Not a dime of taxpayer money or govt contracts should go to Palantir.

I'd like to see more transparent review in the field. @benjaminkremmel.bsky.social piloted it for a special issue on OS for the journal Language Testing. We saw lots of benefits and few disadvantages (aside from a little extra work in compiling and posting/hosting the peer reviews).

Elen Le Foll published an interesting study on how (applied) linguists understand Open Science. I was involved in a collaborative and transparent peer review process for the article, with a reviewer report available here: works.hcommons.org/records/tfj1...

[Exclusive] Chinese brokers sell leaked TOPIK questions online for up to $5,000 Chinese brokers have been selling purported Test of Proficiency in Korean questions online for as much as $5,100 ahead of the exam, raising concerns over the in

Cheating on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) in the news. Very old-school approach for an old-school test that relies on fixed forms on set dates.

m.koreaherald.com/article/1071...

Modeling scientific uncertainty in language: Applied linguistic insights from human and artificial intelligence texts As generative AI systems increasingly function as substitutes for traditional information-seeking tools, concerns have emerged about how these systems…

"These findings demonstrated that LLMs not only differ linguistically from human experts but also appear to compress and simplify the rhetorical space through which scientific uncertainty is conventionally expressed."

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Serial Failure Sal Khan Wants to Take Over Higher Education And anyone who cares about human-centered education should hope he fails.

Sal Khan is spinning up an alternative post-secondary credential in concert with the largest tech companies in the world. Anyone who cares about human-centered education should wish it nothing but failure. Thankfully, Khan has practice at that. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Collocates #5 I scored 87 pts on Collocates #5! Keyword: credit. Can you beat it? Play today's puzzle!

Really fun word game - guess the most common collocates (words that go with particular word):

www.collocateswordgame.com/share?g=5&k=...

Interesting how, despite no large truck interior backdrop and unfashionability of wraparound sunglasses, it's plain as day we have found the British equivalent of this:

It's worth noting that the Democrats took action when Biden's health/cognitive ability *merely called into question* his capacity to do the job going forward (with no insane tweets or war crimes as evidence of inability).

This essay captures what AI for science debates often fail to recognize:
That in many academic fields, people creation is the main goal. That the supervision IS the science. That the real threat is "a slow, comfortable drift toward not understanding what you're doing"
ergosphere.blog/posts/the-ma...

Traveled to give a talk tomorrow, and while TSA lines were a bit longer than usual tbh not having to see Kristi Noem on every monitor in the airport makes it feel like a pretty good tradeoff

(Yes, everything should be better - short lines, no DHS or Noem)

Screenshot of the University of Birmingham webpage for the Corpus Linguistics Summer School 2026. It shows the event title, a banner image of students working at computers, dates (6–9 July 2026), online format, contact details, and a “Register for this event” button.

We will be organising the annual Corpus Linguistics Summer School from 6 to 9 July this year. The event will return in an entirely online format. Please see our website for details:
www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/corpu...
#ccrss26

Language Test Developer A is right, and other developers are untrustworthy, according to opinion piece in a trade publication penned by and executive of an impressive sounding education non-profit who... wait for it... sits on an advisory board of Language Test Developer A.

Screenshot from "Shots" music video

COPS
COPS
COPS
COPS
COPS, COPS

COPS
COPS
COPS
COPS
COPS, COPS

Chart showing majorities of Democrats, Republicans say racial diversity is good for the U.S.

As the United States turns 250, the country’s population is more racially and ethnically diverse than in previous decades.

Three-quarters of U.S. adults see racial and ethnic diversity as a good thing for the country.

Read more about Americans’ views on diversity here: www.pewresearch.org/...

Big Ten Conference - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten...

A new white paper out on the relationships between Pearson Test of English speaking and writing and performance in freshman composition courses, co-authored with Hyung-Jo Yoon

#PTEA #languagetesting #lingsky

This is funny for many reasons, but it should also end the stream of (mostly low-quality) publications on metaverse for education, language learning, etc. The hype around AI has made a big dent, but there are still almost daily academic publications on using this thing that no one seems to use.

lol

Okay I've found a use for Gen AI that's actually entertaining (if not particularly useful):

Rep. Maxwell Frost was elected at 25 with no prior experience in an elected office iirc. (He did have some notable activism and organizing experience, though)

Oscar-winner Ryan Coogler recalling how a college writing professor pushed him to become a screenwriter & the possibility of #Sinners being taught in film curriculums someday:
“I have so much respect for professors…for dedicating their life to future generations & making sure their minds are solid.”

Q: “So, hundreds of millions of dollars in grants were terminated from the NEH. The deficit didn’t change much. And you were paid $150,000 to do that job of reducing the deficit. Do you feel like the $150,000 paid to you was wasteful spending?”

A: *Laughs, frowns….long pause*

MAHAspital - SNL YouTube video by Saturday Night Live

This SNL skit does a better job of criticizing MAHA than our news media does.

youtu.be/FUBVuvstPCs?...

Spotty/low-bandwidth internet service during this crazy Kona low storm makes me glad that we have my old PS3 and some kid-friendly DVDs/Blurays lying around.

Cornell University told her Ōlelo Hawaiʻi did not meet language requirements to graduate. She pushed back, and won. Cultivating Culture Q&A Kayla Toves spoke with Cultivating Culture about her work in language revitalization and what she's learned living between cultural and academic settings. Kaylah Toves took her...

Interesting story on university language requirements and revitalization efforts:

nativenewsonline.net/education/co...

Gullible, Cynical America The trouble with believing anything and nothing at the same time

The data economy has made us dumber in ways that also make us vulnerable to authoritarian takover. We are have become both cynical and gullible in the sense we think we are too jaded be fooled and as a result are tricked more easily www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Raindrops filled the pail, slowly at first and then in a torrent, like slurs fill College Republican chatrooms.

Y'know, with DHS head being fired, we could just abolish DHS entirely (ICE included). DHS is only 23 years old. It's a rotten byproduct of the GWOT. Worthwhile agencies could be transferred back to their original departments.

My institution very recently passed along encouragement from NSF to submit unsolicited proposals because "they are currently experiencing problems issuing requests for
proposals, and their number of awards is lagging."