Michael Ekstrand
@md.ekstrandom.net
Info sci prof @ Drexel, trying to keep the machines (esp. RecSys & IR) from learning bigotry and discrimination. ADHDS9. Usually self-propelled. Opinions those of the Vulcan Science Academy. 🐰x2.
🏡 https://md.ekstrandom.net
🧪 https://inertial.science
🏡 https://md.ekstrandom.net
🧪 https://inertial.science
It would be hilarious for horrifying reasons (horrifilarious?) if one of the multi-generational legacies of the present conservative movement is to fully kill the practice of changing your name at marriage.
Mike Johnson: "Americans need an ID to drive, to open a bank account, to buy cold medicine, to file govt assistance, even to attend the DNC. So why would voting be any different? They can't answer that question."
February 10, 2026 at 5:08 PM
It would be hilarious for horrifying reasons (horrifilarious?) if one of the multi-generational legacies of the present conservative movement is to fully kill the practice of changing your name at marriage.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
Set aside the INSANE substance of this. (Big ask, I know). Assume every fact claim here is true. (It's not)
"Here's one member of this group doing something I oppose, that's conclusive proof the entire group should be disenfranchised" is THE FUCKING DICTIONARY DEFINITION of bigotry.
"Here's one member of this group doing something I oppose, that's conclusive proof the entire group should be disenfranchised" is THE FUCKING DICTIONARY DEFINITION of bigotry.
February 10, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Set aside the INSANE substance of this. (Big ask, I know). Assume every fact claim here is true. (It's not)
"Here's one member of this group doing something I oppose, that's conclusive proof the entire group should be disenfranchised" is THE FUCKING DICTIONARY DEFINITION of bigotry.
"Here's one member of this group doing something I oppose, that's conclusive proof the entire group should be disenfranchised" is THE FUCKING DICTIONARY DEFINITION of bigotry.
yesterday's github outages got me thinking “maybe I should price out what it would actually cost to set up on-prem CI for LensKit…”.
my wild guess is “more than $1500 but less than $8000”, plus admin time & power, and would probably decrease test matrix throughput. I could measure watts-per-PR tho.
my wild guess is “more than $1500 but less than $8000”, plus admin time & power, and would probably decrease test matrix throughput. I could measure watts-per-PR tho.
February 10, 2026 at 3:46 PM
yesterday's github outages got me thinking “maybe I should price out what it would actually cost to set up on-prem CI for LensKit…”.
my wild guess is “more than $1500 but less than $8000”, plus admin time & power, and would probably decrease test matrix throughput. I could measure watts-per-PR tho.
my wild guess is “more than $1500 but less than $8000”, plus admin time & power, and would probably decrease test matrix throughput. I could measure watts-per-PR tho.
Nuance, tradeoffs, etc.… this is a point worth pondering!
The fact they're doing inferred behavioral age estimation and on-device native facial age estimation instead of requiring third-party verification with ID or biometrics is honestly better than a lot of places would, and I HATE that's a sentence I just typed but I did, sigh.
February 10, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Nuance, tradeoffs, etc.… this is a point worth pondering!
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
“If America’s university presidents believe that their foremost responsibility is simply to keep their institutions operational — collecting tuition and protecting endowments — they are mistaken… presidents and chancellors are stewards of intellectual freedom and democratic norms.”
"Appeasement is being coordinated while resistance is not" is exactly right. (This op-ed from Arne Duncan and David Pressman is excellent; I hope university leaders will read it.) www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Universities are sending Trump a dangerous message
Higher education is under attack. Drop the appeasement.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:34 PM
“If America’s university presidents believe that their foremost responsibility is simply to keep their institutions operational — collecting tuition and protecting endowments — they are mistaken… presidents and chancellors are stewards of intellectual freedom and democratic norms.”
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
Sorry to be Radical Left but I don't think we should put people who haven't committed a crime, and aren't even accused of committing a crime, into any sort of "Detention"
February 10, 2026 at 6:04 AM
Sorry to be Radical Left but I don't think we should put people who haven't committed a crime, and aren't even accused of committing a crime, into any sort of "Detention"
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
If Bad Bunny can cover the history of Puerto Rico, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, hemispheric consciousness, as well as contemporary life and politics in under 14 minutes, you can do your 15- or 20-minute conference presentation with time to spare.
February 9, 2026 at 11:56 PM
If Bad Bunny can cover the history of Puerto Rico, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, hemispheric consciousness, as well as contemporary life and politics in under 14 minutes, you can do your 15- or 20-minute conference presentation with time to spare.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
U.K. might lose a prime minister because a guy who worked for him knew another guy who hung out with Epstein. Meanwhile the U.S. opposition party is telling our President, who was Epstein's best friend, that his secret police should get better training so their public street murders look less messy.
February 9, 2026 at 4:07 PM
U.K. might lose a prime minister because a guy who worked for him knew another guy who hung out with Epstein. Meanwhile the U.S. opposition party is telling our President, who was Epstein's best friend, that his secret police should get better training so their public street murders look less messy.
Oh yay, Typst has merged support for auto-locating Adobe Creative Cloud fonts, so once the new release is out I won't need to carry around my environment variable hacks.
February 9, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Oh yay, Typst has merged support for auto-locating Adobe Creative Cloud fonts, so once the new release is out I won't need to carry around my environment variable hacks.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
For MAGA, this form of cross-racial solidarity and anti-authoritarian “neighborism” is acutely dangerous. Trumpism as a political project stipulates that whiteness would override other forms of solidarity. If not, then what do they have to offer with their vastly destructive policies?
February 9, 2026 at 2:14 PM
For MAGA, this form of cross-racial solidarity and anti-authoritarian “neighborism” is acutely dangerous. Trumpism as a political project stipulates that whiteness would override other forms of solidarity. If not, then what do they have to offer with their vastly destructive policies?
Jedi mind wipe.
So this plumber eats mushrooms to fight evil turtles to rescue a princess.
February 9, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Jedi mind wipe.
After getting a job through the world’s weirdest interview, take the interdimensional eldritch horrors from “I’m stuck in this federal office building with you” to “you’re stuck in here with me”.
So this plumber eats mushrooms to fight evil turtles to rescue a princess.
February 9, 2026 at 1:08 PM
After getting a job through the world’s weirdest interview, take the interdimensional eldritch horrors from “I’m stuck in this federal office building with you” to “you’re stuck in here with me”.
Find love and stop giant robotic space cuttlefish from destroying all organic life with an elite squad of human and alien misfits.
So this plumber eats mushrooms to fight evil turtles to rescue a princess.
February 9, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Find love and stop giant robotic space cuttlefish from destroying all organic life with an elite squad of human and alien misfits.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
ethics professor here, can confirm
"should the government kidnap 5 year olds and deport them? We asked seventeen ethics professors and they all just screamed"
February 8, 2026 at 5:59 PM
ethics professor here, can confirm
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
No Kings includes Draft Kings
February 8, 2026 at 11:49 PM
No Kings includes Draft Kings
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
When I wrote Section 230 I did so knowing it would be critical for protecting free speech online. 30 years later and it’s one of the last things standing in the way of Republican censorship of the internet. Here’s to many more years of defending this vital safeguard of free speech.
February 8, 2026 at 6:28 PM
When I wrote Section 230 I did so knowing it would be critical for protecting free speech online. 30 years later and it’s one of the last things standing in the way of Republican censorship of the internet. Here’s to many more years of defending this vital safeguard of free speech.
This is kind of synthesis and application are what a university education is for.
This paper is about how Kafkaesque voting and engaging in the democratic process can be. It is particularly strong when it examines how difficult it is for homeless people to register to vote and compares that to the process of The Trial.
February 8, 2026 at 2:17 PM
This is kind of synthesis and application are what a university education is for.
The AI policy for my class this term is “allowed but document it”, including documenting their prompts. One of the project teams had the great idea to create a 'prompts' directory in their Git repo for the Claude Code prompts they used for the different pieces of their project deliverable.
February 7, 2026 at 10:42 PM
The AI policy for my class this term is “allowed but document it”, including documenting their prompts. One of the project teams had the great idea to create a 'prompts' directory in their Git repo for the Claude Code prompts they used for the different pieces of their project deliverable.
“This is the stranger’s case, and this your mountainous inhumanity” gonna live rent-free for a while.
THE STRANGER'S CASE
"Sir Thomas More," William Shakespeare et al
A speech about those who would murder immigrants to satisfy their own hatred, delivered with power by Sir Ian McKellen.
youtu.be/2l2RqzVG4ag?...
"Sir Thomas More," William Shakespeare et al
A speech about those who would murder immigrants to satisfy their own hatred, delivered with power by Sir Ian McKellen.
youtu.be/2l2RqzVG4ag?...
"There's Nothing I Enjoy More Than Acting In The Theater" - Ian McKellen EXTENDED INTERVIEW
YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
youtu.be
February 7, 2026 at 7:59 PM
“This is the stranger’s case, and this your mountainous inhumanity” gonna live rent-free for a while.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
I've been singing this to myself all day
February 7, 2026 at 6:39 PM
I've been singing this to myself all day
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
Happy to share that my paper, Reinforcing the Unreal: Subliminals and the Normalization of Unscientific Body Transformations on Reddit, has been accepted at #CHI2026
shrutiphadke.github.io/files/CHI26_...
Looking forward to presenting this in Barcelona!
#CHI2026 #DrexelCCI
shrutiphadke.github.io/files/CHI26_...
Looking forward to presenting this in Barcelona!
#CHI2026 #DrexelCCI
February 7, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Happy to share that my paper, Reinforcing the Unreal: Subliminals and the Normalization of Unscientific Body Transformations on Reddit, has been accepted at #CHI2026
shrutiphadke.github.io/files/CHI26_...
Looking forward to presenting this in Barcelona!
#CHI2026 #DrexelCCI
shrutiphadke.github.io/files/CHI26_...
Looking forward to presenting this in Barcelona!
#CHI2026 #DrexelCCI
BRB doing some worldbuilding for an organization in which magical career ladders work like software engineering.
- junior spellblade
- senior spellblade
- staff spellblade
- member of the magical staff
- vice president of magical combat
- chief magic officer
- junior spellblade
- senior spellblade
- staff spellblade
- member of the magical staff
- vice president of magical combat
- chief magic officer
February 7, 2026 at 4:54 PM
BRB doing some worldbuilding for an organization in which magical career ladders work like software engineering.
- junior spellblade
- senior spellblade
- staff spellblade
- member of the magical staff
- vice president of magical combat
- chief magic officer
- junior spellblade
- senior spellblade
- staff spellblade
- member of the magical staff
- vice president of magical combat
- chief magic officer
It was a little brain-breaking the day I learned that literal highway fucking robbery is not only legal, but regularly practiced by US cops and significantly incentivized.
I remember reading about a Texas sheriff’s department even stealing church funds from a pastor transporting them.
I remember reading about a Texas sheriff’s department even stealing church funds from a pastor transporting them.
Quiz time!
If a blue collar Black man flies to New Orleans to buy a work truck with $28K cash, and 2 white men with guns stop him and say, "I heard you have a lot of cash! Give it up and we'll let you walk away!" and they steal his money without shooting him, is that considered a violent crime?
If a blue collar Black man flies to New Orleans to buy a work truck with $28K cash, and 2 white men with guns stop him and say, "I heard you have a lot of cash! Give it up and we'll let you walk away!" and they steal his money without shooting him, is that considered a violent crime?
February 7, 2026 at 4:22 PM
It was a little brain-breaking the day I learned that literal highway fucking robbery is not only legal, but regularly practiced by US cops and significantly incentivized.
I remember reading about a Texas sheriff’s department even stealing church funds from a pastor transporting them.
I remember reading about a Texas sheriff’s department even stealing church funds from a pastor transporting them.
New The Warning dropped. youtu.be/8DUQ5vPcz9o
The Warning, Carín León - Love To Be Loved (Official Video)
YouTube video by TheWarningVEVO
youtu.be
February 7, 2026 at 1:53 PM
New The Warning dropped. youtu.be/8DUQ5vPcz9o
This is another reason why I think the information retrieval push, even pre-LLM, to shift from 10 Blue Links to retrieving contents, answering questions, etc. may be a mistake. We lose important things when we unmoor information from authorial & organizational grounding (and cites aren’t enough).
Sobering assessments from the just released NATO Stratcom brief on information risks.
stratcomcoe.org/pdfjs/?file=...
stratcomcoe.org/pdfjs/?file=...
February 7, 2026 at 1:36 PM
This is another reason why I think the information retrieval push, even pre-LLM, to shift from 10 Blue Links to retrieving contents, answering questions, etc. may be a mistake. We lose important things when we unmoor information from authorial & organizational grounding (and cites aren’t enough).