Hisham Zerriffi

@hishamzerriffi.bsky.social

17K followers 7.7K following 2.9K posts

Energy Resources, Development and Environment Lab (ERDELab) PI, @UBCforestry Assc Dean EDI. Energy, equity, justice, climate change, bioenergy. But also TTRPGs and photography (https://pixelfed.social/i/web/profile/499807930552574625). he/him. .. more

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Environmental science 36%

Energy 18%

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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · Nov 8

Hello new Bluesky followers!

A re-intro:

Academic in Forestry faculty but not a forester. Work on energy, land-use, climate, equity, justice. Often at intersection of energy & forests.

With a dash of TTRPGs, nerdy stuff and politics.

And photography:

portfolio.pixelfed.social/nomademoderne

@nomademoderne's Portfolio

portfolio.pixelfed.social

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 10h

Absolutely the best cosplay at #FanExpoVancouver this past weekend.

#FifthElement

Cosplayers dressed as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg and Ruby Rhod from the movie The Fifth Element

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 17h

This is not reformable. It was never reformable. It’s not just the system or the bureaucracy. It’s also the people.

To do this you either don’t see these kids as what they are, don’t care or are (being generous) too scared or uncaring and just going along with what you are told.

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 1d

ProPublica published children's letters and drawings documenting their sadness and suffering at Dilley. And Dilley staff are now retaliating by confiscating kids' letters and drawings.

www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...

Report: Staff at Dilley raiding cells to confiscate kids' letters and drawings detailing conditions inside

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 19h

I have not! Thanks.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 23h

Beautiful piece on the simple (and not-so-simple) acts of everyday resistance in the Twin Cities integrated into daily life.

I am used to a car full of kids. The thought that I'd have to do that so those kids could get to school safely and without jeopardizing their parents safety is heartbreaking.

Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 1d

Fuck this is stunningly good. Perfect snapshots of the Twin Cities.

"We are legion, the local moms and dads, we cruise the city in our minivans. You can’t shoot us all."

(Gift link)

Opinion | In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Margaret Mitchell, Hisham Zerriffi

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 23h

i shouldn’t give this piece any more attention than it has already garnered but i feel like it is worth pointing out some flaws in the argument/unquestioned assumptions

thread 1/

post by Rutger Bregman (@rutgerbregman.com‬)

reads: Absolutely brilliant piece about the Left's TOTAL blindness on AI. Their dismissal of AI risks mirrors how climate deniers treat CO2.

Will probably get a lot of nastiness for this on Bluesky, but I guess that's part of the same problem.

Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 1d

Fuck this is stunningly good. Perfect snapshots of the Twin Cities.

"We are legion, the local moms and dads, we cruise the city in our minivans. You can’t shoot us all."

(Gift link)

Opinion | In the Resistance, We Drive Minivans

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Allegra N. LeGrande, Michael Zimmer, Jessica Vitak , and 4 more Allegra N. LeGrande, Michael Zimmer, Jessica Vitak, Ann Bartow, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Hisham Zerriffi, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 1d

Scoop: Ring's CEO told staff Search Party is not going to be just for dogs, according to a leaked email I obtained. Said it is "first for finding dogs" before suggesting it would be expanded to be used for crime:

www.404media.co/leaked-email...

Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs

Ring's CEO told staff the feature is “first for finding dogs,” indicating a plan to expand.

www.404media.co

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Bryan D. Jones, Mark D. White , and 22 more Peter Thorne, Bryan D. Jones, Mark D. White, Victor Asal, Rosemary A. Joyce, David Rothschild, Eric Goldman, Fabián Muniesa, Anders Nilsson, Ryan Enos, Daniel W. Drezner, Andreas Wagner, Robert C. Richards, Rebecca Tushnet, Andrew Livingstone, Robert B. Reich, Brian Keegan, Michael Jones‐Correa, Andrew Rudalevige, Hisham Zerriffi, Manisha Sinha, Aviel Roshwald, Nathan P. Kalmoe, David Darmofal, Jesse R. Lasky

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 1d

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 1d

This is going to sound random but one thing I wished I could have witnessed is a conversation about technology between Ursula Franklin and Ursula K. LeGuin.

I don’t know that they ever met, but if they had I would have loved to be a fly on the wall.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 1d

One of my favourite short pieces on technology from one of my two favourite Ursulas who thought about technology (Ursula Franklin being the other).

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 1d

Every time I see a news article about this absolutely bonkers race I have two thoughts:

1) there are all kinds of people in this world

2) I am not *at all* one of these people

For the 2nd year in a row, no one finished this wildly punishing marathon | CBC News

Just like that, the annual race based on a prison break, that starts with its founder blowing a conch and lighting a cigarette, came to another anticlimactic end.

www.cbc.ca

Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Bisexual of the Blade (Alt-text or DIE) @shengokai.blacksky.app · 1d

If your Marxist critique doesn’t recognize race as a structure of domination, then it’s worth fuck all to me.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 1d

Just saw a major int'l org say all of its work is Creative Commons w/ Attribution (CC BY 4.0) and so freely and publicly available. This was under its AI and LLM use policy section. It goes on to say use for data mining is allowed if consistent with "license requirements." How does that work?

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t like that the only category that applies to me is “people of a certain age”.

But also, fuck ICE.

Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 1d

one of the issues with generative AI or any of the ML implementations that depend on massive datasets is that a couple of things get dragged along/implicated just to get off the ground:

- massively intensive resource usage
- data theft
- capital/political power mobilization to justify the expenses

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 1d

This is the way. 👇🏼

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 2d

I don't post on Substack because I already have my own site where I post stuff, and have done for 27 years, and because Substack makes a lot of money off Nazis and fascists and I'd really rather not, thanks. I do have an account there but it's to secure my name. It has a cat photo.

Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 2d

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you for doing this, look forward to digging into the report. This muddling of GenAI with other forms of machine learning has been bugging me for a while (see link to just one post I've made on this topic).

bsky.app/profile/hish...

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · Oct 23

This article is a perfect example of the muddling of different types of AI.

🍎The AI concern around water/power is mainly abt Generative AI (language and video).

🍊The AI being used to increase energy efficiency, etc. described here is (I am nearly 100% certain) is non-GenAI machine learning tools.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · Oct 22

Artificial intelligence has caused concern for its tremendous consumption of water and power. But scientists are also experimenting with ways that AI can help people and businesses use energy more efficiently and pollute less.

Reposted by Du Toit, Euan G. Ritchie, Fabián Muniesa , and 4 more Du Toit, Euan G. Ritchie, Fabián Muniesa, Tuomas Mattila, David Murakami Wood, Hisham Zerriffi, Tim Stephens

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 2d

OKAY BIG ONE FOR YA

NEW report out today: I dig deep into how big tech has been muddling tech types and overstating evidence to claim "AI" will make global emissions drop like a stone....

Not only will it not, it seems to be verifiably doing the opposite!!

ketanjoshi.co/2026/02/17/b... + 📼+🧵>

Reposted by Alan Richardson, R. M. Wilson, Carlos Nunes Silva , and 1 more Alan Richardson, R. M. Wilson, Carlos Nunes Silva, Hisham Zerriffi

Andrew Kurjata @akurjata.ca · 2d

The Tumbler Ridge newspaper puts it better than I could

Hey.

This is a message out there to all of you who, in trying to create a tribute to our children, choose to use AI.

When you feed these images into AI, you're feeding their data set. That means they will now use little pieces of Abel and Maya and the others the next time someone asks for the image of a 12 year old.

While most companies are trying their best, some of them aren't; a few weeks back, Grok was freely and cheerily offering up images of naked, underage children. This is horrifying.

I know that some people out there are trying to create clickbait images, but not you. You're trying to show your respect and love, but could we ask you do it in a different way? There are actual provided images of most of the victims out there; sharing those is equally as powerful and less dicey, morally. The RCMP even created a composite for you.

Thanks.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

Oh, I know why they do it and don’t begrudge them the choices they are making. It’s that they feel they need to do it to cater to a wider audience. Moroccan food is amazing on its own. And stands on its own. But I may be biased.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

Glad you had a good meal. Yeah, Dearborn would be another place I can imagine finding non-upscale Moroccan.

Though toum is also Lebanese. :)

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

You can occasionally find smaller and more reasonable Moroccan places in my experience. But has to be in a city with enough Moroccans. Montreal. New York. Even had decent and decently priced food in Quebec City. Not Morocco prices of course. But not $50 for a couscous.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 2d

100%. What bothers me as much is when they feel the need to add in other things to appeal to customers’ ideas of “Middle Eastern” food. Egyptian belly dancing or hummus and tabouleh don’t belong in a Moroccan restaurant. Morocco is North African, not the Levant or the Gulf.

Reposted by Hisham Zerriffi

Chantal James @chantalalive.blacksky.app · 2d

Moroccan food is like luxury food in the US. They're charging almost $50 for cous cous. Something you can get out of someone's kitchen for free as a guest in their home or eat at a cafe on Friday for like less than $5 there.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 3d

Somebody else pointed that out and somehow I completely missed it.

But I do love the idea that tic tac toe and good tequila have survived the centuries.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks to Sean, Em and Jo of @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social for a great panel on DMing and especially on creating creative stories while keeping safety in mind.

Three people at a table with the man at the left (Sean) gesticulating as he makes a point. The screen behind says FanExpo Vancouver

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 4d

I think “floaty boats murder monster” is how I’m going to refer to all bears from now on

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 4d

Franzi Schimmer captured this Grizzly bear in Brooks Falls, Alaska just floating along, tippy-tapping down the river, browsing the salmon.

Prior to hibernation, up to 40% of a bear's body mass is fat, which is less dense than water (~0.9 g/cm^2), so the murder-monster is also a floaty-boaty.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 4d

Yeah, no. Can you imagine. What would he teach? Hopefully not ethics.

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 4d

Yeah, didn’t really think we’d see him again after first scenes and thought “oh, that’s a fun cameo.” But they keep building him up even in just six episodes.

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