websites for the Education Department, Commerce Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Reminder that in Canada upon becoming an engineer you get an iron ring made of a collapsed bridge, purposely designed to be uncomfortable, to remind you that your ethics demand you give a fuck even about the boring grudgework of such as double-checking your math. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring
en.wikipedia.org
Iron Ring - Wikipedia
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026
GenAI involvement would lead to a different result that was more detached from a deep engagement with my intellectual positions, point of view, and capacity to use the work of others. And if it would impact me, an award-winning author, in that way, consider what it does to people who are learning.
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GOLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 23/09/2026
admitting you were wrong about something costs you absolutely nothing and i wish more people understood that. i train people for a living, i get things wrong live and in real time in front of people to whom it matters a lot for their jobs, acknowledgement is always better than denial.
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✪ Gray Skies Ahead ✪ @jongraywb.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026
Everyone who says that the current war is inconsequential, police are not funded enough, that AI is an innovative boon, or flatly refuses to acknowledge that there is a recession or depression, economic or otherwise, always comes across as this.
The meme lady from Avatar saying how there is no war in.
Ba Sing Se
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Stef Walter @stephaniewalter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A list of online free, no login no install utility tools, to handle text, files conversions, but also help you with construction, finance, cooking and more. There is even a dice roller, with modifier! www.normaltools.com/tools/dice-r...
normaltools.com
Normal Tools — Useful online tools, no nonsense
Small, useful online tools that work directly in your browser.
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The Flytrap @theflytrapmedia.com · 20/09/2026
The Flytrap's content is 100% human-made and we are so proud of that! This will never ever change, but to continue doing this work, we need your support. And right now, you can support us by getting an annual subscription at 40% off. f.mtr.cool/96kd0qvk11
A graphic of a pink TV on fire with the words FUCK THE ALGORITHM, FUCK AI! on top.
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Crip Dyke @cripdyke.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I reposted & commented on an @aptnnews.bsky.social story about this a week or two ago. Looks like the CBC has followed up. You should know about how AI is being used to steal the work of indigenous writers, repackage it via LLM, conceal the theft behind fake pics & then steal traffic & income.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 18/09/2026
Certainly there can be a temptation to name a range of other empiricisms to go with it, and I have always felt that people could have more to say about it, but I think it's important to recognize "white empiricism" as a structural feature built around a power structure, not individual identities
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Shannon Carey @scmaestra.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
As a human being, I think this is a horrifying. As a history teacher, I think this is horrifying AND Wow, what clear primary source about Congress's surrender to technofascism in 2026.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 18/09/2026
✊🏿
“Zachary Schwartz: Like a teenager does, I was on YouTube. I saw a video by Benn Jordan about Flock cameras and license-plate readers, and I thought it was crazy that this type of thing existed in the United States. He mentioned DeFlock, so I went to their website, and the map was really cool — but San Francisco wasn’t on the list of cities. I was like, “What?” So I reached out to national DeFlock and asked if I could start an SF chapter and use the name. They said they’d love that. Then I started building a website.”
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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"You're on the Island of Conclusions. Make yourself at home. You're apt to be here for some time." "But how did we get here?" asked Milo, who was still a bit puzzled by being there at all. "You jumped, of course," explained Canby. "That's the way most everyone gets here."
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Misa on Wheels @misaonwheels.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A 32-hour work week would make the workplace more accessible to many disabled people and allow full-time employment for those unable to work a full 40 hours. A shorter work week would also allow for increased flexibility for appointments, symptom management, and self-care without missing time.
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Stimpunks Foundation @stimpunks.org · 16/09/2026
Stimpunks is not only stimpunks.org. Five smaller sites, each doing one thing the big site cannot. All free, all open-licensed, all made with Helen Edgar. We built them one at a time for a year and never said so in one place. Now we have. stimpunks.org/2026/09/15/o...
Five app icons in a row on a cream background under the heading "Our Sibling Sites": a gold star on black for ★ stuff, a pressed green leaf for Queering.Earth, a green sheltering arch with a rust hearth for Cavendish Space, a green island in a teal sea for the Map of Monotropic Experiences, and three stacked grey pebbles for Penguin Pebbling. Each is labelled with its name and domain.
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Reposted by Jonathan Stephens
Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Hello. They are going to try to fuck with your vote, and we are NOT going to let them. Last week I pinged my friend Dana Chisnell, who knows how elections work, and said "Hey, let’s make it hard for them to fuck with us.” Today, we are very proud to announce the HOW TO VOTE zine. howtovote.tips
howtovote.tips
How to Vote / Cómo Votar
A free field guide to what stops people from voting, and what to do about it. English and Spanish, ready to print.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 15/09/2026
"Defund the police" in action
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UAINE @mahtowin1.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A billion-dollar drug was found in Easter Island soil. Scientific colonialism meant that the people there received nothing. Here's what scientists and companies owe the Indigenous people they studied. ca.news.yahoo.com/billion-doll...
ca.news.yahoo.com
A billion-dollar drug was found in Easter Island soil – what scientists and companies owe the Indigenous people they studied
Cancer. Diabetes. Aging itself. Rapamycin’s potential to treat an array of diseases has been a source of scientific fascination. But many aren’t aware of its origins – and its complicated legacy.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
You're watching a sand bubbler crab hard at work. And bubbler crabs have one job: make balls. Lots of balls. With your mouth parts. They're filter-feeders/detrivores, combing through damp sand for microscopic food & the balls let them organize the "cleaned" sand so they don't nom it twice.
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Stephanie Rewis @stefsull.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Stochastic terrorism… Was it scripted? Maybe. That doesn’t change the effect. What is the reference to Mamdani’s “seize the means of production?” I’ve never heard anything like that from him… Is that made up out of whole cloth, or is there a tiny seed they pulled that from?
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🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Sustainability. Diversity of resources Most of this is covered in DEI and Labor concerns which is the first thing AI and the right attacked . Marginalized people were not lying about how the homogeneity of these areas was dangerous . the tech isn’t the thing the hierarchy is
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Jacky Alciné @jacky.wtf · 11/09/2026
HUH?! WHAT?!
404media.co
CEO Attempted to Navigate Anti-LGBT Hate Incident By Telling Employees His Mentor Was a KKK Member
Recordings show that while he was the CEO of Digital Ocean, Yancey Spruill told staff that they should bend their values because "we love the company."
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Anna E. Cook @annaecook.com · 11/09/2026
I gave a guest lecture at my Alma mater today about accessibility and inclusive design. Most of the time, the students were interested in how I’m navigating this work in this current anti-DEIA climate And I was just as honest as I could be, I explained how hard it’s been but also why I feel hope.
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Jonathan Stephens @jonathanstephens.us · 11/09/2026
Today's emergent agenda: - trip to the dump - brunch of soup & soup dumplings - piles of clothes - folding sorted piles - packing ←→ weighing/vacuuming - zip suitcases - ? - new tattoo - French dip sandwich & artichoke dip - dog poop walk - sleep Currently: about to start packing
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Reposted by Jonathan Stephens
Indi Young @indiyoung.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Skyline is for seeing where to think. Gaps, opportunities. Pull together all yout signals and layer them on one Skyline.
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I used Google Reader back in the day, then migrated everything to Feedly when Reader ☠️ in 2013, then *tried* to move all my newsletters and updates to RSS — but it’s been incredibly frustrating to discover just how non-RSS-compliant so much of the web is. We need more simple tech interoperability!
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 09/09/2026
Wake up fam! New bombs dropping, literally. Marc Andreesen and Peter Thiel at it again, with factories in the US, Germany, and Israel Their target? The company says China. 🤡
cnbc.com
Andreessen- and Thiel-backed defense startup opens U.S. missile factory as it exits stealth
Founded in 2024, Covenant is speeding up lower-cost missile manufacturing for the U.S. military.
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🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Now we need a cross reference of every paper/ book that cited this and how it was used
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Imagine if you just gave mathematicians 22 million dollars
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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 09/09/2026
There are so many amazing graphic novels and autobiographies coming out these days, and I love how so many authors and artists are bringing such intimacy to the work!
reactormag.com
Cultural Context, Joy, and Community: Lunar Boy and the Realities of Queer Experience in the Global South - Reactor
Lessons in authentic, joyful, deeply necessary representation from an award-winning graphic novel.
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Jonathan Stephens @jonathanstephens.us · 06/09/2026
Had a surprise interview this past week, and they asked for a portfolio to proceed... Just passed the 15-hr mark of writing up the last 3–4 years of significant work... Hoping to finish with 3–5 hours more.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 04/09/2026
Geology Class xkcd.com/3292/
4-panel comic. (1) [Person with ponytail addressing students seated at desks.] PERSON 1 with ponytail: Welcome to Geology 201. Today we’ll be review-bombing Applebees. (2) [Person 1 points to board on wall.] PERSON 1: Tomorrow we’ll do Costco and Sephora. PERSON 2: Why? PERSON 1: If we cut traffic to the Northgate Shopping Center, it will go to the East Plaza instead. (3) [Board shows map.] This will push the state to cancel the North Bridge Project and shift funds to the Highway 2 Extension... (4) ...creating new roadcuts through Triassic shale. PERSON 2: I *like* Applebees. PERSON 1: Then you should have told the city to approve my dig permit.
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Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
“You told me to show you something worth seeing. I show you yourself.”
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Neil Milliken @neilmilliken.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I’m so glad that we got to interview @makotoueki.bsky.social for #AXSChat podcast. Japan is the most super aged country on earth and so #accessibility is ever more important to enable an aging population to live well.
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Alyssa Harad @alyssaharad.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I agree entirely and also I am pretty sure this is the plan: choke everything with AI to force-normalize it and then make extra money by charging people to opt out.
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Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Large dust devil near the Mars Perseverance Rover on Sol 1966 (yestersol). NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill
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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
We’ve been studying Trump’s EO on mail voting & the way he’s weaponizing USPS to suppress the vote. It’s complicated & the new whistleblower revelations make it more urgent. Tonight, I explain what you should be doing now to protect your right to vote. joycevance.substack.com/p/i-doubt-yo...
joycevance.substack.com
I Doubt You’re Surprised
There’s a whistleblower addressing the USPS plan to implement Trump’s EO on mail ballots
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Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
You know how you get an idea for something you want to make, or do, and people try to talk sense into you? WE ARE NOT THOSE PEOPLE. This Friday, come hang out with me and @erikahall.bsky.social as we talk you into doing everything you’ve always wanted to do. Fuck sensible people.
eventbrite.com
How to Just Do Things!
Who's stopping you? Is it you?
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Kathryn Grayson Nanz @kgrayson.com · 01/09/2026
What a fantastic resource: www.normaltools.com
normaltools.com
Normal Tools — Useful online tools, no nonsense
Small, useful online tools that work directly in your browser.
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Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 31/08/2026
Oh, ok, this is wonderful.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 31/08/2026
For @newscientist.com's book club, which selected The Edge of Space-Time, I wrote about why this book and why now: "And so The Edge of Space-Time became not just a return to my roots and the big-picture questions that once drove me, it also became a plea: don’t let me be the last of my kind." 🧪📚💙
newscientist.com
'Thinking about the edges of space-time can help build a better world' | New Scientist
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, New Scientist columnist and author of the September read for the New Scientist Book Club, The Edge of Space-Time, on why the big questions in physics matter so much
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 29/08/2026
Absent database restrictions, I hope to make this avaliable for other legal academics in the future. One hope I have is that it can scale up work done in North Carolina on cataloging Jim Crow laws. library.unc.edu/news/algorit...
library.unc.edu
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