The Infinitely Prolonged

"AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations" - Corey Doctorow pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

the best media weapon bush had for selling the iraq war was not fox news or right wing radio. it was the new york times.

Young ‘uns: this stuff happened once a week during Obama’s presidency. Dijon mustard. Moving a bust of Churchill. Inviting a rapper to the White House. Putting his feet up on his desk. They’d scream and cry for days about how effete and snobby and Black he was and how misinderstood they were.

IMO these fines should have required minimums of something like 10% of the offender's market cap. Anything less simply doesn't have an impact.

a new Northwestern study found that "smart" TV makers often still spy on you even when you opt out. Vizio was particularly bad; completely ignoring opt out requests despite being fined $2.2 by the FTC in 2017 and a $17 million class action: watchingthewatchers.github.io/watchingthew...

When they tell us "there is no alternative," what they mean is "stop trying to think of alternatives." To imagine radically is to move beyond the helplessness of prediction: a radical imagination dares to insist that history is what we make, not what happens to us.

Your local mob lite bookie at least has to pretend to be a community member and may have to answer to a priest in extreme situations. God does not exist at DraftKings HQ.

Anduril and Qualcomm unveil BlueChip, a line of laptops designed and assembled in the US for defense and government; Anduril will begin taking orders in 2027 (Bloomberg) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

For the fabulously wealthy, paying taxes is pretty much optional. They can borrow against their vast wealth, which is mostly an untaxed capital gain, without paying taxes. When they die, the capital gain goes to zero. And loopholes exist to bypass the estate tax too.

One of the most important financial stories out there if you want to know how and why the same five evil guys wind up owning everything.

Listening to a report about Google chopping down a quarter of a million trees in Finland to build a data centre while washing out yoghurt pots for the recycling

We are in utterly unknown territory now. The sea surface temperature in the El Niño zone is currently tracking at 3.48°C ABOVE the 30 year baseline. Way beyond anything seen before. Brace for catastrophic impact on lives and global food supply chains.

Analysis: AI political groups have spent $78.5M on US federal candidates during the 2026 cycle; AI accelerationists spent $34M and safeguard-focused groups $39M (Luke Fountain/CNBC) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Hookland has a lot more Fully-grown Changelings than other places Nokes. You can’t be a decent detective in the county if you haven’t got a tolerance for the unconventional, for the weird. Mind you, I’d say you can’t be a decent human without acceptance for diversity. – #DICallaghan

Genuinely impressive how in a fairly short period of time, the Windows install I have on my dual-boot desktop for the occasional testing and graphics work has become much buggier, less usable, and less reliable than Desktop Gnome, which hasn't improved one iota in about a decade.

The system was designed for a government where the basic functions are run by bureaucrats, not hardcore ideological monsters. The right has totally changed this dynamic and the media will never pivot.

The administration makes releases like this understanding the mainstream media will absolutely never put it in context. It’s like saying Government Issues Alert On Possible Ghost Attacks. The first time I realized this exploit was when Bush did his terror alert bullshit.

if democrats win one of the biggest strains will be the drive to hold them accountable for holding trump and the gop acountable. every time for the last 40 years when the dems have won they took their foot off the gas and we suffered. we must push them and their boot-licking defenders.

I would say it's unbelievable too, but living in the age of "geniuses" like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, I think it's quite plausible.

the correct version of libreoffice to use now is an old one it's remarkably stable software and te ODF format is fine too dunno when the slop started showing up. but for now run 25.08 I expect

China's Star 50 index of AI and chip leaders is down by 40% in under four months, losing ~$480B in market value; chipmaker CXMT is down ~25% in the past month (Reuters) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Owners and proponents of crypto have a direct incentive to create chaos and dysfunction. Think Silicon Valley Bank, but the entire economy. They have now bought themselves into positions of great power. Hard to see how it ends well.

i am inviting anyone from a legacy media organization to explain to me why the house judiciary dems report on trump’s epstein’s ties and multiple allegations of rape isn’t worthy of extensively reporting on. i’m serious. i want to understand.

It’s just so appalling and enraging how casual and commonplace this has become. I’m out of words.

they don’t need your money anymore, that’s what they’re signaling with this they don’t give a shit that you like libreoffice or that you use it at all they saw your applause and it made them angry because you were applauding the wrong thing

Ahead of US midterms, ChatGPT draws images "depicting election interference or that may discourage voting" in a cartoon style, ignoring photorealism requests (Katelyn Chedraoui/CNET) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Astonishing: Maxwell was willing to tell Blanche about some of Trump's rapes, and he ordered her not to. "Let's not talk about inviduals." WTF were they there to talk about? There's EVIDENCE on this.

About this H5N1 mink farm in Utah. It is REALLY dangerous to let bird flu spread unchecked through mammals, esp minks. They have similar susceptibility & respiratory physiology as us. Flu can adapt to human hosts by adapting to mink respiratory tracts. rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-party-...

I'm not saying crime doesn't matter now, or conditions on the subway but I'm also saying there are some people who will freak out at the sight of any unhoused person anywhere and it is tiresome AF when you remember guys jerking off at Charles / MGH on the regular.

An early look at forecast high temperatures on Halloween shows well above normal departures in shades of pumpkin orange across much of the central and eastern U.S. Check your local forecast at weather.gov

I might save time if I dumped words into a LLM to spit other words back out. But I wouldn't know the material. I wouldn't connect concepts, identify cause and effect, have lightbulb moments weaving seemingly disparate threads into a tapestry of understanding that I can then apply to new challenges.

This is why it has to be abolished and torn apart because if it's left "reformed" the next Republican administration will revive it.

I think we underestimate the appeal of antigambling politics because every problem gambler is surrounded by 3-10 people who are absolutely sick of their shit.

But, much like we've seen with anyone else who's fallen down the "AI Art" slophole, He doesn't want to make art, but to *have made* art. To wave his hand and have all the prestige that comes with making a thing, JUST LIKE he thought the Blue Check *gave* legitimacy, instead of recognizing it.

The president is insane and should be impeached and removed. I'm done with the "very wise" Democrats/pundits who shrug and say there's no point because a dozen Republicans will defend this, no matter what. We don't even know if that's true. It's never been tested at this level.

@fasterandworse “but zzt aren’t all phones intentional e-waste” yeah cute but this thing is literally designed to break fast and have zero resale value

it is so unspeakably grim

Obama: the Cheesecake Factory is alright, but isn’t it a little tacky to model the White House after it? Trump: how dare he say that, the Cheesecake Factory is a garbage place for garbage people Anti-anti-Trumpers: how dare Obama insult such a pillar of mainstream American culture??

Trump: "We'll never be a manufacturing c**t, company -- uh -- country again"

These people don’t want to win; they don’t even want to persuade. They want a world where they are a pure and rarified elite, with none of the responsibilities of actual power, only the smug gratification of being right.

Higher gas prices have cost the average American family almost $1000 more this year. All because of Trump’s decision to enter the Iran war with no clear strategy, and no plan to get out. But new financial disclosure forms show Trump is profiting from it hand over fist. And bragging about it.