Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

My 11yo boy just got home from school on his bike (just!) quite shaken: a tradie in an SUV drove past him at speed on a section of road with parked cars on either side, making it dangerously narrow, clipping his elbow with the car's wing mirror.

We managed to track down the company & the driver. My wife had a fairly forceful word with him - he made bad excuses... his callous driving could easily've cost us our boy & the driver any sort of positive future. 1.5m = min legal passing distance.

The US is so dystopian that I genuinely need to clarify that:

* Housed people commit *significantly* more crime against homeless people than vice versa. Housed people also commit more crime against other housed people.

* The solution for "people with untreated mental illness living in the subway" is neither "involuntary detention in a mental institution" nor "forced medication." It is "Affordable and accessible mental healthcare and medication."

https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109874911422615244

🤔So... we're at war with *checks notes* Mrs. Krabappel's 5th grade Earth Science class?

Are we winning?

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/hobby-clubs-missing-balloon-feared-shot-down-usaf

Those balloons cost ~$100 each. So for $1000 and a trip to Party City's helium tank rental counter, a bad actor could potentially scramble 10 F-22s, and cost us $10 million dollars? Seems bad.

At the front of the house, Alice found two curious characters, both search engines.

"I am Googl-E," said the one plastered in advertisements.

"And I am Bingle-Dum," said the other, who was the smaller of the two, and sported a pout, as to having fewer visitors and opportunity for conversation than the other.

The really remarkable thing isn't just that #Microsoft has decided that the future of #search isn't links to relevant materials, but instead lengthy, florid paragraphs written by a #chatbot who happens to be a habitual liar - even more remarkable is that #Google agrees.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/16/tweedledumber/#easily-spooked

1/

Who changed this headline? And why? New York Times readers deserve answers. (And my DMs are open)
---
RT @froomkin
Revelatory catch by @ParkerMolloy: https://open.substack.com/pub/presentage/p/why-i-signed-the-nyt-letter-and-you?r=cfko&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
https://twitter.com/froomkin/status/1625986858919383040

Interested in #InvestigativeReporting on #Intercollegiate #Athletics? The Drake Group Education Fund recognizes graduate or undergraduate college student journalists who publish work addressing college athletes' welfare, economics of college sports, academic integrity, ethical conduct, gender and racial equity, treatment of a whistleblower, or other significant issues. The deadline is March 17. For details, go to https://www.thedrakegroupeducationfund.org/2023-student-investigative-journalism-prize/ #journalism #journalists

The Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists is accepting applications for reporting projects (e.g., journalistic work in any media format that covers underreported issues of global importance) or professional development opportunities (e.g., security training, conferences, workshops and media development initiatives). More information can be found on the International Women’s Media Foundation website, https://www.iwmf.org/programs/fund-for-women-journalists/ #journalists #funding #journalism

@Benjaminblackoak @Artisan_recycler

Modern life is built on the exploitation of others & overusing the environment.

We want to eat strawberries in winter, so underpaid labor in Spain grows berries in a drought, using illegal irrigation from pumping water out of national parks.

We want food but don't want to grow it ourselves.
We want cars but ignore a frying planet.
We want a life of ease built on the labor & resources of the 3rd world.

@parkermolloy @tzimmer_history

Getting rich means becoming habituated to self-enrichment at the expense of others.

Staying rich means ignoring human misery.

Your voice informs people of their self serving rationalizations.

Keep up the good work. You have allies.

State of the world got you down? 😩 Here's a little dose of inspiration as an antidote for the despair: a truly revolutionary social/educational/economic project in Venezuela, with no bosses, no managers and no board of directors. By the people, for the people, and wildly different that anything else you're liable to hear about today. ✊ 😍

https://geo.coop/articles/building-here-and-now-world-we-yearn

The political press -- Washington Post most of all -- got faked out by Glenn Youngkin, who posed as a moderate Republican (yes, oxymoron) and parlayed that to the Virginia governor's chair. Since he took office he's been a standard-issue extremist.

Now, post-Roe, he's ensured that police will be able to search women's menstrual histories. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/16/virginia-governor-glenn-youngkin-extreme-bill-police-menstrual-histories

All the talk about Google losing ground & cutting jobs made me nervous about what I'd do if Google Scholar got the chop...

So I dug into the options – and came away relieved. Even a little optimistic!

New PLOS post: Could there be some viable challengers to Google Scholar on the horizon?

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2023/02/16/could-there-be-some-viable-challengers-to-google-scholar-on-the-horizon/

#OpenScience #AcademicMastodon #AcademicChatter

India's Modi is a popular (for now) dictator who is stomping on freedom of speech, especially press freedom. It is shameful that Biden and other leaders of democracies are cozying up to this guy and giving him cover for his abuse of civil liberties. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/media/india-tax-raid-bbc-offices-intl-hnk/index.html?bt_ee=Ki%2F4xq20%2BrZAAqNSRJRMcKf1cKN4L1y%2FkjGaXk5BMM4%3D&bt_ts=1676427870384

Nonprofits that share the data of supporters, clients, and visitors with third parties may be putting people in danger. This guide offers concrete steps to implement better privacy practices for your websites and email platforms. https://www.eff.org/pages/online-privacy-nonprofits

10 days after the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, officials insist the air is OK to breathe, despite it continuing to make some people sick.

And don't drink the water, officials now say, changing their story from the initial claims there was no water pollution. 3500 dead fish beg to differ & a contaminant plume moving down the Ohio River beg to differ.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/14/ohio-train-derailment-toxic-chemicals/

#Risk #Pollution #EastPalestine #Ohio #train #derailment #AirQuality #WaterQuality

The new bill from Assemblymember Mia Bonta — cosponsored by EFF, ACLU California Action, and If/When/How — will put a stop to unconstitutional 'reverse warrants,' preserving digital privacy and protecting Californians' right to live life on our own terms. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/02/eff-backs-california-bill-protect-people-seeking-abortion-and-gender-affirming

Well I'll be darned, if it isn't @emi and @Matt_Noyes on Irish Tech News, of all places!

https://irishtechnews.ie/why-cooperatives-offer-a-real-alternative-in-tech/

@lwriemen I'm very aware privilege (my own and others), and lack thereof. Totally agree about 'where you start'. That said, I think it's pretty easy to see the difference between jobs taken out of need vs. jobs taken by choice. I'd say few people take a departmental manager or VP role at Microsoft out of desperation. Working in the canteen or acting as a janitor, yeah, maybe. I see culpability as proportional to decision-making power/influence.