If the plague doesn't get me, that is.

At this rate MAGA will only be able to afford to rent the libs.

Do you miss American manufacturing or do you miss large union memberships and income tax rates on the rich well north of 50%?

*I like "slop" as a handy punk term-of-art for AI-LLM product

*It's like recognizing that sausages are made of ground-meat and filler

"Is this shiny cylinder an amazing high-tech super-steak"

*Well no, that's a hot dog

In this moment I am TRYING to see past the cacophony of cruelty and focus on the things that might make it impossible to undo harm and restore sanity to government: this is very much one of those things. Make some noise about it. #democracy #Vote #rights

https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/restricting-the-freedom-to-vote

Read. 🚨

“Amid the drama & bombast consuming the exec branch, Congress is preparing to act on legis that could restrict the vote for millions of eligible American citizens.

This would be worst voting bill to be passed by Congress in memory, probably ever. It would restrict millions of eligible citizens from registering. & in the clamor of the moment, it could slip through. Defenders of democracy need to stand up, stand firm, and fiercely call attention to its risks”
https://brennancenter.substack.com/p/restricting-the-freedom-to-vote?publication_id=1061914&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=5n3e&utm_medium=email

@carnage4life this response to their feelings about the future of our economy could be understandable as political polarization. But this is about their personal financial positions. The response is pathologically Orwellian.

“For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vf5MThSniiY

For all my #brothers and #sisters who have legitimate, deeply held concerns about the #Gaza #genocide by the government of #Netanyahu and the #IDF. I agree with you, and #Bernie agrees with you. We should not continue funding it. We should be pressing #President #Biden and VP #Harris to use every ounce of influence they have with the #Israeli government to end this war today.

At the same time, the best chance the #Palestinian people have to survive and recover and eventually thrive will be with #KamalaHarris as #POTUS.

Please #vote for Harris, and then join Bernie and me and all the others who oppose this genocide in a full court press on the remaining months of the Biden admin and the incoming and future Harris admin to #stopBibi.

#MastodonForHarris #Harris2024

@kfogel @jamesvasile

@iinac I think about this all the time. For example I really hesitated before I bought a small cement mixer instead of renting one. It felt absurd.

I factored in the rental cost, the constraints on when I could use it, all of the prep and timing required to reduce the margin of error on the rental, and the potential I’d need it again in the future.

The total costs of time, money, and inconvenience plus the stored value in it just made the purchase a clear winner. I did use it again.

I donated to #MastodonForHarris. Join me: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mastodon-for-harris

@slifty this https://mastodon.online/@kyleve/113116566220942658

@slifty you mean like shorty, birthday, and Bacardi? Cause that would be a winning strategy.

@kylie.robison I really enjoyed this essay, though I can’t speak to the legitimacy of the claims. https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does-not-process-information-and-it-is-not-a-computer

@carnage4life I can’t believe I am saying this but I think Elon is on to something here. As a #nonprofit, #OpenAI’s operations appear to be unethical if not downright fraudulent, at least since when ChatGPT was released as a subscription service.

Casting aside any opinions about the mission, how do they justify the charitable purpose of their activities?

As nonsensical as the board shakeup might have seemed, to me it looked like CYA for a board that might be held liable for a suit like this.

Elon Musk is suing Sam Altman and others for violating its founding agreement to be a non-profit which develops AI for the benefit of humanity to counter balance Google and is now a for-profit virtual subsidiary of Microsoft.

He donated over $44M to it from 2016 to 2020.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/01/elon-musk-openai-sam-altman-court/

@gwensnyder I’ll have to go back and watch it through that lens. It’s a 90s movie so normalizing manipulative behavior is a likely theme.

I thought it was about him learning to be authentically the best version of himself and that his best self turns out to be someone loveable.

Or at least that’s the lesson I remember taking away from it: if I want better relationships, I have to do the work.

I hope this email finds you well
I hope this email minds you
I hope this email brings you in
And in the darkness binds you

@evanprodromou I liked it too. I saw this post and gave it a go. I wouldn’t say it’s high art or cinema, but it works on all the levels you suggest.

I liked the dark humor sprinkled throughout. Not so much jokes as comedic timing. I thought it kept the movie from taking itself too seriously. Which was good since the disaster premise was supposed to be plausible but was truly absurd.