Venessa Paech

It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are scrolling?

The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.

Courtesy of the world’s richest man who just got a trillion-dollar pay package from his feckless board: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

This doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone looking into disinformation and scams on Meta's platforms but the scale is kind of incredible: "the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day"

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

The White House is asking people not to share pictures of the East Wing because it’s even worse today.

This is most cool Sarah.

a group of people are sitting on a plane and one of them is a man with blonde hair ALT: a group of people are sitting on a plane and one of them is a man with blonde hair

Omg.

Tech Bros Have Been Accidentally Poisoning Themselves With Severe Brain Toxins for Years Among the worst offenders was meal-replacement company Huel, a long-time favorite among Bay Area builders.

Explains a LOT.

futurism.com/future-socie...

In backsliding democracy, ‘public mobilization is the guardrail’ Some excerpts as we head into the weekend.

New: In a backsliding democracy, ‘public mobilization is the guardrail’

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.

The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.

This is truly terrifying.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing? 2? Questions I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up. Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app Musicians have long criticized the streaming service’s paltry payouts, but a new wave of boycotts is emerging

‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app

TRON is a super cult-ass franchise *anyway* but I promise you more people would have gone to see it in theaters if Jared Leto wasn't in it

Yes, the internet has always had lies on it because sometimes humans are liars. But generative AI slop is always lies because the generators don’t ever know what truth is. They’re weapons of mass information destruction, a difference in scale nobody seems ready to acknowledge.

Genius.

If a four-year-old can pronounce a name correctly, so can a politician | Arwa Mahdawi When someone’s name is repeatedly botched, we shouldn’t give the perpetrators the benefit of the doubt. Just ask NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, writes Arwa Mahdawi

If a four-year-old can pronounce a name correctly, so can a politician | Arwa Mahdawi

Someone in a frog costume facing down a line of police in riot gear

George Orwell’s Animal Crossing

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

An Algorithm Deemed This Nearly Blind 70-Year-Old Prisoner a “Moderate Risk.” Now He’s No Longer Eligible for Parole. A Louisiana law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that bars thousands of prisoners from a shot at early release. Civil rights attorneys say it could disproportionately harm B...

Two months before Calvin Alexander’s parole hearing date, he was told he was no longer eligible.

Why? An algorithm had deemed the nearly blind 70-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, a “moderate risk,” barring him from speaking to the parole board.

(Published April w/ @veritenews.org)

A map titled United States High Speed Rail System showing a theoretical high speed rail system in the United States. Some lines also connect north to Vancouver or the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, or south to Tijuana or Monterrey. The map is credited to First Cultural Industries AKA Alfred Twu, dated from February 2013, and is downloadable at www.californiarailmap.com

the US if Tylenol actually caused autism

You cannot build a social platform for humans without doing the difficult work of managing humans. There is no tech technological solution to this problem. It’s messy human weirdness all the way down.

If there were ever any doubt that internet celebrity had completely usurped other roles, such as area expert, public intellectual, or even TV star, it should be erased now. There is no discernible line or differentiation to who is listened to, beyond the willingness to be extreme in a suit.

Meta suppressed research on child safety, employees say The company’s lawyers intervened to shape research that might have shed light on risks in virtual reality, four current and former staffers have told Congress. Meta denies the allegations.

A German teen told Meta's child safety researchers his under-10 little brother had been sexually propositioned multiple times on its VR platform.

Meta deleted the evidence.

New internal whistleblower docs indicate that was part of a broader cover-up: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

It’s wild living in the Information Age and the Dark Age at the same time.

AI slop alert

We are in it.

The X-Files website in 1996

#WebDesignHistory

Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report Israeli-Palestinian magazine says IDF ‘legitimisation cell’ set up to blunt global outrage over killing of media staff

The IDF is evil

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

I love this so much and I am absolutely tearing up about it. The gentleness and plainness of this, the way he just lets her be her (and she seems so damn lovely, who wouldn’t?), the generosity.

It isn’t going to solve the world’s problems, but this kind of humanity is a hell of a start.

Substack’s extremist ecosystem is flourishing The app's recent swastika push alert was just the tip of the iceberg.

Remember how I keep saying you have no business on Substack? You have no business on Substack.

www.thehandbasket.co/p/substack-e...