We'll do almost anything to avoid building actual trains.

Increasingly convinced that American Evangelicalism is just the right-wing version of Oberlin Wicca: The lifestyle brand for a political identity, invoking the aesthetic of, but otherwise fundamentally unrelated to, a real historical religion.

can't stop thinking about how casually these monsters are dismantling everything good and useful the government does in a year and a half and comparing it to Joe Biden who couldn't even manage to fire Louis DeJoy in four

This is the fundamentally false premise that people believe, despite all evidence to the contrary.🤷🏿‍♂️

The truth is:

1) Negative, divisive content, is not the most engaging content. It's not close.

2) Algorithms reward negative, divisive content, because billionaires buy platforms and make it so.

Here’s another example. I don’t know how to code, but I used AI to make a bathroom pass app. I explained to ChatGPT that I wanted a pass system in which a student scanned a code and received an email pass, and that I needed a spreadsheet at the end of the day that told me when and where students had gone. I asked ChatGPT to write it for Google’s Apps Script, so I was able to create the app without any conceptual knowledge of what I was doing. This does raise some issues concerning accuracy and especially long-term maintenance. I am trying to be more intentional about what AI generates. I appreciate that AI lets me build things I couldn’t have otherwise; I just want to be thoughtful about how I use it.

Honeychile if the issues raised for you by vibecoding a digital surveillance app for children's visits to the bathroom have to do with "long term maintenance", you could be making a hell of a lot more money at Palantir.

It's striking how, despite Trump now having been a prominent/dominant force in US and global politics for 12 years, US media coverage still treats him as a neophyte learning lessons from the previous 48hr news cycle, rather than an unstable man with deeply set cognitive and behavioral patterns.

There's nothing more pathetic than people who think a demented old pedophile threatening to commit war crimes and abolish the constitution is A Strong Man. He's a rich kid who inherited money and became a reality TV star.

I can't believe there are adults who don't think Trump is a fucking loser.

Every chance they get Democrats should speculate that Trump fired Bondi because she was about to follow the law & release the rest of the Epstein files.

Epstein files have lost a bit of news momentum. It needs to get back to previous levels of attention.

Just a note that Noem and Bondi weren't fired for their evil actions.
They were fired for not being evil enough.

I got lots of problems with these people but one of the biggest complaints I have is none of them know any of the pop culture references they keep using in memes. This guy literally threw the detonator out the window so no one would die

Lots of tech dudes think the "idea" is the important part of creating, not the creative journey you take through work to give that idea actual meaning. Ideas are the easiest, cheapest and least fulfilling part of it. Giving ideas life through work, and sharing that work with others, is the stuff.

What’s behind the global push to ban social media for kids It started in Australia. Now dozens of countries are working on laws to keep younger kids away from social media. But do they really work?

Info you provide to verify your age online is shared with intermediaries that collect and process your info, EFF’s @davidgreene.bsky.social told @csmonitor.bsky.social. “That raises very serious privacy and speech concerns both for young people and for adults.” www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-...

“I’m a lifelong fan of musical theater, but it’s always bothered me that they feel the need to sing all the time. I just want to see them walk around the stage and talk calmly to each other”

Made the call a while ago that I won’t be writing much about the series itself, but it was important to spell things out now that Warner Bros. is cranking the hype machine up

I don't see Democrats understanding it either. It's barely shifted their overall behavior, still too scared to take a stand even though a nation that only rarely shows up in the streets keeps showing up there in the millions.

I am constantly amazed at how many people have totally internalized the blatantly false belief that Section 230 was premised on platforms being "neutral" when the ENTIRE point of it was the opposite, that they shouldn't have to be.

The signs say "no kings", but the credit cards in the gas pumps keep saying "YES KINGS! ANYTHING YOU WANT KINGS!"

I remember that @mikedesocio.com did an article for the Business Review about his experience on Bike to Work Day back in 2018. It would be good to see something like that from the @timesunion.com

How high would gas have to go to make you take the bus? Times Union reporter Larry Rulison took the bus to work. It was surprisingly pleasant, cheap and a nice break from gas prices inching toward $4 a gallon.

I wonder if we could encourage Larry Rulison to start riding a bike to work. #BikeToWork day is in May, so he's got time to prepare.

www.timesunion.com/business/art...

This was a fun (quick) read.

And I completely agree with the author: reading in public is a great joy, and more of us should be doing it.

Remember when USPS had a contract to buy a fleet of EVs and Trump made them cancel it and go back to gas?

If I knew viewing Guernica would put money directly into the pockets of a still living Pablo Picasso, who had announced publicly that he would be using that money to terrorize, harm, and kill women, not only would I not go view Guernica, it would fundamentally change the meaning of Guernica as art.

An Albany pastor has been accused of rape. Police believe there could be more victims Bienvenido Lopez, 75, was arrested Thursday by Albany city police in connection with a sexual assault investigation.

@caseyseiler.bsky.social did your editor miss something here? The article references "the church" but no church is specified in the article. It seems like it would be helpful information, especially since police are looking for other potential victims.

www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Hochul pushes ban on 3D technology used to make guns Gov. Kathy Hochul continues to push for regulating 3D printers in the state, though her administration acknowledged difficulties with implementation.

This is a terrible law and every official quoted shows a lack of understanding of the technology they're trying to regulate. Their goals are noble, but their ignorance is despicable.

www.timesunion.com/state/articl...

The best way to fuck up Facebook and protect children's mental health is to pass strong, comprehensive privacy legislation that protects EVERYONE, kids and adults, and cuts off the surveillance that powers algorithmic harm.

But you know Congress is gonna use this to push censorship bills instead

Business owners should be begging to eliminate street parking so their storefronts are actually visible to passersby.

You create real curb appeal with green space and bike parking, not a wall of metal. Cars literally block your existence.

The NYPD preliminary expense budget for FY27 is $6.7 billion but really the budget all told will be over $11 billion.

We are trying to get them to fund the public libraries at $635 million.

I've said it before: I genuinely consider it a moral imperative that people my age and up bang the drum about what the Internet used to be so those younger know that there's nothing inherent about what it is now. The Internet doesn't have to be this; its culture can and has belonged to people.

The Golem and the Jinni