Alex Russo

New: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it is shutting down

cpb.org/pressroom/Co...

Analysis | The Fact Checker rose in an era of false claims. Falsehoods are now winning. Longtime Fact Checker Glenn Kessler takes stock as he departs The Washington Post.

“In an era where false claims are the norm, it’s much easier to ignore the fact-checkers.”
— a poignant final line from a retiring critical journalist. Gift link. Worth your time. Thank you for your service @glennkessler.bsky.social

wapo.st/41kFq2G

A ’60s-flavored band blew up on Spotify. They’re AI. The Velvet Sundown confirmed Saturday that its viral success is powered by artificial intelligence.

AI bands are here.

Goals

The pope posted this this morning and I’m thinking a lot about it

Funniest basketball team of all time.

Bouche, Juveniles

Pope Leo XIV calls for release of imprisoned journalists, affirms gift of free speech and press The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary, elected in a 24-hour conclave last week, called for journalists to use words for peace, to reject war and to give voice to the voiceless.

Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press” in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff. to.pbs.org/43dK17i

AI haters build tarpits to trap and trick AI scrapers that ignore robots.txt Attackers explain how an anti-spam defense became an AI weapon.

Basically traps AI crawlers and sends them down an "infinite maze" of static files with no exit links, where they get stuck and thrash around for months. Once trapped, the crawlers can be fed gibberish data, aka Markov babble, which is designed to poison AI models arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

2 U.S. Code § 136-1 - Appointment and term of service of Librarian of Congress

There is nothing in the statutes that gives him that ability.
www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...

Holy hell this is depressing.

A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse

There is still no way of ensuring that AI chatbots produce accurate information, and powerful new technologies are generating more errors, not fewer: “As their math skills have notably improved, their handle on facts has gotten shakier. It is not entirely clear why.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/t...

Into the Wilds of Democratic Navel-Gazing and Big Think About a week ago, both Matt Yglesias and Jonathan Last at The...

Good advice here from @joshtpm.bsky.social : talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/into-...

Meet the Dallas DJ Behind (Maybe) the Longest Running Hip Hop Show On Air EZ Eddie D, host of KNON’s ‘Knowledge Dropped, Lessons Taught,’ has seen Dallas’ hip hop scene and the genre change over 40 years on the air.

i wrote about the longest running hip hop radio show in the world. also covered about how city scenes reach out and influence national culture in unrecognized ways and the unintentional journey from zeitgeist conduit to historian thebarbedwire.com/2025/05/02/h...

Another amazing Francis nugget.

Francis, the First Latin American Pope, Dies at 88 After decades of conservative leadership, Francis tried to reset the course of the Roman Catholic Church, emphasizing inclusion and care for the marginalized over doctrinal purity.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/w...

Same same. Never have I been happier to teach at a Catholic school that takes Easter Th, Fr, and Mon off. Back to bed.

congrats!

There is a piece to be written on MMW and the infrastructure of DC's private schools - like multiple mansion to school conversions.

As did I, but they are only 60% effective. Strain A is what popped up on my Covid/Flu test.

It seems to be clustering among the history folks. My test said Flu strain A - the worst this year so take care of yourself.

Clear Channel has released a list of songs not to play in the wake of the stock market crash

If you talk to Adam Curtis - he does a lot of metal work for the AOC -- ask him about his sculpture. He's my wife's cousin and does great stuff.

I'm writing on radio consultants and there was a very contentious format change at WTIC in the 70s. From classical to Top 40.

Are you writing on WTIC?

In honor of George Foreman, a bit of radio documentary perfection. kitchensisters.org/fugitivewave...

Also in one of the best bits of radio documentary around. kitchensisters.org/fugitivewave...

Terribly saddened by the loss of Jonathan Sterne. Such a model of a brilliant scholar, dedicated mentor, and kind human being. The world is a lesser place without him.

Farewell to Jonathan Sterne We are very sad to learn of the death of communication scholar Jonathan Sterne, after a long battle with cancer. He was 54 years old. Sterne was James McGill Professor of Culture and Technology at …

Here's a more fulsome post from the Press. So sad.
Farewell to Jonathan Sterne dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/f...

Congratulations!