Jered Floyd
@jeredfloyd.bsky.social
I like building robust, complex, useful systems out of bits, atoms, and/or people (with their consent). Unapologetically queer. 🏳️🌈 he/him/dad Primarily @jered@metasocial.com currently.
We all know the classic enshittification story of how Pyrex silently stopped being borosilicate glass in 1998 after selling to private equity... but did you know that you can get Farberware borosilicate measures in the exact same shapes for $4 more? Microwave-safe, oven-safe, same as the classic.
The problem is that "while you weren't looking the tech industry was comprehensively taken over by a cult based around a piece of Harry Potter fanfic" is self-evidently an absolutely ridiculous claim that can't possibly have happened, which is a real problem given that it 100% did happen.
Faine Greenwood@faineg.com · 5d agoThe U.S. AI industry is being run by a batshit rationalist sex cult, and no, I am not being hyperbolic - they’re genuinely Like That:
PSA: my local CVS (and others surely) have same-minute flu and COVID vaccination appointments. Booked on the app, walked in, and walked out a few minutes later with two soon to be sore arms. (And, er, about $30 of ice cream for $15 due to the vaccination coupon and various promotions.)
People having ambivalent relationships with healthcare providers is a constant. Healthcare providers being annoying fallible humans is also a constant. Selling fraudulent products being legally permissible and protected? That’s a choice, one we made in my lifetime. We could make a different choice!
A sudden weird insight: unprincipled libertarians (the majority of them alas) are actually Wilhoit's Law conservatives who want a) the law not to bind them, b) _unwritten social mores_ to both protect them and bind the outgroup. Elegant, in a way!
Ok, this is common knowledge but: for the love of your sanity, never, ever do business with Comcast/Xfinity. I’m lucky to be in a rare market with 2 providers, so 18 months ago I switched to them from RCN (after 22 years!) because RCN would not match a new subscriber offer or even come close. 1/
1/x The strangest job at sea in 1875: a man in a gilded salon, hand on a valve, eyes on a spirit level, keeping a 180 ton room level while the ship rolls around it. England built a Channel ferry around that job. She wrecked two piers and a man's pride. Meet the SS Bessemer. #maritimehistory
I see Google is deep into "just following orders" territory: blog.google/products-and...
How the GNIS Lake Ontario/Lake America name change in the U.S. will appear in Maps
The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America" in the United States. Since we update Google Maps …
blog.google
From several different conversations today I’m slowly reaching the conclusion that that problem is not generative AI itself (although it creates a huge number of problems as well as exciting opportunities), but rather the people who control, market, and sell it. 1/
Trust me, I am well and truly familiar with finding used bookstores pleasant. But these are mass produced objects with a short expected lifespan: the majority of them end up pulped. If you find what Amazon is doing here objectionable, you're gonna _really_ hate what interior decorators do.
Ah, yes, the primary target market for Facebook's spyglasses is already leading the adoption curve: www.universalhub.com/crime/2026/c...
Convicted sex offender charged as Meta-perv for using camera glasses to photograph children at the Frog Pond
Boston Police report arresting a Brockton man with past child-porn convictions on charges he used camera-enabled glasses to photograph children at the Frog Pond - including some getting changed behind...
universalhub.com
Look, there are lots (LOTS!) of legitimate concerns about generative AI, but "AI is destroying the knowledge of antiquity" is the new "AI is drinking all the water". It's not remotely truthy, but it gets ad impressions. 1/
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I generally an in favor of our DSA candidates, but I feel like the party is full of conservative sleeper agents when they post cringe like this leading up to the midterms. To quote dril: you do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to them" www.dsausa.org/statements/d...
DSA Commemorates 100 Years of Fidel and Denounces Rubio’s Genocide Against the Cuban People - Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
Today is the centenary of Fidel Castro, and the Democratic Socialists of America recognize the historic significance of both this day and the man. Fidel was an organizer, a fighter, and endures as a s...
dsausa.org
OK, where are all my local politics peeps with primary ballot opinions? It's pretty quiet for an election where mail-in ballots have been out for a week already. (@somershade.bsky.social ?) Most of these are uncontested. Senator is easy, incumbent Markey or the Republican-in-disguise Moulton. 1/
TIL that shrimp cocktail is named as such because it was a presentation that allowed restaurants to repurpose cocktail glasses during prohibition.
Wheb site specific installation art is on loan, does the owner's version have to be erased or covered? (Pictured: Sol DeWitt at Mass MoCA)
Okay I know this guy is rage bait and there are a million reasons this is a tired and wrong take but anyone paying attention these days obviously knows that women would happily marry a bear and/or a wicker basket just to not have to listen to stuff like this.
Judah Grunstein@judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 2mo ago"I want to touch on what you said: .. the economic challenges facing young people impact men and women. One hundred percent true. But this is the bottom line, and I don’t think we like to admit this: Beyoncé could work at [KFC] and marry Jay-Z. The opposite is not true." I heard the record scratch.
Since you didn't ask, here is my (to date) 2026 music playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/7fW... (I try not to repeat artists, but somehow two Opus Kink tracks snuck on... like a young Leonard Cohen with more horns.)
2026
Playlist · jeredfloyd · 69 items · 2 saves
open.spotify.com
(I saw the thing. It was entertaining and I was not bored despite the length — it is a spectacle. I don’t regret the time, and I enjoy supporting the 70mm theatre I can walk to from my home. Prof. Wilson’s critiques are entirely valid.)
7. The film centers Odysseus's guilt over his war crimes, but never shows us the POV of his victims, and instead glorifies the perpetrator for feeling bad about himself. I found this unsatisfying ethically and worse, imaginatively, because Damon's character is given only one mood (Troubled).
I cannot rest from discourse. I will see that film again tomorrow. I will drink life to the lees. Again I will enjoy greatly, will suffer greatly, both with those that love me, and in Pleasantville NY. I am become a meme. Film showing: burnsfilmcenter.org/booking/the-...
The Odyssey : Jacob Burns Film Center
The Odyssey, Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Christopher Nolan, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Odysseus, Greek, Classic, Antiquity
burnsfilmcenter.org
It's amazing to me how the grifts never change. I was reviewing investment prospectuses for "data centers... IN SPACE!!!!" in 2004. The business case was bullshit then, and it's still bullshit now.
THEY TALKED TO THE COMPUTER IN STAR TREK BEACUSE ITS A *TV SHOW* AND YOU CANT HEAR WHAT SOMEONE IS TYPING NOT BEACUSE IT IS GOOD UX
Jay Tholen@jaytholen.net · 2mo agoone of those things that was cool in star trek but absolutely sucks now that it's real
No, the correct headline is "Journalists fall for marketing stunt by OpenAI and HuggingFace". They also have a bridge to sell you.
Flock tried to murder a car reviewer. (They will not face any consequences.)
Joel Feder@joelfeder.bsky.social · 2mo ago"Thank God our kids weren’t with us. I’m not sure if I would’ve been able to react as calmly." Just published the absolute craziest story of my entire career. www.thedrive.com/news/how-flo...