bespectacledsparrow

@sparrow-specs.bsky.social

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Librarian. Geek. Most comfortable surrounded by trees and/or books. I love puns and animals. Puns about animals are the most emu-sing. She/her.

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Just remember: the fascists do not have to win. It is not inevitable.

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bespectacledsparrow

Ever wanted to see a real-life supervillain lair?

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bespectacledsparrow

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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bespectacledsparrow

Every morning I check the news and it's like -SCOTUS Eliminates Three More Basic Rights, Only Six Remain -President Mispronounces a Word, Will Now Lose Election to Senile Hitler -New AI Company Uses Artist Blood to Let Billionaires and Racists Live Forever, Gets $45 Billion Valuation

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bespectacledsparrow

Here’s an idea, American Library Association: how about we NOT encourage libraries to use the plagiarism machine that is burning a small country’s worth of power?

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bespectacledsparrow

'You only have until June 26, 2024 to say no to Meta taking your personal photos and words and using them to train their generative AI. Here are step-by-step directions for opting out.' Link: deborahcopaken.substack.com/p/11-steps-t... #Privacy #Meta #Facebook

11 steps to keep Meta from stealing your data to train AIdeborahcopaken.substack.com You only have until June 26, 2024 to say no to Meta taking your personal photos and words and using them to train their generative AI. Here are step-by-step directions for opting out.

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bespectacledsparrow

Tips to beat the heat: 💧 Drink water 👕 Wear light and loose clothing 🏡 Stay indoors ✊ Dismantle the fossil fuel industry

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bespectacledsparrow

Pretty amazing they can legislate my uterus but not any of these things

The way we’re all told to treat all this as normal. It’s fine that half your email is scams. It’s fine that you can’t answer your phone. It’s fine that every Instagram post is full of scam bait comments. It’s fine that people text you weird phishing links. Just adjust your behavior.

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bespectacledsparrow

The thing about all these relentless articles that falsely create hysteria over "this giant terrifying murder bug is coming to kill you!!!" is that they just totally fuck with society's relationship with nature. Cause it causes people to broadly distrust important members of our ecosystems.

I keep seeing this BULLSHIT going around so: - they are totally harmless to humans - they're gonna eat spotted lanternflies (which is a good thing)! - Many, many species of spiders "fly". Young spiderlings throw their threads up into the air and catch a ride on the wind it's called ballooning.

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bespectacledsparrow

COVFEFELON

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bespectacledsparrow

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bespectacledsparrow

Far-right Georgia activists plan a wave of mass voter registration challenges after Republicans just passed a law to further enable them. They've challenged over 350,000 registrations since 2020. While most challenges were dismissed, they wasted underfunded local election offices' time & resources

Wave of Georgia voter challenges expected before 2024 electionwww.ajc.com Conservative activists are preparing to question the validity of thousands of Georgia voter registrations this summer, an election-year effort under the state’s new voter challenge law.

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bespectacledsparrow

You're thinking, "Musk's a jerk, but maybe that's an exaggeration" and nope that's literally what happened. Tinucci cut 15%-20% of what may be their most important division, Musk wanted more, Tinucci said that wouldn't work, so he fired her and the whole 500-person team.

The inside story of Elon Musk’s mass firings of Tesla Supercharger staff (a woman disagreed with him) finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-...

The inside story of Elon Musk’s mass firings of Tesla Supercharger stafffinance.yahoo.com Insiders tell the story of the firings that have upended a network widely viewed as a signature Tesla achievement and a key driver of its EV sales.

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bespectacledsparrow

The UNC Board of Trustess just voted to move all funding for diversity, equity and inclusion to the police. It's the kind of thing you'd think was satire, but it's not.

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bespectacledsparrow

I am trying Mr. Box.

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bespectacledsparrow

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bespectacledsparrow

Yes this. Usually admins just wait the kids out patronizingly. They form committees to “look into” their concerns that make circular recommendations forever. All classic avoidance tactics of establishments that students hate but that, and this is the main part, don’t require the riot police.

I hate to pull a back in my day as a xennial-but back in the early oughts we set up an encampment on the UVA lawn and the university admin was like - you can do what you want for now but the truth is you’re a transient population & we’ll still be here when the semester ends - so knock yourself out.

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bespectacledsparrow

Police have carried out multiple violent arrests at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia, in what appears to be the first campus crackdown in recent days to involve rubber bullets and teargas after students set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestine and against Cop City.

Police use rubber bullets and teargas to break up university protest in Georgiawww.theguardian.com Multiple arrests at crackdown on Emory University campus encampment focused on Palestine and Cop City

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bespectacledsparrow

We all stand against book bans in theory, but 4 librarians in Prattville, Alabama lost their jobs standing against them. Please join me in donating to the GoFundMe that will help them make ends meet in this tough time. Show me a receipt, I'll give you a compliment www.gofundme.com/f/protect-pr...

Protect Prattville Library Staff and Patrons, organized by EveryLibrary Institute NFPwww.gofundme.com The Autauga-Prattville Alabama Library board has fired the lib… EveryLibrary Institute NFP needs your support for Protect Prattville Library Staff and Patrons

After storytime, a small child informed me that the Easter bunny came to his house. "Oh?" I prompted, expecting to hear about candy/eggs. "And he ate my precious baby!" "Oh?!?" I said in a very different tone. "He was very naughty." This kid is on the same wavelength as Monty Python.

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bespectacledsparrow

Private Equity Firms are destroying America.

As pet ownership soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, private equity followed close behind: 2020-2022 were “the peak years for private equity acquisitions of veterinary services and practices,” according to a nonprofit watchdog group. Via Stateline @statesnewsroom.com

Vets fret as private equity snaps up clinics, pet care companieswww.newsfromthestates.com HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — About a year ago, veterinarian Melissa Ezell started noticing subtle changes at the midsized animal clinic in Huntsville, Alabama, where she works. Hollowed Out This story is one in...

Good news! There's one piece of the culture war attack on libraries that isn't becoming Georgia law, at least not this year. www.wabe.org/a-law-that-w...

Law that would ban the American Library Association from Georgia falls short on final day of session - WABEwww.wabe.org This story was updated at 8:09 p.m. Sine Die is a day when lawmakers, lobbyists, reporters and engaged members of the public prepare for a long haul — it’s the […]

This looks SO SO good! And there are DINOSAURS!

New Doctor Who trailer has dropped and I AM HERE FOR IT youtu.be/xhL5ihOUUcs?... LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

Doctor Who | Official Trailer | Disney+youtu.be The upcoming season of “Doctor Who” follows the Doctor and his companion Ruby Sunday as they travel across time and space, with adventures all the way from ...

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bespectacledsparrow

The best thing about this planet is that every few days I'll learn about an animal I've literally never seen or heard of before, like the Nilgai which is just a stupidly massive antelope

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bespectacledsparrow

"Our guiding philosophy is that those who produce the riches of the city must have the right to live in it." -- Ian Brossat, a senator who served for a decade as Paris City Hall’s head of housing.

"How Does Paris Stay Paris? By Pouring Billions Into Public Housing" One quarter of residents in the French capital now live in government-owned housing, part of an aggressive effort to keep lower-income Parisians — and their businesses — in the city. Gift link!

How Does Paris Stay Paris? By Pouring Billions Into Public Housingwww.nytimes.com One quarter of residents in the French capital now live in government-owned housing, part of an aggressive effort to keep lower-income Parisians — and their businesses — in the city.

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bespectacledsparrow

Google apparently had to release a "verbatim" setting so that you can get decent search results. I tested it and it does seem to help lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-...

How to Make Google Show You the Good Search Results Againlifehacker.com Off-target search results are getting more and more common, and we can only lay part of the blame on the results being cluttered with AI-generated junk and human-generated SEO-bait. I don’t have a fix...

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bespectacledsparrow

Oh I didn't know they changed their name to the Centers for Distribution of Covid

Americans who test positive for the coronavirus no longer need to routinely stay home from work and school for five days under new guidance planned by the CDC.

CDC plans to drop five-day covid isolation guidelineswww.washingtonpost.com People with covid will be able to return to school, work and society if they have been fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild and improving.

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bespectacledsparrow

As we roll into Valentine’s Day, and with Easter looming- it’s time for my annual PSA- these kill cats. Period, full stop. Lily pollen is insanely toxic and will destroy their kidneys in 18 hours. If you have cats- THROW LILIES AWAY. 1/

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bespectacledsparrow

The 2023 Hugo nomination statistics are out, and people aren't happy. Astrolabe 36 reports on the controversy, which includes writers like @princejvstin.com and books like R.F. Kuang's "Babel" being mysteriously left off the ballot, opaque communication, and potential counting errors.

Astrolabe 36: Panic! At The Hugosastrolabe.aidanmoher.com Another Hugo Awards controversy, all the seas of the world, and the one that (sorta) got away