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Dr B Mikus

@melancholerical.bsky.social
472 followers 1.3K following 716 posts

D.Phil Oxon in German language&literature; feminism, nerdiness, puns. Also, book: The Political Woman in Print: www.peterlang.com/document/1053307 orcid.org/0000-0002-3439-5130

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Reposted by Dr B Mikus
Anise K. Strong @anisekstrong.bsky.social · 12h
Why parents make great scientists: Because they recognize that "Lauren errors" happen all the time.
There was the incident that became known as “the Lauren error”: One day, her daughter Lauren, then four years old, was playing with the command module simulator at the Instrumentation Lab when she somehow activated a pre-launch program, called P01, while the simulator was in midflight — which crashed the simulator altogether. Hamilton created a program add-on in the technical documentation warning users not to launch P01 during flight. 

She also proposed a software fix to prevent the error happening during a real mission, but she was overruled on the grounds that the highly trained astronauts were never going to make that same mistake. Yet during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, that’s exactly what happened: Jim Lovell inadvertently launched P01 during the flight, causing the on-flight navigational data to vanish. Hamilton and her team were called in to solve the error, and after that her proposed changes were integrated into the program. This was an early example of “defensive” programming, the practice of building software that could anticipate or fix errors on its own.
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Grady Booch @booch.com · 13h
Ms Hamilton coined the term “software engineering”.
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The Spaceshipper 🚀 @thespaceshipper.com · 14h
According to MIT News, Margaret Hamilton died at the age of 90. "A profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program". This famous photo 🔽 inspired the For All Mankind character Margo Madison.
Margaret Hamilton, but the famous 1969 photo that inspired the For All Mankind character Margo Madison is in the quoted post.
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🇨🇦 Dr Soledad Miranda-Rottmann 🧠 @neurolatina.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I hope the Nobel Prize committee will be awarded for the discovery of the existence of women this year.
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Dr B Mikus @melancholerical.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
How your email finds me.
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Dr B Mikus @melancholerical.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🎉
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maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yes every woman has been harassed, many assaulted. But every woman has also experienced invisible loss from moments she avoided harassment. She felt a space becoming unsafe, so she left, while men stayed on. And in leaving, she lost: opportunities, experiences, learning, promotions, even simply fun.
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Lisa Diedrich @lisadiedrich.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Yes. I keep thinking about the phrase "rights stripping," which Judith Butler used in a talk at the New School in May, to capture a key element of the techno-fascist political project.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
They aren’t just stealing everything that is left they are making sure only men can hoard it. I don’t know what else to tell you.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
we are watching a massive transfer of wealth during an era of massive wealth creation (however much it might be just paper money it’s powerful) — reinscribing gender during this moment is a choice about who will be a citizen for the next three hundred years.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And by citizen he means who can accrue and control property and wealth.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
He isn’t old. He isn’t out of touch. He isn’t confused. He is choosing who will rule. Men — even those who love men — are citizens and everyone else isn’t. Thats it.
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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Stop normalizing sexual assault. Fucking shun people who have done it. Start acting like the victims fucking MATTERED.
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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It is fucking absurd how much y’all want boys to have an unobstructed successful future and treat girls like fucking cannon fodder every last high school girl out there is more valuable to the world than a boy or man who has committed sexual assault
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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Naomi Klein Is Spot On.......
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Heather Paterson @heatherpaterson.co.uk · 03/10/2026
EVERY UK MP needs to read this You are all part of a government that is creating a situation so hostile and unsafe that people are leaving the country This is not an isolated case. You have the power to do something about this.
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Roger @arbejdsmyren.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In Denmark a scientist plotted data and research findings into Claude, only to see Anthropic publish the findings as something the LLM had conjured up on its own. The theft of one scientist’s data and work translates into false claims about the model’s ability to generate research #ai #eupol
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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I still remember an afternoon on Twitter when every woman was posting in a blind rage about the Kavanaugh hearings, just *seething* over what was happening, and all of a sudden the game started and instantly all of those voices were swamped by every guy on the site excitedly talking about football.
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 27/09/2026
LOUDER FOR THE BACK ROW
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sounds alarmist and absurd to suggest that the Tories would follow, but they are currently just a couple years behind the far-right parties on these issues. Badenoch is radicalising the party at speed.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The chipping away at citizenship, which started with Shamima Begum, is utterly poisonous. Anytime now, Restore will support the removal of citizenship on the basis of race or religion.
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James Barišić 🇭🇷 @james.barisic.fr · 27/09/2026
This is why no British dual citizen should tell the British state about any other citizenship they hold. The goalposts keep changing and they're coming for you next.
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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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B.S.W. Barootes @barootes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
And yet I was only allowed to access a 1955 B.Litt. thesis, the only lengthy study on Robert Braybrooke, in person and take notes (no photos). I had to sign a register of those who had ever accessed the thesis.
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Susanne Wosnitzka @donauschwalbe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Was KI auch noch alles kaputt macht: Freundinnen, die für Online-Lexika schreiben oder solche betreiben wie FemBio, ersahen via VG-Wort-Meldungen wesentlich weniger Klickzahlen für ihre Seiten, weil die Leute nur mehr die KI-Zusammenfassung nutzen & daher nicht mehr auf die Webseiten selbst gehen 😔
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
You know that saying about how the way they treat asylum seekers is the way they’d treat everyone else if they thought they could get away with it? Well,
The Tories said the reduced subsistence allowance would be loaded onto pre-paid card that would not allow cash withdrawals, and would "prevent spending" on alcohol, cigarettes, or gambling.
The party is yet to detail how its proposal would work, but shadow welfare secretary Helen Whately said it would be "a version" of the pre-paid Aspen card issued to asylum seekers living in government-funded accommodation.
These cards cannot be used to make contactless, telephone or internet payments, whilst asylum seekers whose applications have failed cannot withdraw cash.
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 26/09/2026
This is a role for someone who knows that great campaigns don’t just inform people, they move them. Is this you? Apply to be our new Campaigns and Communications manager👇 hr.moorepay.co.uk/hr/recruitment/ro…
hr.moorepay.co.uk
Good Law Project
About the Role This is a role for someone who knows that great campaigns don’t just inform people, they move them. Someone who can see the bigger picture, move quickly when an opportunity emerges,
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Liverpool University Press @livunipress.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
📣 Oxford University Voltaire continues to grow. Launched earlier this year with Voltaire's complete works and correspondence, OV's first major update has arrived, bringing Voltaire's marginalia and more than a dozen new items of correspondence to the resource. Read more on the blog: bit.ly/4dHYBK3
Oxford University Voltaire logo above the tagline “The leading digital scholarly edition of the Complete Works of Voltaire”, set against a blue background with a profile illustration of Voltaire on the left-hand side.
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Headsoccer @headsoccer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Merz: "Es gibt in Deutschland keine Enteignungen von privatem Eigentum" Es sei denn, du willst Kohle abbauen, dann werden ganze Dörfer enteignet und abgebaggert.
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Ruth Watson @ruthwatson.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026
See also: Reform UK Restore UK
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Chris Boyd @paperghost.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
there is no sensible reason why a 5 year spouse visa cost us a little over fourteen grand. none whatsoever. and that's before you break it down to the addition of renewals every 30 months, the health surcharge, the endless price hikes, the final kick in the teeth for ILR (three grand! to settle!)
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 20/09/2026
I hate doing the "a rollback of trans rights is the gateway for a rollback of women's rights" thing because trans rights are human rights in and of themselves, whatever the impact on cis women. But goddamn I wish more cis women had a sense of history and self preservation.
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Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
when ai leaves u behind
7 panel comic.

Panel 1:
A Red Guy with AI across his chest looks like he’s about to run away. A Yellow Guy stands next to him. Red Guy says “I’m the future, buddy. You comin’?”
Yellow Guy replies “Nah”

Panel 2: 
Red Guy is almost out of the panel. He leans in and says “Enjoy getting left behind, pal”
Yellow Guy replies “ok”

Panel 3:
Yellow Guy stands alone.

Panel 4: 
Close up on Yellow Guy, there is a quiet “huff-huff-huff” noise coming from behind him

Panel 5:
Yellow Guy turns to look behind him

Panel 6: 
Close up on Yellow Guy’s face as if from the point of view of an attacker.
Yellow Guy yells “Jesus Christ”

Panel 7:
AI Red Guy is now chasing the Yellow Guy. 
Red Guy: “Use me”
Yellow Guy “No”
Red Guy “USE ME”
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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
N.K. Jemisin is the first author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 3 consecutive yrs for her Broken Earth series & first to win for all 3 novels in a trilogy. Recipient MacArthur Genius Grant, 2020. She was born #OTD in 1972. Happy Birthday @nkjemisin.bsky.social 🎈 #SciFi #Fantasy #BookSky
A montage portrait of science fiction author N.K. Jemisin. On the left, she appears in a close-up photo with long, dark braided hair, wearing earrings, a delicate necklace with a pendant, a deep maroon sweater, and a shimmering green scarf draped around her neck. She has a calm, confident expression and gazes directly at the camera against a softly blurred dark background. To the right are three stacked book covers of her works. Top: The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth trilogy), with a dark, textured design and metallic title. Middle: The Obelisk Gate, featuring an intricate, glowing red-and-purple circular mandala-like emblem. Bottom: The Stone Sky, showing a dramatic stormy sky with a massive floating obelisk.

The overall composition highlights the author alongside prominent covers from her award-winning Broken Earth series.
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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Oh I see you think this has nothing to do with you
Rishi Sunak stood on a lecturn speaking which has a STOP THE BOATS sign on it
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Jason Kint @kint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Eye popping. Court just unsealed Summary Judgment motions in New York Times v OpenAI / Microsoft. Easy to see why the AI companies had so many redactions (pink). Their own people wrote the lede for NYT, the "largest theft of labor in human history"... "more and more substitutive..." /1
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Same people who seem to think it’s bad for China to beat us at AI are perfectly fine with China beating us at high speed rail, solar energy, wind energy, shall we go on
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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
wikileaks revealed the existence of the NSA, horrific US war crimes and illegal surveillance- and under control of russia, the "guccifer 2.0" leaks which were the "hillary's emails!!!" thing. We learned later that the hacker also submitted leaks against republicans, which they chose not to publish
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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
reminder: assange used to control wikileaks, which published leaked documents from snowden, manning, winner etc He gave control of it to Russia in exchange for asylum from his rape charges, which they betrayed him on. He waited out the statue of limitations in the Ecuadorian embassy in London
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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 17/09/2026
It was confirmed yesterday that the centre left coalition won the election in Sweden As predicted, with the far right performing poorly, coverage has almost entirely vanished from international media
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Noting the gap between the infected and the well, the Gates Foundation pledges at least $1 billion to help the uninfected join this exciting development in which Microsoft is so precariously invested."
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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
reporters werent “barred” from recording, the powerful people they are covering asked them not to record and they immediately complied and hid whats happening from their audience
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Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 15/09/2026
For those unaware, the current GC discourse is whether it's acceptable to harass a trans woman sat on a bench in public (nowhere near any sort of women's space, or service, or sports) solely for the crime of wearing a dress in public. Just reasonable concerns.
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Duncan Jones @manmademoon.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It is in the AfD’s own security interests to make Germany dependent on Russia.
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is just a spectacular unintentional self-own
Dude on Threads: If you hate on ai, you better be pretty damn good at whatever you're doing
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It would be more helpful for him to acknowledge and explain the role that his austerity policies played in encouraging people to vote for what he correctly critiques here.
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
“The contraction of used book stock & the inflation of used book prices is happening simultaneous with the reduction of library collections, the defunding of physical archives, & the enshittification of digital archives, & all are at least partially caused by pressures from frontier developers.”
open.substack.com
Guillotining Books Is Not Quite Guillotining Humanities Scholars. Not Quite.
Booksellers are benefitting from AI developers destructively scanning print books, but the activity is not victimless.
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
First excerpt from End Times Fascism! So happy The Guardian went for the part of the book about the wonder of THIS world, and the people doing everything to commit to it. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
The end times fascists are plotting their escape from our world. Our mission is clear
An unholy alliance is working toward an apocalyptic future from which only a chosen few will emerge unscathed. It’s becoming clear how we stop them
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KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 13/09/2026
"The super-rich have apocalypse fantasies of their own, built not on faith or ideology but on a calm and rational evaluation of how best to maintain their position; they would genuinely rather reign in hell than share in heaven."
theguardian.com
Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’
She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursui...
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