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Laurel Halbany

@neverjaunty.bsky.social
466 followers 380 following 430 posts

Unnecessarily shrill

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Reposted by Laurel Halbany
Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 9h
I had two kids in the NICU which produced a $10k bill because two insurers both said "not me!" for 36 hours of it. I fixed it by applying the full scope of my skills as civil litigation attorney. It would've cost >$10k to hire me to do it; as a policy matter, I consider that wholly unacceptable.
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 11h
I mean it’s not a vetting problem, is it? It’s that it’s a racist party, run by racists, with racist policies, for the benefit of racists. The fact that it turns out to be full of racists is not a glitch
bbc.co.uk
Reform faces questions over candidate vetting after undercover filming
Reform UK says the party has "improved and prioritised its vetting procedures".
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10h
“Make accessible” a thing humans have been doing for as long as there have been humans.
In a January 2025 appearance on The Twenty Minute VC, a venture-capital podcast, Suno CEO and co-founder Mikey Shulman said that his company’s mission is to make the joy of music-making accessible to billions of people. A clip from this interview went viral among musicians — not because they applauded his sentiments, but because it enraged them.
“It’s not really enjoyable to make music now,” Shulman said. When asked to elaborate, he said, “It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you have to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.” The implication appeared to be that Suno offers customers the experience of making music without any of the tedium or expense involved in doing it the old-fashioned way. What could be better than that?
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 9h
Hedge funds with small schools attached to them
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Jamison Foser @jamisonfoser.bsky.social · 16/10/2026
Big Streaming doesn't want you to know that Kanopy is kind of like Amazon Prime Video except that you have to pay for Prime and Kanopy is free. Oh also Prime shows ads even though you pay for it and Kanopy doesn't show ads even though you don't pay for it. Oh and Bezos doesn't get Kanopy's data.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
This is an absurd prayer for relief. I've never seen anything like this. I don't even understand how you can ask for this, and I can't imagine this goes anywhere beyond creating confusion. It's an extremely irresponsible action that further undermines the legitimacy of the Justice Department.
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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
back in the olden days DOJ would investigate a particular crime it believed had been committed, rather than just poking around to see if anything was wrong
The investigation is seeking information to see where it leads, the source said. For example, if records, representations related to age and immigration status contain false information, that would provide material for investigators to scrutinize further. They could also examine communications related to such matters.
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Spookysaurus @cheekyian.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
The ghosts in PacMan are conscious. They can distinguish between when PacMan has eaten one of those large dots and when he hasn't, knowing when to chase and when to retreat, aware of the suffering should he catch them at the wrong time. I have no more patience for hedging on this matter.
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Harry Turtledove @hntdove.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Oh, Don, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porsches; I must make amends. Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from Gavin. Oh, Don, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
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Doctor Memory @blank.org · 14/10/2026
Counterpoint: no, it fucking could not. There are zero smart home devices with a terabyte of VRAM and at present prices I expect that fact to continue being true for quite some time.
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
To be fair, CMOT Dibbler is kind of the anthropomorphic personification of One Weird Trick
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Tech bros have somehow found a way to make themselves even *less* dateable
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
So happy for all the people who got the joke
static.klipy.com
Shouting Development: There Are Dozens Of Us
Alt: Shouting Development: There Are Dozens Of Us
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Dr. Jim Getz @jimgetz.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? Assyriologist: Du[ring] grad sch[ool] I [took?] a position ... [13 lines illegible] ... now.
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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
There’s some quote, I think from Seth Rogan, that says that it’s fine to cross lines in comedy but people want to understand that you’re aware a line exists and have an awareness and deliberateness to it, and I think that’s the reason people like Mel Brooks are so funny and dipshit stand ups aren’t
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Makes soup out of WHAT
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ceej @ceej.online · 14/10/2024
hey dude, I noticed you attempting to carve a small space for joy in the face of overwhelming sadness. kind of problematic considering all the horrors
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
“May I approach the witness” “Absolutely not”
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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
“If you don’t like public executions just don’t watch it” says the crowd trying to ban drag shows and books
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I don’t like this version of horseshoe theory
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Now do stick shifts
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The Volatile Mermaid @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Friendly reminder that Megyn Kelly was sexually harassed by Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly and STILL this is how she, and women on the right, treat rape victims.
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Sen. Pumpkin Gogurt @ugarles.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
dennis hastert should be memorialized as "abusive pervert who served as republican speaker of the house" not as "speaker of the house who did some bad stuff"
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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 03/10/2026
Found a little gem on youtube. Story set in Viking age Iceland, the actors speak Old Norse and the clothes and props look very impressive, the scenery even more so. Short independent film but more accurate looking than quite a few big budget films. youtu.be/8Sm5itntHV0?...
youtu.be
HAMRAMMR - Icelandic Historical Short Film | Full Film
YouTube video by Northern Storm Pictures
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 03/10/2026
Gotta say, it's pretty discouraging to see how quickly the calls for "forgiveness" and questions about "well does it really mean someone is bad FOREVER" start in
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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings. w/ @regret.bsky.social
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
your response to “I was raped” should not be “I was right”
4 panel comic

Panel 1:
A Purple Woman looks distraught, on the verge of breaking down. She says “that man raped me”
Orange Guy standing next to her is absent-mindedly checking his nails. He says “Wellll, I’ve always disliked him and his work.”

Panel 2:
Purple Woman begins to cry. Orange Guy adopts an incredibly smug expression and says “Guess I must just be a good judge of character”

Panel 3: 
Purple Woman dissolves into sobs. Orange  Guy notices, puts his hand on her shoulder and says “Aw”

Panel 4:
Purple Woman crumples to the floor. Orange Guy, looking bemused, asks “Are you crying because you’re jealous of how smart I am?”
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ve, the ghost of info past @vortexegg.com · 01/10/2026
These people are not participants in the reality based community. It's millenarian participatory make-believe sci-fi magic bullshit that they are convinced is real to the degree of it being a religious doxa to which they are willing to sacrifice every human being alive today (as they themselves say)
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ve, the ghost of info past @vortexegg.com · 01/10/2026
People need to understand the people leading the AI industry, transhumanist/longtermist/EA movements, and tech broadly, as died-in-the-wool pseudoscientists, denialists (climate change, the holocaust), and crank purveyors of conspiritualist woo of the highest order. The height of Rationalism.
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autumn coded @hoovybaby.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just talk to another human already jesus fucking christ
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Bryan Alexander @edufuturist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
How might higher education expand its use of universal design for learning? Join us tomorrow from 2-3 pm ET as we talk with author @thomasjtobin.bsky.social about his research and practice: georgetown.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
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🇲🇽🕷️rustbelt rebel🕷️🇲🇽 @rustbeltrebel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just be there for your sons. Not in a ‘he knows he can come to me’ way- In a ‘every single day we check in and I show him I care about him and he’s allowed to care about me and all the things he wants to care about’ sort of way.
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Captain Awkward @captainawkward.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I just cannot stress this enough: If you attempt a joke that doesn’t land, or you say something unintentionally problematic or hurtful, and somebody checks you on it, there are so many ways to walk it back. Take accountability. Apologize. At minimum, stop saying more words to make it worse!
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Captain Awkward @captainawkward.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Excellent thread! There *are* rewards for being A Good Guy Who Speaks Up even if they are not immediately obvious or publicly bestowed. First, integrity is its own reward. Maybe you didn’t save the world or change hearts & minds. But if you held the line on not making it worse, that’s something.
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
you will encounter more opportunities in life to change the batteries on a smoke alarm than you will to run into a burning building and no one gives a shit you changed those batteries but it is still very important and why are you waiting on a burning building, know what i’m saying, it’s a metaphor
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
you will be rewarded with: - uncomfortable silence probably - maybe you will lose that friend idk is that such a big deal
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
you will not be rewarded with: - sexual and/or romantic favors (sliding value scale relative to the chastity of rescued woman, however this can be applied to any woman, no matter how biblically libidinous) - government-issued tshirt, hat, or badge indicating you are “one of the good ones” - parade
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward
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The ills of the world make the situation lighter @bankuei.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Here's the thing; they had toddlers signing away their rights to see their parents through the Bush & Obama years. These atrocities have been happening the whole time.
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Stellbound: Stellraiser II @antlervel.vet · 03/12/2025
Your hands are covered in little men. And the little men can make you sick if you don’t give them a bath. Sometimes they make other people sick too. Please give the little men a bath! I’m not crazy! Just listen to me! Bathe the little men on your hands! This is real! Get the men wet, you fools!
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Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE @leftistlawyer.com · 27/09/2026
or irrelevant because we should just ignore what is legal because the right does. But here's the problem. YOU CANNOT DISMANTLE A SYSTEM UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW IT WORKS. And the fact so many people think otherwise is a major problem.
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Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE @leftistlawyer.com · 27/09/2026
Explaining how the law and legal system works is not a defense of either. There is a growing sentiment on the left - I see it every day! - that explanations of the legal system (like, for example, why Mamdani can't legally arrest Netanyahu) are making excuses,
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 26/09/2026
It is no coincidence that rationalists and EAs tend to be straight white guys from well-off families, because for everybody else, the world usually conspires to knock some sense into you about your inherent god-emperor genius by the time you’re old enough to drink.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 26/09/2026
As a former pretentious little shit who grew out of it, rationalists (et al) annoy the piss out of me because they are adults with the mentality of tweens - they are somehow still convinced they are the greatest geniuses who have ever walked the earth. It is the worldview of an arrogant baby.
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Laurel Halbany @neverjaunty.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Hi! The zoom meeting ID is invalid.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026
Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵
Selfie taken by ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson, a man wearing a backwards baseball cap and an orange T-shirt.
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Jamie Smart @jamiesmart.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Can’t eat a sandwich until you subscribe to sandwiches. Can’t eat today’s sandwich until it has applied daily sandwich updates. Sandwich now has adverts even though you paid for ad-free sandwich. Can pay again to have less sandwich adverts. Now you can eat the sandwich, but it’s smaller.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ten years of relentlessly hateful, comically elitist anti-democratic politics across the white people world, helpfully summarised. The wrong people are talking, the wrong people are deciding and it’s harming the careers of important people who actually matter. Smithers! Release the hounds
The incident fits a broader pattern in the discourse around 'free speech' and 'cancel culture': whatever comes from the top down is freedom; whatever comes from the bottom up is bullying and censorship. When Macklemore is dropped at the behest of the billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft, it's an exercise of the freedom of businesses to 'demonstrate their values' by deciding whom to platform. But when Ed Sheeran's fans decide not to buy tickets to his performances, or even demand refunds, it's bullying, mob behaviour. Since most people are not billionaires and do not own stadiums, they can exercise meaningful power only collectively. The collective exercise of power must therefore be demonised.
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msbhavin.bsky.social @msbhavin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We (and most ppl where we live) lost everything in the fridge after 9 days of no power post-Hurricane. Went food shopping today. Some staples, butter, milk, eggs, fish & produce. Two of us - $500. I have no idea how average income households are feeding their families. This is not sustainable.
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