@aparrish if only there was a way to make sure that the thing I wrote used the words that I wanted to put in it
can't quite put my finger on why but this has gotta be the funniest, most absurd, most humiliating sentence i've read in a long long time (from https://daringfireball.net/2026/08/anthropics_watermark_text_adulteration_in_claude_is_a_perversion_of_writing)
Anthropic watermarks AI output — and the AI bros yell
how DARE you catch me out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCiDuw5CzAY&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA - video
https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/20260817-anthropic-watermarks-ai-output-and-the-ai-bros-yell - podcast
time: 7 min 46 sec
“Trump and his MAGA minions would like nothing more than to numb you, me, and the rest of us to their growing archipelago of death, a bloodstained map that stretches from the icy streets of Minneapolis to a dingy detention site in Newark, and from a bomb-blasted island off Iran to the sickbeds in an African refugee camp. They want us to feel numb as their authoritarian death cult expands, and we cannot allow that to happen.
"The truth is that the United States will remain a global pariah — a pitiful, helpless giant — as long as there is no accountability for these war crimes, including, or perhaps especially, the terror perpetrated by mystery men with American flag patches on the high seas. That means public hearings, trials, prison sentences, and the kind of truth and reconciliation this nation has not seen before.”
Will Bunch. Gift link.
Another day, another Trump public attack on a female journalist.
Also another day when the rest of the White House press corps -- not just the right-wing propagandists but also the "reputable" journos -- pretends it didn't happen. What a bunch of cowards these people are.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/17/white-house-personal-attack-cnn-reporter-trump
Scientists cave in to the Trump regime's war on a human-livable climate: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/climate/national-academies-climate-chapter-judges.html
The continuing cowardice of major institutions in our society is a key reason we're in so much trouble.
Carlitos Ricardo Parias is approaching 300 days behind bars, the longest known time a journalist has spent in US custody.
Authorities say he's undocumented, but their account doesn't explain a growing mountain of evidence, FPF's Adam Rose writes in The Intercept.
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/08/16/ricardo-parias-ice-detention-journalist-los-angeles/
“Invasive searches like ALPR database queries must require a judicial warrant,” EFF’s @cooperq told @FastCompany. “Policymakers must seize this moment—when even the leading ALPR vendor has admitted they have done too little to prevent abuse—to, at minimum, codify real protections into law.” https://www.fastcompany.com/91590083/why-we-love-to-hate-flock
Amazon's Book Woodchipper Facility has a cartoonishly evil logo because of course it does.
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys...
https://jwz.org/b/yk-v
Did you know that @purism has pretty extensive documentation regarding their hardware, software, and services?
Browse the #documentation here to learn more about #Purism products:
Here's a handy web tool 👍
A new website lets drivers see if their vehicle has been looked up using Flock’s surveillance camera system — amidst growing backlash over the company’s sprawling network of automated cameras.
The “Have I Been Flocked” site compiles Flock Safety’s audit logs, allowing drivers to look up their license plate number to see if authorities — or someone else — has run their information through the system.
https://www.the-independent.com/tech/flock-surveillance-cameras-online-search-b3033917.html
So yesterday at my #HOPE26, I mentioned the #Fediverse and various parts of it that can help people get off Big Social Media, but there was one I hadn't mentioned, and that was because I didn't think about it.
If you want a TikTok replacement, check out Loops, a Fediverse replacement in the similar sense!
Shout out to fellow Townie @manchicken for pointing it out to me! Thanks, Choom!
When the book-burning by GenAI/LLM companies was revealed, the defences of this were "oh the books aren't rare" and "oh they're only buying books from pulping companies that will be destroyed anyway".
Neither of these is true. The AI companies are buying bulk orders of obscure titles from ordinary booksellers:
None of these are bestsellers, and none of them are checked to see if they are archived anywhere. But they *will* be physically destroyed by the AI companies after sucking out all the info from them.
May Day has more than a century of history in Chicago, from the fight for the eight-hour day and the Haymarket martyrs to generations of workers who kept the tradition alive.
On Aug. 23, Isaac Silver of Buttons of the Left will bring some of that history to the In These Times offices through the buttons, flyers and other artifacts people carried with them.
Bagels and brunch included. Kids welcome.
https://www.allyoufascistsboundtolose.com/calendar/buttons-bagels-and-brunch
#ShlaerMellor, #FunctionPointAnalysis, #punk, #environmentalist, #unionAdvocate, #anarchosocialist
"with a big old lie and a flag and a pie and a mom and a bible most folks are just liable to buy any line, any place, any time" - Frank Zappa