Stephanie Ricker
@quoththegirl.bsky.social
Voracious reader, sporadic writer, pitiless editor, avid tree-climber.
Amen.
May the Ents march forth and tear your data centres to the ground
December 23, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Amen.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
In English we know it as “Carol of the Bells,” but the melody arises from a Ukrainian folk tradition of songs welcoming the new year and summoning the forces of nature to meet human labor and bring prosperity.
Do listen.
I wrote about the history here: snyder.substack.com/p/o-generous...
Do listen.
I wrote about the history here: snyder.substack.com/p/o-generous...
Another beautiful Shchedryk performance amidst ruins.
It was set in what used to be a DTEK thermal power plant — now destroyed by russia.
The contrast between russia’s destructive nature and the Ukrainian will to create beauty even in the darkest times is palpable.
It was set in what used to be a DTEK thermal power plant — now destroyed by russia.
The contrast between russia’s destructive nature and the Ukrainian will to create beauty even in the darkest times is palpable.
December 21, 2025 at 9:37 PM
In English we know it as “Carol of the Bells,” but the melody arises from a Ukrainian folk tradition of songs welcoming the new year and summoning the forces of nature to meet human labor and bring prosperity.
Do listen.
I wrote about the history here: snyder.substack.com/p/o-generous...
Do listen.
I wrote about the history here: snyder.substack.com/p/o-generous...
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
I just posted this Internet Archive link to Facebook, where the aunts & uncles, grandmas & grandpas who watch 60 Minutes after football games live. It’s important that this story doesn’t just circulate on Bluesky.
And now someone has uploaded a version that wasn't filmed off a TV.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
Pulled 60 Minutes segment on CECOT : CBS : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
This is a screen recording of a 60 Minutes segment about the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, which was intended to be...
archive.org
December 23, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I just posted this Internet Archive link to Facebook, where the aunts & uncles, grandmas & grandpas who watch 60 Minutes after football games live. It’s important that this story doesn’t just circulate on Bluesky.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
Wee skrunkleton. Postcard from my collection, 1955.
December 22, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Wee skrunkleton. Postcard from my collection, 1955.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
The most annoying thing about genAI is that eventually the genAI proponents are going to get to the end of the novelty of it, realize its limitations, and then claim to be the innovators of doing things the long way without genAI. Call it "slow productivity" or something.
December 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM
The most annoying thing about genAI is that eventually the genAI proponents are going to get to the end of the novelty of it, realize its limitations, and then claim to be the innovators of doing things the long way without genAI. Call it "slow productivity" or something.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
“What I see as a labor economist is we have starved everything to feed one mouth,” says Ron Hetrick, Principal Economist at Lightcast. “These are now three years that we have foregone development in so many industries as we shove food into a mouth that’s already so full.”
Silicon Valley has placed a trillion-dollar bet that gen AI can transform the global economy and pave the way for AGI. But warning signs show the marketing hype has vastly overrated what current AI tech can achieve, creating a bubble with growing costs when it pops, writes @jeremyhsu.bsky.social.
When it all comes crashing down: The aftermath of the AI boom
AI has buoyed the stock market and a struggling US economy but warning signs indicate a bubble that everyone will pay for when it bursts.
thebulletin.org
December 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
“What I see as a labor economist is we have starved everything to feed one mouth,” says Ron Hetrick, Principal Economist at Lightcast. “These are now three years that we have foregone development in so many industries as we shove food into a mouth that’s already so full.”
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
Get a load of this. 😆
December 5, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Get a load of this. 😆
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
Your annual reminder that the most revealing difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is definitely in the words for December: Mí na Nollag (Month of Christmas) in Ireland, and An Dubhlachd (the Blackness) in Scotland. So once again may I wish you all a lovely Blackness.
December 1, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Your annual reminder that the most revealing difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is definitely in the words for December: Mí na Nollag (Month of Christmas) in Ireland, and An Dubhlachd (the Blackness) in Scotland. So once again may I wish you all a lovely Blackness.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
They're gonna French Toast his ass
France’s far-right leader hit by egg, days after flour attack
French far-right leader hit on the head with an egg
Jordan Bardella, leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, was hit on the head with an egg Saturday, just days after another incident in which a protester threw flour at him.
www.ctvnews.ca
November 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
They're gonna French Toast his ass
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
Here’s the plaque at West Point with the relevant text highlighted
November 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Here’s the plaque at West Point with the relevant text highlighted
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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
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.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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
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.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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.
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
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.
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.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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
It’s hilarious and revelatory that a bunch of giant MAGA/America First X accounts are actually based in Eastern Europe and Nigeria.
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:06 PM
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
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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!
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
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!
WHOOOO LIVES IN A CASTLE IN THE 11TH CENTURY?
PRINCEBOB SHORTPANTS!
MEDIEVAL AND NORMAN AND ROYAL IS HE
PRINCEBOB SHORTPANTS!
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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.
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).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreifpyry2il5toxbr3iejgrsxs6kmnwve75qwnhebfp44ieyjrfpsdu@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 PM
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.
I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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. 🪄
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. 🪄
February 23, 2025 at 1:45 PM
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. 🪄
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. 🪄
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
Grateful for this Delta flight attendant for providing some clarity on the upcoming changes to flights during the holidays.
Listen in ⬇️
Listen in ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Grateful for this Delta flight attendant for providing some clarity on the upcoming changes to flights during the holidays.
Listen in ⬇️
Listen in ⬇️
We took Calvin to his first protest yesterday (Freedom Friday with @ed4d.bsky.social), and he did great! Old dogs can learn new tricks.
November 1, 2025 at 3:49 PM
We took Calvin to his first protest yesterday (Freedom Friday with @ed4d.bsky.social), and he did great! Old dogs can learn new tricks.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.
October 31, 2025 at 8:19 AM
I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
Looking up!
Discovering the Forest Jewels.
Bavaria, Germany
#landscapephotography #landschaftsfotografie #fog #mushrooms #pilze
Discovering the Forest Jewels.
Bavaria, Germany
#landscapephotography #landschaftsfotografie #fog #mushrooms #pilze
October 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Looking up!
Discovering the Forest Jewels.
Bavaria, Germany
#landscapephotography #landschaftsfotografie #fog #mushrooms #pilze
Discovering the Forest Jewels.
Bavaria, Germany
#landscapephotography #landschaftsfotografie #fog #mushrooms #pilze
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
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
Hvalnes #Iceland
October 21, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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
Hvalnes #Iceland
Reposted by Stephanie Ricker
absolute workhorse of a reaction image from over 100 years ago
October 20, 2025 at 7:36 AM
absolute workhorse of a reaction image from over 100 years ago