Sign in

Scilla

@scilla.bsky.social
430 followers 775 following 377 posts

Movies, books, art, animals, forests, fields. Treading lightly but would kick shins for justice. I'm old. Alway have been.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Scilla
Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Alec Soth Minneapolis, March 22, 2020
Pigeons in flight
2132
Reposted by Scilla
Helena 🏝️ HELULV Ullmark @helenaullmark.bsky.social · 17h
Här har jag bott i natt. Fem mil hemifrån.
4551
Reposted by Scilla
Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If this reads like one of those Nigerian prince scam emails, it’s because it’s exactly like one of those Nigerian prince scam emails
59650201438
Reposted by Scilla
Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Remembering Wallace Stevens on his birthday 🎂 📷 Walter Sanders for Life Magazine, 1950 The caption read: "Poet and Vice President of Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., Wallace Stevens." "The imperfect is our paradise."
Stevens walks out from between the columns of his impressive insurance company building, hands behind his back. He turns to the camera & smiles.
1189
Reposted by Scilla
The Rude Pundit @rudepundit.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Why the fuck is she always smiling? God, it's chilling.
26778
Reposted by Scilla
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yes.
853162668
Reposted by Scilla
Laurence Mitchell @eastofelveden.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I feel privileged to have entered the chamber of the mighty Gavrinis tomb last week. A 6,000-year-old Neolithic passage tomb on a tiny island in the Gulf of Morbihan, Brittany, it's interior walls are covered in swirling megalithic art. It Similar in some ways to Newgrange in Ireland ##TombTuesday
010618
Reposted by Scilla
Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Delightful also to hear real eagle noises. In movies eagles are always dubbed with hawks, since hawks found fierce and eagles sound like adorable squeakers.
221220276
Reposted by Scilla
Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Yes, there are rats fleeing the sinking ship, but Trump’s poisonous influence will still require a major cleanup operation if & when the Democrats regain control in Congress…The only way we truly overcome this dark chapter is by refusing to forgive & forget.” www.americaamerica.news/p/rats-are-f...
americaamerica.news
Rats Are Fleeing the Sinking Ship
But they have waited too long and are still too few in number to change the outcome of a likely Democratic tsunami
1141502470
Reposted by Scilla
Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"To say that we're gob smacked is an understatement" Cultural Landscape Foundation blisters Team Trump for shutting down public comment on Trump Monumental Arch Group says Trump Admin has deemed 1000's of public concerns about Arch to be "meaningless, unimportant & of no value whatsoever"
581188544
Reposted by Scilla
SpryOldLorax @spryoldlorax.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
We are living in 1984. This is a great explainer on how it works, how the propaganda tactics of 1984 are being used by Republicans and the Trump Administration to paper over cuts that are killing rural healthcare (and also trying to take credit for things Biden did). Please watch and share this:
44330
Reposted by Scilla
Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Vikki Yeates (b.1973, UK) Hare Trio. - oil on paper.
0287
Reposted by Scilla
The English Oak Project @thekentacorn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Every other living thing including deer, badgers, rabbits, humans & velociraptors use our paths, but because foxes are the mammal equivalent of 00 Agents they walk ON the logs to not leave paw prints
824035
Reposted by Scilla
Steve Shilstone @steveshilstone.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#poem
07523
Reposted by Scilla
The 51st @51st.news · 26/09/2026
From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. last weekend at @rhizomedc.bsky.social, 20 local musicians provided an ambient, non-melodic soundtrack to an all-night sleepover. Reporter @stephaniejudy.bsky.social found the experience surprisingly resonant:
51st.news
I went to a twelve-hour drone concert and all I got was removed from time and space
Our reporter survives an overnight journey of ambient music — and the soul — at Rhizome.
1166
Reposted by Scilla
McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 26/09/2026
“My son is perfect.” “Your son is already old.” “How old are you already?” “The sad children are there.” “You have to eat soup!” buff.ly/L8lbSMv
buff.ly
My Favorite Fun and Useful Phrases from Duolingo’s Yiddish Course
“This does not smell good; is it fresh?” “They do not invite you because you always fall asleep.” “This vegetable is old!”
2395
Reposted by Scilla
Oversight Dems @oversightdemocrats.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yes, you heard @lynch.house.gov right: Trump has made $1.4 BILLION from his crypto businesses as president. While Americans struggle to pay their bills, Donald Trump and his children rake in cash. Oversight Dems refuse to let this corruption continue.
1616889
Reposted by Scilla
artnau @artnau.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Frutas by Danilo Di Prete (1911-1985)
0112
Reposted by Scilla
Wendy O'Rourke @wendyo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Czech cinema poster by Zdeněk Kaplan for the British film All Neat in Black Stockings directed by Christopher Morahan (1969)
Typography in red and pink, with stylized art nouveau revival legs wearing black knee-high stockings in colorful shoes on a white background
29714
Reposted by Scilla
Momus Jones @boyq.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Once again, SCTV news did it first, and better
112
Reposted by Scilla
digby @digby56.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's really too bad that we have a cretinous moron for president at this particular moment.
010714
Reposted by Scilla
Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This is madness. Sheer madness. The majority who never make claims sustain any insurance enterprise. It's the essence of the insurance model.
1916845
Reposted by Scilla
The Kimono Gallery @roger1952.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Japanese writer Jirō Osaragi (大佛次郎) and his cat, Japan,1930s.
Seated upon a woven cushion beside a sliding wooden frame, acclaimed writer Jirō Osaragi cradles a pristine white cat against his lap, his hands holding the animal with gentle, practiced ease. Draped in the soft, cascading folds of a dark traditional kimono, Osaragi turns his face toward the lens with a quiet, engaging gaze. The stark white fur of the feline creates a vivid focal point at the center of the frame, catching soft directional light that illuminates its watchful eyes and slender ears. Behind them, the subtle grid of a shōji screen and the deep gloom of a tatami room frame the pair, establishing an intimate domestic stillness captured in warm monochrome tones.
Photographed in the 1930s, this portrait captures Jirō Osaragi (1897–1973), one of early Shōwa-period Japan's most prominent literary figures, famous for his historical adventure novels such as Kurama Tengu as well as modern postwar reflections like Homecoming (Kikyō). Osaragi was celebrated not only for his prolific pen but also for his lifelong passion for felines, often sharing his home in historic Kamakura with dozens of rescue cats at a time, famously remarking that his feline companions provided an essential emotional anchor throughout his writing career. In 1930s Japanese literary culture, informal portraits of writers (bunjin) in their home studies served as a beloved subgenre of documentary photography, combining modern media craftsmanship with the timeless monozukuri (artisanal mastery) of portrait arts to reveal the human interiority behind celebrated literature.
41061180
Reposted by Scilla
atomless @atomless.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
In The Claude Delusion, @doctorow.pluralistic.net frames LLM outputs as being as empty as an atheist’s sunset. Which is just a brilliant way of putting it, and extends into one of the best explanations I’ve yet read for the eerie experience of using an LLM. pluralistic.net/2026/09/21/s...
pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: The Claude Delusion (21 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
072
Reposted by Scilla
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
imagine if the WH press corp had banded together 18 fucking months ago
1315507801
Reposted by Scilla
Koalagaming08 🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇸🇩 🇦🇲 @koalagaming08.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Trump's 2nd term should be the catalyst for DC statehood, the national guard, the kennedy center, the arch sniper tower aren't just moving white blocks around on the national mall its the forceful reshaping of a city that has no legal ability to resist
07028
Reposted by Scilla
Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Elmer Bischoff Orange Sweater (1955)
1908
Reposted by Scilla
Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Edvard Munch, The Sun, 1916
214739
Reposted by Scilla
A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Were they able to make it levitate?
052
Reposted by Scilla
Dr. Emily Hamilton-Honey @hermioneclone.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I an thrilled they were able to prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Fawn Brodie and Dr. Gordon-Reed and so many others are owed apologies. But it looks like the Smithsonian lecture about it has been cancelled. Image in next tweet.
25521
Reposted by Scilla
Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
When the US bombed an Iranian school, killing over 100 kids, it involved over-reliance on an AI targeting system called "Maven," which based it on outdated information. I called it in @foreignpolicy.com in April Now confirmed in @bloomberg.com report of Pentagon investigation
Keep Humans in the Loop
AI has a place in military targeting—but it needs safeguards.

By Nicholas Grossman, a professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, editor of Arc Digital, and the author of Drones and Terrorism.

Pictured: A woman passes an art installation featuring portraits of some of the school girls killed in an apparent U.S. strike in February, in Tehran.on April 12. MAJID SAEEDI/GETTY IMAGES)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/APRIL 14, 2026, 1:57 PM
In the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, airstrikes hit an elementary school in Iran, killing at least 175, most of them children.

From: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/This time, AI may have played a role, perhaps relying on old information. The school was adjacent to Iranian naval facilities and had once been a part of them. A large language model like Claude or ChatGPT could make that kind of error by consuming outdated information at a higher volume and giving it greater weight than more current info—or perhaps by failing to spot something a human might have caught, such as a school sign or children playing.

From: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/The public doesn’t know if AI chose the Iranian school, but we know the U.S. military is using an AI-powered system called Maven in Iran to help identify targets. Similarly, the Israeli military used a system called Lavender to identify targets in Gaza. Both wars featured a record-high rate of precision strikes compared to previous air campaigns.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/14/ai-targeting-iran-school-airstrikes-pentagon-anthropic/
11345121
Reposted by Scilla
someonegrandma.bsky.social @someonegrandma.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
During his father's dementia years, he was given a fake office with fake meetings and tasks. This fucker has adult men and women huddled like ladies-in-waiting around him while he hosts fantasy press conferences.
1395
Reposted by Scilla
Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
We already have an AI kill switch: cut power to servers. Really want to talk existential threat? Fine. We humans have many ways to blow things up. Like data centers. Panicky discourse assumes the first priority is protect tech company investments and expand their businesses. But why should it be?
441632325
Reposted by Scilla
Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
9,500 years old! And still intact! A Mesolithic woven baskets from Spain’s Cueva de los Murciélagos (“Cave of the Bats”) are Europe’s oldest known basketry. Thanks to the cave’s near‑zero humidity, organic materials didn’t decay, preserving several baskets for more than 9,000. 🧵/1/2 📷 me
Woven cylindrical basket displayed against a black background, with a wide rim and rounded base illuminated by a spotlight.
9594175
Reposted by Scilla
Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Remembering Jimi Hendrix who left us #OTD 1970.
56218
Reposted by Scilla
Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Painting by Helene Appel. Spülbecken mit Geschirr (Sink with dishes) 2024. Acrylic, oil and lacquer on linen canvas. Size 49 × 39.5 cm.
25711
Reposted by Scilla
Middle Age Riot @middleageriot.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
At this point, Donald Trump is more likely to have a degenerative disease named after him than a performing arts center.
781075266
Reposted by Scilla
Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 17/09/2026
It is pretty gratifying when a non-Trump federal judge considers the White House’s legal arguments for a plainly xenophobic policy change and then writes an opinion that says, in substance, “This is the dumbest, laziest shit I’ve ever heard, what is wrong with you people”
ballsandstrikes.org
Federal Judge Baffled, Annoyed By Trump’s Lazy Crackdown On International Students
When a judge is describing your legal argument as “exceptionally weak” and “largely disconnected from academic or practical realities,” things are not going as you’d hoped.
315139
Reposted by Scilla
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 16/09/2026
The Kennedy Center was never the city’s most daring arts venue. It was something better: all ours.
motherjones.com
The Kennedy Center was part of DC life. Trump destroyed it.
It was never the city's most daring arts venue. It was something better: all ours.
2034998
Reposted by Scilla
Nicolas Robert @robertsnickc.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
‘Painters on the Brooklyn Bridge Suspender Cables.’ #Photography by Eugene de Salignac (October 7, 1914).
0225
Reposted by Scilla
Mémoire2cité @memoire2cite.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Rétro cars voiture de tourisme 🚘 ► Automobile 📷 ► la Citroen 𝟮 𝗖𝗩 𝗹𝗮 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘂𝘅
0225
Reposted by Scilla
BeatGhoul @beatgrrrl.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
September 14, 1941: 4 marches from different points in the city of Washington, D.C. got underway, involving an estimated 2,000 total participants. Each march was dedicated to one of the four recent African American victims of police brutality. #ACAB
zinnedproject.org
Sept. 14, 1941: Rally Against Police Brutality
Following years of organizing against police brutality, four marches from different points in the city of Washington, D.C. converged at 10th and U Streets NW.
0104
Reposted by Scilla
kimdorman.bsky.social @kimdorman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NMo...
021
Reposted by Scilla
The Rude Pundit @rudepundit.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Do they get how much of a dick this makes Trump? He won’t help a place built as a memorial to an assassinated president unless he’s allowed to put his name on it. That’s so many layers of fucked up.
710317
Reposted by Scilla
Graham Jones @oldmanrambling.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Need a smile?
3154
Reposted by Scilla
Geoffrey Hughes @geofffhughes.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Reading this otherwise good piece and was struck by how much of a distraction the question of consciousness is when it comes to the dangers of LLMs: why worry about these things effectively adopting the mentality of techbros when they're already controlled by the worst people on earth?
patreon.com
Kill all humans | Richard Seymour
It seems a strange publicity gambit, to say our product could wipe out humanity. In the lingo of our evolving tech empire, though, this is e
37215
Reposted by Scilla
Democrats Abroad @demsabroad.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Are you a U.S.citizen in Ireland? You can vote in the midterms and help take power from the Republicans and Trump! Go to votefromabroad.org. There’s even live voter help available from experts. Register and vote today!
03929
Reposted by Scilla
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
“Stop Making Sense” turns 42 today. Of his performance, David Byrne said: “You see this person in the beginning [of the film] who's kind of angsty, stumbling around .. And then, by the end, he's surrendered to the music and is fairly joyful .. He’s found a kind of community." 🙏🏼 “Slippery People”
1142997594
Reposted by Scilla
The sunny side of Franz Kafka @amschelkavka.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Now I am losing my name too; it grows shorter and shorter, and now I am called: Yours. Franz Kafka, 1920.
04116
Reposted by Scilla
Fiona McLees @mclees-fiona.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This is a lovely sketchbook I was assessing yesterday - by Welsh artist Calvert “Richard the Rev” Jones, largely of maritime scenes. He lived in Swansea so many are of the sea there in 1828-1831, elegantly rendered. But there’s a couple of nice bonuses in the book…
A watercolour and ink drawing of boats at sea, full sails billowing, executed in blacks and greys and pale brown and dusky pinkAnother boat scene, this time monochrome in dark blue-grey
813546