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Michele Travierso

@michetravi.bsky.social
472 followers 886 following 152 posts

Recovering journalist, entrepreneur, EIR, pilot //airplanes, tech, photog. Shanghai/HK 04-20, now in Milan. - Words in @TheEconomist @NYTimes @Wired @TIME @Monocle @NatureItaly - Founder @Atmosoar.io - Entrepreneur-in-residence @SOSV @Orbitstartups

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Reposted by Michele Travierso
"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
I don't think their policy of murdering innocent mothers in the street is having the intended effect.
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
This is so bleak: www.404media.co/a16z-is-fund...
Last week, I wrote about Doublespeed, essentially a click farm that sells “synthetic influencers” to astroturf whatever product or service you want across social media, despite it being a clear violation of every social media platform's policy on inauthentic behavior. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. 

a16z’s Speedrun is also backing:

Creed: An AI company “rooted in Christian Values” which produces Lenny, a “Bible-based AI buddy who's always got your back with wise words, scripture-inspired guidance, and a listening ear whenever you need it.”
Zingroll: The “world’s largest Netflix-quality AI streaming platform,” which is another way of saying it’s a Netflix populated exclusively with AI Slop.
Vega: which is building “AI-powered social orbits.” What does that mean? Not entirely clear, but the company has produced one of the most beautiful Mad Libs paragraphs I’ve ever seen: “We’re building the largest textual data moat on human relationships by gamifying the way people leave notes for each other. For the first time, LLMs can analyze millions of raw, human-written notes at scale and turn them into structured meaning, powering the most annotated social graph ever created.”
Moona Health: an AI-powered Sleep care app the company says is covered by insurance. “Our AI-powered platform automates insurance claims and scheduling and analyzes sleep data – providing personalized session guidelines to therapists,” Moona says.
Jooba: “The world’s first autonomous recruiting firm.”
Margin: “The World’s first AI powered credit card.” Margin says “Customers earn points, with dynamic rewards that adapt to their preferences in real time.”
First Voyage: A wellness app that gives you AI “mythological pets that turn wellness into play.”
Axon Capital: billed as “DeepMind for Finance,” Axon says it has “pioneered brain-inspired, low-latency AI for financial markets.”
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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 16/10/2025
When the Nazi group chat ruins your talking points
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Maura Elizabeth Cunningham @mauracunningham.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Very engaging and informative talk by @mcgreenesd.bsky.social on "Socialism at Altitude: Chinese Mountaineering, Mountaineering in China" —so glad that UCI's Long Institute has shared the video, because the visuals are amazing.
youtu.be
Socialism at Altitude: Chinese Mountaineering, Mountaineering in China
This talk examines historical attempts to climb the highest mountains in the People's Republic of China. Much has been written about mountaineering from a Western perspective - but what does this…
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Reposted by Michele Travierso
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2025
Reminder: the point of the massive, lavishly funded, decades-long campaign by the right to take over media was not to make the public love Republicans, it was to make the public hate Democrats, so that no matter what Republicans did, it would be forgiven. They know: it won't matter ...
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
And after 40 minutes of cringe-Thunderous applause from the generals! Just kidding. Total silence. 👀 🦗 🦗
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Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
“The world is watching us, stunned, while we slit our own throat—with our initiation of trade wars with countries around the globe (including with some of our closest allies); with our president’s display of pathetically gullible obsequiousness to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin;…”
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Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
High stakes, low expectations as EU and China face off in Beijing My preview of tomorrow's summit BIG NEWS as of an hour ago: they have a joint statement on climate, negotiations finished, goes to Coreper today for approval www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
scmp.com
High stakes, low expectations as EU and China prepare for summit in Beijing
Hopes of a reset in relations rose in the first quarter but came back to Earth with controls on critical minerals.
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 21/07/2025
authoritarians hate public broadcasting because in its ideal form it untethers journalism from the perverse financial incentives inherent in a consolidate corporate ad-based media that (as you see every day) is often too feckless to stand up to wealth and power when it really matters
arstechnica.com
Senate votes to kill entire public broadcasting budget in blow to NPR and PBS
Senate votes to rescind $1.1 billion from Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
This video is nuts www.instagram.com/reel/DMWa8sp...
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 15/06/2025
An Italian newspaper hired ChatGPT as a new colleague—and it didn’t melt down. @matteowong.bsky.social talks with "Il Foglio" editor Claudio Cerasa about his AI experiment:
bit.ly
The Newspaper That Hired ChatGPT
Il Foglio editor Claudio Cerasa believes the chatbot should be treated like a colleague.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
"Someday somebody will explain that." He always acts like his own personal ignorance is shared by the entire globe. If he does not know it, it cannot be known.
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Soft-power self-destruction watch, an ongoing saga: (Fulbright program one of most successful forms of US engagement with the world. Trump nihilists/ Red Guards mindlessly tearing it down.) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/u...
nytimes.com
Fulbright Board Quits, Accusing Trump Administration of Political Interference
The board of the prestigious program told the State Department it had no right to cancel scholarships for nearly 200 American professors and researchers.
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utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 11/06/2025
the feds did a pit maneuver on a mercedes sedan in order to terrorize the latino occupants by assuming they were undocumented migrants
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Zoomer Antimillenarian @surcomplicated.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
My entire read on what's going on has been to assume that this would not, in fact, change (or rather, that it wouldn't change for the better--it's actually getting worse as power warps the disordered minds and social milieus of the ppl willing to work in the Trump 2.0 leadership class).
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Zachary Fryer-Biggs @zachfb.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Really important story - army officials asked soldiers to identify themselves if they don't agree with Trump's politics that way he'd get only supportive soldiers in uniform during his political rally on base. Heavier soldiers were also barred from participating.
military.com
Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump's Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance
As Trump viciously attacked his perceived political foes, he whipped up boos from the gathered troops directed at California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Everything that’s happened over the past six months has been a response to an imaginary crisis. There is no immigrant invasion. No trade crisis. No scientific or governance crisis. Just people completely high off their own supply trying to fundamentally reorder society. None of this had to happen.
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 31/05/2025
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday ordered more scrutiny of the social-media profiles of any foreigners seeking to visit Harvard University, telling US consular officers that applicants’ lack of an online presence might be enough evidence to deny a visa.
bloom.bg
Rubio Ramps Up Pressure on Harvard With Expanded Visa Scrutiny
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday ordered more scrutiny of the social-media profiles of any foreigners seeking to visit Harvard University, telling US consular officers that applicants’ lack of an online presence might be enough evidence to deny a visa.
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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
The BBC obtained a mobile phone that was smuggled out of North Korea. The level of control the regime holds over its citizens is shocking but not surprising.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
The idea that this kind of armed presence is necessary in Great Barrington - a quaint Berkshires town of artists, aging hippies, and retired dentists - is insane. These agents are dressed like paramilitaries, not police officers. www.berkshireeagle.com/breaking/ice...
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Scott Banville @sbanville.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Louisiana: “A bill that would ban so-called “chemtrails” in Louisiana advanced out of the state House of Representatives on May 29, despite scientific consensus that aircraft exhaust does not modify weather.”
kalb.com
Louisiana lawmakers push ‘chemtrail’ ban legislation through the House
The chemtrail ban heads to the Louisiana Senate despite experts saying chemtrails are only a conspiracy theory.
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Tal Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
its crazy how dominant germany was in science (especially chemistry) in the 19th century, it was basically the international language for scientists, people came from all over the world to train at heidelberg etc, and then....
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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Years from now, this picture will be in History textbooks, in the "Collapse of the American Empire" chapter. Students will have essay prompts like "explain the ways in which online conspiracy theories accelerated imperial collapse." Most all their opening sentences will use the phrase "brain worms"
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Jill Sargent Russell, PhD @jsargentr.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
If you saw this guy on a subway, you would move away. bsky.app/profile/wuta...
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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
It's beyond parody that we're now calling apparent malignant narcissistic sociopathy a philosophy
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Lee West @whodat35.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Why Is #NASA Shuttering This Iconic Institute in New York City? Since 1966 NASA’s #Goddard Institute for #Space Studies has been at the forefront of Earth & planetary science from its location in upper Manhattan. Now a Trump admin directive is ejecting its #scientists to parts unknown
scientificamerican.com
Trump Administration Shutters New York City–Based NASA Institute
Since 1966 NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies has been at the forefront of Earth and planetary science from its location in upper Manhattan. Now a Trump administration directive is ejecting it...
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SFDB @sfdb.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Today in Tallahassee at a construction site... This is MAGA's America... via www.usatoday.com/story/news/l...
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
(Reuters) - Global makers of surveillance gear have clashed with Indian regulators in recent weeks over contentious new security rules that require manufacturers of CCTV cameras to submit hardware, software and source code for assessment in government labs. www.reuters.com/world/china/...
reuters.com
India's alarm over Chinese spying rocks the surveillance industry
Global makers of surveillance gear have clashed with Indian regulators in recent weeks over contentious new security rules that require manufacturers of CCTV cameras to submit hardware, software and source code for assessment in government labs, official documents and company emails show.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Hard to believe they’re talking about the same event.
Headline from the independent: Trump gives rambling speech about trophy wives, golf and the 'great late' Al Capone in politically-charged West Point addressHeadline from the New York Times: Trump Gives Commencement Address at West Point, Stressing a New Era
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Greg @jamyang.net · 19/05/2025
China & the US are locked in a constant struggle for information, using cyber espionage to gain strategic advantage. Recently leaked files have shed light on rapid advances in China’s capabilities as both nations prepare for any future conflict (@bloomberg.com) ‬ www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kpn...
youtube.com
How China Is Building an Army of Hackers
YouTube video by Bloomberg Originals
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China Law Translate / Jeremy Daum @chinalawtranslate.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Seems no mention of China in the actual letter sent to Harvard:
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China Law Translate / Jeremy Daum @chinalawtranslate.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
For those who haven't read the DHS press release on stopping Harvard from enrolling foreign students-- there's a CHINA connection. www.dhs.gov/news/2025/05...
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Paul Rosenberg @paulrosenberg.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Trump has said he doesn't want to be Herbert Hoover. With the combination of nation-killing actions he's taken, nobody 100 years from now will even remember Hoover as a footnote. His tariffs won't magically bring back union-wage factory jobs. But attacks like this will destroy national wealth
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Part of the problem is they get much of what they want just by creating uncertainty, even if the courts ultimately stop them. If you’re a foreign student who can get into Havard you can go anywhere. Are you really committing four years of your life (and a hefty tuition) under these circumstances?
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 22/05/2025
NSF Physics was cut by 85%, basically wiping out most of its capacity for supporting research. NSF Astronomy was cut by 53% Undergrad education was cut by 71% and research on learning by 79% Graduate education was cut by 100% to ZERO. #GiftLink ⚛️🔭 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades (Gift Article)
The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
🧵 Today's revocation of Harvard's ability to enroll international is awful for many reasons, chief among them the human cost as @jeremywallace.bsky.social notes. It's also an attack on the US economy. But maybe less obvious: it is terrible national security policy. It makes Americans less safe. 1/
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Andy Revkin 🌎 ✍🏼 🪕 ☮️ revkin.substack.com @revkin.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
More from John Drake: Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually via @forbes www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...
forbes.com
Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually
Economists find public R&D drives U.S. productivity growth — and pays for itself
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Trump/Musk and the entire GOP has spent the last four months systematically liquidating disease cure research in the United States. Lots of critical cure studies shuttered mid-way through. Research shutdown everywhere. It's all hands on deck to prevent new treatments for cancer, ahlzeimers etc.
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Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
They fired the intelligence analysts that refuted these lies and that’s why now they’re talking about suspending habeas corpus unless the judges go along with the lie that the US is under Venezuelan “invasion”
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Chris Hadfield @cmdr-hadfield.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Imagine starting a car that hadn't run in 21 years, that's 15 billion miles away in interstellar space. That's what the NASA team just did with Voyager's thrusters. People are amazing. jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-v...
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Nice history of the Institute for Advanced Study. What began with physicists & mathematicians fleeing fascism has evolved into a community that also includes social scientists and humanists all pushing boundaries. The intellectual freedom the Bambergers championed still thrives in Princeton's woods.
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John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 14/05/2025
Let's talk about these two department store owners: brother and sister Louis Bamberger and Caroline Bamberger Fuld. From Newark, New Jersey. They are random people, basically. But in the late 1920s, with fascism taking over Europe, they made a choice that profoundly changed the world: 🧵
A photograph of Louis Bamberger, seated on the right, wearing a mustache and bowler hat, and his sister Caroline Bamberger Fuld, standing on the left, wearing a fur hat and shawl
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Michele Travierso @michetravi.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Wide reaching, savory read from @christopherkay.ft.com on the shenanigans of a nature-loving crime syndicate, its Bollywood superstar target, and a shadowy gang boss. Perfect weekend material, it screams to be drowned in prosecco and sunshine.
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Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻‍♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 09/05/2025
I spoke to the reporter for this fascinating story on how Chinese video games became the "lost paradise" for the western far right theinitium.com/article/2025...
theinitium.com
Gamergate2:中國遊戲如何成為右翼白人玩家的失樂園 | 端傳媒 Initium Media
歷經十年,針對女性遊戲設計師/記者的互聯網騷擾行動「玩家門」(Gamergate)強勢回歸。陳舊的騷擾手法,全新的騷擾對象;陳舊的右翼政治,全新的術語名詞。
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Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Last fall Niall Ferguson chastised me on Xitter for suggesting Trump could turn fascist, asserting, "fascism was all about state control of the economy and militarisation in preparation for war, pretty much the opposite of Trump's philosophy." Just thinking about that for no reason whatsoever.
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Nikki McCann Ramírez @nikkimcr.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
He’s currently plating the Oval Office in gold while selling luxury dinners at his private golf club to rich foreigners who buy his personal crypto token. You know, poor people shit.
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 07/05/2025
The real eye-catching proposal in NASA's options is reducing the ISS crew size from four to three.
arstechnica.com
NASA scrambles to cut ISS activity after Trump budget—its options are not great
“The Budget reduces the space station’s crew size and onboard research.”…
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