Autumn of the Shoggoths

I think Democrats should offer voters a broadly defined anti-fraud platform. Yes, obviously, start with Trump’s influence peddling, but don’t stop there. Online fraud is massive, almost every phone call you get is a scam, and the solution has to be federal or it just won’t work.

It’s enormous! Honestly, lighter weight audiobooks are how I am surviving right now without dangerous doses of anxiety meds, so I am grateful for the length of this series.

There is not enough Tunde Adebimpe to go around. How is that man such a genius at so many damn things?!

At one point a few years back, I went back and started watching all the super basic Khan Academy math videos to see how they are teaching things like fractions and division. It wasn’t the same as when I had been taught, was interesting to try to reframe.

One thing that actually sucks here is that I’m interested in learning some of that other stuff, but I have historically done so badly that I never wanted to take any math class I didn’t have to because I feared getting a bad grade / not keeping up.

I mean, I never got that far, no trig, no calculus, no geometry. I took 2 math classes in college - a remedial algebra class that I barely passed, and then that great stats class where I learned far more algebra than in any of the algebra classes I’d ever taken.

I had one singular math class that was amazing (statics, in college). The teacher was good, but beyond that, she encouraged us to work together on everything but the tests (and we could bring notes for those!). I joined an active study group and we talked through homework together every week.

He has clearly failed to learn ancient Chinese history, or else he would have done this already.

This is something that would totally happen to me. I hope your second choice is available and affordable and fantastic!

The very idea nearly makes me cry that I didn’t get this. I have had a lot of issues with learning math and when I finally once was in a class where I really actually learned things, it was a revelation and I was so sad and angry for how I had been failed before.

A way to keep yourself young: every time you see a flyer for a big music festival, search every name and play at least one or two songs. Most people stop listening to new music after college. Don't be those people. It's hard to keep up with the new, you have to do it on purpose.

Well. The closest we have to a fash takeover of email is the GOP suing Google (unsuccessfully, so far) over their spam filters blocking Republican emails (which were blocked due to sending unsolicited emails and getting user spam complaints, the same reason other emails get blocked).

A lot of the moral panic around stranger danger resulted in this idea that your family and parents are always safe. And therefore that means you must be supervised by them at all times. Which can open the door to some insane levels of control and abuse if (as is commonly the case) family abuses you

“Protocols, not platforms”, in part, explains why fascists haven’t tried to do a conservative takeover of email, *because no one entity owns email* lol.

You literally can’t stop or control email because it’s a protocol. If you could, spam would have been solved decades ago. You can’t “kill” email!!

Dumping Google’s enshittified search for Kagi Enough is enough: I’ve jettisoned Google in favor of a search engine that doesn’t treat me like a product.

It's a fantastic feeling to type in a search query and once again get useful, relevant, non-AI results.

There's apparently a lot of drama there? www.reddit.com/r/reneerapp/...

It is proof of my own naïveté that I believed that our conversation on the Man Problem ™️ would expand beyond its usual limitations post MeToo and in light of the political backlash against Queer and Trans people.

Boy oh boy was I wrong about that

Another great thread by @cafedujord.bsky.social about California housing issues.

As a direct American, I would be interested to hear more about the indirectness in NZ, if you’re up for sharing examples. Goodness, I would probably straight up offend people by mistake. :/

I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and am a huge fan of The Wandering Inn. They just changed narrators on part 16, where each book is close to 40 hours. There are SO many characters… and I recognized the voices for all of them with the new narrator. Holy shit, I can’t imagine how difficult that was!!

This is great. Just checked out @brassqueensnyc.bsky.social and this is extremely fun music.

Terrific obituary. I'm so glad the NYT had a Ph.D. physicist write it – Katrina Miller.

Mary Gaillard's work showed the way for scientists to get Nobel Prizes, much of which she wasn't paid for. "In 1979, after doing research at CERN for 15 years, Dr. Gaillard began earning a partial salary."

Photo of a children’s fantasy book, featuring a sword welding, pageboy haircut having adventurer as he readies to defend himself from a giant cat. A hooded wizard raises his hands behind the cat. Title and copy read: Sir Jerrum had been warned DO NOT PET THE CAT Fran Eisenass Great, now it's pissed off. The third installment of JERRUM: ANIMAL AGITATOR

More than four out of five Americans, 83%, said they were concerned about the cost of groceries, with 46% saying they were very concerned. Some 47% said they were worried about being able to pay their rent or mortgage, 64% said they were worried about affording an unexpected medical expense. About 48% said they believed they would have trouble affording an unexpected $500 bill without borrowing. One in four said it would be "very difficult" A quarter of those surveyed said they spent at least three hours a day worrying about their finances and ability to afford basic necessities. Another 25% of respondents said they or someone in their household had skipped meals in the past year in order to make ends meet, and 26% said they had fallen behind on their monthly bills over the past year.

Fuck the stock market reports, this is what real life is like

Donate to Help Elisabeth Stay Safe and Secure While Battling HME, organized by Elisabeth Winston Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters, I am reaching out t… Elisabeth Winston needs your support for Help Elisabeth Stay Safe and Secure While Battling HME

My friend is having a really hard time in the world. She is very disabled but hasn’t gotten disability income yet, and doesn’t have many people who can help her out. She is in dire straits. Can you donate and/or share? Ideas of where else to seek help are welcome. www.gofundme.com/f/help-elisa...

Donate to Help Elisabeth Stay Safe and Secure While Battling HME, organized by Elisabeth Winston Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters, I am reaching out t… Elisabeth Winston needs your support for Help Elisabeth Stay Safe and Secure While Battling HME

My friend is having a really hard time in the world. She is very disabled but hasn’t gotten disability income yet, and doesn’t have many people who can help her out. She is in dire straits. Can you donate and/or share? Ideas of where else to seek help are welcome. www.gofundme.com/f/help-elisa...

The ocean's deepest animal ecosystem Six miles below the surface of the Pacific an unexpected array of life flourishes.

I found this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The first moments of this video made me think they were a closeup of human skin, so it got very alarming a few seconds later.

Well, here’s hoping you enjoy wild success such that leaping into audio will be but a tiny blip in your income.