We've got to organize to move all our boomer parents away from copaganda procedurals and into deeply empathetic portraits on the difficulties and triumps of the caring professions.

haha lol I also participated in an online dissertation defense. I hope my comments, which I insisted should be interpreted as an invitation to play 'intellectual free jazz', were constructive. At the very least, they didn't have to reschedule :)

Dr Mel King: an awkward blond white woman in her early 20s with an unfashionable braid, glasses, and scrubs. Here she's raising her hand for a high five and has been left hanging by her coworkers.

I spent the past week absolutely kicked in the ass by a bug, in which my only constructive actions were social isolation and marathoning both seasons of The Pitt. This is now a Dr. King fan account. Fabulous stuff Mel; I hope you succeed in finding a hobby next season.

On the value of actually tracking corporate sustainability pledges, rather than just reporting the headline and assuming it's going to be fine...

could not have combined the two in my head umprompted, but wow I'm glad that this exists...

Chinese tech workers are starting to train their AI doubles–and pushing back A viral GitHub project that claims to clone coworkers into a reusable AI skill is forcing Chinese tech workers to confront deeper fears.

"Users can choose between light, medium, and heavy sabotage modes depending on how closely their boss is observing the process, and the agent rewrites the material into generic, non-actionable language that would produce a less useful AI stand-in."

Heavy sabotage mode, let's go

wow looks great!

Nuclear clouds: the infrastructural convergence of AI and energy systems This short commentary maps the convergence of industrial AI infrastructures and national energy systems, with a focus on the role that nuclear power plays in these ambitions. Drawing from examples ...

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... What's up with AI and energy? In this article we explore the growing hunger of AI for energy and the growing intertwining of the energy industry and the AI infrastructure investment through power purchase agreements, especially for nuclear power

The Method of Critical AI Studies, A Propaedeutic We outline some common methodological issues in the field of critical AI studies, including a tendency to overestimate the explanatory power of individual samples (the benchmark casuistry), a dependen...

Good luck lol arxiv.org/abs/2411.18833

this thought brought to you by a respiratory infection

da bird has flown da coop

Later in the month I'll be in Copenhagen for this 2 day workshop on using zines in (place-based) research and teaching. Zines are fun! This will be fun!

sustainablefutures.ku.dk/events/2026/...

There's a livestream for those who are not lucky enough to be enjoying this cloudy Berlin afternoon!

13.04.2026: Reclaim the Cloud! Contesting, Resisting and Reimagining Data Centers Bits & Bäume and the research group “Digitalization, Sustainability, and Participation“ (Weizenbaum Institute) jointly present: Reclaim the Cloud! Contesting, Resisting and Reimagining Data Centers.

I'm joining in this very cool panel today on data centre resistance to share some thoughts on what to do when the AI bubble pops and potentially leaves a lot of empty data centres behind: bits-und-baeume.org/posts/policy...

Every train, a note. A jazz combo played in real time by every active NYC subway train.

www.trainjazz.com TRAIN JAZZ

FUCK YES

Reclaim the Cloud! Contesting, Resisting and Reimagining Data Centers Bits & Bäume and the research group “Digitalization, Sustainability, and Participation“ (Weizenbaum Institute) jointly present: Reclaim the Cloud! Contesting, Resisting and Reimagining Data Centers.

I'm filling in for Paris Marx (because we need to maintain Canadian representation levels) at this very cool panel on data centre resistance at the Weizenbaum Institute on Monday. Catch you in Berlin, or on the Livestream?
www.weizenbaum-institut.de/veranstaltun...

New special issue of academic zines! journals.library.unt.edu/index.php/un...

Starting in an hour!

This is now a fan account for Stockholm subway art Sweden takes Easter very seriously. Despite the population's low rates of religious observance, it's a double stat holiday, a 4 day weekend,...

sabbatical-ing.blogspot.com/2026/04/this...

The Blenheim-Gilboa Visitor Center for NYS' pumped hydro plant rules and I had a lovely time doing a field trip with myself and 4 other fully grown adults

Angine de Poitrine - June 27, 2026 - TD Stage From June 25th to July 4th, experience the rhythm of Montreal at the Jazz Festival - a celebration of music, culture, and creativity.

ACM FAccT lines up with a free (!) Angine de Poitrine concert at Montreal Jazz Fest so I want to see all you AI/big data watchdogs getting wild with these weirdos
montrealjazzfest.com/en/program/a...

p.s. @bruit.eurosky.social I'll be in town for a lot of May. Wanna go to some shows together?

Civil Society Summit on the AI Industry May 22, 2026 — Montréal

Hey Canadians/AI skeptics/Data Centre Resistors:

Registration is now open for the AI ^ Civil Society Summit planned for Montreal on May 22

It looks to be excellent. I'm going! Let's hang out and power map/geek out.

aicivilsociety.ca

I do not wish to seem inelegant, but this unsightly whale looks much like an amputated sow

Y'all got 19 days left to dream up your cool research zine pitches for our conferences. Ok, you have even more days that that (we're sweetie pies when it comes to extensions) but maybe you need that 19 day motivation?

Unlimited by Rahul Mukherjee: 9780262552714 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books How telecom companies in India have added a whole new group of mobile phone users—and the tremendous impact of this new reach. Around 2016, buoyed by affordable data plans of telecom companies,...

"Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution" is published today. Readers with US mailing address can get a 30% discounted copy with this discount code "MITP30" for orders made today (Mar 31) on this PenguinRandomHouse link: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/814367...

Congratulations!

The People's Consultation on AI has released the submissions it received! Posted below and available in a shared dropbox. I took a peak as they rolled in, and it was really heartening reading how much it meant to people to have this chance to engage with the issues & provide meaningful input. #PCAI

Yani Kong will be reading from our chapter “Reimagining Networks: Speculative Thinking for Low-Carbon Research Networks” at the April 6 event. Looking forward to it!