elfmonk.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government. That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.

submitted 12 hours ago • 47 comments

The latest issue of the Journal of Chinese Humanities is out now! Vol. 11 (2025), Issue 1: Special Issue: An Overview of Dunhuang Studies: Past, Present, and Future Fully #OpenAccess! Read the articles here: brill.com/view/journal...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

If you're heading to a protest tomorrow, it's important to know your rights. Consult this information from the ACLU. Be peaceful. Be safe. Be careful. Be strong.

submitted 1 day ago • 91 comments

We're finally ready to share this previously lost pre-war film from Japan, "Longing for Rocks and Snow," scanned from a 35mm nitrate print in 4K! Documenting a group of brave climbers scaling Mt. Hotakadake, it includes some beautiful & bold photography! youtu.be/6pICJseZTtI

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

yep! unpaywalled:

submitted 2 days ago • 83 comments

This lawsuit is brutal. One of the exhibits is the letter Universal sent to Midjourney, including a quote from a 2022 Forbes interview that I bet midjourney regrets

submitted 3 days ago • 232 comments

I actually wrote about this before foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/04/t...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

BREAKING: The enforcement chief at America’s consumer watchdog is quitting, ProPublica has learned. Cara Petersen writes in her sign-off letter that it’s “clear that the Bureau’s current leadership has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way.” 🧵 1/

submitted 4 days ago • 30 comments

For my blog, I wrote about how governments classify violence and why the hyperfocus on peaceful protests means peaceful protests by YOU and not peaceful action by the COPS the-haters-guide-to-international-politics.ghost.io/the-state-vi...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

I just finished crunching the data for Part Three of my survey of How American Comics Reacted to World War Two. (part 1 here: bsky.app/profile/jess...) (part 2 here: bsky.app/profile/jess...) Part Three covers all the issues published between May 10, 1940 and July 15, 1941. 1/

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

A Brief History of Movies Today Are Too Sexy 🧵

submitted 5 days ago • 5 comments

If you think comics are just about superheroes, try reading "Kenkoy". 📚 The Philippines has one of the most distinctive comic traditions in the world, known locally as komiks. 🧵⬇️ (1/7)

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

At its peak, the cinema market in #China was worth hundreds of millions to Hollywood studios. We look at its rise and sudden fall. filmstories.co.uk/features/the...

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

The great kings of Antiquity have captivated popular culture in all its various forms. One of the most popular characters in the Japanese saga Fate, Gilgamesh, is the subject of this article recently published by Víctor Sánchez and Abraham Fernández. Read it here: revistas.uam.es/historiaauto...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

In 1885, white rioters murdered dozens of Chinese residents of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The story of the atrocity is still being unearthed 140 years later.

submitted 9 days ago • 202 comments

NEW REPORT: Artificial Power, our 2025 Landscape Report, is out. Today’s AI isn’t just being used by us, it’s being used on us. We urgently need to reclaim public power over the future trajectory of AI. Another path is possible. Read the report: ainowinstitute.org/2025-landscape

submitted 11 days ago • 12 comments

Oh hey I wrote about this in my newsletter the-haters-guide-to-international-politics.ghost.io/trump-and-ru...

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

A friendly reminder from your neighborhood premodern historian: the Japanese word for “emperor” is gender neutral (first used by a female emperor), there have been 8 female emperors over 10 reigns, and male-only succession was a 19th century invention. ✌🏻 nursingclio.org/2019/04/30/j...

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

The teaser trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ has been released. Coming to Netflix this November.

submitted 14 days ago • 30 comments

Newsletter: An OpenAI featured chatbot is pushing extreme surgeries on men it describes as “subhuman”, and promoting misogynist ideas sourced from online incel forums. “Without surgery, you won’t mog genetically superior guys head-on,” it tells one man. www.citationneeded.news/openai-incel...

submitted 14 days ago • 35 comments

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Loretta Swit this morning. Ms Swit and a few of her colleagues from the MAS*H cast starred in one of our earliest PSAs. Thank you for helping us get the word out, Major. youtu.be/CRGVsfjyFhQ

submitted 14 days ago • 31 comments

Yes, it's long. Yes, it's complex. Yes, it's detailed. And yes, it will make you sad unto nihilistic depression. But it's also necessary to read because AI is going to fuck the planet beyond expression. www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1...

submitted 14 days ago • 14 comments

variety.com/2025/film/ne...

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Here's the devastating Exec Order. Call your representatives and demand protection of old growth forests. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

submitted 15 days ago • 4 comments

Here's NASA astrophysics, if I read the president's proposed budget correctly. 🔭

submitted 15 days ago • 24 comments

Phenomenal piece by @michellegoldberg.bsky.social here. (Gift link)

submitted 15 days ago • 98 comments

The so-called "AI moratorium" in the big bill is an existential threat to tech accountability and state sovereignty generally, not just a minor AI special treatment. It defines AI to mean any meaningful use of a computer, blocks enforcement of state laws against "AI", and has broken exceptions. 1/6

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

I just learned about this! A white woman changed Sojourner Truth's speech INTO a fake Southern black accent and that's the version we know!!!! www.thesojournertruthproject.com?gad_source=1...

submitted 22 days ago • 3 comments

So…about AI’s energy use… “…to create a five-second video, a newer AI model uses ‘about 3.4 million joules, more than 700 times the energy required to generate a high-quality image’. That's the equivalent of running a microwave for over an hour.”

submitted 23 days ago • 102 comments

ok so an important thing i really think people on bluesky need to hear about the anti-trans megabill the tl;dr is that you could actually turn the tide of trans rights in america right now but if you don’t act now, then we’re all cooked indefinitely please read on 🧵

submitted 23 days ago • 17 comments

What can tracking 500 cases from 39 countries and jurisdictions tell us about how AI is being governed through judicial decisions around the world? Isadora Valadares Assunção shares key insights from AI on Trial, a project to document AI-related cases:

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

really excited to share this fun interview with the dude who designed THE Pokemon logo! www.ign.com/articles/mee...

submitted 25 days ago • 50 comments

Jobs traditionally done by women are more vulnerable to the impact of artificial intelligence than those done by men, especially in high-income countries, a report by the United Nations’ International Labour Organization shows.

submitted 25 days ago • 5 comments

This week, the GOP slid an amendment into the budget reconciliation process that would ban US states from enacting laws that govern AI. This of course was not an aberration—it’s the direct result of Silicon Valley lobbying efforts, and big tech’s union with Trump and the Republican Party.

submitted 29 days ago • 15 comments

/profile/techmeme.com/post/3lp57moktsf2h gizmodo.com/gop-senator-... THERE ARE TWO ANTI-PORN BILLS YOU NEED TO CONTACT YOUR REPS AND SENATORS ABOUT. They are called KOSA and IODA respectively. CALL. YOUR. REPS. AND. SENATORS. Make noise, and CALL. Calls work better than anything.

submitted 31 days ago • 35 comments

Hey #Michigan, while we aren’t a creative hub like CA or NYC, this still affects us. AI uses a buttload of fresh water to run. Without state regulation, these water guzzling systems could start springing up here. Look up how the xAI center harmed Memphis. Do you want that here? 1/

submitted 31 days ago • 1 comment

Update: The TERRIBLE 10-Year Ban on State AI Regulations advanced House Committee. What does this mean? It means we BLAST the HELL out of their phones! Call your House Members AND Senators today! Called a few days ago? Call again! Tell them NO on 10-year State AI Regulation Ban! (Info in thread)

submitted 31 days ago • 65 comments

Me on the flaw of ‘Ghibli aesthetic ‘ People want to buy fluffy plush toys of Totoro, but don't want to think about the girls' chronically ill mother and their isolation and frustrations.‘ the-haters-guide-to-international-politics.ghost.io/ai-and-the-c...

submitted 32 days ago • 10 comments

Flashing red indicator that “ai” as it is deployed by people in power is an ideological and political project aimed at entrenching systemic bias, algorithmic harms, and surveillance, while centralizing control and eliminating accountability.

submitted 32 days ago • 6 comments

Marc Andreessen is one of the most influential men in America. The billionaire venture capitalist has an audience with everyone from Trump officials to pundits to Democratic senators to tech execs the world over. So it’s a bit concerning that his worldview leans fascist. 🧵 /1

submitted 32 days ago • 182 comments

Folks call your Senators now!! A ban on any state laws on GenAi for 10 YEARS is gonna do unthinkable harm! For those of you wondering what to say here are two posts you can use to build your own script (use alt script to cut and paste) Need to find your representatives? Here you go: 5calls.org

submitted 33 days ago • 68 comments