Finally getting the True Linux Experience (troubleshooting driver issues and conflicts with Wine on an 8 dollar ThinkPad SL510 rockin' nothing but a Core 2 Duo T6670)!
Berix
@berix.bsky.social
26 (she/they) 🇨🇦🏳️⚧️ Transfem writer from up north. 18+ only acc. Hobbies include tech, art, literature, gamedev, & photography. Pro-Worker and Pro-LGBT+ always pfp by @mikasackerman4.bsky.social Banner by @LucyHeart8003
This is not a joke. This is a screenshot of the actual case management software used by Massachusetts' 11 District Attorneys. Must-read work here by @nasser.wiki nasser.blog/dial-up-just...
i feel like there should be a mandatory session long cooldown on these bills so we don't have to defeat 1-3 age verification bills per month
ACLU@aclu.org · 1h agoA bill heading to the Senate floor would incentivize social media platforms to use invasive identity verification measures and threaten our privacy online. Tell your Senators to vote NO on KOSA.
💥New Action! Tell your MP: Fix online platforms, don't ban or surveil users! Amend #BillC34 today! The "Safe Social Media Act," bundles healthy platform accountability through a 'duty of care,' and a wide #socialmedia ban enforced by #privacy invasive age verification: openmedia.org/BillC34-bsky
Fix Bill C-34: No Ban. No Surveillance!
Ban illegal harms, not young Canadians! 🇨🇦 #BillC34 should be amended to hold platforms accountable, protect privacy and free expression, and keep young people connected. Tell your MP to fix the bill:...
openmedia.org
I'm calling it: "Start smoking" is going to be mainstream MAHA / Republican health advice by 2028. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Activist and grassroots organizer Will Lawrence has won the Democratic primary election in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, with a campaign focused on data centers’ regulation and demanding accountability for big tech and AI companies. www.wired.com/story/anti-d...
The Anti-Data-Center Movement Is Reshaping Michigan Politics
Climate activist Will Lawrence cofounded the Sunrise Movement. Now, he has shifted his focus in his attempt to compete for a swing-district seat by calling for a data center moratorium.
wired.com
Is EDM neoliberal? Are OCs petit bourgeois? Is Mastercard my friend? bsky.app/profile/curr...
Current Affairs@currentaffairs.bsky.social · 2d ago
im a tough on crime person but for these guys specifically
mallow@bajablastenjoyer.bsky.social · 9h agothe other day i briefly subjected myself to scrolling xcancel (horrible habit, do not recommend it, do fent instead as a healthier alternative) and pretty much all roads (i started on Splatoon stuff!!) lead to 8chan wojak nazis and then outright 764 shit extremely not great
Today the UK is putting into practice aggressive restrictions on trans people using toilets and changing rooms. This follows a complex legal/political mess over two years. The UK was among the best countries in Europe on LGBTQ rights; now it's among the worst. www.liberalcurrents.com/the-end-of-t...
The End of Trans Rights in the UK Is the Start of Democratic Collapse
It's never just one minority.
liberalcurrents.com
If you are in the UK, the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance is a resource for finding actions you can take. www.transsolidarityalliance.com/post/ehrc-s-...
Joint Statement: EHRC’s Code of Practice comes into effect.
Today marks a massive step backwards. We now have Government-sanctioned guidance that places us totally out of step with how liberal democracies across the world approach upholding the equality and hu...
transsolidarityalliance.com
Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · 10h agoToday the UK is putting into practice aggressive restrictions on trans people using toilets and changing rooms. This follows a complex legal/political mess over two years. The UK was among the best countries in Europe on LGBTQ rights; now it's among the worst. www.liberalcurrents.com/the-end-of-t...
Everyone is 12, and not the kind of 12 where you have snuck hundreds upon hundreds of hours of reading books your parents are at best conceptually aware of
On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will vote on four bills that would expand age verification, increase online surveillance, and make it harder to access lawful speech online. Take one minute to tell your senators to vote NO. www.acteff.org/campaign/16...
Tell the Senate: Don't Turn the Internet Into an ID Checkpoint
Tell the Senate to Reject Bills That Expand Age Verification
acteff.org
Many, many thoughts on this, starting with the idea that it is not surprising people feel that the government is much more likely to interfere or punish them for their speech because at this moment that's just objectively true.
John Sands@iohn.bsky.social · 12h agoA new survey from @knightfoundation.org and @ssrsresearch.bsky.social reveals a disquieting decline in how free Americans feel to use the freedoms protected by the #FirstAmendment without government interference or punishment. 🧵
Oh my god the dietician who is telling everyone in the White House to only eat steak and sauerkraut doesn't wipe his ass.
Every modern website is designed like it's continuously streaming broadcast television twenty four hours per day, seven days a week, even when there is no video & the entire webpage is just three paragraphs of static text & maybe a JPG. If I want to check for new updates I'll reload the page myself
This is literally so me and im not even kidding
Someone once told me that it's "classist" to advocate for people to have indoor cats because you need to buy them lots of expensive toys. Marcel has been playing with the discarded stem of a fresh green bean for 20 minutes. 🤷♀️
This is a man who has a hard time looking in the mirror
"Today is August 4, 2026" There Will Come Soft Rains By: Ray Bradbury
...I discuss many other problems with LLMs, but I end with this point that many non-writers (& perhaps some writers) overlook: "That is why I would never use LLMs in my writing. Because *writing is thinking*. And I don’t want LLMs to do my thinking for me." juliaserano.medium.com/on-em-dashes...
...much of what I say reiterates points other writers have made about the scourge of LLMs & AI writing. but I don't think any of us (writers or general public) are prepared for how bad actors are about to wield false accusations against writers they dislike: juliaserano.medium.com/on-em-dashes...
![screenshot from the linked-to essay that reads:
I admittedly cannot vouch for any of the aforementioned writers, as I’ve never heard of them before. But over the weekend as I was writing this, Kat Tenbarge — a writer I am familiar with and respect — released this video in response to her being falsely accused of using AI by [checks notes] Ozzy Osbourne’s son. Apparently, Osbourne thought an article Tenbarge wrote about the Tate brothers was written by AI because it included (in his words) “whatever they’re called, like the big hyphens” (aka, em-dashes). Tenbarge’s video includes proof (via Google Docs of drafts of her article saved along the way) that she wrote it organically. And she cites OpenAI itself who said, “AI writing detectors don’t work.”
So why does Jack “whatever they’re called, like the big hyphens” Osbourne care if some Rolling Stone article was written by or with AI? Well, I’d wager he doesn’t. Especially, since he doesn’t even know what em-dashes are! The most likely scenario is that he raised the issue because he is either 1) pro-Tate brothers and wanted to smear a journalist who wrote about the case against them, or 2) he knew a video smearing said journalist would be clickbait for the rabidly misogynistic Tate fanbase. (Notice how this is not a list of three, but two.)
In other words, we have entered the age where people who disagree with what authors have to say — the facts we raise and the arguments we make — will be inclined to simply claim that our articles and books were “written by AI,” regardless of whether they are or not.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jegl5qdhv2obobhr326womff/bafkreicpyufzo6smmvvvsd3fdzbwwclefjfmc4s57nb32mqth4oilk4ibu)
I hate this timeline & that I had to write this essay. I hate AI companies & LLMs & the randos who are now using "AI detectors" (also AI!) to smear authors they dislike: on Medium (friend link): juliaserano.medium.com/on-em-dashes... & Substack (no paywall): juliaserano.substack.com/p/on-em-dash...
On em-dashes and “AI detectors”
and the many reasons why I don’t and won’t use LLMs
juliaserano.medium.com
Given the state of disinformation-creation tech as of August 2026, people will soon be driven to motivated reasoning, but not because the Masses are Too Dumb. It's even worse: rationalized despair once earnestly seeking truth in a post-truth society becomes psychologically unbearable.