Stephanie Ricker
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quoththegirl.bsky.social
Stephanie Ricker
@quoththegirl.bsky.social
230 followers 150 following 120 posts
Voracious reader, sporadic writer, pitiless editor, avid tree-climber.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
coachfinstock.bsky.social
They're gonna French Toast his ass
November 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
jaimi.bsky.social
Here’s the plaque at West Point with the relevant text highlighted
November 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
malwaretech.com
Founders on LinkedIn still seem to be struggling with the difference between telling people about their humble beginnings and admitting to straight up committing fraud.
November 24, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
jowolff.bsky.social
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
jburnmurdoch.ft.com
This chart (which applies even more to social media than it did to TV) lives in my head rent free.

Social media enveloping traditional media means everything and everyone is now competing in the entertainment market. Boring stuff like policy that affects millions of lives doesn’t stand a chance.
November 23, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
vortexegg.com
It is also notable that so much of right-wing media being a grift with transnational participants and funding posing as Americans ought to tell us the presence, volume, and claims, etc of right wing media (esp social media) are not actually indicative of American political beliefs and preferences
November 23, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
wintermute115.bsky.social
William the Conquerer's oldest son was Robert Curthose, meaning "short trousers", which means…

WHOOOO LIVES IN A CASTLE IN THE 11TH CENTURY?
PRINCEBOB SHORTPANTS!
MEDIEVAL AND NORMAN AND ROYAL IS HE
PRINCEBOB SHORTPANTS!
November 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.

I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
II. Credibility The Court next addresses the credibility of the parties’ evidence and witnesses. After reviewing all the evidence submitted to the Court and listening to the testimony elicited at the preliminary injunction hearing, during depositions, and in other court proceedings, the Court finds Defendants’ evidence simply not credible. [FN 6] Plaintiffs submitted a mountain of evidence, providing the Court with over eighty declarations, numerous videos and articles, and other evidence. Defendants did not rebut anything that Plaintiffs set forth in their declarations or testimony, even with BWC footage. [FN 6] In another case considering some of the same evidence presented to this Court, another court in this district also found that the perceptions of certain of Defendants’ declarants, such as Hott and Parra, were not reliable. See Illinois v. Trump, No. 25-cv-12174, 2025 WL 2886645, at *5 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 10, 2025) (noting a “troubling trend of Defendants’ declarants equating protests with riots and a lack of appreciation for the wide spectrum that exists between citizens who are observing, questioning, and criticizing their government, and those who are obstructing, assaulting, or doing violence”), motion to stay denied in part, 155 F.4th 929 (7th Cir. 2025).
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
jksteinberger.bsky.social
As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity.

TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄
NO CHATGPT Or other artificial stupidity: motivation First, clarity on distinguishing AIs: Non-generative: grammar aid, translation, dictionary, text-to-audio (e.g. Natural Reader): no problem As long as you use the appropriate tools (least intensive in data and server energy use). Why? Because you provide the content. Your brain is doing the most important work Generative: ChatGPT & Co. You only supply the prompt, the AI supplies the content. Why is this delegation of work problematic? 3 domains: ethical, environmental, intellectual engagement. (Caveat: generative is probably ok for computer programming, where it can be useful and save time. Not relevant to this class.) 1) AI and ethics Mass theft of all and everything «learning» on books, articles, blogs, social media, images, music, cultural production, without permission of authors/creators, and leading to their mass joblessness. Profits are not reditributed to originators. Permanent destruction of the mental health of underpaid precarious tech workers in the Global South (Kenya, Philippines …): «correction» to avoid production of violent and pedophile contents etc, tech workers are obliged to watch and correct super violent contents for days on end, leading to extreme psychological suffering and trauma, from which recovery is doubtful. No or little compensation (certainly not at the level of the suffering inflicted). In short, an industry built on theft of real human creation and sacrifice of real human health, profiting a few megafortunes. 2) AI and (un)sustainability Massive consumption of electricity, water, server capacity for generative AI. Outcome: keep fossil fuel companies in business, using up new renewable capacity, without any satisfaction of basic human needs. Massive misappropriation of the finance necessary for climate and ecological action (renewable generation, efficiency and retrofit for buildings, public transit, infrastructures for cycling etc) towards AI industry. Overall: undermine climate action, reinforce fossil industry, waste resources necessary for human development. 3) AI and intellectual engagement First, what learning is (or should be) about: The goal should not (only) be the reproduction of «correct» knowledge, But mainly personal engagement and experience of thinking about topics of interest. Personal engagement = using one’s own brain. The most important activity for learning and intellectual engagement is the experience of making one’s own mistakes, by trial and error, corrections based on new ideas, starting over again. Learning to recognise nuances, knowledge gaps, better explanations This kind of learning is possible only through using your own brain, not AI. Also, Ais are not «intelligent». At all. They simply reproduce pre-existing patterns. They «bullshit», invent false references, false facts, false data, simply because those sound plausible. VERY DANGEROUS. If you learn how to NOT use AI, and how to research facts and data on your own, this will serve you and your communities for the rest of your life.
February 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
onestpress.onestnetwork.com
Grateful for this Delta flight attendant for providing some clarity on the upcoming changes to flights during the holidays.

Listen in ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
sardonicus.eu
A mythical map of Wales in Tales from the Mabinogion by Margaret Jones, 1980
a bright and colourful map of Wales
November 6, 2025 at 8:28 AM
quoththegirl.bsky.social
We took Calvin to his first protest yesterday (Freedom Friday with @ed4d.bsky.social), and he did great! Old dogs can learn new tricks.
A smiling mixed-breed dog with a greying muzzle and a red harness sits outside at golden hour. Roadside protest: A brown dog in a red harness lies down next to a man holding a sign that says "Republicans: America needs leaders not lapdogs"
November 1, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
khrisnin.bsky.social
I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.
October 31, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
kilianschoenberger.bsky.social
Looking up!
Discovering the Forest Jewels.
Bavaria, Germany

#landscapephotography #landschaftsfotografie #fog #mushrooms #pilze
October 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
sophiecarr.bsky.social
On this day four years ago I watched the whooper swans flying around, preparing to head south, with peachy sunset colours all around.

Hvalnes #Iceland
Five swans flying are silhouetted against hazy pointy mountains in the distance, above the sea. The light is peachy from sunset and the water looks golden on the right hand side towards the shore.
October 21, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
nikk.ca
absolute workhorse of a reaction image from over 100 years ago
elegant woman blasting a suitor in the face with the NO gun
October 20, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
spavel.bsky.social
Oh, so when YOU grab a Danish for a quick snack, it's a guilt-free, tasty little treat. But when I, Grendel,
October 20, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
kingdomfantasy6.bsky.social
Remember folks. The original bluesky ethos by us bluesky elders (apparently I count?) is block and move on.

Don't quote dunk, don't pick fights.
Block, and move on.

This is what made this site unpalatable to the right early on, and we can continue to make it unpalatable to them.
October 17, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
donmoyn.bsky.social
This is the beauty of BlueSky. No-one will be force-fed this via algorithm. Trolling draws blocks rather than amplification.
dbernstein.bsky.social David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · Oct 18
By my count: Of the 15 Departments of the US Government, 13 launched new BlueSky accounts tonight (all but Justice and HUD), and all 13 have posted explicitly partisan political posts blaming Democrats and/or Chuck Schumer for the government shutdown.
October 18, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
mariancall.bsky.social
www.consumerreports.org/electronics/...
How to Turn Off AI Tools Like Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, and More - Consumer Reports
AI features are crowding into Google search, Gmail, iPhones, Windows laptops, and other products. If you're suffering from AI overload, these settings can help.
www.consumerreports.org
October 17, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
viktoriahaack.bsky.social
The vibrant greens of Scottish moss with a remaining few leaves from Fall.
December 11, 2024 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
inchargeofthegirls.bsky.social
sherman, for the love of god!
October 10, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
eliothiggins.bsky.social
Dutch courts fighting to make Facebook and Instagram useable again.
October 8, 2025 at 9:06 AM
quoththegirl.bsky.social
I realize the irony of posting this article on a social media platform, but my goodness, it's fascinating/disturbing. The end reminds me of the guy assigned to stand behind the Roman general in his triumphal chariot, whispering in his ear that he too will die.*
www.gurwinder.blog/p/how-social...
How Social Media Shortens Your Life
It's engineered to speed up your time
www.gurwinder.blog
October 5, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
edzitron.com
Premium tomorrow: OpenAI spent $11.2 billion in compute, sales/marketing for $4.3bn in revenue in 1H 2025.

Desperate to grow ChatGPT, they launched Sora 2, which costs them at least $5 per generated video.

Here's $10 off a year of annual.
edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo...
Sora 2 Is Unbelievably Expensive, With Each Video Costing $5 Of Compute and Users Allowed To Generate 100 Videos Every 24 Hours - Meaning OpenAI Will Lose A Month’s Subscription Revenue Every Four Videos Generated Let’s establish some facts: Once you have access to Sora 2, you can generate what appears to be an unlimited amount of videos, at least on a $20-a-month subscription, and OpenAI has promised “generous limits” for a non-specific amount of time. Every Sora 2 generation - in landscape or portrait - generates at 1280x704 - a variant of 720p resolution, and every single one is 10 seconds long, even if you ask it to generate a longer one. Each video appears to have sound, whether or not you asked for it. It takes about a minute to generate each video. Now, I’m a curious little critter, so I found that Microsoft actually publishes the prices of using Sora on its Azure AI Foundry page if you select “US East 2” as your region. To be clear, this is the pricing for the first Sora model, rather than Sora 2, which is likely expensive. Nevertheless, based on Azure’s pricing, it’s likely that each Sora 2 generation is priced at the “720 Global” rate of 50 cents a second, meaning that each video generated on Sora 2 costs $5 in compute, if not more, because it’s very likely that OpenAI’s costs are more than they charge on an API basis. Now, according to The Information, OpenAI’s gross margins were projected to be 50% this year, meaning that even in the most kindly, sweet maths of all time, they’re annihilating all of their margin in two generations, and another subscriber’s margins in two more. I also understand that some may argue that OpenAI’s costs “might not be as bad,” and there’s no evidence that this is the case. Sora 2, by OpenAI’s own description, is a “video and audio generation model,” suggesting it’s one main model rather than a combination with their audio-generation models they released earlier this year.
October 3, 2025 at 12:23 AM