America already has an arch and it's a pretty damned good one
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Aram Sinnreich
@aram@aoir.social
mastodon 4.7.3Writer, professor, musician.
3279 Followers
2127 Following
50 Posts
Joined March 02, 2023
Is it banana?
Am I enjoying the privilege of paying to park at my place of business by using a surveillance app? No. No, I am not.
Let's give the absolute worst people on the planet a functionally infinite amount of cash and zero accountability and see what happens
I am anti-fascist.
I think fascism is bad and hurts people. I am proud that my grandfather, a US Army officer and immigrant, fought the fascists in WWII and won.
I guess that makes me a terrorist now, according to the White House?
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-USCT-Strategy-1.pdf
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
If you have a Roku smart TV, today is a great day to do a factory reset, disable WiFi, and plug in an Apple TV or Google TV via HDMI instead.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fox-corporation-to-acquire-roku-inc-302800220.html
Does anyone have a decent IMAP email program for Mac that can handle multiple accounts? Betterbird is a disappointment, Airmail went down the tube, MacMail is just an embarrassment...
I dunno maybe edtech was a bad idea and we should be spending university funds on books and scholarships
There are few more cut-and-dried examples of transformative reuse than Jamaican "riddims" like the dembow riddim. If thousands of new songs based on one simple riff aren't definitively #fairuse, then nothing is.
https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/the-existence-of-an-entire-genre-of-music-may-hinge-on-one-judges-decision/
Well this is exciting: my award-winning book The Secret Life of Data is coming out in paperback!
As of today, you can pre-order it at Bookshop.org or wherever else fine books are sold:
The Secret Life of Data, turns out the entire internet stack is one giant surveillance machine edition
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260522023127.htm
~35 years ago my friend Henry came to visit me in NYC. I took him out to my favorite jazz bar and wrote down recommendations about my favorite downtown bookstores on a coaster.
This is how we used to do things before cell phones and social media.
My kid told me today that they would never wear a ✡️ around their neck because "everyone hates Jews these days and it's hard enough being Black and queer without that on top of it" and reader, I wept inwardly for my beloved child and my society
Having adult kids is weird. I asked my 22yo what he wanted for his birthday and he said a vacuum cleaner.
The history books (at least, the ones I write) will note this as the high water mark of internet culture™️
https://youtu.be/votBDwhTu1E?si=d9p6KkoeIweBD_uZ
As a Maryland taxpayer, allow me to say fuuuuuck this shit
I spent the entire semster telling my students that, frustrating and flawed though it is, policy matters because the alternative is blood in the streets.
I think we might be about to see the alternative in action.
Me: So, uh, am I officially "in remission?"
Oncologist: Well, basically, you know you've beat cancer if something else kills you instead.
Me: ...
Oncologist: ...
Me: ...
Oncologist: Great! So we'll see you in six months.
Who wore it better?
It took me such a long time to come around to Sonny Rollins, but once I did, a whole world of sound opened up to me.
Crying genuine tears at the news of his passing. So grateful to have shared the world with him.
God bless the man, he had his own.
Me, on day 5 of a simple chest cold:
WILL I EVER FEEL HEALTHY AGAAAAAAAIN
In the dot-com era, folks used to ask "what's your number," as in "how much $ do you need before you cash out"
Like we were all destined to be gazillionaires & retire at 35.
I always said $5M. They'd raise their eyebrows like that was a lowball.
Now I'm fairly certain I'll never see 1/10 of that.
More like Explanation of No Benefits amirite
Hantavirus patient zero has landed on US shores
Today's soundtrack is all Sonny
In retrospect, Spice World was the beginning of the end. How could we have known?
Trying to work on important stuff but the despair
@rickf@indieweb.social @jqheywood@mastodon.social Either he jumped ship in the midst of a crisis, or got canned so he could be replaced with an AI bro. Either way, not good.
Do people under 45 know about Sensitive New Age Guys?
@rickf@indieweb.social @jqheywood@mastodon.social yeah, scary times. I thought I was set when I got tenure back in '15...
Holy smokes a moon base
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7212409
Not a minor achievement
Replying to
@CerstinMahlow@mastodon.acm.org @AkaSci@fosstodon.org yeah it's a slow motion car wreck. we're all still traumatized from the 2020-21 lockdown and pandemic, i hate to think what will happen if we face another one so soon.
Ron Carter is the greatest living American musician and I love to see him get some ❤️ in the NYT.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/arts/music/ron-carter-jazz-music.html
New #OpenAccess article from me, Victoria Simon & Nathaniel Laywine:
What's with All the Tapestries?
Intersectionality and the Discursive Vacuum of Generative AI
Why even have an Oath of Office if it's not going to be enforced
@rickf@indieweb.social @jqheywood@mastodon.social 2 years ago. 🤔
Captain Kayfabe can't fool all the people all the time
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/05/11/trump-assassinations-staged-conspiracy/
Replying to
@nik@aoir.social Yeah. It's funny this is breaking news because we were all basically saying this was the case 10 years ago.
@rickf@indieweb.social @jqheywood@mastodon.social They have announced planned program closures next year. Unclear what the extent will be.
Replying to
@deusfigendi@troet.cafe maybe you'll get to return the favor if we can't liberate ourselves
Writers, poets, activists, musicians, lovers, fighters, readers, citizens in the #DC area:
Please join the Writers for Democratic Action tomorrow for this amazing event at the Writer's Center in Bethesda. Free and open to the public.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reimagining-america-toward-a-poetry-of-the-demos-tickets-1989174596766
This is great: my county has launched an ICE reporting portal that residents can use to protect one another.
Montgomery County, MD for the win.
https://montgomerycountymd.seamlessdocs.com/ng/fa/ICEReportingPortal