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Strandsofpearl

@strandsofpearl.bsky.social
761 followers 3.1K following 94 posts

linguist. social science researcher. sf/f nerd. intersectional feminist. experience designer. skeets on education, language endangerment, disability, native plants, religious left. she/her

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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
With everything else going on, I didn't notice that The Mary Sue was disassembled for parts last year. RIP bsky.app/profile/kirc...
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
If you're ABD, NU just created this program for PhD degree completion. As far as I know, the first of its kind. So cool! www.nu.edu/dissertation...
nu.edu
Dissertation Completion Pathway | National University
MILLIONS IN SCHOLARSHIPS Explore NU’s scholarship opportunities. Year-roundenrollment Our admissions team reviews applications year-round. + Alumni Worldwide Become a member of NU’s global community. ...
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
This is really really funny
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
He has refused his Assent to Laws… For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world… For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury… For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences… A Tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 19/06/2025
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with...
gofundme.com
Donate to Stand With Kseniia: A Harvard Scientist in Need, organized by Cora Anderson
Hello! We are friends of Kseniia and are hoping to find others who will … Cora Anderson needs your support for Stand With Kseniia: A Harvard Scientist in Need
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Got forcibly "upgraded" to Google Gemini, had to turn off all Google's useful features to get rid of it. Wish Google was on here so I could complain to someone. They don't even have a support center. My emails have been getting lost for months.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Heard this ad twice on the radio during a short Uber ride in New York City. It felt like hearing Hitler speak
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Shana V. White (she/her) @shanavwhite.blacksky.app · 10/05/2025
Let's add: Dr Brandeis Marshall, Aerica Shimizu Banks, Dr Emily Bender, Dr Sasha Luccioni, Dr Ruha Benjamin, Dr Sasha Costanza-Chock, Adrienne Williams, Tawana Petty
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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 09/05/2025
Rümeysa Öztürk has been freed!!
nbcboston.com
Tufts student detained by ICE in viral video is released, thanks supporters
Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was released from ICE detention on Friday, offering brief words of thanks to supporters gathered outside the Louisiana facility.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Does every young cleric have his pope name secretly picked out, just in case?
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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
"So let's go, shall we? [voice drops to husky whisper] Let's go." I had no idea how much I needed this.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
🌿 Can any naturalist help me identify this tree in my yard and whether it is native? Montgomery County, MD
Close up of my hand holding a green leafSprig of green leaves against a beige blanket Tree with a straight trunk and spreading canopy
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
#nativeplants How do I definitively identify a tree in my yard to see if it is native or non-native? The arborist and my naturalist friend couldn't ID it
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Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcculloch.com · 29/03/2025
Hey. The fragmentation of the social media landscape has been hard on indie #scicomm 🧪 projects So if you'd like to follow a podcast that's enthusiastic about #linguistics, could you check out @lingthusiasm.bsky.social? And if you think your followers might like to, could you give this a repost?
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Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
What’s a technology that you think is overhyped?

I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry.

Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto.

It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.
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Defector @defector.com · 15/02/2025
The theme of this year's Super Bowl ads was the soft acceptance of a comfortable death.
defector.com
For Sale: The End, And The Means To Wait For It | Defector
In one Super Bowl commercial, an octogenarian actor waxes lacrimal about freedom, a privilege bought for you with the blood of troops 80 years ago, a privilege whose outer bound and cleanest…
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
This is amazing. Via @nytimes.com
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
a friend of mine whose IES contract was just terminated is asking whether there are efforts to download the education data--specifically the data at sites/ed.gov/idea/... does anyone know?
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Organizing shifts with vuvuzelas outside certain people's houses, indefinitely. Is that anything?
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
2fa is out of control. Maybe part of the reason for increasing screen time is because we literally have to have our phones right next to us at all times for 2fa
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Tried to get Novavax today but was turned away because I had an mRNA vaccine 6 months ago. Was told I need a doctor's order to go against the CDC recommendation. #covid
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
My former colleague Mark Jeffreys passed away recently. Mark was a great man and a poet, and he leaves behind a middle-school age daughter. If you're interested in supporting an orphaned kiddo you can buy some of Mark's poetry here: markjeffreysmemorial.com/index.php/fo...
markjeffreysmemorial.com
For Sequoia – Mark Jeffreys
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Rusty Foster @rusty.todayintabs.com · 02/02/2025
Any Dem congressperson could round up a few friendly and alarmed FBI agents right now and go arrest Musk’s gang of children. “Just fucking do it and see what happens” is a stronger move for the side that is upholding the law.
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Jay Rocheleau 🇺🇸🇨🇦 @jrocheleau.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
I want an apology, restitution and a paid lifetime subscription to a credit monitoring service.
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a declassified World War II-era CIA guide to sabotaging fascism in the workplace has become one of the most popular free ebooks on the internet: www.404media.co/declassified...
404media.co
Declassified CIA Guide to Sabotaging Fascism Is Suddenly Viral
The World War II-era "Simple Sabotage Field Manual" is full of steps that office workers can take to resist leadership.
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Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Destruction of science and academia is central to the fascist and neoliberal right's assault on democracy. Just so we are clear as to what is happening. jksteinberger.medium.com/what-we-are-...
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IYKYK 🌮 @nisslbody.blacksky.app · 26/01/2025
The thing about ChatGPT answers is that if you are already enough of an expert to know if they are correct, you don't need it, and if you aren't enough of an expert to know if they are correct, you shouldn't use it.
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Sandy Leaton Gray @drleatongray.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
iandunt.substack.com/p/how-to-res... Love it.
iandunt.substack.com
How to resist the tech overlords
Big tech has now made its position clear. It is on the far-right. Here's what happens next.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Every AI article: "While AI is clearly excellent at [discipline I know nothing about], it turns out to be catastrophically bad at [discipline I am an expert in]." I need a database of these statements for every discipline.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
www.unpopularfront.news/p/welcome-to...
unpopularfront.news
Welcome to Vichy America
After the Fall
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Let’s talk about resistance after a conqueror takes power. Specifically let’s talk about this bendy yellow building, and what it shows us about the moment the Florentine Republic finally fell to its kleptocratic/proto-capitalist banking-fortune Medici conquerors 1/?
Photograph of a building in Florence. A tall thin stone section rises up, from street level several stories. About the level of the second story, a yellow section sticks out from the outside of it, awkwardly wrapping around the outside of the stone part, supported by elegant sticky-outy triangular struts. The yellow section has several small circular windows, much too small for a human to climb through, barely large enough for a chubby cat.
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
A post I wrote a year ago just popped up again on Mastodon: Who-oa We’re halfway there WHO-OA ZENO DOESN’T CARE
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
My former department of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at Utah Tech University is hiring! Work with some great people! www.schooljobs.com/careers/utah...
schooljobs.com
Current Full-Time Job Openings | Employment Opportunities
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
My friend Kieryn Darkwater was educationally neglected while being homeschooled and had to overcome so many obstacles to get their education. They have worked so hard to prevent the same thing from happening to other kids. Please help them finish their degree! www.gofundme.com/f/makekieryn...
gofundme.com
Donate to Help Kieryn Finish Their Associates Degree, organized by Kieryn Darkwater
I'm Kieryn Darkwater and you may know me from the Kitchen Table Cult podca… Kieryn Darkwater needs your support for Help Kieryn Finish Their Associates Degree
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
This is 100% the correct explanation for the higher ed crisis. Are there any examples of where this trend has been successfully reversed? celestemdavis.substack.com/p/why-boys-d...
celestemdavis.substack.com
Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping?
We would rather talk about literally everything else.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Interesting article: We need a global language rights movement: confronting the global language crisis with insights from social movement studies Gerald Roche bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/gsc/view/jou... #linguistics 🐦🐦
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Thanks to @kathrynajoyce.bsky.social for explaining what's at stake in higher ed!
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
bluesky reminds me of the old, good internet. learned about some new plants to put in my garden and read a cool sci-fi short story
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
I know skibidi "doesn't mean anything," but we know that can't be true, it's got to have some discourse function. Is anyone assembling a corpus to identify its meaning? #linguistics
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Zev Handel @zevhandel.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Here's the unlikely century-long story of how a non-gendered pronoun became gendered, and then got itself re-de-gendered. This one's got everything! Poetry! Grammar! Love songs! Queer communities! Unicode! and ... Y.R. Chao! What more could you want? #langsky 🀄️📚 1/
A brush-written Chinese character composed of 㐅 and 也, a gender-neutral way of writing tā.
A brush-written Chinese character composed of 男 and 也, a way of writing tā with male reference.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Recent history of tech folks: can you recommend a book about the transition of the tech sector from hacker culture in the 90s to Elon Musk?
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
@govwesmoore.bsky.social I was here today with 700+ members of the Maryland Just Power Alliance! We are calling on you to lead on Housing Production Targets and the ReNEW Act for a more affordable and greener Maryland #MDJustPowerAlliance
Photo of me (white woman with glasses, long hair, black mask) in a yellow ACT t-shirt, with my choir at a meeting of the Maryland Just Power Alliance
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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
So, I read smart people. There is a playbook for this next chapter. I believe we can do this. It won’t be easy, but the map is there. Featuring resources & wisdom from Dr. Erica Cheoweth, @prisonculture.bsky.social @mskellymhayes.bsky.social, @jaclynf.bsky.social & more.
lifeisasacredtext.com
On Organizing
time to level up / an early draft of a playbook
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
This contains some really helpful advice wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-t...
wagingnonviolence.org
10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won
The key to taking effective action if Trump wins is to avoid perpetuating his goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 05/11/2024
Linguists! Save this one for sentence diagrams. That's a real nice relative clause
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 03/11/2024
New primary source just dropped citapress.org/planted-in-a...
citapress.org
Planted in a Strange Earth: Selected Writings by Zitkála-Šá
<p><i>“To have [Zitkála-Šá’s] work collected here now speaks to the tenacity of her spirit, her insistence on being heard across generations. Speaking of herself, of her world, she teaches us how to b...
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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 31/10/2024
This is a really good litany of scenarios that are very worth contemplating ahead of time, no matter what the outcome of the election is, because thinking through what you will do in a situation where your ethics are on the line is a very good thought exercise that helps to break the inaction bias.
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Strandsofpearl @strandsofpearl.bsky.social · 26/10/2024
My dog, excitedly, inspecting your Halloween decorations: "Are these REAL bones?"
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