an absolutely brutal reminder that as reporters at non-worker-owned outlets, you don't own your story; your corporation does. it's their IP, not yours.

AI boosts worker productivity but not their paychecks Economists and labor researchers are increasingly asking why the gains from AI-driven productivity aren't flowing to workers

"Economists & labor researchers are increasingly asking why the gains from AI-driven productivity aren't flowing to workers"

Are they? ARE THEY? Have they not paid attention to the last 50yrs of capitalism?!

*Unions* help workers, not increased productivity
qz.com/ai-productiv...

Silicon Valley has forgotten what normal people want Did the tech industry get high on its own supply?

Counterpoint: Did it ever know?
www.theverge.com/tldr/915176/...

That is grim. The juxtaposition of the story and the layoff. I'm sorry. Although it's good to document and remember and resurface it for others.

The acronym POS will never ever mean "point of sale" to me

You know what? It's not even that the worker is being disrespectful. I take that part back. When the employer isn't showing respect for the employee and their time, the employee isn't going to bend over backward for them anymore. I think that's a more apt way to describe what's actually happening.

This is pushback from the last 25-30 yrs of corps/orgs (in the US, where there are so few labor laws) treating workers as disposable. When a company shows no loyalty or respect to the worker and their time, the worker is going to do the same

‘No one knew I was in a different time zone’: The workers who travel, play tennis, and do chores on the clock The trend is called ‘soft off days’—and it's a sign work-life balance still feels out of reach for many.

Soft off days for remote workers. I'm 100% PRO this. Get your job done, don't leave your immediate coworkers hanging, and then go live your life #work #worklife #remotework

www.fastcompany.com/91528048/no-...

I also love that she has absolutely no social media presence, as far as I could find. Her publisher links to a supposed Facebook page that doesn't exist

Reminds me of Mary Roach's social presence. She built one when her most recent book came out, made a few posts during book tour, then abandoned it

A screenshot from the linked article with the following highlighted: "Because there are all these morons making millions of dollars, so why not me? I’m smart and talented and motivated and disciplined and … talented: did I say that already?”, she laughs. “I said: fuck it. Which was also: fuck them. I was pretty hostile. I thought: I’ll show you how easy this is.”"

Went back and read that 2016 Guardian interview with Ottessa Moshfegh where she says she wrote Eileen by buying a book called The 90-Day Novel and following all its instructions. I know she got some shit for it, but honestly, she's a complete bad-ass www.theguardian.com/books/2016/s...

Ottessa Moshfegh interview: ‘Eileen started out as a joke – also I’m broke, also I want to be famous’ The books interview: the Man Booker-shortlisted author talks about writing a thriller to get noticed, exorcising her childhood and sexist critics

www.theguardian.com/books/2016/s...

Didn't we hear about this, like, two years ago?

Ah, it's the same case, but now the trial has concluded.
www.npr.org/2024/11/14/n...

UnDERrated

An unrated thing about email is, you know how you have a conversation sometimes and you think to yourself a day later "what I should have said was..." — with email, you can just wait a day, have the thought, and send the right message.

Exactly one year ago today:

Quote post with something "good" that lasted longer than the Confederacy (1861-1865)

Action Park (1978-1996)

I very nearly started writing for a new client until I read the terms of service for its CMS (which doubles as its payment system) closely. The CMS charges writers 10% of their payment

You want me to PAY A FEE to WORK FOR YOU?!

GTFO

I declined the work

the irony of having a one-on-one HR layoff meeting in the conference room with my Loki mural on it

Disappointed, though not surprised, I began to describe various life- saving components of USAID’s global health portfolio, highlighting how we prepare for and respond to emerging pandemic threats; support the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV; and immunize millions of children from the deadliest childhood diseases. I spoke for about five minutes, focusing primarily on our infectious diseases work and hoping to keep the attention of people who seemed to have no experience—or interest—in global health. When I finished, the room was silent, the political appointees looking at one another in what appeared to be disbelief. The silence was broken by Ken Jackson, who chuckled softly and shook his head. “Wow, there really is so much that USAID does that we never knew,” he said. “This is the story that needs to get out there.” Joel, also smiling, chimed in next, echoing Jackson’s amazement. “I had no idea you did all this,” he said. “As a Republican, when I think of what USAID does in global health, I assumed it was just, you know, abortions.”

This is NUTS

www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...

Politico headline: "Missouri town fires half its city council over data center deal" Residents of a St. Louis suburb turned out in droves to unseat four incumbents just days after the council approved a development agreement for a $6 billion data center.

Energy policy think tanks keep putting out proposals like "give Mark Zuckerberg sole control over our utility rates by making him America's next grid czar" and the people in Everytown, America are like "go ahead and fuckin try"

I do sometimes think it's funny that a weather app, now owned by IBM, is named after an anti-government revolutionary group who were classified as terrorists

WATCH THE NASA YOUTUBE NOW

Someone asked me if I use AI in my work as a writer

No. Unequivocally no.

1) It's not reliable for anything I do

2) Whatever value it *might* provide is not worth the water, energy & other resources it'd take to get there

"Is the potential value worth burning down a patch of rainforest?"

Nope!

Could you even imagine if those 4 astronauts on Artemis II had seen a nuclear bomb go off on Earth?

What are we doing down here?...

The alternative is to pay out of pocket and submit for reimbursement later, which I may do seeing as I cannot sink much more time into this without losing needed time for paid work

I just spent an hour trying to find the paperwork I need from my U.S. health insurance company to give to the Thai hospital that will perform routine preventative medical care

1 hour

I still don't have the forms, but I have 2 phone numbers that I can call 6 hours from now when the lines open

Part of me is excited about the space mission

Part of me is deeply sad that "scoping out potential landing sites for future robotic space missions" means someone is getting ready to send crafts to mine for rare minerals

🚨 USA v. McGrane Learn more.

🚨BREAKING: On behalf of the NAACP and the Idaho Alliance for Retired Americans , my law firm has filed a motion to intervene to oppose DOJ’s lawsuit seeking Idaho’s complete, unredacted voter registration list. www.democracydocket.com/cases/idaho-...

Will 5 Prunes a Day Save Our Bones from Osteoporosis? - Hello Gloria By Jill E. Duffy

Eating 5 prunes a day has shown some potential to halt or slow bone loss in postmenopausal women. But it's always tricky to put too much stock into the health benefits of a snack, especially when studies were sponsored by "Big Prune"

hellogloria.com/essays/will-...

You’re not wrong