jennifer uncoolidge
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histoftech.bsky.social
jennifer uncoolidge
@histoftech.bsky.social
Historian of technology, & dad joke aficionado who lives w/a tiny, spotlight-stealing rabbit.

I won’t share AI generated content, except to critique it.

If you see me in person I’ll be wearing a KN95. If you care abt me, put one on too.

www.marhicks.com
Pinned
Well, I guess this is where the 2026 dad joke thread begins…

bsky.app/profile/hist...
guys I have a great feeling about 2026 how bout you
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
December 27, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
@olivia.science and @irisvanrooij.bsky.social have a lot of work on AI, and some of it relating to consent. For example:

bsky.app/profile/oliv...
"achievements of these systems rest on theft of intellectual labor. Most notably, LLMs have been trained by scraping scholarly works without the authors’ or publishers’ consent: plagiarism packaged as human-like responses."

2/n

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...

bsky.app/profile/oliv...
February 11, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
feels like i should re-post this every few weeks
NEW: Substack founders finally respond to Substackers Against Nazis. They say Nazis publishing and earning money on their platform is fine with them.

Their full statement here: substack.com/@hamish/note...
February 12, 2026 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
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/
February 11, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
And even when we move at warp speed and outpace this regime, DHS doesn’t care. They’ve moved people to Texas hours or days after being enjoined.

When ordered to return them, DHS just… doesn’t. The AUSAs let them: when we notify them of a violation, they send the email equivalent of a shrug.

19/
February 11, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
So it’s a race: how quickly can a person’s family realize they were snatched and find a lawyer, and how quickly can that lawyer get a habeas petition of file? And is that faster than ICE can load the detainee on a plane to Texas?

It’s exhausting and terrifying. It can be life and death.

18/
February 11, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
From @wired.com: “Federal records reveal ICE is secretly expanding into 150+ facilities across nearly every state — many near schools, medical offices, and places of worship… DHS asked the General Services Administration to hide lease listings and bypass normal procedures…”🤔
February 12, 2026 at 3:52 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
In a moment that calls for courage, we get this:
Gallup announces, after 88 years, it will no longer track public approval of presidents. Trump's second-term approval rating fell to 36% in December, among the lowest ever recorded by the company. The president repeatedly has threatened to sue media and polling firms that portray him negatively.
February 12, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
What's so amazing about Jim Henson as a puppeteer is that he could literally be explaining that Kermit is made out of felt and ping pong balls and yet Kermit still feels alive the whole time he's doing it
February 11, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
How severe flu kills heart cells @reuters.com

Researchers believe they now understand how severe cases of influenza damage the heart, providing an explanation for the annual uptick in heart attacks during flu season.
February 12, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
Man I'm so goddamn sick of ai. "Wahhh you can't have a reasonable conversation about ai on here," yeah maybe be mad about the two year parade of scam artists and financial charlatans and environmental ruiners who have radicalized everyone against the spell check that agrees with you
February 12, 2026 at 2:45 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
Rockwell would have painted this.
Every photo from Minneapolis looks like this. Cops decked out with guns and full tac gear facing off against people in bathrobes, parkas, and sweatpants armed only with whistles and cell phones.

Yet every verified MAGA chode on X dutifully calls it a riot or violent insurrection.
February 12, 2026 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
Approved curriculum for future Minnesota History classes is gonna be complicated.
February 12, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
This is bleak as hell. Who cares about literature when you’ve got computers?

Way to go Carnegie Mellon. Our tech oligarchs will not reward your loyalty

the-tartan.org/2026/02/09/l...
Literature and Cultural Studies program cut, replaced with Computational Cultural Studies - The Tartan
In Feb. 2024, Richard Scheines, Dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, placed an administrative hold on admissions to Carnegie
the-tartan.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
The theatre department at the university I work at is partnering with a local animal shelter to get some kittens adopted, and I got to make some portraits of them tonight.

📷 - Fuji GFX 100s II

#Photography #Portrait #Cats #Fujifilm
February 12, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.
More than 400 people, including hundreds of citizens, were “sorted” at gun point into racial and ethnic groups by 200 ICE agents who fired flash-bang grenades into cars with people inside, pointed guns at children & demanded their zip tied parents not comfort them. apple.news/Ausdx6kWtT0e...
Idaho families sue over immigration raid that swept up hundreds, including U.S. citizens — NBC News
About 400 people, including children and U.S. citizens, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.
apple.news
February 12, 2026 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
folks today don't know the abject fear of inadvertently downloading, for the first (and only lol) time, a .exe file from kazaa or limewire and it shows

def one of those "it only takes one time to learn" but oooo boy at what cost for that single instance
February 12, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
If you can get enough people to pretend that human life and human death are not real and do not matter, you can get them to pretend anything.
February 11, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
One thing that’s cool about our current system is how it creates things that people don’t want or need, and also those things are bad for us.
February 11, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
The NHS closed Tavistock over trans care concerns – there were just eight complaints all from cisgender people.

1. JK Rowling
2. Maya Forstater
3. Helen Joyce
4. Graham Linehan
5. Kathleen Stock
6. Posie Parker
7. Wes Streeting
8. Rosie Duffield

www.thepinknews.com/2026/02/11/n...
NHS closed Tavistock over care complaints – there were only eight
An eye-opening FOI report has revealed that just eight people complained about the Tavistock gender clinic's care provision in 10 years.
www.thepinknews.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
These men out here sending emails from their university accounts being like “hello mr sex crimes I’ve been thinking about it and we should bring back the word shrew ok gotta go to my disciplinary hearing byeee”
February 12, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
Hi, my arm won't raise without blinding pain. I don't know how to beg without acting like a sick animal hiding under your porch. I can't cook, or type on a keyboard, im on my stomach using my left hand on my phone. Shits bad
Hi folks. I am missing work due to injury again. I should be able to recoup lost wages from workers comp but if it's anything like last time, it'll take time. I'd like to raise $50 for groceries and laundry quarters (I can't carry much right now but delivery is very expensive)

Thank you, sorry
I am extremely worried about rent, cat food, my burnout, all of it. I am short on all rent and bills and I have to leave my job or I'll die. If you can help me through this, I am grateful
patreon.com/kivabay
February 12, 2026 at 2:03 AM
“Kimberly & the children are facing an uncertain future. The costs of James’s medical care & extended fight against cancer have left the family out of funds. They are working hard to stay in their home”

Even people with more than most can’t survive US healthcare costs.

variety.com/2026/tv/news...
James Van Der Beek’s Friends Launch GoFundMe After His Death, Say Cancer Battle ‘Left Family Out of Funds’: ‘They’re Working Hard to Stay in Their Home’
James Van Der Beek's family is raising money to help with medical bills and expenses after his death.
variety.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Reposted by jennifer uncoolidge
Gee, Universal Basic Income recoups more than it costs AND the recipients are happier and healthier.

Hmmm. Where have I seen those results before? Oh yes, in every other goddam pilot study of UBI for more than a decade. Ireland joins Finland in at least making a start.
Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent
When piloted, initiative that provided €325 a week to eligible artists recouped more than its net cost, study shows
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 11:07 AM