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TRANS RIGHTS ARE A WINNING POLITICAL ISSUE

Every single centrist claiming we must all compromise our bodily autonomy for their personal comfort is a traitor to American democracy & rational human decency.

They have no place in a modern Democratic Party, toss them out. Total liberation for all.

Look folks gen AI videos are out in the wild so if you weren't already being careful about sharing rage bait videos then now is a great time to start

If you can't trace a video back to a trusted source then I recommend leaving it where it is, like a slice of bologna you found on the street

Has lived in the US since he was NINE MONTHS OLD.

Hey authors, the official list of Anthropic works is available for searching.

secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

Can You Still Get the Covid Shot?

I know this isn't the news right now. But I have some updated info on Covid vax availability.

Several states where CVS/Walgreens weren't offering them or required Rx 1.5 wks ago now have them without Rx because of state officials' actions.

But still 13 states where CVS and/or Walgreens require Rx.

What Authors Need to Know About the $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement  - The Authors Guild Today, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle claims that it downloaded pirated books to train its AI systems—the largest U.S. copyright settlement in history. The parties in Bartz v Anthropic...

Busy yesterday so I missed that Anthropic had settled. Figures. LLMs have violated thousands of copyrights; they *knew* it would kill them if it went to trial. Anyway, the Authors Guild has some useful info here: authorsguild.org/news/what-au...

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

Hey, I have had some questions about who is allowed to file.

Here is the class certification:

A tweet from pervocracy noting difficulty in maintaining mental health as many coping strategies are based in the idea your anxiety is unwarranted and right now needs extremely warranted but you still gotta water the plants or you'll have fascism AND dead plants

Fascists appeal to the imaginary past, so it is important to be able teach people who aren’t fascists about actualities. History isn’t a set of facts. It is a contested narrative based on contested evidence.

yessssss ❤️

@lickmycupcakes.bsky.social Hii Em!! I happened to search for you to see if you'd joined bluesky, and you were here! Welcome welcome!

I mostly just lurk, but it's always nice to see old friends :)

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Every person on Bluesky should know:
* Every post on Bluesky is PUBLIC forever
* Every post on Bluesky is archived by ICE, NSA, and many other agencies
* Even if you delete a post, it’s already been captured
* Judges don’t care if you were “kidding” or being ironic

www.404media.co/the-200-site...

I know many people my age still have a lot of nostalgia around Harry Potter and might be tempted to watch the new HBO TV series.

Please, I'm begging you, do not tune in.

J.K. Rowling is singularly motivated. The new Harry Potter series is a cash cow intended to fund anti-trans bigotry.

The AI Boom Is Draining Water From the Areas That Need It Most A Bloomberg News analysis finds that roughly two thirds of new data centers built or in development in the US since 2022 are in places with high levels of water stress.

Each time you ask an AI chatbot a question, it sends a request to a data center and strains an increasingly scarce resource: water.

A 🧵on our investigation into how the data centers that power AI are increasingly being built in highly water-stressed places:

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

yep
bsky.app/profile/kell...

ChatGPT Is Everywhere — Why Aren't We Talking About Its Environmental Costs? One estimate found that a single ChatGPT search uses 10 times the energy of a normal Google search.

One estimate found that a single ChatGPT search uses 10 times the energy of a normal Google search.

In this op-ed, politics editor @leximcmenamin.com addresses the environmental costs of AI that not many seem to be talking about ⤵️

Everything on the shop is 20% off because we close for two weeks. We'll ship everything out THIS WEEKEND, which means Pride merch so you get it before Pride.

Come check us out, maybe. Free US shipping over $50, flat $4 otherwise.

www.peculiarityshop.com

Can't help but think about how twenty five years ago some dude failed at making a shoe bomb and now we have to deal with airport security theater forever but five years ago there was a global pandemic that killed millions that is still active and now masks are banned, and how the difference is $$

Duolingo CEO says he's getting rid of contract employees and replacing them with AI Duolingo employees can also expect their AI use to be graded in their performance reviews.

I have completely deleted my Duolingo. I was informed by one of my kids that the company has removed most of its employees and 70% of the company is run by AI.

I urge everyone to delete their app.

This is an *active* current example of democrats helping to pass a law that will actively hurt people fighting civil rights and civil liberties in our current crisis moment. Either help the movement, get out of the way, or admit what side you’re on.

The hygiene hypothesis is not telling you to expose yourself to pathogens. The hygiene hypothesis is not telling you to expose yourself to pathogens. The hygiene hypothesis is not telling you to expose yourself to pathogens. The hygiene hypothesis is not telling you to expose yourself to pathogens.

Around the same time as Rook’s theory was taking shape, scientists discovered regulatory T cells (Treg), which dampen immune responses. Rook proposed that exposure to nonpathogenic microbes activates a variety of immune processes, including Treg cells, to regulate the immune system appropriately. So, with fewer old friends to learn from, our immune systems grow up to be trigger-happy.

I cannot emphasize this enough: that is not what is being suggested. It is explicitly stated by Rook, the guy who came up with the hygiene hypothesis, that it is about exposure to NONPATHOGENIC MICROBES. Also for my sanity, please call it the Old Friends Hypothesis.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

On a recent flight my seatmates learned I was a writer and asked my opinion on AI. They didn't understand genAI is based on work stolen from authors, and they DEFINITELY didn't know about the energy costs. Both shocked them. People just don't know.

Kidnapping.

Capturing a person against their will without due process is called kidnapping.

Transporting them to another country without due process is called human trafficking.

A squalid extrajudicial prison for people found guilty of no crime is called a concentration camp.

The ebook for The Restless Dark, by @ericawatersbooks.bsky.social (one of my best friends and favorite authors!), is on sale for $1.99 at bookshop.org, kobo.com, and the other place!

a normal lamp from the waist up, but look from the waist down and you see that it's got three eager, crouching, nimble legs. you ask me, that's three too many. it crouches, waiting, in Beverly MA

please enjoy this photo i took of an Unsettling Lamp. why does it perch so

Hey it’s long covid awareness day! I’ve had long covid since one mild infection in 2022, and here’s what to be aware of:

It sucks, and there is no cure.

I’ve been on bed rest for a week and had to take time off work because I’m in a crash. Under no circumstances should you keep trying to get this.