Kathleen Quaintance
@dreamkitsch.bsky.social
studies and teaches of the history of technology and art / phd student at yale, for my sins / my other car is a loom
THIS is the way to get students to admit their AI use
Seems more promising than "there was an em dash it must be fake!"
And yeah, I might not be able to remember every detail about the stuff I've written, owing to my moth-brained memory, but you risk me launching into a loving 6 hour presentation if you ask me questions about a scene or character.
And yeah, I might not be able to remember every detail about the stuff I've written, owing to my moth-brained memory, but you risk me launching into a loving 6 hour presentation if you ask me questions about a scene or character.
December 5, 2025 at 1:01 AM
THIS is the way to get students to admit their AI use
Me doing natural dye workshops in 2025, vs. my mom doing a cooking show on the local TV channel in the 90s. 🥹
November 24, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Me doing natural dye workshops in 2025, vs. my mom doing a cooking show on the local TV channel in the 90s. 🥹
My grandpa passed away over a year ago and we're still finding gems among his extensive collection of tools + implements (he was an engineer and a farmer.) Why he would keep old castrating bands is beyond me, though...
November 24, 2025 at 6:17 PM
My grandpa passed away over a year ago and we're still finding gems among his extensive collection of tools + implements (he was an engineer and a farmer.) Why he would keep old castrating bands is beyond me, though...
Something I love about the dialect i grew up with is the verb "fuss." someone "takes to fussing," someone's "fussing about," or "makes a fuss." so much fussing!
October 1, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Something I love about the dialect i grew up with is the verb "fuss." someone "takes to fussing," someone's "fussing about," or "makes a fuss." so much fussing!
how to think about research from someone writing about handweaving in 1922
September 28, 2025 at 8:40 PM
how to think about research from someone writing about handweaving in 1922
I'm just on here to follow all the neuroscientists because I'm determined to be the one humanities partner of a scientist who actually attempts, even if unfruitfully, to understand what he does!!
June 29, 2025 at 1:27 AM
I'm just on here to follow all the neuroscientists because I'm determined to be the one humanities partner of a scientist who actually attempts, even if unfruitfully, to understand what he does!!
using the brain as the dominant metaphor/model for computation was a mistake. It naturally leads to the foolish assumption that computers can have intelligence like real brains can. We should change the metaphor to the loom. (Which used to be the metaphor for the brain, before computers!!)
June 28, 2025 at 11:47 PM
using the brain as the dominant metaphor/model for computation was a mistake. It naturally leads to the foolish assumption that computers can have intelligence like real brains can. We should change the metaphor to the loom. (Which used to be the metaphor for the brain, before computers!!)
I went to a meeting yesterday for educators who want to teach attention in today’s tech-addled world + folks from ALL levels, from kindergarten to grad students, are seeing the same behaviors that seem to me influenced strongly by AI.
May 29, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I went to a meeting yesterday for educators who want to teach attention in today’s tech-addled world + folks from ALL levels, from kindergarten to grad students, are seeing the same behaviors that seem to me influenced strongly by AI.
the structure of the grid is crazy powerful to me for some reason (the reason: i am a weaver) such that when i saw the phil glass/lucinda childs/sol lewitt ballet irl I was so inspired that I turned up to the house of the person I had a crush on and gave them a kiss and now we are in love 4ever...
April 2, 2025 at 3:25 AM
the structure of the grid is crazy powerful to me for some reason (the reason: i am a weaver) such that when i saw the phil glass/lucinda childs/sol lewitt ballet irl I was so inspired that I turned up to the house of the person I had a crush on and gave them a kiss and now we are in love 4ever...
Kinda crazy that I have to remind my students even if they’re just using AI as a tool, whatever they say to it is probably being absorbed into its training data. So if you don’t want it to own your ideas, best not to talk to it at all. “Talk to the hand,” as they say ✋
March 31, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Kinda crazy that I have to remind my students even if they’re just using AI as a tool, whatever they say to it is probably being absorbed into its training data. So if you don’t want it to own your ideas, best not to talk to it at all. “Talk to the hand,” as they say ✋
thinkin abt piling up on a friend’s dad’s office chair to watch videos together on the very nascent YouTube, and how my twin brother and I were only allowed computer time if I did the keyboard and he did the mouse. The experience of looking *together* is rich
March 31, 2025 at 5:00 PM
thinkin abt piling up on a friend’s dad’s office chair to watch videos together on the very nascent YouTube, and how my twin brother and I were only allowed computer time if I did the keyboard and he did the mouse. The experience of looking *together* is rich
The internet is only useful to me as a tool for making helpful or enlightening discoveries. I do not need to see what I already know nor promote myself. Some ppl do and that’s ok! but having a guiding user principle for a given technology I think is wise
March 31, 2025 at 4:51 PM
The internet is only useful to me as a tool for making helpful or enlightening discoveries. I do not need to see what I already know nor promote myself. Some ppl do and that’s ok! but having a guiding user principle for a given technology I think is wise
when historians study cybernetics i'm like the astronaut with the gun in that meme but i'm saying "it's all history of anthropology....always has been..."
March 31, 2025 at 2:50 PM
when historians study cybernetics i'm like the astronaut with the gun in that meme but i'm saying "it's all history of anthropology....always has been..."
I’m so excited to be done with the fiery deadline hell I’m in so that I can cut up all my unused tote bags - which I hoard to no end - and sew them into larger and better franken-tote bags. It’s the little things
March 28, 2025 at 7:31 PM
I’m so excited to be done with the fiery deadline hell I’m in so that I can cut up all my unused tote bags - which I hoard to no end - and sew them into larger and better franken-tote bags. It’s the little things
I'm mostly deeply critical of and at the very least highly agnostic toward a lot of tech development but one single thing I would like to see is my Zotero plug-in learning how to record the editors of edited volumes. It simply thinks there is no author and gives me a _____.
March 27, 2025 at 5:06 AM
I'm mostly deeply critical of and at the very least highly agnostic toward a lot of tech development but one single thing I would like to see is my Zotero plug-in learning how to record the editors of edited volumes. It simply thinks there is no author and gives me a _____.
Not to get all preachy (I’m not religious), but my attitude toward all these big tech “advancements” in AI is very Ecclesiastes 1:9
March 24, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Not to get all preachy (I’m not religious), but my attitude toward all these big tech “advancements” in AI is very Ecclesiastes 1:9
Every relationship needs one weaver who actually weaves the cloth and one mathematician who codes the matrix multiplication algorithm that gives them the pattern 🥹
March 24, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Every relationship needs one weaver who actually weaves the cloth and one mathematician who codes the matrix multiplication algorithm that gives them the pattern 🥹
One of my favorite categories of object … self-referential objects …
March 24, 2025 at 3:05 AM
One of my favorite categories of object … self-referential objects …
Fun fact for all the historians in the crowd: Columbia imposed sanctions on its anthropologists in the boas/benedict/mead circle in the bc they dared to point out that theories of racial inferiority had no basis in science 🤪
A sad day for Columbia and for our democracy. "Additionally the school believed there was considerable overlap between needed campus changes and Trump’s demands" has got to be one of the most depressing sentences ever written.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Exclusive | Columbia Yields to Trump in Battle Over Federal Funding
Columbia’s agreement is a significant moment in the intensifying battle between Trump and elite universities.
www.wsj.com
March 21, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Fun fact for all the historians in the crowd: Columbia imposed sanctions on its anthropologists in the boas/benedict/mead circle in the bc they dared to point out that theories of racial inferiority had no basis in science 🤪
Reposted by Kathleen Quaintance
image of the day: drafting weaves on the typewriter!
March 6, 2025 at 4:18 AM
image of the day: drafting weaves on the typewriter!
i'm probably going to teach bataille's the big toe tomorrow (supervert.com/translations...) and I can't stop thinking about the tweet that's like "Bitch shave your big toe we're going to Miami"
Georges Bataille - The Big Toe
The Big Toe by Georges Bataille
supervert.com
March 6, 2025 at 1:20 AM
i'm probably going to teach bataille's the big toe tomorrow (supervert.com/translations...) and I can't stop thinking about the tweet that's like "Bitch shave your big toe we're going to Miami"
pics from a 1940s weavers' zine :^)
March 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
pics from a 1940s weavers' zine :^)
jd vance reminds me of that one weird evangelical friend's dad who insists upon disciplining you both when you have a sleepover and aren't getting up in time for church. like.. im calling my mom to come get me
March 4, 2025 at 4:38 PM
jd vance reminds me of that one weird evangelical friend's dad who insists upon disciplining you both when you have a sleepover and aren't getting up in time for church. like.. im calling my mom to come get me