Wild what powerful people will just straight-up say on the record.

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 16h ago

New York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders. That access is getting shredded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Hopefully he gets to catch the post-credits scene soon. Also, reminder that folks without housing are way more likely to be the victims of crime.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 5h ago

from the video (on FB) bro got off his electric unicycle (lol) when he heard cries for help and just kind of maneuvered to give the woman a chance to get away. he didn't even end up having to fight the guy. peak performance www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/g...

"If this is what it takes to get a rom-com greenlit these days, maybe we should just let them die. Death with dignity is surely a better fate for the genre than fascist capitulation." Zero stars for this piece of shit movie. My review of ONE NIGHT ONLY for @ebertvoices.bsky.social

One Night Only review: Pull out from this sex-negative rom-com

If this is what it takes to get a rom-com greenlit these days, maybe we should just let them die.

rogerebert.com

🪶New in Murmurations: “A Library Worker's Guide to Anti-Transgender Misinformation, Part One: Understanding Anti-Transgender Misinformation” by Heath Umbreit heaththelibrarian.bsky.social. The first in a series on this topic!

Just as a heads up, passwords are protected in legal situations, like when police or customs wants to “just see” your phone, but biometrics are not.

I googled "atlas surveillance" because I didn't know the URL, then I googled "cell-site simulator" because I wasn't sure if that was the same thing as a stingray (it is). Then I popped onto FB and my news feed algo is pushing posts about cops and flock cameras. Being surveilled about surveillance.

Voting closes soon!

Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them)@bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 6d ago

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the award ceremony in person since I have to be at work Monday morning. I'll see you all virtually for that. Also, you have until Aug 8 to vote in the Hugos. I'm up for Fan Writer, if you feel moved to vote for me. www.lacon.org/hugos/

This is 💯 not true. It is never a choice between ‘taking big tech’s money and doing nothing’. A stronger moral imperative is NOT to take the money and the strings attached to it - particularly if you do not and cannot yet understand the implications

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

A gentle observation: Some of the same older Black voters in Detroit who are being shaded for not supporting Abdul El-Sayed in the primary sent Rashida Tlaib to the House. And keep sending her there. 🤯 Yes, her district encompasses all of Dearborn *now,* but not in 2018. All politics is local.

And we fund those mines too, every time we use a generative AI or buy a new smartphone.

Today's reminder that the current genAI boom is powered by GPUs manufactured with a mineral called coltan (and other rare earths, and cobalt) mined through the labor of enslaved children in Congo, and the US and UAE fund the paramilitaries which protect those mines and keep those children enslaved.

I read the whole newsletter; the author invokes Wild West imagery later in this fatuous screed. Relevant that data colonialism includes proposed expansions of AI data centres onto Indigenous lands / sacred sites, bastardization of our knowledges, infringement on data sovereignty & ICE surveillance.

Tiffany Morris@tiffmorris.bsky.social · 15h ago

So apparently that HWA pro-AI newsletter also uses Indigenous water rights issues as a prop, trivializing the activism by Indigenous peoples to protect our water including specific anti-data centre actions. I guess they figured why not alienate Indigenous horror writers while they’re at it?

I mean, yeah, the loss of it would have no negative impacts on my life whatsoever (because i don't fucking use it) and myriad positive ones. That's why I'm anti-AI in the first place.

Alexander Glass@alexanderglass.bsky.social · 11h ago

I have one answer.

i don't have anything clever to add about the hwa mess but i did peek over at the facebook wasteland where the author posted this, uh, defense. we're all bullies, because it's the wild west, and see we're all proving her point, and who really understands ai, fuckin magnets how do they work amirite?

You see this kind of grift all the time in the nutrition and dietary world—“seed oils will kill you!” (says the rando coincidentally selling pricey supplements)—and it’s not at all surprising to see it here too. Always check what they’re selling.

Dorian Dawes@doriandawes.bsky.social · 7h ago

It is worth noting that the writer of that HWA newsletter telling people to embrace AI, has an AI based coaching app they are selling

With the Author's Guild, it was someone accepting a seat on the board of an "'AI'-free certification" company. NaNo got "AI"-corp cash. With HWA, it's someone who has links to an "'AI'-based writing 'aid'" app. I'd list more, but the pattern is GLARINGLY obvious.

It’s true, in the past I would have had multiple editors in my inbox asking me to write about the Cunningham stuff. I haven’t gotten a single assignment request. Trans writers used to be tokenized to write about these things but now that the topic is “mainstream,” those bylines go elsewhere.

Sydney Bauer@sydney-bauer.com · 20h ago

I need people to understand that for the last half decade that there’s been an ecosystem of trans folks in sports media who have worked unpaid to serve as experts for context, sources and educators on what it’s like for trans athletes, in hopes of potential bylines and contacts. That’s dried up.

But when I say FTP, I’m the bad gal. abc7chicago.com/post/chicago...

Chicago anti-violence volunteer faces gun charges after trying to turn firearm in at police station

Nakia Smith said he believed he could surrender the gun without being questioned despite his criminal record.

abc7chicago.com

Black Detroiters have been voting for progressives longer than some of your faves have actually BEEN progressive. Rashida Tlaib was first elected to the Congressional seat once occupied by John Conyers, who consistently advocated for M4A. thepulseinstitute.org/2019/11/02/j...

John Conyers, Progressive Giant

A Vignette of Memories Funny, Happy, and Sad Editor’s Note: A vignette of memories from Robert Weiner, former Press Secretary/Spokesman for Conyers and his committees, and life time friend later, W…

thepulseinstitute.org

Still obsessed with Jimothy? Of course you are. Use that momentum to dive into some speculative fiction featuring disabled characters and support some disabled human authors while you're at it. reactormag.com/backlist-bon...

Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Books With Disabled Characters - Reactor

A selection of novels and stories that highlight people with different disabilities in strange new worlds

reactormag.com

The Colorado River's 15-Mile Reach is back down to record low flows -- 57 cfs this afternoon, an all-time low for this day in the period of record for this USGS gage.

If at any point you feel like gen-AI can do one of your tasks just as good in fraction of a time, it should be treated as an indicator that you are bad enough at that task to have no competence in it, and you are the last person who should be off-sourcing it to AI. Talk to an expert, damn it.

Agh, I have only just spotted that Archita Mittra has asked us all for some help. Many of you will already know she's had a difficult eighteen months, during which the SF community has done what it can to help. Here to do so again - if you can, please do assist, too.

Archita Mittra@architamittra.bsky.social · last wk.

Neither my physical nor mental health is great, but I'm NOT giving up. I urgently need funds for our healthcare, so please circulate/donate if you can, and if you're able to help out in any other way, pls DM. You can donate via Gpay/UPI QR code (if you're in India) or ko-fi: Ko-fi.com/architamittra

It seems like the novelty of the thing you can generate over and over again yourself would wear off...quite quickly. futurism.com/artificial-i...

Sonu AI music company loses copyright lawsuit in Germany www.reuters.com/world/german...

German court rules AI music firm Suno broke copyright rules

A German ​court ruled on Friday that AI music firm Suno violated ​copyrights and has to disclose illicit revenue, part of a wider ⁠legal battle by artists and publishers against technology firms.

reuters.com

Good time to remember that Pod Save America dudes are just a couple of speech writers who made themselves popular off the back of Barack Obama reading what they wrote. The absolute horror and inhumanity of a “debate” around trans rights is an attack on everyone who isn’t a cis white guy.

Parker Molloy@parkermolloy.com · 11mo ago

The Pod Save America bros are setting up a "debate" about trans rights featuring anti-trans ghoul Matt Yglesias, apparently! No clue who the "pro-trans" side will be repped by, but I'm really worried that they're going to just find someone to get steamrolled.

Far out in the Pacific Ocean, there are tiny islands that few have seen. The oceans around them are full of marine life, from thriving coral reefs to sharks and tuna. The Trump administration is rolling back protections for these places. NPR got a rare visit to a remote area to see what’s at stake.

These are some of the last pristine ocean ecosystems. Now, they're losing protections

The largest conservation areas in the U.S. are in the Pacific Ocean, where tiny islands are epicenters of biodiversity. The Trump administration is now opening their waters to commercial fishing, sparking a battle over some of the country’s most pristine ecosystems.

n.pr

LIBERALS: Why do you people always say we have to destroy capitalism, all we have to do is elect enough Democrats and they’ll reform it into something that works for everybody COMMUNISTS: A company that got rich making shackles for slaves is still in business making restraints for migrant workers

Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 2w ago

Lemme tell you about the angel of history being blown backwards into the future: The shackles these people have been put in are Hiatt brand, same company founded in 1780 to mass produce shackles for slaver ships.

Having just watched The Drama (a movie it took me 3 days and multiple instances of fast forwarding to finish), I wish I had just read this review first and skipped it. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-...

The Drama review: Zendaya and Pattinson offer shallow shocks in taboo dark comedy

Smugly juvenile.

rogerebert.com

People are being extremely weird about this poor bird. The comment section on insta is a nightmare. They're calling the staff of the raptor center at home to hassle them for information. There's a conspiracy theory that the center is harming her to rake in donations. Plus making AI generated images.

FOX 11 Los Angeles@foxla.bsky.social · 24h ago

If you've been following the Big Bear eagle nest cam, you know Jackie was rescued in July after getting grounded during a territorial fight with a young bald eagle. Here is where her medical journey stands now.