Werd I/O

“When popular culture thinks of Blackness, rarely does somebody think of a tiny little town or a mountainside and the Black person who’s there. I want to be a part of revealing that this thread—that Black skin—can be even on the side of a mountain.” #Culture

[Link]

I see this as less of a problem in cozy witch fiction - which, I must be clear, I have read zero of - and more of an issue in American fiction as a whole, across all media. These books (probably) aren't actively laundering racist ideas; they're perpetuating cultural discrimination that is under the surface everywhere. Still, it's incumbent on authors to understand and be accountable to the tropes they're building with. #Culture

[Link]

I like this approach to building graphics for journalism. Management of these kinds of static assets feels like a cumulative problem, but lightweight HTML / CSS / JS is pretty portable and sandboxable. And ACF is the hidden hero behind journalism's WordPress sites. #Media

[Link]

Different AI models have different political biases. Google's tend to be more socially conservative - possibly in part because they were trained on books rather than the wider internet. Regardless of the cause, this is proof, again, that AI models are not objective. #AI

[Link]

That's a giant "nope" from me, but your mileage may vary. #Technology

[Link]

It's very painful to see accelerators that are also vibrant community hubs shut down because of business dynamics. I've lived that. What I can see here is someone who cares about his community. I was never a part of PIE, but I know Rick did it for the right reasons. And I know from Matter that the community continues long after the thing itself has disappeared. The legacy is long lasting. Congratulations, Rick - on to the next thing. #Technology

[Link]

“Whenever someone says, “we’ll adapt to climate change,” 100% of the time it’s a rich person. Poor people never say “we’ll adapt” because they know they can’t afford it. For them, adaptation = suffering.” That's the pull-quote for me: this won't affect everyone equally. As always, the most vulnerable, the people who are already struggling the most, will suffer the worst of it. #Climate

[Link]

This resonated with me a lot. What I'll say is: I'm glad Winnie is in the world. I know these feelings, intimately. I don't have much definitive to say about that. I haven't drawn any conclusions. It's a journey, daily. #Culture

[Link]

Black faces are overrepresented in databases used to train AI for law enforcement - and some facial recognition software used in this context fails 96% of the time. This practice is an accelerant for already deeply harmful inequities. Time to ban it. #AI

[Link]

A knockabout spy adventure that takes a few unexpected turns and sticks a landing that had me cheering. Truly a lot of fun - I inhaled it in one sitting. As always, it's deeply researched, but the detail only ever adds to the entertainment. (Without spoiling anything, I'm very familiar with some of the settings and cultural overtones, and they rang completely true.) There are knowing callbacks to some of Eliot's earlier work, but this stands alone - and could be the start of a new series that I would gladly read the hell out of. #Fiction

[Link]

It's been a long time since I've given any talks (the pandemic put a stop to that) but I really like this approach, and I'll do something similar in the future. #Technology

[Link]

None of this looks like it comes from 1969. Although some of the content is outdated today, the style is far more modern - this feels like something straight from the internet era. Fascinating and relentless (I couldn't watch the whole thing). #Culture

[Link]

A prominent writer platformed by the New York Times and Washington Post, and championed by major figures in tech, including by Marc Andreessen and the CEO of Substack, turns out to be an actual white supremacist. #Society

[Link]

Yes to all of this. These are basic functions that the web gives you almost by default. Everything on the web should let you do them. #Technology

[Link]

This is a really comprehensive history and overview of LLMs. Simon has been bringing the goods, and this talk is no exception. #AI

[Link]

Taking lean startup research techniques that were developed for basic social networks or, say, 3D avatars and transposing them to real-world domains with real consequences seems to be an ongoing trend. It's a misunderstanding of the startup playbook that causes real harm. This is obviously unethical; it is nowhere near as "nuanced" as this CEO says it is. #Health

[Link]

I broadly agree with this piece, which is a kind of rallying cry against dogmatism in open source. I think dogmatism is harmful in all parts of tech; divisive and often a kind of gatekeeping. Let authors build and release according to their needs. #Technology

[Link]

Return to Office mandates are counterproductive and destroy morale. They also make your team less productive. They’re worker-hostile and work-hostile. So why do them? #Labor

[Link]

I've traveled across America four times: three by car and one by train. I've never done it by Greyhound, and I probably never will. This country's infrastructure is falling apart and being eaten by wolves. #Society

[Link]

The broadband situation in America is surprisingly bad - so I love that there's a new version of the National Broadband Map. The Markup has done a public service by taking us through it. #Technology

[Link]

Late as it is, it's good to see this to some kind of resolution. I hope the posthumous recognition Lacks receives includes the story of how it happened in the first place. #Equality

[Link]

31 straight days of 110°F / 43°C heat. And then only a short reprieve before more of it. Ocean surface temperatures at over 90°F / 32°C. And still there are people who deny we’re in a crisis. Spoiler alert: it gets worse from here. #Climate

[Link]

The fediverse is how every major new social network will be built for the next decade, and every media company will need to have a presence. Welcome to the BBC. #Technology

[Link]

The single biggest way large entities seem to be reducing their carbon emissions is through accounting. Not by taking action to diminish the impact of the climate crisis before it’s too late; by changing some numbers on a spreadsheet. We’ve crafted an imaginary cage for ourselves where the physical world is secondary to our modeling of it. #Climate

[Link]

An enormously useful piece of informal research. Some folks will disregard this for the same reason they disregard why some people use Macs instead of Linux, and whatever. But if Mastodon wants to be an accessible network, these are all problems to solve. #Technology

[Link]