Meredith Farkas
LightNews LightNews
banner
librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas
@librarianmer.bsky.social
2.2K followers 600 following 840 posts

😷 🏳️‍🌈 🇵🇸 Community college librarian in Portland, OR. Solidarity, unions, slow librarianship, spoonie, autoimmune, still masking, disability justice. Blogging at Information Wants to be Free since 2004. Subscribe: http://meredithfarkas.substack.com .. more

Videos
Education 21%
Computer science 20%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Meredith Farkas

juliadoubleday.bsky.social
Julia Doubleday @juliadoubleday.bsky.social · 16h
Living with Long COVID often feels like living in a horror movie. Along with your disease comes a creepy Hive Mind refusal to acknowledge the dangers of COVID infection. In Vince Gilligan's new Apple TV show Pluribus, the Hive Mind comes to life:

www.thegauntlet.news/p/pluribus-c...
"Pluribus" captures the isolation of COVID-awareness in a COVID denialist world
For years I've described having Long COVID as living in a horror movie. Now that horror movie (well, prestige Apple TV show) is here.
www.thegauntlet.news

Reposted by Efrén O. Pérez, Meredith Farkas

jules.su
Jules Suzdaltsev @jules.su · 16h
this is literally never not accurate

Reposted by W. Andy Knight, Meredith Farkas, Nicole Guenther Discenza , and 1 more

muellershewrote.com
Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 1d
Never forget who sold us out:

Hassan
King
Cortez-Masto
Shaheen
Kaine
Fetterman
Durbin
Rosen

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 2d
Really elucidates the New York Times "style" that we've seen in countless cases (particularly in the case of Mamdani and trans-related issues) where they try to hide their obvious bias behind a screen of both-sides-ism that ignores the fact that only one side really offers quality evidence.

Reposted by Fiona Moore, Meredith Farkas

davidgerard.co.uk
your #3 source for absurdist true crime 🔨 @davidgerard.co.uk · 2d
cathode.church/@kaye/114988...
Kaye @kaye@cathode.church Adopt the Juicero or be left behind. A vital shift is underway in juicing. The Juicero is no longer optional. It's tomorrow's future, today. 40% of jobs are impacted by the Juicero. The Juicero isn't the future, it's a present necessity. Nobody hand-juices anymore. To hand-juice is like an impairment. Everyone must now focus on the delegation and the verification of a juice. We become less juice producers and more juice enablers. Adopt the Juicero or be left behind. We are burning every forest and poisoning every river to produce more Juiceros. You will become obsolete if you don't get on the Juicero bandwagon. Students must not be taught how to hand-juice. 80% of jobs will be lost to the Juicero. Students must be taught to exclusively focus on how to collaborate with the Juicero. Education must focus on orchestrating agentic Juicero systems. The Juicero is inevitable. Adopt the Juicero or be left behind. Adapt or risk becoming obsolete. As the Juicero rapidly advances toward automating up to 90% of juicing, the skills that will matter most include juice design, Juicero fluency, juice delegation, and juice quality assurance. 110% of jobs have been replaced by the Juicero.

Reposted by Meredith Farkas, Nicole Guenther Discenza

sonjadrimmer.bsky.social
Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 3d
Peter Coviello with another dynamite piece.

lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 3d
So that coward Andy Bernard really was the embodiment of Cornell.
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3d
BREAKING: Cornell caved.

Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
SIGNATURES For Cornell University: Michael I. Kotlikoff President of Cornell University Office of the President 300 Day Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Ben the Winited States (including but not limited to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Servives and the U.S, Department of Education): /N istant Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 For the Department of Health and Human Services: Paula Matana S Paula M. Stannard Director, Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Effective Date: 14/7/2025.

Reposted by Marc Lynch, Scott L. Greer, David S. Cohen , and 7 more

chrisgeidner.bsky.social
Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3d
BREAKING: Cornell caved.

Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
SIGNATURES For Cornell University: Michael I. Kotlikoff President of Cornell University Office of the President 300 Day Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Ben the Winited States (including but not limited to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Servives and the U.S, Department of Education): /N istant Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 For the Department of Health and Human Services: Paula Matana S Paula M. Stannard Director, Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Effective Date: 14/7/2025.

Reposted by Meredith Farkas

histoftech.bsky.social
Gales of November ReMar-mbered @histoftech.bsky.social · 4d
bingo

Reposted by Meredith Farkas

lukestark.bsky.social
Luke Stark @lukestark.bsky.social · 4d
No, it can't. We cleared this up a few years ago: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Will Jennings, A. E. Dessler , and 16 more

ryanjreilly.com
Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 4d
BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Jury acquits D.C. 'sandwich guy' charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent
Sean Dunn faced single misdemeanor offense after federal grand jurors refused to indict him on the felony charge sought by prosecutors.
www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Mark D. White, Jacob Montgomery, David R. Miller , and 3 more

jedidiahcarlson.com
Jedidiah Carlson @jedidiahcarlson.com · 4d
bro are you fucking kidding me
quote from the Economist article which says "[study authors] are now looking at whether AI facial analysis can give lenders useful clues about a person’s propensity to repay loans. For people without access to credit, that could be a blessing."

Reposted by Meredith Farkas

hellabarnes.bsky.social
Scott “Gitche Gumee” Cave @hellabarnes.bsky.social · 5d
“Cuomintang” is so good.
Picture of Cuomo in a generalissimo outfit and a map of NYC: BREAKING: Cuomo has fled the NYC mainland following its fall to socialist Zohran Mamdani. Sources say he will establish a new govt on Staten Island with the goal of eventually reclaiming the entire city. Mamdani has promised to purge all remaining Cuomintang on the mainland.

Reposted by David S. Cohen, Meredith Farkas, Suzanne Conklin Akbari , and 1 more

fintwitter.bsky.social
FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 6d
NEARLY A MILLION NEW YORKERS TO REPORTEDLY FLEE NYC AS MAMDANI BECOMES MAYOR — POSSIBLY IGNITING MASS EXODUS, PER NYP

Reposted by Steve Peers, Henry Jones, Meredith Farkas

muellershewrote.com
Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 6d
I hope someone is writing "12 Hangry Men" about the sandwich guy jury

Reposted by Felicity Callard, Meredith Farkas

mid-theory.bsky.social
Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 6d
On the day of the NYC mayoral election, Ali Raz pens a gorgeous essay reflecting on how Mamdani's rhetoric evinces a poetics of the Universal and convokes a shared commons united by labor and by the rhythms of life spent working in cities most of us cannot afford.
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
Mamdani Feelings
Starting from a place of extreme negativity, political speech can brush the bright membrane that forms literature’s impossible horizon. The rent is too high in Los Angeles. Consider a number: “One …
mid-theory.com

Reposted by Michael E. Mann, Joanna Bryson, Margaret Mitchell , and 21 more

leximcmenamin.com
Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 7d
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.

now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 8d
Thanks. I think the fact that I know that if the medication works, I'll probably never stop taking it (unless they find cures for rare autoimmune diseases) was making the need for the cheese even more urgent. I don't think I've ever eaten so much cheese in 2 days!

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 8d
What kind of a weirdo goes on a raw milk cheese bender the weekend before they're about to start a major immunosupressant? Who thinks first of the cheese they'll no longer be able to eat when they find out they have to take a seriously toxic medication w/ major side effects? Me. I am that weirdo.

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d
It me.

Reposted by John Hogan, Meredith Farkas

bookowl.bsky.social
Dan Chibnall @bookowl.bsky.social · 9d
I mostly avoid The Atlantic's stories but there are three writers there that I always trust & read, and Charlie Warzel is one of them. This is a great piece.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Here’s How the AI Crash Happens
The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.
www.theatlantic.com

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
Yes, but Tech Services labor matters (and I'm not trying to be snarky -- I think it does matter, but ours should too). Reference and instruction librarian labor is inexhaustible apparently. I'm trying to remember when our Dean was ever worried about our workload and... coming up empty.

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
They said no, because it would take more staff time and the whole goal is to decrease staff labor.

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
Oh wow! I wasn't jealous of my colleague who got to go to the conference, but I hadn't heard who the keynote speaker was. Now I'm super-jealous!!! I've never seen her speak in person, but I can imagine it's super inspiring.

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
As an advocate for my faculty, you can be sure that I'm going to tell the folks in my liaison areas who I know use Kanopy videos to click on them four times and watch at least 30 seconds of it each time to trigger a purchase so they know it's licensed for the year. Ridiculous.

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
frustrated that we were simply told that this is what is happening (rather than even being asked for feedback), when the decision was made back in 2017 to prioritize required use in courses. It feels like such a violation of any spirit of shared governance. What is the point of our committee then?

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
is going to be a disaster and will cause real harm to student learning. And, in the end, it will be the subject liaison librarians who have to field the panicked emails from students who can't access an assigned video or angry faculty. As the Chair of the Collection Development Committee, I'm so

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
I'm gobsmacked that my boss would have us do this and that she also wouldn't first seek feedback from the people in the library who actually work directly with students and faculty around this issue (the subject liaisons). I can understand wanting to save technical services processing time, but this

librarianmer.bsky.social
Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 12d
will know whether a video is already licensed or if their use will trigger a license -- all of the licensed and unlicensed videos will be discoverable in the catalog. We already know that demand in 2017 far exceeded our budget and the demand for streaming videos has only increased since then.