Retired librarian in the US Midwest, into pets, reading (suspense fiction), old movies, car trips, parks, bluegrass & big band swing, crafting
I think this Musk to require people to pay to tweet idea is great
It’ll kill X/Twitter even faster, which by now is the best outcome I think - as it’s not to be saved
His supposed rationale - that it’s to stop bots - is laughably funny. Twitter has more of a bot problem today that 12 months ago *because of Musk’s decisions*. Now this is to put it right? 😂
AI-enhanced photos are better than plastic surgery, exhibit A:
By prioritizing workers and the middle class, Biden has created the best economy in decades—for everyone. “Inflation is low, unemployment is low and there’s virtually no hint of a recession. But many Americans, according to surveys, are convinced the economy is terrible.”
How do journalists explain this paradox? Either it’s an unfathomable mystery, or it’s Biden’s poor messaging.
The obvious explanation—that journalists are failing at THEIR job—escapes them.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/15/trump-biden-mainstream-politics-news-coverage
"Doctor, My Eyes" Performed by Jackson Browne & Musicians Around the World
Everyone should get a COVID booster this fall, CDC says
Not everyone is at the same risk, but advisors called for simplicity and equity.
Evolution doesn’t look how it’s depicted in pop culture. We often picture the famous “March of Progress” illustration where a series of apes stand in line leading to a modern human.
But evolution is not linear. It branches & divides without an intended direction or endpoint through natural selection.
Texas' grid operator just spent $31.7M in the middle of a heat wave and energy shortage.
No, not to provide fresh shelter to the homeless. Nor to install booths with free fresh water. Nor to increase the number of public spaces (outside of shopping malls) where people can gather, instead of burning energy to keep their homes cool 24/7. Nor to boost its investments in renewables and pivot away from the oil that it keeps digging.
No, the government just gave that money away to Riot Platform (a business that runs a bunch of Bitcoin mining servers) to convince them to turn off their energy-hungry machines, so everybody else can also use energy to keep themselves cool. Btw, that's more than twice the mining profit that they make in one month.
Let that sink in. Even a life-threatening heatwave can't get miners to behave cooperatively and turn off their machines, whose only purpose is as pointless as randomly guessing a number whose SHA256 hash satisfies a certain arbitrary numeric constraint - and they skim some profits out of these pointless puzzles just because someone decided that putting up a system with such perverse financial incentives was a good idea.
In order to get them to behave as someone who's not a complete selfish sociopath and evolutionary failure, the government had to compensate them (by a 2x factor) for the losses that they would make by temporarily turning off their gamgling den, while everybody else will probably just get a regular rolling blackout without any compensation.
I guess that today's capitalism is that system where it's actually ok for the government to spend public money - as long as that money goes to those who need it the least and create the least amount of net value.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bitcoin-mining-cryptocurrency-riot-texas-power-grid/
We passed 20,000 followers in this week on #mastodon!
In less than a year, we've accumulated 29% of the followers we got in 9 years of regular posting on the #birdsite, and we get far, far more engagement with our content here.
Thank you.
We will continue to post regularly here because we have found it is a community that values our kind of thoughtful journalism, written by experts for the public.
If you know folks who haven't discovered us yet, we'd really appreciate a boost #Newstodon
Exploring Trumpism's cult-like grip: a deep dive into the psychology of loyalty. This piece dissects the eerie similarities between Trumpism and classic cults, shedding light on the manipulation tactics of both. Can we break free from this political cult? There just might be a chance. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trumpism-maga-cult-deprogram-democracy
We are happy to see all of these good news outlets active on Mastodon.
No bots on this list
@BaltimoreBanner
@wausaupilot
@arstechnica@journa.host
@TexasObserver
@ProPublica
@damemagazine
Please let us know if there are any others you like.
Encourage other news outlets to post here!
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay Bill” and others like it were 50 years in the making, just like effort to overturn Roe. It’s a long game. (No paywall)
“The solution: lawsuits alleging that schools’ teachings about gender identity and race are unconstitutional, leading to a Supreme Court decision that would mandate the right of parents to claim billions of tax dollars for private education or home schooling.”
Mastodon User Tip
Make use of #Lists, and when you follow someone make a habit of adding them to a list right then.
It's quick and easy:
- Set up at least three or four lists. You can number them to arrange the list display order.
- After you hit FOLLOW, click the three vertical dots and choose "Add or Remove from lists". This will bring up your lists and you can click to add the follow to one or more lists.
They will make your #Fediverse life so much better.
Everything in Trumpworld has a price. If you accept representation from Trump attorneys, be ready to be thrown under the bus. Jack Smith understands this and has been playing a masterful game, breaking worker bees off from the hive. I explain in today’s piece. https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/free-lawyers-but-big-strings-attached?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Kind of feel like Only Murders in the Building took a page from the Schmigadoon playbook with this hugely appealing song. Kudos to Meryl Streep. #television #OMITB #Hulu https://youtu.be/NzYb8SPNLEE?si=e2HMLitcna-h_MmO
Twitter/X is about to become a lot more dangerous. Elon Musk is saying that blocks are going to be removed.
Blocking can be an essential safety feature to prevent large hate accounts from seeing, retweeting, and bombarding innocent people with hate. With a mute, an evil person can still see and reply/retweet so that their minions that you haven't muted can harass you. A block makes it much harder for them to send their hate filled followers after you.
@Teri_Kanefield @bkahn The original news stories on this report said it was complied at least in part by Liz Harrington.
“Buyers of Bored Ape NFTs sue after digital apes turn out to be bad investment”
Here’s the most surprising bit of this completely unsurprising story: Apparently, bored ape NFTs still today sell for $50,000 in crypto equivalent?!? I woulda guessed 50 cents or thereabouts.
Some #survival lessons from watching/collecting Maui #wildfire social media videos (for a client) this week.
1. Evacuate early if you are worried. Many survivors with videos made it out as their neighbors were waiting for someone to tell them to leave, or were saying "the fire department will put it out".
2. If you are in the path of smoke, you will soon be in the path of embers, and then you will soon be in the fire. Smoke = get out!
(continued).
