Margarita Nafpaktitis
@nafpaktitism.bsky.social
Librarian by day. Even more maladroit in person! Sundry book and textile arts, cross-cultural gastronomica, and ever taller piles of things on every available surface. Aspiring éminence grise, but for hair reasons. she/вона/она/ona/αυτή
I honestly live for @theferocity.bsky.social ‘s contemplations of potentially hostile, potentially urban, wildlife. (Fondly recalling the moose thread — was that New Hampshire?)
CONFIRMED: After getting 76 replies, it’s clear that wild turkeys run this whole damn country.
Y’all got wild turkeys in OAKLAND????
Okay, now I’m convinced that turkeys took over the country and none of us noticed because we were busy dealing with the OTHER coup.
If you have wild turkeys in your area, reply with where you live. We must expose them!
Okay, now I’m convinced that turkeys took over the country and none of us noticed because we were busy dealing with the OTHER coup.
If you have wild turkeys in your area, reply with where you live. We must expose them!
February 18, 2026 at 5:11 AM
I honestly live for @theferocity.bsky.social ‘s contemplations of potentially hostile, potentially urban, wildlife. (Fondly recalling the moose thread — was that New Hampshire?)
Judging from the replies, they are legion. Hilarious *and* alarming…
Y’all got wild turkeys in OAKLAND????
Okay, now I’m convinced that turkeys took over the country and none of us noticed because we were busy dealing with the OTHER coup.
If you have wild turkeys in your area, reply with where you live. We must expose them!
Okay, now I’m convinced that turkeys took over the country and none of us noticed because we were busy dealing with the OTHER coup.
If you have wild turkeys in your area, reply with where you live. We must expose them!
My brother lives on a steep hillside in Oakland, California, and the turkeys jump from roof to roof to avoid predators. They sound like bowling balls being dropped from a plane and it's actually more unnerving than an earthquake.
February 18, 2026 at 4:47 AM
Judging from the replies, they are legion. Hilarious *and* alarming…
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
More than 10,000 works were stolen by russia from the Kherson Regional Art Museum during the occupation.
Last week, I visited an exhibition featuring art prints of some of the stolen pieces.
You’ve already seen a few of them in my letter.
Here’s a short video.
Last week, I visited an exhibition featuring art prints of some of the stolen pieces.
You’ve already seen a few of them in my letter.
Here’s a short video.
February 16, 2026 at 5:45 PM
More than 10,000 works were stolen by russia from the Kherson Regional Art Museum during the occupation.
Last week, I visited an exhibition featuring art prints of some of the stolen pieces.
You’ve already seen a few of them in my letter.
Here’s a short video.
Last week, I visited an exhibition featuring art prints of some of the stolen pieces.
You’ve already seen a few of them in my letter.
Here’s a short video.
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: nobody’s doing it like Buckinghamshire Archives right now
February 17, 2026 at 1:55 PM
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: nobody’s doing it like Buckinghamshire Archives right now
🗺️❤️
"When Ursula K Le Guin was writing a new story, she would begin by drawing a map. The Word for World, a book co-published by Spiral House + AA Publications, brings Le Guin’s maps together with poems, stories, interviews, recipes and essays" — video of AA launch (via @the-syllabus.bsky.social)
The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K Le Guin
YouTube video by AA School of Architecture
www.youtube.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:42 PM
🗺️❤️
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
I saw someone refer to this as a set of "listings." These are not listings. This is a syllabus. It required months of research and curation, months of networking and logistical planning, and tons of expertise and curiosity and creativity and care. This is not a listing of citations.
This reminds me: our Search & Discovery class starts this week, and I'm so looking forward to it :) crossreference.wordsinspace.net/spring2026
February 16, 2026 at 4:00 PM
I saw someone refer to this as a set of "listings." These are not listings. This is a syllabus. It required months of research and curation, months of networking and logistical planning, and tons of expertise and curiosity and creativity and care. This is not a listing of citations.
Learned about this list from @aduralde.bsky.social and just ordered a bunch of cookies for my office.
www.erininthemorning.com/p/2026-trans...
www.erininthemorning.com/p/2026-trans...
February 16, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Learned about this list from @aduralde.bsky.social and just ordered a bunch of cookies for my office.
www.erininthemorning.com/p/2026-trans...
www.erininthemorning.com/p/2026-trans...
@eurovangelists.com, looking forward to getting your perspectives on this outcome!
Beginning the process of coming to terms. Feels like Käärijä’s little bro. Akyla (swept int’l jury, Greek jury *and* pop vote) has solid stage presence though, and, honestly, “Ferto!” (“Bring it!”) is a fun thing to yell and will look great on a t-shirt…? #singforgreece
share.google/vmW1AWqcRfPL...
share.google/vmW1AWqcRfPL...
February 15, 2026 at 10:43 PM
@eurovangelists.com, looking forward to getting your perspectives on this outcome!
Beginning the process of coming to terms. Feels like Käärijä’s little bro. Akyla (swept int’l jury, Greek jury *and* pop vote) has solid stage presence though, and, honestly, “Ferto!” (“Bring it!”) is a fun thing to yell and will look great on a t-shirt…? #singforgreece
share.google/vmW1AWqcRfPL...
share.google/vmW1AWqcRfPL...
February 15, 2026 at 10:41 PM
Beginning the process of coming to terms. Feels like Käärijä’s little bro. Akyla (swept int’l jury, Greek jury *and* pop vote) has solid stage presence though, and, honestly, “Ferto!” (“Bring it!”) is a fun thing to yell and will look great on a t-shirt…? #singforgreece
share.google/vmW1AWqcRfPL...
share.google/vmW1AWqcRfPL...
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
What’s so weird about men in power is how when they face scandal and should step down the world acts like no one else can do their jobs. Bottstein, Wasserman, these aren’t irreplaceable men! Stop with this delusion.
February 15, 2026 at 7:33 PM
What’s so weird about men in power is how when they face scandal and should step down the world acts like no one else can do their jobs. Bottstein, Wasserman, these aren’t irreplaceable men! Stop with this delusion.
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
Again and again, guardrails are a scam
OpenAI ”acknowledged in its own research that LLMs will always produce hallucinations due to fundamental mathematical constraints that cannot be solved through better engineering, marking a significant admission from one of the AI industry’s leading companies.”
You can’t trust chatbots.
You can’t trust chatbots.
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Again and again, guardrails are a scam
Still ten toes down for ZAF. He tightened up his performance between this finals performance and the semi, he sings in Greek 🇬🇷, he wrote the lyrics and the song himself, *and* it’s a banger. #singforgreece
February 15, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Still ten toes down for ZAF. He tightened up his performance between this finals performance and the semi, he sings in Greek 🇬🇷, he wrote the lyrics and the song himself, *and* it’s a banger. #singforgreece
Love Koza Mostra when they are doing Balkan turbofolk. “Bulletproof” is not that. Country rock, all in English… 😭 #singforgreece 🇬🇷
February 15, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Love Koza Mostra when they are doing Balkan turbofolk. “Bulletproof” is not that. Country rock, all in English… 😭 #singforgreece 🇬🇷
Mikay’s “Labyrinth” chorus is channeling Abor and Tynna pretty hard. Also, I think she adds an extra syllable to the English word for “labyrinth”…? #singforgreece 🇬🇷
youtu.be/HDPQdLXKgXg?...
youtu.be/HDPQdLXKgXg?...
3. Mikay - Labyrinth | Sing for Greece 2026 - Β' Ημιτελικός
YouTube video by ΕΡΤ Α.Ε.
youtu.be
February 15, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Mikay’s “Labyrinth” chorus is channeling Abor and Tynna pretty hard. Also, I think she adds an extra syllable to the English word for “labyrinth”…? #singforgreece 🇬🇷
youtu.be/HDPQdLXKgXg?...
youtu.be/HDPQdLXKgXg?...
Good Job Nicky has all of Michael Jackson’s albums on vinyl, you can just tell. #singforgreece 🇬🇷
February 15, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Good Job Nicky has all of Michael Jackson’s albums on vinyl, you can just tell. #singforgreece 🇬🇷
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
My whole job now is telling people, “we will have to see who wins the war but this is how it used to work.”
I'm teaching a grad level proposal writing class. Had planned to go in depth about how funding agencies are organized, how panels work, etc. Now it feels like I'll be saying a lot of "This is how it was, I'm not sure how it'll work going forward."
February 14, 2026 at 5:50 PM
My whole job now is telling people, “we will have to see who wins the war but this is how it used to work.”
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
I'm teaching a grad level proposal writing class. Had planned to go in depth about how funding agencies are organized, how panels work, etc. Now it feels like I'll be saying a lot of "This is how it was, I'm not sure how it'll work going forward."
February 13, 2026 at 1:01 PM
I'm teaching a grad level proposal writing class. Had planned to go in depth about how funding agencies are organized, how panels work, etc. Now it feels like I'll be saying a lot of "This is how it was, I'm not sure how it'll work going forward."
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
Indeed. Though I will point out that this is yet another set of data points showing that all the vocational arguments against the humanities/liberal arts rest on vibes & not actual data.
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
I wrote in Holding It Together that we should strive to live in "a world where we value care work on par with IT," but this wasn't the mechanism for getting there that I had in mind.
February 13, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Indeed. Though I will point out that this is yet another set of data points showing that all the vocational arguments against the humanities/liberal arts rest on vibes & not actual data.
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Watching livestream of semifinal B’ of #SingForGreece. Poor sign language interpreter lady… when the band sings in English (and most of them are singing mostly in English) all she can do is perform in the international language of air guitar… @eurovangelists.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Watching livestream of semifinal B’ of #SingForGreece. Poor sign language interpreter lady… when the band sings in English (and most of them are singing mostly in English) all she can do is perform in the international language of air guitar… @eurovangelists.com
Tłusty Czwartek always sneaks up on me, and I have no idea where to get a proper pączek in this town! 😭🍩🇵🇱
Tłusty czwartek 2026. To już dzisiaj Polacy ruszyli po pączki i faworki
Kiedy jest tłusty czwartek? W 2026 roku dzień, na który czekało wielu Polaków, wypada dzisiaj 12 lutego. Wtedy bez wyrzutów sumienia sięgamy po pączki, faworki i inne słodkości, celebrując ostatnie dn...
wiadomosci.onet.pl
February 12, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Tłusty Czwartek always sneaks up on me, and I have no idea where to get a proper pączek in this town! 😭🍩🇵🇱
😆 A hater, indeed!
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 10:06 PM
😆 A hater, indeed!
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
Featuring Dostoevsky, Gogol and Bulgakov (would be a shocker if any of them were omitted). www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
From Brontë to Ballard, Orwell to Okri: the best songs inspired by literature – ranked!
As Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights gets a boost from a new film adaptation, we survey the surprising, seditious and sensual ways in which prose has influenced pop
www.theguardian.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Featuring Dostoevsky, Gogol and Bulgakov (would be a shocker if any of them were omitted). www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
And please, just give us enough sauce. Amen.
“I’ve reviewed over 50 sticky toffee puddings” is an incredibly powerful way to begin a video
February 12, 2026 at 4:43 AM
And please, just give us enough sauce. Amen.
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
I have been pleasantly surprised to hear people openly talking about the end of institutional life as we know it (it’s been over. We’ve been living and working in zombie institutions for three decades now) and instead of collapsing at the thought they’re like okay let’s rebuild but better. More.
This is the type of thing I keep trying to talk to people about for higher ed. Not conference rooms where I "listen to diverse perspectives" but actually doing work to imagine what strengthening the US higher education system in furtherance of a democracy would look like.
Very excited about this new @knightcolumbia.org project, both because it gives us the chance to look beyond the current democratic crisis and because so many super people have already agreed to participate. knightcolumbia.org/content/new-...
February 11, 2026 at 9:26 PM
I have been pleasantly surprised to hear people openly talking about the end of institutional life as we know it (it’s been over. We’ve been living and working in zombie institutions for three decades now) and instead of collapsing at the thought they’re like okay let’s rebuild but better. More.
Reposted by Margarita Nafpaktitis
“The scheme recouped more than its net cost of €72m through increases in arts-related expenditure, productivity gains and reduced reliance on other welfare payments, according to a government-commissioned cost-benefit analysis.”
February 11, 2026 at 11:16 AM
“The scheme recouped more than its net cost of €72m through increases in arts-related expenditure, productivity gains and reduced reliance on other welfare payments, according to a government-commissioned cost-benefit analysis.”