James

Ring’s Flock breakup doesn’t fix its real problem Birds of a feather

Here’s @jp2e.bsky.social pointing out the obvious: Ring’s still partnered with Axon, which is still partnered with ICE www.theverge.com/report/87932...

I wrote this piece about the dangers of AI relationships back in Oct, and here we are.

Meanwhile, the fire suppression fund IDL relies on to fight fires is nearly empty. The IDL director said there's about $1.2 million in the wildfire suppression fund. That isn't enough to even pay for the state’s up-front contracted aircraft costs, let alone pay the bills for an entire fire season.

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

Why? Because corporate hacks don’t think creativity is skill. They think they can generate placeholder content instead of imaginative work. “AI” isn’t real, can’t do useful tasks, and fails any test with quantifiable objective goals. So, they make slop, and call it art. They don’t see a difference.

OpenAI researcher quits over ChatGPT ads, warns of "Facebook" path Zoë Hitzig resigned on the same day OpenAI began testing ads in its chatbot.

“I once believed I could help the people building A.I. get ahead of the problems it would create. This week confirmed my slow realization that OpenAI seems to have stopped asking the questions I’d joined to help answer.”

Yeah it is genuinely fucking scaring me the degree to which all our cultural output about nuclear war lately seems to present it as a Struggle That Humanity Will Emerge From Stronger. We honestly cannot allow that message to propagate in our fictions, because it *will* doom us. Nuclear War is not…

Ring Owners Are Returning Their Cameras - Here's How Much You Can Get - BGR Several Ring camera owners are returning their cameras to Amazon, citing a potential breach of TOS where law enforcement is using footage without permission.

“Search Party feature, announced in a Super Bowl commercial, gives users reason to believe it's allegedly leading to a surveillance state disguised as a lost dog search tool.”

Good News: Paulina Borsook's "Cyberselish" will be reissued by Tin House books with a new introduction by....me!

I'll post the link when it's ready for pre-orders.

Never underestimate the power of a humble BlueSky thread!

YouTube video by Janeen McCrae How+L (Poem for Minneapolis)

“How strong the aroma.
The freshly peppered nostrils
Of new capsaicin sommeliers
Panic spritzed and catching bouquets accidental
Of Authority's Signature Scent”

HBD Laura Dern, daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, BOTD in 1967, turning 59 today. Her best performance is and always will be in David Lynch's "Inland Empire" (2006)

YouTube video by Lilly Schwartz Photography What photography and field recording have in common

New video is up! Finally a new photography video on my all new photography channel. In this video I take you along for a photo walk in a nearby bird preserve.

youtu.be/SuZ3CrNKP28

📷😻

Jeffrey Epstein’s digital cleanup crew “i want the google page cleaned,” Epstein wrote in 2010.

Incredible @miasato.bsky.social dive into Epstein's intense SEO and reputation cleanup operation, which waged constant war on Google Search and Wikipedia www.theverge.com/report/87608...

No. We're not doing redemption arcs.

Finally, a Halftime Show That Represents Real America! Isn’t Bad Bunny an American artist? Don’t millions of people love his music? At the Turning Point USA alternative show, we forget about all that.

the most indoors

Raw milk related outbreak leaves two children hospitalized in Ada County, product pulled from shelves Nine Ada County and one Canyon County residents are seriously ill after consuming raw milk contaminated with E-coli. That includes two children hospitalized.

Ignorant adults feed children shit tainted milk, leading to hospitalization for kidney failure.

Hollywood Is Losing Audiences to AI Fatigue Entertainment about or made with artificial intelligence has been missing the mark with viewers over the past year.

Published my first piece at @wired.com today, about a string of AI thrillers that have bombed (most recent being the hopelessly naive Chris Pratt vehicle 'Mercy'), the backlash to Darren Aronofsky's YouTube slop take on the American Revolution, and a grotesque nostalgia-bait Super Bowl ad:

worth noting that the second rich people stopped being afraid of mobs tearing them limb from limb, they stopped building libraries and opera houses and stuff and started ripping the copper wiring out of the walls of society instead

Kid Rock’s song about loving underage girls resurfaces ahead of TPUSA Super Bowl show The song has a verse about liking girls underage and 'statutory' being 'mandatory.'

Kid Rock’s song about loving underage girls resurfaces ahead of TPUSA Super Bowl show www.pennlive.com/entertainmen...

"Capture it all": ICE urged to explain memo about collecting info on protesters Sen. Markey: Database of peaceful protesters, if it exists, should be shut down.

ICE officers and senior Trump administration officials have repeatedly suggested that DHS is building a "domestic terrorists" database with information on US citizens protesting ICE’s actions in recent weeks.

Every time I see someone critique a movie as "emotionally manipulative" I shed a little tear because all movies are emotionally manipulative, you fool. It isn't real! Why are you crying! Just say it's trying too hard because that's what you actually mean.

Popular billionaire who talks to Ross Douthat about other people being the antichrist: Sure is fun to loot late-stage capitalism. There are zero guardrails!

The worlds most famous and well connected pedophile: Sure is chum! Literally no one will stop you!

Idaho bill to ban local protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination heads to House • Idaho Capital Sun Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Nampa Republican, is sponsoring the bill, which was written by the Idaho Family Policy Center.

A dozen Idaho cities have local ordinances banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The Idaho Legislature might end those protections. #idleg #idpol

'Melania' Is a Horror Movie The first lady is trapped, and she doesn’t seem to know it.

Thirty-five million dollars were spent marketing this! It is like someone eating spoonfuls of gold-encrusted garbage and beckoning you to watch. Look at how much gold I’ve put on it! More gold than anyone! Doesn’t it look delicious?

Because of course…

No pity for this fucking asshole and dipshits he inspired in Idaho. Fuck off forever. 😡