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Alastair Coote

@alastair.is

British, in Brooklyn. Software engineer making newsy, phone sized things for the @nytimes.com Interactive News team. Infrequently blog about code stuff at https://alastair.is

740 Posts4514 Follower408 Folgt
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · yesterday

Leaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.

Flags on the Abingdon Road
dame@dame.is · yesterday

the number of folks who jumped to the worst possible interpretation of toni’s interview clips is quite concerning, too many people have let social media and purity culture just melt their brains… it’s one of the most gratuitous & gross examples of toxic online discourse culture i’ve seen in awhile

Toni Schneider@toni.bsky.team · yesterday

Thanks. Yes, that's what I was trying to say, but took too long to get there. Our politics community is strong, and I'd love for us to expand into new communities. Science and sports have already taken off. Birding, gardening, K-pop, we're open to all (except nazis and jerks).

James Ball@jamesrball.com · yesterday

It is the single worst deliberate change I have ever seen made to a product, and might be what stops me using Microsoft Office after…25+ years? Imbecilic product decision, but just one among *many*.

Heather Burns@heatherburnstech.bsky.social · yesterday

The most terrifying enshittification I've discovered has been learning that Microsoft Word documents no longer auto-save if you are not saving them to one of their own proprietary cloud services. I'm slapping control-S like it's 1999.

Jason Leopold@jasonleopold.bsky.social · yesterday

NEW/EXCLUSIVE: Deutsche Bank failed to promptly report to US authorities more than $250M in suspicious transactions tied to Epstein, including funds used to pay women in Russia & other Eastern European countries, according to a new report from @wyden.senate.gov 🎁 🧵 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, BofA Enabled Epstein, Wyden Report Says

Democrat Ron Wyden cited nonpublic documents held by the US Treasury in a report that says banks delayed reporting suspicious financial transactions and calls for tougher anti-money-laundering rules, ...

bloomberg.com

Alastair Coote@alastair.is · 2d ago

Visiting my parents in rural England. The only way to get >10Mbps internet is to poke my phone out the window and tether to it. Feel like better things ought to be possible

Jake Berman@lostsubways.com · 2d ago

this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 3d ago

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

Rob Manuel@robmanuel.b3ta.com · 2d ago

The downfall was TV Tropes (and YouTubers lifting from it). It's a fascinating website yet, it's encouraged millions to scream at the telly, when they spot a recognisable thing, "TROPE!" You don't want stories without tropes, like you don't want music without a key, except as arty experiments.

Alasdair Stuart@alasdairstuart.com · 2d ago

And the point: 'Because to be able to identify the mechanism does not invalidate the mechanism.' That resonates with me because of my weird training. One part growing up with an English teacher parent, one part Radio 4 audio drama, one part close up magic

Alastair Coote@alastair.is · 3d ago

I know I’m not the target audience but I’ve heard next to nothing about this film. I didn’t even know it was coming out. I think I might have been more aware of Supergirl coming out, somehow

Empire Magazine@empiremagazine.bsky.social · 3d ago

Spider-Man: Brand New Day has just swung a spectacular $927 million debut at the global box office, second only to Avengers: Endgame in the all-time opening weekend rankings. Read more. 👉 www.empireonline.com/movies...

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5d ago

Update: Google just sent me a statement saying it is “rolling back” this AI feature that let anyone make completely bullshit satellite images. Comes after our demos of the tool and those from OSINT researchers. One of the worst AI tools I’ve ever seen bsky.app/profile/jose...

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5d ago

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

ceej@ceej.online · 5d ago

ANTHROPIC: Our son loves humanity and for the low price of trillions and trillions of dollars will usher in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity! OPENAI: Our horrible oafish son is hacking web sites without our permission. ANTHROPIC: (eyes narrowing) Our son is also evil

whet moser@whetmoser.com · 5d ago

i think people are going to do it more often as google search deteriorates. the healthier way of thinking about it is as a search that retrieves links and not a thing that interprets things for you. it will try to be more helpful in that regard than you want, ignore it

Simon Owens@simonowens.bsky.social · 5d ago

Hank Green is trending on Twitter because he mentioned in a tweet that he used ChatGPT as part of his research process and a huge hoard of anti-AI crusaders are melting down.

Alastair Coote@alastair.is · 5d ago

A clippie. No, not the Microsoft Office assistant. It’s a story always worth repeating, has intersections with women’s suffrage and labour rights (the clippies went on strike to get the same bonus the men got!) www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/...

They also serve: women in London’s transport in the two world wars | London Transport Museum

In both world wars, women actively and readily filled the gap created in London’s transport services when men joined the forces in large numbers. Read all about the variety of roles women undertook du...

ltmuseum.co.uk

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 7d ago

Enough “what would you do on the commune questions” If you got sent back 100 years and were given your grandparent’s job, what are you doing?

Philip Bump@pbump.com · 5d ago

As I've said before: What high-paying long-term jobs do they pretend exist here? A data center isn't a place where execs come and do Big Deals. Go to the server room at your workplace; are there lots of rich people in there spending money?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d ago

Hassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."