Amanda Bee

Sorry! The TLC said that they couldn't identify the taxi because I didn't have the medallion number. Anyway. I appealed that and pointed out that the Square receipt clearly does have the name of a taxi company operating in NYC.

First they sent me a notice to appear (by zoom) in a hearing in […]

I tried to get Square to do something about it but they refused. I tried to get Capital One to do something about it but they said that Square had provided them with evidence that I did take the ride (it was literally a map of pickup and drop off, which I don't dispute. I got a ride. But I […]

I am delighted to report that after my first round of complaints was ignored I may have finally gotten the TLC to address my insane cab ride from last September. Took a yellow cab from a cab stand at JFK. Dude told me the credit card machine was broken and I had to pay on Square. Passed him my […]

Screen shot of text that reads "...know if there's alue" and a suggested correction to "there was an value"

AI is going great.

What does it mean that so very many people have absolutely no idea what sarcasm is?

Teenager: can you pick me up tonight?

Parent: can you be a little more specific?

Teenager: ugh!!No!

I'm going to lose my mind over here. Teen needs an ID. The CA DMV cannot provide a list of documents. There's an interactive check lost I can walk through and a YouTube video I can watch. But no freaking list […]

I'm pretty diligent about not accepting new AI apps that Android wants to offer me. And I guarantee I have not knowingly enabled a service to transcribe private conversations.

I met someone this weekend who was trying to decide whether businesses that offer to write your Wikipedia entry for you are a scam. It was a wild conversation.

The Price of Remission When I was diagnosed with cancer, I set out to understand why a single pill of Revlimid cost the same as a new iPhone. I’ve covered high drug prices as a reporter for years. What I discovered shocked even me.

Today I learned that thalidomide is why we have the FDA. https://www.propublica.org/article/revlimid-price-cancer-celgene-drugs-fda-multiple-myeloma?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

@ted I kind of suspected that. I'm not really going to take someone aside and say "geez, you didn't even ⭐ / ❤️ my brilliantly snarky retort to the article you shared. Did you see my short, sweet work of genius?" but I noticed that if I respond to a threads post I never, ever get any kind of […]

Eugene Eric Kim (@eugeneerickim) • Threads, Say more 157 Followers • 0 Threads • Collaboration Coach, Trainer, Designer. @fasterthan20. See the latest conversations with @eugeneerickim.

@ted And when @eugeneerickim and I talk again Wednesday I'll find out whether he had any indications that he was mentioned a heap of times in this incredibly insightful and entertaining thread.

Eugene Eric Kim (@eugeneerickim) • Threads, Say more 157 Followers • 0 Threads • Collaboration Coach, Trainer, Designer. @fasterthan20. See the latest conversations with @eugeneerickim.

@ted @eugeneerickim Gives an alert of any kind. What we did confirm is that there was a buried screen where he could see that I had followed him and he was able to follow me back and see my post.

But he didn't get any kind of notification from threads that he'd been mentioned.

Eugene Eric Kim (@eugeneerickim) • Threads, Say more 157 Followers • 0 Threads • Collaboration Coach, Trainer, Designer. @fasterthan20. See the latest conversations with @eugeneerickim.

Having a whole conversation with @eugeneerickim about whether or not Threads tells you when someone on a federated server mentions you.

UFW (@ufwupdates@union.place) Attached: 1 image BUFFALO, NY: We are mobilizing to protest the arrest and detention of a group of UFW farm worker leaders we believe are being held at the Batavia ICE detention center. We believe targeting known union supporters in the name of immigration “enforcement” is an outrage. These workers must be released.

The goal has never been to deport every immigrant laborer, it is to scare everyone who is left so their labor is easier to abuse.
https://union.place/@ufwupdates/114440919296938665

Love the call to show your work at #LoganSymposium2025 -- if I may, I recommend looking into DocumentCloud if you need help facilitating that.

Trying to wrap my head around the #LoganSymposium2025 speaker who really doesn't seem to understand that the reason no one sees his tweets anymore is because the rest of his audience has left Twitter by now.

You can have a foolproof paywall. Or you can ask wistfully why your stories don't reach enough people. But if you're going to do both, maybe consider whether you already know the answer. #logansymposium2025

@FabRider Maybe you just need to appreciate fog more?

Screenshot of an email. The email says: Geek Squad Monday, April 14, 2025 Bill No: VKDG-8075-MLA Call Our Helpline: 1-(8O6)-(696)-4483 Dear amanda, This is a friendly reminder that your GeekSquad membership renewal is approaching. A charge of $410.10 will be processed within the next 12 hours. Renewal Receipt & Plan Details Item: Geek Webroot - 676561 Quantity: 1x Total: $410.10 Help with Refunds and Cancellations We're committed to supporting you. If your situation changes, our team is ready to help with refund or cancellation requests under our standard policy. With appreciation, Geek Squad, Inc. Call Our Helpline: 1-(8O6)-(696)-4483

I have been seeing more of these renewal notices lately. They are graciously willing to help with refunds or cancellations but when you call them, they'll need your bank info to "process the refund" or maybe just to troubleshoot the issue. There are a few […]

[Original post on an.errant.cloud]

I feel like there should be a resource where you can take a screenshot of an email you just got and find out if it is a scam or not. I'm mostly interested in bill phishing (which might have another name?) because someone I know fell for it. She realized in time to change her account information […]

We have one artichoke plant that grows pretty normal artichokes. They're purple this year, which I don't recall from last year. And then we have two from a neighbor, that are gorgeous plants but the artichokes look crazy. Like pineapple or something. Very curious whether they're edible.

This is such a good account of how incredibly hard it is to get addiction treatment. And when you are seeing tent cities full of people who look like zombies, doubled over on fentanyl, remember that we ask them to jump through flaming hoops to get help […]

@mmasnick.bsky.social Right. But with Twitter it was kind of funny. We could all say “Sure thing, bro. Let me know how that works out for you.” This isn’t funny.

I am not sure where to find the actual minutes or vote totals, but CNBC did bother to pass on that none of the outside proposals passed:
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/25/apple-annual-shareholder-meeting-2025-.html

This isn't some tidal wave of investors standing up for DEI, it is business as […]

It's good that costco/deere/apple shareholders rejected the "Request to Cease DEI Efforts" proposals. But it matters that every shareholder meeting has a handful of proposals from shareholders that the board does not endorse and those proposals never pass. You can see the external proposals to […]

I really need you to understand that there were four items of business in the most recent Apple shareholders meeting that the board recommended voting against:
https://s2.q4cdn.com/470004039/files/doc_financials/2025/Proxy_Statement_2025.pdf (Page 13) There was also a proposal to require a […]

If I'm being honest I thought that most of the IPFS/Filecoin use case was more theoretical. But I'm less confident that we won't have a need for censorship resistant file storage protocols. There's a good primer at […]

Is it too much to ask that news reports on the DEI orders explain what DEI actually is? There was a whole segment on morning edition today about how DEI is not well understood but at no point did they say "so when we talk about DEI policies what we're talking about is ..."

I don't run, really, but I know that if you try to keep a sprint pace for a whole ass marathon you will not make it.