Anindita Basu Sempere
@anindita.org
PhD & MFA. She/her. I’m interested in place-related work, writing, all things Elizabeth Bishop, pedagogy and learning, poetry, children’s lit, crafting, nature & soccer/football. Lived in Lausanne for over a decade and now back in the US.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Discovered today that Instagram had turned on (without my opt-in) automatic AUDIO translation of any reel that shows up in my feed not in English USING AI TO MIMIC THE SPEAKER’S VOICE and WOW it was creepy and upsetting.
You can turn it off in “Language & Translations” in Settings. 🙅🏻♀️
You can turn it off in “Language & Translations” in Settings. 🙅🏻♀️
February 17, 2026 at 1:57 AM
Discovered today that Instagram had turned on (without my opt-in) automatic AUDIO translation of any reel that shows up in my feed not in English USING AI TO MIMIC THE SPEAKER’S VOICE and WOW it was creepy and upsetting.
You can turn it off in “Language & Translations” in Settings. 🙅🏻♀️
You can turn it off in “Language & Translations” in Settings. 🙅🏻♀️
Kid right before bedtime (apropos of nothing): Anarchy means no one is in charge, but that means everyone's actually in charge, right? It means something and its opposite?
Me: 🥹
Me: 🥹
February 16, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Kid right before bedtime (apropos of nothing): Anarchy means no one is in charge, but that means everyone's actually in charge, right? It means something and its opposite?
Me: 🥹
Me: 🥹
I have way too many tabs open today -- both in various browsers and in my brain 🫠
February 16, 2026 at 4:27 PM
I have way too many tabs open today -- both in various browsers and in my brain 🫠
This is very cool. I think it also shows that these tools are meant for specific, well-defined tasks, which means the person describing the task has to have a good understanding of the specific problem space.
You know those digital collections were the IIIF viewer & trash interface forces you to work really slow? Yeah, I just got Claude Code buffed with the Playwright MCP and Chromium to simulate a user zooming in/out, grab the tiles and create new composites.
In English : I can get all the images!
In English : I can get all the images!
February 15, 2026 at 2:29 PM
This is very cool. I think it also shows that these tools are meant for specific, well-defined tasks, which means the person describing the task has to have a good understanding of the specific problem space.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
To the extent that any one organization has outsized influence on the humanities, and you happen to not like the research priorities, please consider that the problem is the lack of funding for the humanities not the foundation.
February 15, 2026 at 2:20 PM
To the extent that any one organization has outsized influence on the humanities, and you happen to not like the research priorities, please consider that the problem is the lack of funding for the humanities not the foundation.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Instead of “search for” I think of it as “there hasn’t been a reason anyone needed to write out this out before”. Eg when I had a junior colleague argue with me about whether something was possible to do. I had done it in a previous job but we’d never posted about it. ChatGPT thus said impossible.
This explains the recent video of ChatGPT failing to count to 100 because there hasn’t been reasons for people to need to search the numbers from 1 to 100 in sequence
The reason it appears to do well at much more complex problems is because there are "search results" for that "query". It can explain general relativity, because it has data from millions of people explaining general relativity, not because it understands any of the underlying concepts. 6/?
February 15, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Instead of “search for” I think of it as “there hasn’t been a reason anyone needed to write out this out before”. Eg when I had a junior colleague argue with me about whether something was possible to do. I had done it in a previous job but we’d never posted about it. ChatGPT thus said impossible.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Susan Collins has apparently decided to give Republicans the votes needed to pass the SAVE Act. This is a three-alarm emergency. We must act swiftly.
Tell every Senator right now we absolutely cannot let this pass:
Tell every Senator right now we absolutely cannot let this pass:
Tell Your Senators: Protect our Democracy, Vote NO on the SAVE Act
Contact Congress today!
actionnetwork.org
February 14, 2026 at 1:54 AM
Susan Collins has apparently decided to give Republicans the votes needed to pass the SAVE Act. This is a three-alarm emergency. We must act swiftly.
Tell every Senator right now we absolutely cannot let this pass:
Tell every Senator right now we absolutely cannot let this pass:
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
DOGE allegedly used ChatGPT to identify 1,400 NEH grants it said were DEI. Grants were terminated April 2025, according to a court filing. E.g.
Film: 1873 Colfax massacre
Film: first female pilots flying for U.S. military in WWII
Film: “Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust"
Film: 1873 Colfax massacre
Film: first female pilots flying for U.S. military in WWII
Film: “Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust"
ChatGPT cuts in action
www.politico.com
February 13, 2026 at 11:49 PM
DOGE allegedly used ChatGPT to identify 1,400 NEH grants it said were DEI. Grants were terminated April 2025, according to a court filing. E.g.
Film: 1873 Colfax massacre
Film: first female pilots flying for U.S. military in WWII
Film: “Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust"
Film: 1873 Colfax massacre
Film: first female pilots flying for U.S. military in WWII
Film: “Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust"
Closing a lot of tabs this week and opening up many others... might be time to break out the whiteboard!
February 13, 2026 at 10:43 PM
Closing a lot of tabs this week and opening up many others... might be time to break out the whiteboard!
Kid's class took a field trip to the MFA today, and I just heard all about the Egypt exhibit. It's so great to hear people get geeked up about things they think are cool.
February 13, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Kid's class took a field trip to the MFA today, and I just heard all about the Egypt exhibit. It's so great to hear people get geeked up about things they think are cool.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
I just published v0.1.0 of tiny.iiif 🚀 - the first official release of my new IIIF server!
• Publish images as IIIF instantly
• Organize images with simple drag+drop
• Image Service + Presentation manifests + user-friendly GUI all in one package
Available now!
github.com/rsimon/tiny-...
• Publish images as IIIF instantly
• Organize images with simple drag+drop
• Image Service + Presentation manifests + user-friendly GUI all in one package
Available now!
github.com/rsimon/tiny-...
February 12, 2026 at 2:49 PM
I just published v0.1.0 of tiny.iiif 🚀 - the first official release of my new IIIF server!
• Publish images as IIIF instantly
• Organize images with simple drag+drop
• Image Service + Presentation manifests + user-friendly GUI all in one package
Available now!
github.com/rsimon/tiny-...
• Publish images as IIIF instantly
• Organize images with simple drag+drop
• Image Service + Presentation manifests + user-friendly GUI all in one package
Available now!
github.com/rsimon/tiny-...
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Really powerful, really illuminating thread. Clear, precise, devastating.
I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it.
I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”
1/
I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”
1/
February 12, 2026 at 11:12 AM
Really powerful, really illuminating thread. Clear, precise, devastating.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
BREAKING: The House passed the so-called SAVE America Act which threatens to upend our freedom to vote.
The bill could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters by requiring documents like passports or birth certificates to register to vote and forcing voter roll purges. The Senate must reject it.
The bill could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters by requiring documents like passports or birth certificates to register to vote and forcing voter roll purges. The Senate must reject it.
February 11, 2026 at 11:57 PM
BREAKING: The House passed the so-called SAVE America Act which threatens to upend our freedom to vote.
The bill could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters by requiring documents like passports or birth certificates to register to vote and forcing voter roll purges. The Senate must reject it.
The bill could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters by requiring documents like passports or birth certificates to register to vote and forcing voter roll purges. The Senate must reject it.
February 9, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
🧵 of the night right here
First shot: sugarcane
The backbone of Puerto Rico's agricultural economy since colonial times
Still used to make rum of course!
The backbone of Puerto Rico's agricultural economy since colonial times
Still used to make rum of course!
February 9, 2026 at 4:36 AM
🧵 of the night right here
Too many lost dog ads.
February 9, 2026 at 2:08 AM
Too many lost dog ads.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Eagle-eyed watchers of Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show would have spied Toñita, the queen of Los Sures, AKA Williamsburg.
Read all about Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay here: hellgatenyc.com/williamsburg...
Read all about Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay here: hellgatenyc.com/williamsburg...
Williamsburg Changes, But Toñita Still Reigns - Hell Gate
For 50 years, Maria Antonia "Toñita" Cay has overseen the Caribbean Social Club in Williamsburg. It's now the last Puerto Rican social club in Brooklyn.
hellgatenyc.com
February 9, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Eagle-eyed watchers of Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show would have spied Toñita, the queen of Los Sures, AKA Williamsburg.
Read all about Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay here: hellgatenyc.com/williamsburg...
Read all about Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay here: hellgatenyc.com/williamsburg...
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Bad Bunny “together we are America”
February 9, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Bad Bunny “together we are America”
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
PBS kids is sending me
February 9, 2026 at 1:19 AM
PBS kids is sending me
This is amazing. The set, the music, the colonial critique.
February 9, 2026 at 1:31 AM
This is amazing. The set, the music, the colonial critique.
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
No Kings includes Draft Kings
February 8, 2026 at 11:49 PM
No Kings includes Draft Kings
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
Climate change is the story of our time
The world is poised to overshoot the goal of limiting average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as for the first time, a three-year period, ending in 2025, has breached the threshold.
Climate scientists are predicting devastating consequences.
Climate scientists are predicting devastating consequences.
There may be no turning back this climate crisis
As warming breaches a critical threshold, scientists fear cascading consequences.
www.motherjones.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Climate change is the story of our time
Note to self: not everything has to be on my agenda for today or tomorrow. It is possible to schedule some things on, say, Wednesday. Or even Thursday! 🫠
February 8, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Note to self: not everything has to be on my agenda for today or tomorrow. It is possible to schedule some things on, say, Wednesday. Or even Thursday! 🫠
Reposted by Anindita Basu Sempere
I was really excited to share this image of a particularly superb owl, given that today is #superbowl Sunday, but unfortunately, it soared away with its bedtime snack before I could get the photo...
February 8, 2026 at 3:05 PM
I was really excited to share this image of a particularly superb owl, given that today is #superbowl Sunday, but unfortunately, it soared away with its bedtime snack before I could get the photo...