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pzriddle.bsky.social
Prentiss Riddle
@pzriddle.bsky.social
160 followers 170 following 300 posts
Aprendiz de tudo, mestre de nada.

#Porto #Portugal, previously #AustinTX

#caminoDeSantiago #eurorack #generativeAmbient #jazz #linguaphile #modularSynth #moog #MPB #synth

#deutsch #español #português
Posts Replies Media Videos
pzriddle.bsky.social
You'd like to think that universities would be the sort of institution through which society resists fascism. Sadly, #UTAustin has been falling all over itself to "comply in advance".

To anybody who's been thinking of studying or working at my alma mater: if you have a choice, go elsewhere.
Right-Wing Crackdowns Drive Academics Away From UT and the U.S.
Staff morale, federal funds, and state confidence dry up
www.austinchronicle.com
July 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
NYTimes "best movies of the 21st century": this is of course a gimmick, but it was illuminating anyway. I thought I was out of touch but turns out I've seen 66 of the 100.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century (Gift Article)
More than 500 influential directors, actors and other notable names in Hollywood and around the world voted on the best films released since Jan. 1, 2000. See how their ballots stacked up.
www.nytimes.com
July 26, 2025 at 9:02 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Hooray! One of my favorite events returns June 28-29: the Feira da Alegria at FBAUP.

Over 150 artists selling prints - mostly young, with few cliches about sardines or roosters...

It's Pride weekend, so we will be busy!

www.instagram.com/feiradalegria/

#FeiraDaAlegria #porto #art #arte #FBAUP
Colorful poster in bright shades or red, yellow, blue, green, and pink. The text reads: FEIRA DA ALEGRIA Jardim da Faculdade de Belas Artes 28-29 Jun '25 The illustration features a stylized garden under a blue sky with a cheerful sun and clouds. In the garden is a building representing the U.Porto art school and several statues found in the actual PBAUP garden.
June 15, 2025 at 6:58 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Great turnout of a few hundred for #NoKings in Porto today!

I'm not posting crowd photos out of concern for people's privacy, but I'm grateful that in Portugal it is safe for us to exercise our freedom of speech.

Thinking of our friends and loved ones taking the risk to speak out in the US today.
Hand-painted sign on cardboard that reads: DUE PROCESS LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL RULE OF LAW Below, a drawing of a crown struck out by a circle and slash.
June 14, 2025 at 4:04 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Ready for tomorrow. #NoKings
Signs hand-lettered on corrugated cardboard, spread out on a wooden table. The signs include the following: NO KINGS (in the USA) NO DICTATORS DEMOCRACIA SIM DITADURA NÃO NO KINGS NO CZARS NO DICTATORS NEM REI NEM CZAR NEM DITADOR
June 13, 2025 at 5:31 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Worldwide No Kings protest on you-know-who's birthday this Saturday. A bit of solidarity for our compatriots getting teargassed in the States.

If you're in Porto, meet us at 2 PM at Leões.

www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

#NoKings #porto
NO KINGS: Porto, Portugal · No Kings
**NO KINGS: Porto, Portugal Fonte dos Leões (Lion Fountain) In front of Universidade do Porto Praça de Gomes Teixeira, 4050-526 Porto, Portugal Saturday June 14, 2-5pm WET Nearest Metro: Aliados When ...
www.mobilize.us
June 11, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Prentiss Riddle
samhalpert.bsky.social
Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.
April 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Today I googled a simple question (it happened to be about Portuguese).

Google's AI intruded with an answer and included a link to what it said was the source.

Clicking through, I see that the source gave the EXACT OPPOSITE answer to what the AI so authoritatively told me.

AI still sux, folks.
May 28, 2025 at 11:28 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
I'm happy to see that the worldwide NO KINGS protest on you-know-who's birthday will have a presence here in Porto.

indivisible.org/statements/i...

#NoKings
The text NO KINGS in white on a deep blue background, next to a roughly painted symbol of a crown marked out with a red X
May 28, 2025 at 11:16 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
I dreamt that they removed the capitalized nouns from the German language and my reading comprehension went all to hell.

#deutsch #rechtschreibung
May 18, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Prentiss Riddle
adamcsharp.bsky.social
There’s an Urdu name for a “Jack of all trades” that translates to “every talent Lord.” A Korean version is “eight direction beauty.” But my favourite name for someone who tries their hand at lots of different things is the Lithuanian Barbė devyndarbė. It means “Barbie nine jobs”
March 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Today I learned that our neighborhood superhero has an Instagram. Super Faria Guimarães!

www.instagram.com/super.fariag...

#porto #superhero #superFariaGuimarães
Composite of thumbnails. Each shows a street scene in Porto, Portugal. In each scene is a man wearing a dress suit with a cape, mask, and hat in bright colors. Im some thumbnails he is carrying flowers. The color scheme varies: hot pink, canary yellow, bright or light blue, traffic orange.
May 16, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Prentiss Riddle
depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social
devastated to discover Cheddar Man was lactose intolerant
Analysis of Cheddar Man's nuclear DNA indicates that he was a typical member of the Western European hunter-gatherer population at the time, with a most likely phenotype of blue-green eyes, dark brown or black hair, and dark or dark-to-black skin, with no genetic adaption for lactase persistence into adulthood
May 13, 2025 at 6:39 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
When I worked for the UT Austin|Portugal program, research funding was contingent on collaborative applications by both UT and PT researchers.

I wonder whether giving carrots to EU researchers who work with US emigrant scientists could ease integration of US researchers into European networks?
May 5, 2025 at 1:44 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
I just finished "The Twilight Zone" by Nona Fernández. What a great, if horrifying, book, and a reminder of the path we are on ourselves.

www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/b...
When a Nation’s Torturous Past Resembles ‘The Twilight Zone’ (Gift Article)
Named after the classic TV series, a new novel by Nona Fernández mines Chile’s dark history and shifts restlessly between genres.
www.nytimes.com
May 4, 2025 at 2:33 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Life in retirement
March 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
Público just published a long article about American exiles in Portugal.

www.publico.pt/2025/03/22/s...

#público #uspol #portugal
Em fuga de Trump, americanos exilam-se em Portugal. “Tenho medo de voltar”
Nem só pessoas de minorias se sentem ameaçadas pela Administração Trump. Três casais, uma mãe e um académico contam porque escolheram viver em Portugal. Há quem diga: o sonho americano chegou ao fim.
www.publico.pt
March 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Prentiss Riddle
jayispainting.earthskyart.ca
Hey folks a lot of you are sharing big blocks of text on coloured backgrounds with all sorts of big claims/news and yet providing no link to any actual source.

This is how propaganda & disinformation spreads.

Provide sources. It's absolutely critical

And alt text because almost none of you are.
March 12, 2025 at 5:38 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
"POESIA É EXTERMINAR A BURGUESIA"

#streetArt #arteUrbana #porto
Background is a rough wall of dirty white and gray stone. Wheatpasted onto it is a faded poster in white and gray with the text in Portuguese "POESIA É EXTERMINAR A BURGUESIA" (translation: Poetry is to exterminate the bourgeousie). The poster is illustrated with a drawing of white carnations with green stems.
March 4, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Prentiss Riddle
fmoncomble.tract-linguistes.org
Another thing that struck me about yesterday’s Oval Office disaster is the place of language.
🧵
March 1, 2025 at 8:16 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
As I often say, in Portugal the Caminho de Santiago is like a plate of spaghetti thrown on the ground.

Left or right? Just keep the ocean on your left and eventually you'll get there.

#caminhoDeSantiago #caminoDeSantiago #caminhoLitoral #walking #hiking #trails
Scene from the trail of the Caminho de Santiago in Portugal. In the background is blue sky, plowed farmland, and low brushy woodland. In the foreground are a concrete utility pole and other electrical equipment. The pole on the left bears a yellow painted arrow indicating that the Caminho goes left. The utility box on the right has a blue tile with a yellow shell and arrow indicating that the Caminho goes to the right.
February 28, 2025 at 12:40 PM
pzriddle.bsky.social
On Wednesday our feet were itching so we did a mini caminho up the coast from Póvoa to Apúlia.

It was a nice mix of oceanfront and some stretches inland of the dunes where we got to enjoy the trees and wildflowers.

#caminhoDeSantiago #caminoDeSantiago #apúlia #portugal #caminhoLitoral #walking
Selfie of a man and a woman in hiking gear smiling at the camera with beach, surf, and blue sky behind them. Beach scene of surf, blue sky, and dunes covered with green ice plant and intense pink flowers. Wildflower meadow of green foliage with pale blue star-shaped flowers. Woman wearing a blue backpack walking down a rural path consisting of a pedestrian boardwalk next to a dirt farm road with lightly wooded land on both sides.
February 28, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Prentiss Riddle
2amwakeupcall.com
REMEMBER KIDS
when flooding a snitch form, DON’T use obvious troll responses that can be filtered out with a query
Use PLAUSIBLE FAKE data that will take TIME and EFFORT to run down.
This poisons the entire data pool and makes it useless
February 28, 2025 at 1:45 AM
pzriddle.bsky.social
The condos under construction near our house have a large advertising banner with this CGI rendering of a hypothetical apartment. I'm fascinated with the oddly proportioned books on the shelves. I really want to shake the hand of the designer who snuck in the volume "STATIC MONOCULTURE".
Detail from an advertising banner for condos under construction. The image is framed by a metal construction barrier and a magenta background. The central image shows a living room with an open-plan kitchen decorated in a modern style with a muted color scheme in grays and pale wood tones. Elements inclode a couch, a striped rug, a sliding-glass door with drapes and vertical blinds, and a kitchen island with bookshelves facing the viewer. Detail of books from the previous photo. The books seem to be out of scale with the rest of the room. The image is blurry, making the titles on the spines hard to read. Visible title include "MODERN ART", "YOU'RE [sic] PICTURE", "LAST MONDAY HI", "Last Place on Earth", and ""STATIC MONOCULTURE".
February 27, 2025 at 4:51 PM