Sara Simon

@sarambsimon.bsky.social

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grad student in history & science studies • former newsroom software engineer & data journalist • she/her

smbsimon.github.io

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Sara Simon

Consider this as employers (including states like NY) claw back sick leave for workees

Yesterday, HHS announced that Secretary Xavier Becerra had caught COVID-19 again and is working remotely www.hhs.gov/about/news/2...

eye doctor: "so you probably read a lot, huh"

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Sara Simon

It’s finally here! For years, @roseveleth.com has been working on an epic series about elite runners who’ve been told they can no longer race as women, because of their biology. TESTED is their story, & the story of sport’s history of dubious sex testing. Ep 1 is now online! link.chtbl.com/Rose_

Testedlink.chtbl.com <p>Who gets to compete?&nbsp;Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female ...

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Sara Simon

Amazon’s annual Prime Day sales event, which starts Tuesday, has been a “major cause” of warehouse worker injuries, finds a year-long Senate investigation into workplace safety at Amazon, released by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Amazon Prime Day causes workplace injuries, Senate probe findswww.washingtonpost.com The Senate HELP Committee probe found that the company’s annual Prime Day sales event, which takes place this week, is “a major cause of injuries” for the workers.

Coincidentally, I started Elizabeth Catte's "Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia" last night. It is immediately riveting, beautifully written, perfect for this moment, etc. so joining the chorus re: "What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia," too. elizabethcatte.com/books/

bookselizabethcatte.com Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia Praise for Pure America: "Pure America exposes Virginia’s shameful past, but it also highlights how much the present continues to be stamped in...

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Sara Simon

do I need to recommend "What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia" again? 'cause it sounds like I need to recommend "What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia" again

extremely reminiscent!!

(As an aside, Fetterolf’s discussion of gender & technical labor is reminiscent of @sarambsimon.bsky.social’s presentation on the Voder at the most recent meeting of the Midwest Junto. Read more about her work here: https://bsky.app/profile/bhgross144.bsky.social/post/3koesnti4qe2t) #SIGCIS2024

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Sara Simon

The fourth largest city in America is still in crisis under a deadly heatwave & the power company can't get hundreds of thousands of households back online, but you'd barely know it from our national news.

850K CenterPoint customers remain without power after Hurricane Berylwww.houstonchronicle.com More than 850,000 CenterPoint customers were without power four days after Hurricane Beryl hit the Texas coast.

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Sara Simon

An important 1982 lecture by Grace Hopper is stored on tape in a vault at the NSA MuckRock filed a FOIA request to get a copy of the lecture Three years later, the NSA said they could not read the 1982 tape format, and sent back a photocopy of the tape reel 🙃 www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

Admiral Grace Hopper’s landmark lecture is found, but the NSA won’t release itwww.muckrock.com In a vault at the National Security Agency lies a historical treasure: two AMPEX 1-inch open reel tapes containing a landmark lecture by Admiral Grace Hopper, a giant in the field of computer science....

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Sara Simon

So many stories are talking about low polls/approval ratings for Biden in the context of his age and not this

The U.S. is resuming a shipment of 500-pound bombs to Israel that had been held up since May, when the Biden administration suspended delivery of two types of weaponry amid concerns about the ballooning scale of civilian casualties in Gaza, officials said.

U.S. to again ship 500-pound bombs to Israel, reversing suspensionwww.washingtonpost.com The Biden administration will send 500-pound bombs to Israel that had been held up since May over concerns about the Rafah invasion. But 2,000-pound bombs are still under review.

two classes in a row now that all my pottery throws have gone miserably! but it's ok because the clay can be recycled and it was hours spent blissfully away from my screens

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Sara Simon

Data & Society is hiring a rsch + ref librarian to help them "figure out better methods for making [their] rsch visible, discoverable, + durable" — and to create new methods of repository building to foreground the work of "lay experts, radical thinkers, community organizers, activist scholars"

Why You Should Apply to Be Our First Research and Reference Librariandatasociety.net

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Sara Simon

has anyone ever figured out why every single elementary schooler in the US in the 90s was given a recorder i would sincerely love a long form cultural history feature/surprisingly upsetting limited series podcast about that

Steal my slide! 😂

Sloppy data + Fancy tech = Sloppy, fancy data (I suspect that this slide from Simon’s talk could easily find a home in many other computer history & #histSTM case studies…) #SHOT2024

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Sara Simon

New blog post! How the history of traditional open-source software can inform us about the economic benefits of open-weights AI models. (And some color on the mixed definitions of "open" and "open-source" being thrown around in the AI space.) www.ftc.gov/policy/advoc...

On Open-Weights Foundation Modelswww.ftc.gov The history of traditional open-source software provides a vision of the value that could result from the availability of open-weights AI models – including enabling greater innovation

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Sara Simon

an oldie but a goodie:

How to Check in on Neighbors During a Heat Wave — And Possibly Save a Lifewww.thecity.nyc Experts say New Yorkers should come with specific, explicit questions and plans on what to do next.

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Sara Simon

Reply to

Ben Gross

Poser urges us to reflect on the conference theme (repair) and consider not just the upkeep of technological artifacts but also efforts to remediate the environment and address structural issues in our academic discipline(s). #SHOT2024

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Sara Simon

Reply to

Ben Gross

Hecht notes that many of our colleagues from Africa encountered difficulties traveling to this conference due to visa issues. She notes that as professional societies w/aspirations to global inclusion, SHOT & ICOHTEC must do everything we can to overcome these issues. #SHOT2024

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Sara Simon

Great stuff in this new special issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing on "Logistical Histories of Computing," editing by @miriamkp.bsky.social and Matthew Hockenberry ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresul...

ieeexplore.ieee.org A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.© Copyright 2024 IEEE - All rights reserved. Use of this web site signifies your agreement to the terms and conditions.

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Sara Simon

time.com/6982015/bitc... this story about rural Texans getting sick from Bitcoin mine noise pollution is a wild ride

Inside the 'Nightmare' Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Towntime.com A Bitcoin mine moved to a small town in Texas. One by one, the residents fell ill.

joke's on me, I am actually really happy to be brushing up on my high school Spanish! (though I am glad my project is about public health data, which means I can lean on translated government forms for specialized vocab)

It has been a whole week since the email went out and yet I haven't stopped thinking about the major history of tech conference (bilingual this year) suggesting to presenters that we use AI to translate our slides.

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Sara Simon

Organizers got enough signatures to put a measure protecting abortion on the ballot in Arkansas. In *Arkansas*. They had *no national support*. Ignore the pundits melting down over not being treated as Very Special Boys. Dobbs has fundamentally changed elections. Everything they know is wrong.

Arkansas abortion rights groups collect enough signatures to advance ballot measurewww.nbcnews.com A measure to enshrine abortion rights in the ruby red state’s constitution is now one step closer to making the November ballot — but major obstacles remain.

she's here 🤩

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Sara Simon

Reply to

Ashley Shew | Against Technoableism

I'm pointing to one direct material consequence here, but there's also those who won't go out or participate if they need the mobility or stability help too. Fewer disabled people will participate in public when some of our simple tech is constantly depicted as signaling our inferior/lesser status.

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Sara Simon

A lot of ableism isn't deliberate: that makes it more pernicious! A walker is representing being at lower faculty, by your description. I tweeted this on the other site: "The way walkers are used in media/culture is truly revolting -- & this rep prevents ppl from using what is a useful tool."

Using the walker on the magazine cover is not deliberately ableist. And at some point people are going to have to learn discernment and how to view creative media within the context it’s presented. The walker on the cover is to the point of an elderly person no longer being at full faculty.

major fireworks in our neighborhood, visible from our living room. the cat keeps coming out to look at them, then boom loud noise and he races back under the bed 😞

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Sara Simon

I will bring this one back every year

‘What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?’: Descendants Read Frederick Douglass' Speech | NPRyoutu.be In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide protests for racial justice and systemic reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s ...

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Sara Simon

hi! I’m on the job market. would love to chat! melodykramer.github.io

Melody J. Kramer melodykramer.github.io Melody Kramer's portfolio and website

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Sara Simon

One thing I don’t understand is why, when people are outraged by some injustice or affront — like book bans — they don’t first look to see who is already tracking the issue, who’s already working on education + organization. “We need to do something!” People *are*. Find them. Help them.