May-lee Chai (she/her)

"This new portal gives Californians an easy and safe way to speak up, share what they see, and help us hold people accountable. No one is above the law.” — @governor.ca.gov Gavin Newsom

This is so insane because Hegseth & Patel are so clearly snowed out of their gourds you would think they would be welcoming in their supply

The first school to market itself as AI free is going to corner the market on people interested in actually learning. And I would not be surprised if rich families and the children of people creating this tech were the first movers.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Has Died
www.darkhorizons.com/cary-hiroyuk...

The Last Video Rental Store Is Your Public Library Audio-visual librarians are quietly amassing large physical media collections amid the IP disputes threatening select availability.

I cannot stress enough how much I love borrowing DVDs from the public library

www.404media.co/the-last-vid...

The New School is now a place where students cannot major in History, Anthropology, Sociology, Global Policy & International Affairs, Global Studies, Urban Studies, or Environmental Studies. And more pauses, closures, and mergers coming down the pike this week. The future is uncertain.

What the U.S. Government Is Dismissing That Could Seed a Bird Flu Pandemic Egg producers suspect bird flu is traveling through the air. After a disastrous Midwestern outbreak early this year, we tested that theory and found that where the wind blew, the virus followed. Vacci...

Egg producers suspect bird flu is traveling through the air.

After a disastrous Midwestern outbreak early this year, we tested that theory and found that where the wind blew, the virus followed.

Vaccines could help, but the USDA hasn’t approved them.

Seems like every tech bro at a certain point is just like "yeah we don't have to pretend we care about humanity anymore"

Pete Hegseth Should Be Charged With Murder No matter how you look at the strikes on alleged “drug boats”—as acts of war or attacks on civilians—Hegseth has committed a crime and should be prosecuted.

If we're not at war, Pete Hegseth is a murderer. If we are at war, Pete Hegseth is still a murderer. He's a murderer. And you don't need to go to The Hague to hold him accountable because there are perfectly good, American laws AGAINST MURDER.
My latest in @thenation.com

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “Strong floor, no ceiling”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro: “A clan of pedophiles wants to destroy our democracy.”

Open AI doesn't want to be transparent about what's in their datasets - this bill would force them. If you're pro AI regulation (esp if you're in Bay Area), please show up and offer your support for this bill! If you can't make it, help spread the word!

RSVP link: bit.ly/44lRMsX Details below 👇

Hong Kong’s deadly housing fire could have been prevented, Bloomberg's investigation shows. Now, anger risks reviving dissent that Beijing tried to quell. Read more: bloom.bg/4iDfk2C

📷️: Yik Yeung-man/Bloomberg

Hegseth Asked Top Admiral to Resign After Months of Discord The relationship between the Pentagon chief and military leader had been rocky since Trump’s inauguration.

Exclusive: The four-star admiral in charge of Caribbean operations had concerns about the legality of the boat strikes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked him to retire shortly after they started.

Nobody is the arbiter of how one should express their opinion, but genAI is objectively harmful to not only the planet but also to people who live near the data centers because their electricity costs go up dramatically.

In practice this would mean that every seasonal update could be forced into lengthy new randomized trials, slowing or blocking improvements even when we already understand the pathogen and mechanism. Older adults and immunocompromised people would be left waiting while the virus keeps moving. 3/

Thursday morning will be chilly in San Francisco, in the low 40s throughout much of the city. If the city’s official weather station hits 41 degrees, it would be the coldest temperature measured there in more than 1,000 days.

Ideal conditions for cold temperatures: low humidity and calm winds ✅

Congressman Henry Cuellar was indicted for money laundering, bribery, and conspiracy, allegedly taking about $600,000, mostly from Azerbaijan, to influence U.S. policy.

President Donald Trump pardoned Cuellar, because Trump supports money laundering, bribery, and conspiracy.

Waymo confirms its car hit dog in Western Addition Weeks after a Waymo killed legendary Mission District bodega cat, KitKat, its vehicle hit another animal in San Francisco.

On Sunday night at around 8 p.m., a Waymo ran over a small, unleashed dog in Western Addition at Scott and Eddy streets, the company has confirmed.

It is not clear whether the dog is alive.

via @kellywaldron.bsky.social

missionlocal.org/2025/12/waym...

Sabrina Carpenter slammed the White House on Tuesday after it posted a video using her song “Juno.” The video on the official X account of the White House featured a montage of clips appearing to show ICE officers chasing down and handcuffing people.

HK's Tai Po fire death toll rises to 159; victims aged from 1 to 97 The death toll from the Wang Fuk Court fire has risen to 159, including a one-year-old infant, HK authorities have announced.

The death toll from the Wang Fuk Court fire has risen to 159, including a one-year-old infant, HK authorities have announced. In full: buff.ly/VhSyq59

Jafar "Panahi, 65, has served two previous spells in prison in his home country, and said in an interview shortly before receiving his latest sentence [consisting of a one-year imprisonment and a travel ban in Iran] that he planned to return." 😬

An easy way to explain luddites:

Textile manufacturers brought in machines that could do in an hour what would have taken 12 hours by hand.

And then, tried to keep paying the now 12x more productive workers the same wages as before.

That's it, that was the problem luddites had. Not complex.

1725: Why the fuck did I lose my left hand for the same wages I earned while being 10x more productive than last year? Who the fuck is benefiting here?

2025: Why am I losing my job to a machine that encourages kids to kill themselves and can't actually do my job? Who the fuck is benefiting here?

Orange Leaves in Fog
#ArtAdventCalendar #Day1
#Sweetgum #Leaves outside my window on a foggy day in Jan 2025.
#PNW #Photography

Waymo’s Self-Driving Cars Are Suddenly Behaving Like New York Cabbies Autonomous vehicles are adopting humanlike qualities, making illegal U-turns and flooring it the second the light goes green.

For years, Waymos were the most polite drivers on the road. Now the self-driving vehicles are putting their own needs first.

"It’s like a children’s book about good old red, white, and blue—except it was written by Joan Didion in a black turtleneck, and it fucking sucks."

U. of Alabama Suspends Black and Female Student Magazines, Citing D.E.I. Guidance

This is truly awful. I have served in the university media board for 3 years and saw how brilliant and committed the student editors of these magazines were to quality and integrity. This is such a loss for the university community at large. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/u...

Cartoon showing a group of angry people facing three person, one representing HK's chief executive John Lee, one HKHA and one HKLD, all three of them pointing to a bamboo stick on the ground.

"Who's responsible??" Well. The bamboo, clearly. And not the government, definitely not the government.

Source: 一個人 IG @oneaguy | X @hkguy1988 via Telegram

San Francisco is taking on ultraprocessed food in a new lawsuit The San Francisco city attorney sued brands like Coca-Cola and Nestlé, accusing them of selling processed foods that lead to diabetes and obesity.

The San Francisco city attorney sued brands like Coca-Cola and Nestlé, accusing them of selling processed foods that lead to diabetes and obesity.

North Carolina Prison Officials Raise Prices for Those Who Can Least Afford It - Bolts It’s 4:30 pm on a Monday as Colell Steele stands in front of the closed canteen window at Neuse Correctional, a medium-custody prison in North Carolina. He’s lined up to... Read More

NEW: North Carolina prison officials, this summer, raised the price of items that incarcerated people can buy.

The prices are already way marked-up; & incarcerated people make a tiny fraction of minimum wage if they work.

An incarcerated reporter explains what's happening, & why it matters: