If you're active in an NGO, charity or civil society, ask for a copy of your organisation's bylaws and policies if they're not online already.
Bylaws should be easily interpreted by most literate people as a blueprint of how to run the organisation.
It's okay that some articles are open to interpretation as long as it is possible to appeal decisions to a tribunal process — but if things look intentionally cryptic or aren't being followed then find someone you trust to help with that.
rambling about tech, culture, and other random shit
Stepping outside of tech and academic research has shown me a very different view of culture, namely one that runs on Word, copy-and-paste, Google Drive, and everything that isn't git+{markdown,latex}+{vscode,sublime,*} sort of life.
That view has me more scared than ever about the negative impact of AI hype trains.
rambling about tech, culture, and other random shit
Every kind of word processor has pretty much moved to more and more proprietary formats, more and more online-only and subscription-based, and thus correspondingly more towards a model in which your word processor is *the* gateway via which you can view your own work.
That kind of capture puts creative work directly in the sights of AI exploitation.
rambling about tech, culture, and other random shit
That's not to say that I necessarily think that Word or Google Docs or Zoho or whichever trains AI on everything you write. The legal implications of that alone are staggering to contemplate.
What I do mean is that creative work is more and more in someone else's database. If they're not training on your work now, how long until a slump quarter makes that look really attractive?
CW-boost: hamas, caps, assassination
Today's video is all about shitposting! What's the difference between a shitpost and misinformation? What do researchers have to say about shitposting? Is shitposting just for fascists, or can the Left play, too? And finally, DID JD Vance fuck a couch? https://skepchick.org/2024/07/jd-vance-the-couch-the-ethics-of-sposting/
@jonny hot new idea: in order to pass your PhD, you need to write a Simple Wikipedia entry version of your thesis and run it by an actual layperson.
eupol, petition, Stop Destroying Videogames
Instead of going on holidays, I am going to teach myself #medieval woodturning. As a first step, I finished the chisel.
You often see medieval woodturners at festivals, but they all use modern gouches and a tool rest.
Medieval lathes do not have tool rests, and the chisels are shaped totally different from modern ones. That tells me that the whole manner of wood turning was totally different from today.
The chisel was forged by Smederij Zwolle, and I made the grip myself from spalted beech.
hawright y'all, it is time for me to testify about my existence and experiences on the fediverse as a queer person of color in the almost 2 years i've been here.
i am finna put up this request right up front and at the end of my thread: if you white and you're reading this, please do me a favor and keep the groveling/apologizing to yourselves. i've seen and heard enough of that shit here on other POC's posts/threads about this very subject. just please hush and listen, like we been telling y'all for eons now. you can learn a lot by simply listening to others and their experiences without putting in yr two cents, even if yr intentions are meant to be good.
we good? good.
okay, here i go~ 🧵👇🏾
LAPD's budget is $1.3 billion dollars, annually. For one year they moved $11 million of that (0.8%) to a basic income guarantee experiment that dramatically improved quality of life for 3600 people in LA by giving them $1000 a month. Like all basic income guarantee programs it is ending with no sign of sustained funding. LAPD's budget will increase by ~$75 million this year.
Every time.
@mynameistillian Charities can get in the way of solving the problems they are designed to address, because their existance relies on it. That, and often because they're being funded to support industry. Medical charities can transfer money into medical services, Homeless charities can be used to pretend they are the solution to homelessness instead of addressing the housing market etc
that's not to say no charities do good things, of course. many do. it's just that capitalism co-opts kindness
Does AI entice people to buy?
No. No it does not. People are less likely to buy things when AI is a part of the product description.
One thing we're focusing on in our NSF POSE "ecosystem discovery" interviews is what makes someone trust a data source, and separately how they built trust with their own downstream users / audience.
Interestingly, a lot of folks recognize that they choose who & what data to trust largely based on institutional affiliation, but don't highlight that as a key to others trusting *them*
Technical debt collector and general hype-hater. Early 30s, non-binary, ND, poly, relationship anarchist, generally queer.
Sometimes horny on main (behind CW), very much into kink (bondage, freeuse, CNC, and other stuff), and believe it or not, very much a submissive bottom :p
Feel free to flirt, but if you want to actually meet up and/or do something with me, lewd or otherwise, please tell me explicitly or I won't realize :) I'm generally very open to that sort of thing!
Further boundaries: boosts are OK (including for lewd posts), DMs are open. But the devil doesn't need an advocate; I'm not interested in combative arguing in my mentions. I am however happy to explain things in-depth when asked non-combatively.
My spoons are limited, so I may not always have the energy to respond to messages.
Strong views about abolishing oppression, hierarchy, agency, and self-governance - but I also trust people by default and give them room to grow, unless they give me reason not to. That all also applies to technology and how it's built.