Nick Eskow

The ad-supported version of Office includes banners that are permanently visible at the side, as well as 15-second video ads that play every few hours, according to Beebom. Microsoft also forces users of this free version of Office to store documents in OneDrive, with support for local file storage disabled.

A version of Microsoft Word with banner ads and surprise video pop-ups that doesn't let you *save files to your computer*. Just the thought of this is painful www.theverge.com/news/618278/...

Moore’s proposed budget cuts include $2K grants to help people with disabilities Gov. Wes Moore's proposed budget cuts include a small program that provides modest grants to families caring for a loved one with developmental disabilities.

One of Gov. Wes Moore's budget cuts would eliminate a program that gives grants of up to $2K to families who care for a person w/developmental disabilities - and who otherwise receive no state support. Money is used for ramps, therapy, assistive tech, etc.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

The U.S. attorney in Washington says DOJ "will be vigilant in standing against entities" like the Associated Press, that "refuse to put America first."

The AP's transgression is, apparently, not adopting the president's preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico.

YouTube video by KARE 11 PhD student expelled from University of Minnesota for allegedly using AI

The story of Haishan Yang, a PhD student at UMinn, who allegedly used ChatGPT in his qualifying exams, got caught, was expelled.
The evidence against him is...substantial, and hard to refute.
Yang then filed a lawsuit against the profs, USING CHATGPT.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNon...

She was an icon. When I was in college she would sing at Mr. Henry’s. It was a college student break that allowed us to be inspired and dream. You’ve Got a Friend is one I still break out in today. Killing Me Softly With His Song is what I will always think of.

Reminder from the @steventdennis.bsky.social school of legislating: If Republicans had the votes for the budget bill, they'd be voting.

As a committees reporter, I regularly worked 10+hr days & through the night without overtime. To expect reporters to RTO only on certain days with too few benefits is exploitative and without reason. They've been successful WFH for years. Let them do their jobs flexibly @ Fiscal Note.

I'm going over election results, and shoutout to the candidate in CT-02 who got 0 votes as a write-in

I mean, how is that even possible? Do you write a name on the ballot and then vote for someone else anyway? Thinking about this feels like staring into the abyss

A screenshot from a presentation by the Congress.gov folks showing a changelog of the congress.gov API adding new endpoints for House roll call votes.

We will soon get an actual official API for House votes!

Long time coming (and Senate seems to lag as usual), but this is a big deal.

Will Democrats Let the GOP Gut Trans Health Care? Donald Trump and Republicans may try to ban funding to companies that perform trans health care. Some fear Democrats won't stop them.

i spent a month investigating how republicans could cut off access to trans healthcare for most americans, and how democrats can likely stop them — but it’s unclear if they will.

tw: president of wpath warning of mass suicides

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Pretty wild: Recount in Colorado House confirms incumbent Democratic Rep. Steph Vigil loses her seat to Republican Rebecca Keltie by *3* votes out of more than 43,000 counted.

That’s 50.00004% to 49.99996%.

Soon-Shiong does also plan to get directly involved with how the Times presents its news stories to readers. Speaking to Jennings as the latter hosted a radio show Wednesday, the • billionaire revealed that, behind the scenes, he is working on developing a "bias meter" powered by artificial intelligence that will be placed on both opinion and news stories. Soon-Shiong said that the hope is to roll out the new feature, which will use the technology to seemingly warn readers that his own reporters are biased, as early as next month. "Whether in news or opinion... you have a bias meter," Soon-Shiong explained to Jennings. "So that someone could understand as a reader that the source of the article has some level of bias. ... And then ... the reader can press a button and get both sides of that exact same story, based on that story, and then give comments."

This, courtesy of the owner of the LA Times, is the worst “tech solution for journalism” idea since the CueCat.

187 votes!

South Korean citizens helped lawmakers scale the National Assembly walls so they could bypass military barricades and vote against martial law.

Looks like Democrats will end up ~7500 votes short of winning the House majority across three districts. That's the difference between having the power of the purse, subpoenas etc — or not — in a nation of 330+ million.

The day an archaeologist signs up for Bluesky is known as the terminus post quem

“Without fear or favor.”

Bipartisan anti-SLAPP efforts in the lame duck session

If Democrats flip CA13 and CA45, where they also lead, they’re on track for 215 House seats.

The GOP would have 220. With Gaetz gone + Waltz and Stefanik slated to resign.

A 217-215 majority, temporarily.

Zero votes to spare; a single GOP defection tanks a non-bipartisan bill.

Anyone who has spent significant time riding BART should check this out. I moved away many years ago, and this film brought back a bunch of memories. The video is lovely, and the audio segments are interesting and fun. Stay through the very end of the ride.

Merced & Stanislaus counties reported almost all their remaining votes today, and Adam Gray (D) now leads Rep. John Duarte (R) by 182 votes in #CA13.

I estimate there are about 800 unprocessed ballots left, mostly in Fresno & San Joaquin, which report tomorrow.

Republican Party of New Mexico will elect a new chair in December Nov. 26—The Republican Party of New Mexico will have a new leader at the helm by the new year. New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce, a former Congressman and state representative who serv...

Steve Pearce won't run for another term as chair of the New Mexico Republican Party. In his six years as party chair, Republicans have not won a single statewide race.

FTX Trading Ltd. et al, Plaintiffs, against Fair Democracy, Defendant

pro tip: name your organization something that sounds terrible to sue

Chrome's use-case for its AI writing features is unhinged.

1. Take a writing task that is inherently trivial, where rephrasing has no benefit.
2. Human writes it correctly and succinctly.
3. AI invents emotions the human might have had, doubling the length and slightly fucking up the question.

Historic marker for Ed Wood in his birthplace of Poughkeepsie, NY.

Apparently an AP History class at Arlington High School (in Lagrangeville, NY) spearheaded local efforts in Poughkeepsie to get Ed Wood a historic marker in the state.

NEW: ICE now uses the late Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign jet ("Straight Talk Express") for deportation flights.

House Republicans Have Proposed a Capitol Bathroom Ban. What Museums Could be Affected? Representative Nancy Mace proposed bathroom bill would apply to many federal arts programs and the Smithsonian's museums.

I wrote about a legislative proposal from Rep. Nancy Mace about bathrooms on federal property, which museums it would apply to, and @polgreen.bsky.social's insights on which cisgender women will also be harmed as a result: www.artnews.com/art-news/new...

Lauren Boebert is on Cameo charging $250/video.

I'm skeptical it’s allowed under the House rules about outside income but if Boebert can get away with it there's real money to be made on the platform.

Sarah Palin made $211,529 on Cameo in 2021, which she had to disclose when she ran for Congress.

Fears are growing that Trump could push out dozens of government watchdogs The president-elect’s allies have called for a wholesale replacement of the more than 70 inspectors general across the federal government.

NEW: Trump allies want him to oust inspectors general across the executive branch & install his own people. Some watchdogs are already leaving. We asked @ChuckGrassley, whom some call Congress' patron saint of IGs, whether he'll resist. w/@nahaltoosi www.politico.com/news/2024/11...