Rory Solomon

@rorshock.bsky.social

1885 Followers 388 Following

Mesh networks, media infrastructure, software engineering, ham/CB radio (KD2QGX); Assistant Professor of Media & Cultural Studies at Macalester College; “very clear & cool, simple but intricate”; he/him

Instagram homepage @macalester_mcst, showing a partial grid of three recent posts: an image of eyeballs for a "Capstone Presentations" event, a post reading "Sonic relationality: coloniality, soundscape, and kinship," and an advertisement for a course titled "Technologies of Mediation: From oral to digital."
Leon Botstein, bald in magenta & black graduation regalia, stands at a podium with a “Bard” on it, flanked by flowers, with about two dozen faculty behind him also in regalia.
Image of text that says '"The Post needs to be a profitable enterprise that stands on its own two feet," Mr. Bezos said in the interview. "Let me tell you why. Because it's a measure of its relevance. If people won't pay for our product, it's not a good enough product. It would be like poetry without rhyming, it's too easy." Below that is a picture of Jeff Bezos sitting in a director chair opposite someone from CNBC interviewing him in a big warehouse that appears to be filled with rocket parts. Behind-the-scenes equipment is visible like video cameras and photo lighting.
Image of an annoying looking white dude in a black robe giving a graduation speech in front of a bunch of blue flags. Title says “Students Boo Scott Borchetta After He Dedicates Graduation Speech to AI Acceptance.” Subtitle says “AI is rewriting production as we sit here.”
Image of a 1990s-era PC on fire. Title text in block letters: "Radical Software". Smaller gray letters to the side: "Tuesday, May 12, 12-1:40pm". Body text in white on a black background states: "In this hybrid theory/practice seminar, students will study the history of political activism using computers, and learn coding techniques related to this activism. We will study political theory & concepts like: innovation, disruption, creative destruction, civil disobedience, Luddism, sabotage & vandalism. We will also examine software as an infrastructure of care, mutual aid, and collective action. Projects will include making your own browser extension & USB keystroke injection attacks." Below that, in yellow block letters: "Ridgewood Commons" And below that in white: "5-85 Woodward Ave, btwn Grove & Menahan"
Mark Zuckerberg looking very obnoxious in a tight olive colored t shirt giving a presentation standing in front of a projected screen that says in black text on white background “Our mission: Bringing the world closer together”
Three images. On the left, a food delivery worker in an orange jacket on an eBike apparently moving quickly. Caption: "From point A to point B as fast as possible, by any means necessary." On the right, an elite athlete in the Tour de France, in a yellow biker outfit matching a yellow bike, pedaling past a large crowd in front of gothic cathedral. Caption: "Peak performance, within precise constraints." In the middle, four smiling people on stationary bikes apparently in a gym. Caption: "Improving & achieving personal goals by doing it yourself. Teachers as coaches or trainers. Getting comfortable with discomfort; the exertion is the point"
On a closed gate over a storefront, a sign is taped up reading “We support our Yemeni brothers + sisters,” with a sharpie on a string, and many names of support are written on the sign.
"We've already outsourced parts of our digital learning environments. But this is different. The university is supposed to be a public good. And these companies are trying to privatise that. They're trying to make themselves indispensable, to get their hooks into the intellectual commons of the university and profit off it. That's terrifying.” For Hinds, ChatGPT doesn't just present a logistical or pedagogical problem, but a symptom of something deeper. "It exemplifies a much more manifest wrongness in the system," he says. "It's born of a model of education that's transactional, instrumentalised, and competitive to the point of cruelty. It's a monster, but it's a monster born of a system that already wanted to destroy education as we understand it."
Image of a news anchor on a small monitor, on a wall of five additional monitors. He appears to be delivering the nightly news. In the blurred foreground, we see the back of two heads in chiaroscuro, one wearing headphones with a slim mic pointed to his mouth. He turns to the right and in profile leans over and whispers something to the other.
Black & white newspaper print image of the cover of an issue of “Prod Dispatch”. Title section states “25¢ per copy”, “No. 33, Sept. 1977, Box 69 Washington DC 20044”, and includes an image of a semi truck. Primary image is a collage of a racially diverse group of 4 working class individuals with a fifth man in the center who appears to be a politician at a dais labeled “Crystal City Marriott”. Headline reads “Labor Day Conference Aids Local Organizing”.
Another angle on the same photograph earlier in this thread shows the burning object behind a large fence and looks like a blackened ‘dummy plane’ for fire drills.
Photograph out the window on left side of an airplane shows the wing, and beyond it across a parallel runway, a medium-sized fire with plumes of black smoke and a crane spraying water.
Digital collage marketing image from Make the Road depicting a blue sky with fluffy clouds behind two hands (one apparently white, the other apparently of a POC) with one hand passing a smartphone to the other. On the screen of the phone is a social media profile page for Make the Road. Text states "Follow us on Bluesky. @maketheroadny.bsky.social. Join the migration to a platform that uplifts our voices!" Make the Road logo is in the bottom-right corner.
image widely circulated online of bright yellow exploded SpaceX rocket bits streaking across a dark blue sky, illuminated a pale orange by the burning debris.
Screenshot of Washington Post news item. Headline: "Trump eyes privatizing US Postal Service, citing financial losses." Subheading: "Trump feuded with the mail agency in his first term. Privatizing it could shake up consumer shipping and business supply chains." Main image is the arm of a man holding a few envelopes, reaching to a blue mailbox with a yellow taxi behind it on an urban street, presumably New York City.
Screenshot of an article from The Economic. Headline and lede read “Is your master's degree useless? New data show a shockingly high proportion of courses are a waste of money.” Includes image showing a dark backlit silhouette of 5 students graduating in gowns and mortarboard hats.
Black on white text reads: "If we were honest with ourselves, our current board of opinion writers veered very left, which is fine, but I think in order to have balance, you also need to have somebody who would trend right, and more importantly, somebody that would trend in the middle," Soon-Shiong said, adding that he's already spoken to candidates he hopes to add to the Times' editorial roster.