Miriam Posner
@miriamposner.com
Tired person, fighter. Labor, data, DH, obsolete software, database history, etc. Seeing Like a Supply Chain out from Yale UP in fall 2026. Speaking for myself, not my employer.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
I guess it’s possible Randi wasn’t paid off by ai companies to push slop on our kids and is just a boomer who likes ai slop.
December 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I guess it’s possible Randi wasn’t paid off by ai companies to push slop on our kids and is just a boomer who likes ai slop.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
Please be aware of possible scams! My client, Mel Curth, is not seeking any donations at this time. She is grateful for your support and instead requests folks that want to help to donate to the local organizations of your choice!
December 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Please be aware of possible scams! My client, Mel Curth, is not seeking any donations at this time. She is grateful for your support and instead requests folks that want to help to donate to the local organizations of your choice!
Reposted by Miriam Posner
Got 5 minutes? Fire up your rageful typing fingers and write a comment on the government's efforts to ban trans healthcare for kids.
Tell them you're taking time out of your Christmas to write it because it's that important.
Tell them you're taking time out of your Christmas to write it because it's that important.
PUBLIC COMMENT IS NOW OPEN on prohibiting gender affirming care for young people.
Flood 'em with comments!
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
Flood 'em with comments!
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
Medicaid Program; Prohibition on Federal Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Funding for Sex-Rejecting Procedures Furnished to Children
This proposed rule would require that a State Medicaid plan must provide that the Medicaid agency will not make payment under the plan for sex-rejecting procedures for children under 18 and prohibit t...
www.federalregister.gov
December 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Got 5 minutes? Fire up your rageful typing fingers and write a comment on the government's efforts to ban trans healthcare for kids.
Tell them you're taking time out of your Christmas to write it because it's that important.
Tell them you're taking time out of your Christmas to write it because it's that important.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
“One day, a woman wrote to me on Signal, asking me not to respond. She lived alone, she messaged, and planned to die that weekend. Before she did, she wanted at least one person to understand: Trump had unraveled the government, and with it, her life.” @hannahnatanson.bsky.social essay:
I am The Post’s ‘federal government whisperer.’ It’s been brutal.
One reporter’s effort to show how Trump was transforming government brought her 1,168 new sources — and nearly broke her.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
“One day, a woman wrote to me on Signal, asking me not to respond. She lived alone, she messaged, and planned to die that weekend. Before she did, she wanted at least one person to understand: Trump had unraveled the government, and with it, her life.” @hannahnatanson.bsky.social essay:
Reposted by Miriam Posner
Now published in print: "The Legality of Logistics: On Techno-Orientalism and Geopolitics in Semiconductor Production" in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing as a part of this special issue 'Automation by Design' co-edited by @cperold.bsky.social , Gerardo Con Diaz, and @justcode.bsky.social .
December 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Now published in print: "The Legality of Logistics: On Techno-Orientalism and Geopolitics in Semiconductor Production" in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing as a part of this special issue 'Automation by Design' co-edited by @cperold.bsky.social , Gerardo Con Diaz, and @justcode.bsky.social .
My very normal headline is raising questions already answered by my very norm headline.
'Nonhuman' meat discovered in U.S.-bound traveler's luggage
‘Nonhuman’ meat discovered in U.S.-bound traveler’s luggage
Workers at one of America’s busiest airports intercepted the cargo from a passenger coming from Africa.
myfox8.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
My very normal headline is raising questions already answered by my very norm headline.
Oh God I got to experience one of these garages myself recently in LA (the Michael’s on Sawtelle IF YOU EVEN CARE). So creepy, especially because all of the signs were like, “Good news!! We’re watching you! 😄🚗👍😘🦄”
With little public discussion or media attention, a company that uses AI technology to collect data on millions of people and wants to be a leader in the "recognition" economy, just took over our two city parking garages. Thanks to those here who weighed in! open.substack.com/pub/charlott...
City parking garages now using surveillance tech to collect fees
Metropolis Technology, a young AI start-up that uses video to capture license plate numbers, took over 4,000 garages last year.
open.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Oh God I got to experience one of these garages myself recently in LA (the Michael’s on Sawtelle IF YOU EVEN CARE). So creepy, especially because all of the signs were like, “Good news!! We’re watching you! 😄🚗👍😘🦄”
Reposted by Miriam Posner
the vice president is a klansman
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"
December 21, 2025 at 8:22 PM
the vice president is a klansman
Geez
James Ransone, who played Ziggy Sobotka on “The Wire,” has died. He was 46.
“He committed not only to the work but to the camaraderie that turns every good film production into something familial and caring,” said David Simon, the show’s creator. www.thebanner.com/culture/film...
“He committed not only to the work but to the camaraderie that turns every good film production into something familial and caring,” said David Simon, the show’s creator. www.thebanner.com/culture/film...
James Ransone, who played Ziggy on “The Wire,” dead at 46
James Ransone "committed not only to the work but to the camaraderie that turns every good film production into something familial and caring,” said David Simon, creator of "The Wire."
www.thebanner.com
December 21, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Geez
Reposted by Miriam Posner
There is a tremendous opportunity for a brand new generation of media outlets to rise up right now because many news outlets that spent decades painstakingly building their credibility are seeing it torched by bootlickers with incredible speed.
December 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
There is a tremendous opportunity for a brand new generation of media outlets to rise up right now because many news outlets that spent decades painstakingly building their credibility are seeing it torched by bootlickers with incredible speed.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Surviving CECOT (full documentary) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + ProPublica
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
m.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
I'm not in marketing but an angry guy shrieking "Guess what asshole...AI isn't going away so you might as well accept it!" doesn't strike me as the way you'd pitch an ostensibly useful product
December 21, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I'm not in marketing but an angry guy shrieking "Guess what asshole...AI isn't going away so you might as well accept it!" doesn't strike me as the way you'd pitch an ostensibly useful product
Great idea for helping new history students understand “bias.”
Have also done a couple of versions of @cjdenial.bsky.social ‘s first day with sources activity focused on context. This one from a few years ago
catherinedenial.org/blog/uncateg...
catherinedenial.org/blog/uncateg...
Contextualizing Sources on the First Day – Cate Denial
catherinedenial.org
December 21, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Great idea for helping new history students understand “bias.”
I’ve been thinking about the discourse on quality vs. cost of living and I’m no kind of economist, there’s a lot I don’t understand. But when people point out that people in the ‘50s and ‘60s didn’t have smartphones and laptops—I mean, did we get a choice? Did anyone ask if we’d prefer a house?
December 21, 2025 at 4:58 PM
I’ve been thinking about the discourse on quality vs. cost of living and I’m no kind of economist, there’s a lot I don’t understand. But when people point out that people in the ‘50s and ‘60s didn’t have smartphones and laptops—I mean, did we get a choice? Did anyone ask if we’d prefer a house?
Reposted by Miriam Posner
An immigrant works a dangerous job to protect Americans. It puts him in medical debt. Now he also has to worry about being deported by ICE when he goes to work or takes his kid to a soccer tournament.
Feel safer?
Feel safer?
December 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
An immigrant works a dangerous job to protect Americans. It puts him in medical debt. Now he also has to worry about being deported by ICE when he goes to work or takes his kid to a soccer tournament.
Feel safer?
Feel safer?
We believe these data “demonstrate that UC Merced has actively divested from instruction, showing a pattern of deprivation of the instructional budget relative to ourselves and other campuses.”
Memo on University Spending on Instruction – UC Merced Faculty Association
ucmfa.org
December 20, 2025 at 6:24 PM
We believe these data “demonstrate that UC Merced has actively divested from instruction, showing a pattern of deprivation of the instructional budget relative to ourselves and other campuses.”
Years ago, when I applied for a job at a bookstore in SF (maybe it was Green Apple?) I had to take a test on my literary knowledge. I failed badly bc, even though I read a lot, I’m ignorant about certain genres. Anyway, good for the bookstores! www.fastcompany.com/91461983/ind...
December 20, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Years ago, when I applied for a job at a bookstore in SF (maybe it was Green Apple?) I had to take a test on my literary knowledge. I failed badly bc, even though I read a lot, I’m ignorant about certain genres. Anyway, good for the bookstores! www.fastcompany.com/91461983/ind...
Anyway we’ll be requiring undergrads’ Zotero libraries to contain a copy of everything they cite next quarter, which I guess is one very labor-intensive way to check.
December 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Anyway we’ll be requiring undergrads’ Zotero libraries to contain a copy of everything they cite next quarter, which I guess is one very labor-intensive way to check.
Earlier this year, I couldn’t understand why ILL responded so combatively to a hard-to-track-down paper I’d asked them to get. Now I see why. 😬
"Fake citations have turned into a nightmare for research librarians, who by some estimates are wasting up to 15 percent of their work hours responding to requests for nonexistent records that ChatGPT or Google Gemini alluded to."
I’m sorry, but it is disgraceful to be an academic who uses this technology to conduct research. It should be prohibited in all of our scholarly institutions, including universities and journals.
December 20, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Earlier this year, I couldn’t understand why ILL responded so combatively to a hard-to-track-down paper I’d asked them to get. Now I see why. 😬
Amazing how many of these papers are about “ethical use of AI in education.” It’s harsh, I know, but I do think if you incorporate a hallucinated reference it should be incredibly damning for you. There should be professional penalties.
(Also, icyi, here are the 42 papers citing our non-existent paper which includes a "meta-analysis" - often called the evidence "gold standard" - of "LLM effects" in education 🤮
scholar.google.com.vn/scholar?star...)
scholar.google.com.vn/scholar?star...)
scholar.google.com.vn
December 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Amazing how many of these papers are about “ethical use of AI in education.” It’s harsh, I know, but I do think if you incorporate a hallucinated reference it should be incredibly damning for you. There should be professional penalties.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
Should scientists apply to OpenAI's fund for research on AI & mental health? Should policymakers consider it a credible safety effort?
Avriel Epps & I see it as "grantwashing," and it's an insult to anyone whose loved one's death involved chatbots. We explain:
www.techpolicy.press/beware-of-op...
Avriel Epps & I see it as "grantwashing," and it's an insult to anyone whose loved one's death involved chatbots. We explain:
www.techpolicy.press/beware-of-op...
Beware of OpenAI's 'Grantwashing' on AI Harms | TechPolicy.Press
J. Nathan Matias and Avriel Epps say OpenAI's announced research funding is the perfect corporate action to make sure we don't find answers for years.
www.techpolicy.press
December 18, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Should scientists apply to OpenAI's fund for research on AI & mental health? Should policymakers consider it a credible safety effort?
Avriel Epps & I see it as "grantwashing," and it's an insult to anyone whose loved one's death involved chatbots. We explain:
www.techpolicy.press/beware-of-op...
Avriel Epps & I see it as "grantwashing," and it's an insult to anyone whose loved one's death involved chatbots. We explain:
www.techpolicy.press/beware-of-op...
Reposted by Miriam Posner
It’s the entire point. There’s no plan to make this meaningful for students. No plan to use it administratively. Its design and implementation signals its only real intent. It’s best and easiest use case is for systematic harassment and to scare faculty into complying in advance.
We know the students don’t read the syllabuses. So who will? Right-wing activists looking for excuses to hound profs.
December 20, 2025 at 12:47 PM
It’s the entire point. There’s no plan to make this meaningful for students. No plan to use it administratively. Its design and implementation signals its only real intent. It’s best and easiest use case is for systematic harassment and to scare faculty into complying in advance.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
Sabrina Tavernise did a nice job reporting this. She quoted people talking about everything from vacations to eating out to their closet, but really she's tracing the cultural reverberations of the fact that housing costs too much.
The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 (up from 28 in 1991).
The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 (up from 28 in 1991).
These Young Adults Make Good Money. But Life, They Say, Is Unaffordable.
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Sabrina Tavernise did a nice job reporting this. She quoted people talking about everything from vacations to eating out to their closet, but really she's tracing the cultural reverberations of the fact that housing costs too much.
The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 (up from 28 in 1991).
The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 (up from 28 in 1991).