dangillmor

dangillmor, 11 hours ago to random

Social media disappointments:

1. Journalists are still actively participating at exTwitter, thereby actively supporting Musk, who is helping extremists bring down democracy and, by extension, a free press.

2. Reddit got away with stomping its volunteer moderators and users, and its execs are cashing in on an IPO that in a more just world would have flopped.

3. Writers I respect decided to stick with Substack despite arrogant, extremist-friendly investors and leadership.

dangillmor, 12 hours ago to random

Palantir is an evil company, and its CEO showed at a conference that he is a supremely evil person.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/may/17/ai-weapons-palantir-war-technology

(Also, right on brand that a New York Times commentator moderated the panel and helped Karp avoid serious questions from one of only two reporters who bothered to attend.)

dangillmor, 1 day ago to random

If you're interested in space, one must-follow account here is @sundogplanets -- Prof. Sam Lawler. She's been on a campaign to help people understand how the basically unregulated communications satellite race is causing havoc for astronomy, and is potentially creating the conditions for a space-travel - and basic communications ---catastrophe.

She just posted this jaw-dropping thread on how bad this is getting:

https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/112456699856194393

dangillmor, 1 day ago to random

More than almost any other site I check frequently, @niemanlab embeds tweets in its stories. This means -- since I refuse to support Musk's anti-democracy and anti-journalism company -- I miss much of the content, since I allow Privacy Badger to block Twitter content.

There are ways to show the tweet content -- paste in screenshots, for example -- that don't support the deadbird site. It's a shame that Nieman Lab won't take that minimum step.

dangillmor, 1 day ago to random

Nabiha Syed is the Mozilla Foundation's new executive director. She is brilliant, and motivated in the best directions, a great choice for this post.

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-foundation-welcomes-nabiha-syed-as-executive-director/

dangillmor, 1 day ago to random

Such moral cowards running New York University -- ordering student protestors to write phony apologies.

This is right out of the authoritarian playbook -- and it craps on every notion of freedom of expression.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/nyregion/nyu-protests-apology-letters.html

You don't have to agree with the protestors' politics. But you should damn well understand that America is in wave of McCarthyism right now.

dangillmor, 2 days ago to random

Another Supreme Court "justice" who's an out and out insurrectionist. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU0.Ul57.KzkpFSD-0V_Z&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

dangillmor, 2 days ago to random

As warned, Reddit has taken a bundle of money from "Open"AI and will use it to further monetize what you -- and the volunteers who moderate it all -- contributed for free.

It's the norm now, and particularly slimy in this case.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/16/24158529/reddit-openai-chatgpt-api-access-advertising

dangillmor, 2 days ago to random

Read the latest from Josh Marshall on polls, debates, and (as nearly always) wretched NY Times political coverage. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-quick-survey-of-numbers-vibes-and-the-inner-lives-of-campaigns/sharetoken/GxZzy8WqefbD

dangillmor, 2 days ago to random

Democrats ask America's most corrupt Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas, if he would be kind enough, pretty please, to explain more about his corruption...

He is, of course, not explaining anything -- and daring anyone to do something about it.

https://newrepublic.com/article/181627/clarence-thomas-rv-loan-democrats-letter

dangillmor, 2 days ago to random

I was honored to meet Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko, aka @Gargron, yesterday afternoon in San Francisco. He's the real deal: committed to doing something good for the world and boasting serious technical skills. He also has genuine humility, a welcome trait in the tech world.

The occasion was a meet-and-greet put together by Flipboard's @mike, whose company has enbraced the fediverse in a big way.

I hope to do more to help make the fediverse succeed.

You're helping, by participating.

dangillmor, 2 days ago to random

As CNN documents, it was outsiders who caused the violence at UCLA, not the students. And it's vital to keep in mind that the police "stood by for hours" -- watching (obviously indifferent if not pleased) as the outsiders beat up protestors and journalists -- and thereby became collaborators with the violent intruders into a peaceful protest.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/16/us/ucla-student-protests-counterprotesters-invs/index.html

dangillmor, 2 days ago to random

Dairy farmers get vast subsidies from taxpayers -- ridiculously high subsidies in some cases (though they have nothing on weapons contractors).You would imagine that would persuade them to do their civic duty in reporting possible bird flu cases. Nope.

https://www.notus.org/healthcare/farmer-bird-flu-cases-hide-cows-federal-government

If bird flu breaks out widely in humans, it will be beyond catastrophic.

dangillmor, 3 days ago to random

If you care about voters being genuinely informed on key issues, the absolute worst thing about presidential so-called debates is live audiences filled with partisans.

But for media corporations, it's all about money -- and they love these events because they generate ratings.

dangillmor, 4 days ago (edited 4 days ago) to random

It should be astonishing that after Trump publicly solicited a $1 billion bribe from Big Energy, Big Journalism just shrugged and moved on.

It is not astonishing.

dangillmor, 4 days ago to random

Big Journalism has been remarkably incurious about who's funding Christopher Rufo, notorious purveyor of bad-faith right-wing slime. At his Important Context newsletter, @walkerbragman has the story.

https://www.importantcontext.news/p/the-big-money-behind-chris-rufos

dangillmor, 4 days ago to random

Play-by-play Trump trial coverage, with so-called analysis of whether the prosecution or the defense has "scored points" -- the staple of Big Journalism right now -- is the equivalent of horse-race political coverage.

All it takes are stenographic skills and the ability to make confident-sounding guesses. It's clickbait and ratings bait, and it does nothing good for public understanding.

dangillmor, 5 days ago to random

More than any other election year I can remember, the New York Times is obsessed with polling.

Then again, the organization's top editor has said explicitly that polls are driving the coverage.

dangillmor, 6 days ago to random

The solar storm is interfering with some tractors' GPS capabilities. https://www.404media.co/r/15913771?m=ea6b4c29-f97b-4025-aaeb-1d01a70b3b30

dangillmor, 7 days ago (edited 7 days ago) to random

EDITED: One of journalism's consistent flaws is ignoring relevant context.

Case in point is this NY Times story about a judge tossing out a new federal regulation limiting extortionate credit card late fees.

Here's the context the Times didn't care to include: The financial companies went forum shopping, and landed one of their favorite Trump-appointed judges, who (to his credit) objected to the process, but then predictably ruled against the administration.

Journalistic malpractice, IMO.