Most Favorited Posts in the Past 30 Days (24 hours, 7 days, 12 months, all time)
Here's a quick guide to what the numbers mean. Subscribe
But We Will Realize Untold Efficiencies With Machine L-
💡💡LinkMe: A MetaFilter experiment for posts💡💡
Hi, MetaFilter moderator here, posting an experimental thread, based on a recent suggestion by Rhaomi. Here's the idea, paraphrasing:
"Find a neat article, video, blog, etc. but don't feel up to the work of cobbling together an FPP, tags, title, and otherwise putting yourself out there? Just comment "LinkMe:" followed by the link and maybe a one sentence description for context. Everybody has tacit permission to turn your link into an FPP if they'd like, first come first serve, with a nod back to the original LinkFilter comment"
An example of the type of comment to make is inside, but don't feel bound to that exact format! [more inside]
"Find a neat article, video, blog, etc. but don't feel up to the work of cobbling together an FPP, tags, title, and otherwise putting yourself out there? Just comment "LinkMe:" followed by the link and maybe a one sentence description for context. Everybody has tacit permission to turn your link into an FPP if they'd like, first come first serve, with a nod back to the original LinkFilter comment"
An example of the type of comment to make is inside, but don't feel bound to that exact format! [more inside]
Just the facts, ma'am/man
There are a variety of "low-carbon" or "bandwidth-friendly" variants of news sites out there that load headlines with little styling and no images, such as CBC Lite, and much, much more. [more inside]
"I Spent Three Years Talking to Boys. Here’s What I Found"
"I Spent Three Years Talking to Boys. Here’s What I Found" This is not to say that people who aren't male aren't struggling. It just says, people who are male are, and in these specific ways. [more inside]
"We Have Normalised Horror."
Guardian: Mass casualty incidents caused by the Israeli military offensive in southern Gaza are becoming normalised in the west and leading to a sense of fatalism inside Gaza itself, according to Sam Rose, the director of planning for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA (after its school in Nuseirat was bombed by Israeli forces) || Democracy Now: “Apocalyptic”: 40 Killed in Israeli Airstrike on U.N. School Sheltering Displaced Palestinians in Gaza || BBC: US urges Israel to be transparent over Gaza school strike || Sky News UK: Experts told Sky News the [bomb] fragment [at Gaza school strike] can be identified as part of an American-made GBU-39 bomb; NPR: Israel used a U.S.-made bomb in a deadly U.N. school strike in Gaza [ground reporting that concurs] || MEMO (reporting of a Yedioth Ahronoth article): UN adds Israel to blacklist for harming children in conflict zones || ICYMI: Aharon Barak steps down as Israel's nominated judge to the ICJ case; Israel's Attorney-General urges Netanyahu to form commission of inquiry to provide legal cover from international judicial investigations such as through the ICC; Which ten countries have joined South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ? [more inside]
Would be comical if it wasn’t so pitiful and disturbing in equal measure
Military contractor Erik Prince started a private WhatsApp group for his close associates that includes a menagerie of right-wing government officials, intelligence operatives, arms traffickers, and journalists. We got their messages. from Off Leash: Inside the Secret, Global, Far-Right Group Chat [The New Republic; ungated] [CW: the quiet part, out loud] [more inside]
... but I'm not sure if I *really* have gender dysphoria?
That's Gender Dysphoria This experience of discontinuity between the societal presumed gender and the internal sense of self is what we describe as Gender Dysphoria, and is common among nearly all trans individuals, regardless of their position within or outside of the gender binary. This has at times been something of a political topic within trans communities, as different groups have their own ideas of what Gender Dysphoria is, how it manifests itself, and what qualifies a person as being trans. [more inside]
Fancy lawyer gets angry about evictions, does something about it
Mark Melton nearly single handedly has created a system for providing representation to people facing eviction in Dallas When tenants don’t have legal representation, landlords win 79% of the time. With legal representation that drops to 10%. In Texas, eviction courts are handled by justices of the peace and defendants are not entitled to legal representation. Simply enforcing due process has made a dramatic difference in people’s lives. [more inside]
1. Notice stuff, 2. Write a catchy hook, 3. Profit!
Dire Straits were a massively successful band; they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, each of their albums was top-5 in the US, their hallmark record Brothers in Arms was #1 in 18 countries, and they are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mark Knopfler is so admired by (at least some) paleontologists that he is the namesake of a dinosaur species discovered in 2001. (Ed. note: it turns out that a whole bunch of rockers are real-life dinosaurs.) With all that success, the pedestrian inspirations behind two of their biggest hit songs are a fun bit of trivia. [more inside]
ChatGPT is bullshit
Using bullshit as a term of art (as defined by Harry G. Frankfurt), ChatGPT and its various LLM cohort can best be described as bullshit machines. [more inside]
Very Large Scale Integration with the dust of the earth
Lynn Conway, pioneering computer scientist and trans activist, passed away on June 9.
Every aspect of computing is deeply dependent on Conway's work; DIS, which she invented while at IBM, is one of the crucial foundations of modern computer architecture, and her innovations (with Mead) to the methodology of VLSI paved the way for the entirety of modern IC design.
So when you look at your phone or your computer today, say a quiet "thank you".
Pride, Good News Edition
With legislative and social attacks against trans people across the US, you may have missed some of the more encouraging stories. Here's just a few:
1. Federal Court Blocks First State Law Restricting Health Care for Transgender Adults. The ruling in Doe v. Ladapo found that Florida SB 254 and the related Boards of Medicine (BOM) rules were motivated by disapproval of transgender people and violate the equal protection rights of transgender individuals and parents of transgender minors in Florida. [more inside]
Every act of fitness is part of how the Short Creek community rebuilds
Fifteen-year-old Darlene hadn’t been in a classroom since fourth grade. She worked 11-hour days at a chicken restaurant, a step up from the slaughterhouse where she’d worked when she was younger. Every paycheck went to her parents who turned it over to the prophet. Everything the hardworking people did was in service to the prophet and to build up the church. Darlene’s future was determined for her: She’d be a wife and mother, and serve the church and her husband. from This Is Not an Escape Story [Runner's World; ungated]
Unlike Google, XScreensaver will never run around and desert you
Google demanded of jwz a Privacy Policy for their Android port of XScreensaver, which collects no user data, despite their own privacy missteps. He's crowdsourcing a list of things XScreensaver will never do that Google does, with source links. [more inside]
Robber barons in the food system
The Grab: "a riveting new documentary which outlines, with startling clarity, the move by national governments, financial investors and private security forces to snap up food and water resources." [more inside]
Tag yourself, I'm "VHF receiver with aerial disconnected."
BBC Rewind has a collection of freely downloadable sound effects available, as well as a mixer mode you can use to play around with them to your heart's content.
For the deep-cut retrotech enthusiasts among us, I call your attention to the Electronics section, but there's a lot here to enjoy.
The Deep Ark
The Deep Ark is an eight hour plus mix of 1990's Warp Records "Electronic Listening Music" and related beats. [more inside]
The End of the Administrative State
"The Supreme Court on Friday reduced the authority of executive agencies, sweeping aside a longstanding legal precedent that required courts to defer to the expertise of federal administrators in carrying out laws passed by Congress. The precedent, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, is one of the most cited in American law. There have been 70 Supreme Court decisions relying on Chevron, along with 17,000 in the lower courts. The decision threatens regulations in countless areas, including the environment, health care and consumer safety." Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Doctrine, Imperiling an Array of Federal Rules (NYT; archive) [more inside]
Everything we have is going to go to Ukraine until their needs are met.
A round-up of links inside on the Russia-Ukraine war. Today is day 848 of the invasion. [more inside]
The only recording of Shirley Jackson
“It is possible, thanks to the magic of the internet. In 1960, five years before her death, Shirley Jackson recorded readings of “The Lottery” and “The Daemon Lover” for an outfit called Folkways Records—the only time we know of that she ever recorded performances of her own work.”