Mastodawn

"I hope you're doing well!" starts a spam solicitation addressed to one of the authors in my catalog. Normally I ignore these, but I was a bit tempted today to respond with "Well, other than being dead since 1933, I'm doing all right..."

John Mark Ockerbloom 13h ago

Running across multiple "AI summaries" at academic publishers. One was on a Springer journal article-- *above* the abstract, which should ideally be a summary of its own, written by someone who actually knows what the article says. The other was on a Bristol University Press open access book. It's not clear to me whether the authors of the works in question are good with this.

John Mark Ockerbloom 14h ago

Zack Whittaker 14h ago

The FCC ban will affect the import of all new, foreign-made consumer routers, according to the agency's chair Brendan Carr. But the FCC did not provide evidence to show that U.S.-made consumer routers are more secure than routers developed overseas.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/fcc-bans-import-of-new-consumer-routers-made-overseas-citing-security-risks/

FCC bans import of new consumer routers made overseas, citing security risks | TechCrunch

The FCC ban will affect the import of all new, foreign-made consumer routers, the agency's head Brendan Carr said.

TechCrunch

John Mark Ockerbloom 15h ago

Joseph Cox 16h ago

This is wild: a company is secretly scanning the internet for Zoom meeting links and turning them into AI-generated podcasts for $$$. Some meeting participants only found out after we told them. Included meeting on protecting kids from ICE, was supposed to be private https://www.404media.co/this-company-is-secretly-turning-your-zoom-calls-into-ai-podcasts/

This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts

WebinarTV hosts 200,000 “webinars.” A Zoom call you may thought was private might be one of them.

404 Media

John Mark Ockerbloom 1d ago

The demographic breakdown of this survey is interesting. The majority of Americans have preferred larger houses and lots in spread-out areas since Pew started asking (with that preference peaking in 2021).

Groups preferring smaller houses and lots in denser, walkable areas include Asians (by the widest margin of mentioned groups), Black people (slightly), postgrads, urban residents, Democrats, and ages 18-29. Interest also rises, but not to a majority, at ages 65+: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/19/majority-of-americans-prefer-spread-out-communities-with-big-houses/

Majority of Americans prefer spread-out communities with big houses

55% of Americans say they would prefer to live in a community where houses are larger and farther away from amenities – compared to 44% who say the opposite.

Pew Research Center

John Mark Ockerbloom 1d ago

J.R. Johnson 5d ago

The New Nebula Award Finalists

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association has released its list of finalists for the new Nebula Awards. These are some of the best stories, movies, games and more from 2025, and a great way to boost your to be read list. If you’re an SFWA member you have until April 15th to vote on your favorites.

The list is available in lots of places but I’ll link to Andrew Liptak’s site because he has already done the work of finding links for the stories that are available online. Thanks, Andrew!

I’ll copy the short stories here, but click through to Andrew’s site for links to the novelettes and more. And do I love that many of the top short story markets are open access? I do!

Here are the finalists for the 2026 Nebula Awards

Best Short Story

“Through the Machine” by P.A. Cornell (Lightspeed Magazine, 5/25)
“Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, 1-2/25)
“In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld Magazine 4/25)
“The Tawlish Island Songbook of the Dead” by E.M. Linden (PodCastle 2/18/25)
“Because I Held His Name Like a Key” by Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons 6/16/25)
“Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots 5/25)

I’ve only read a couple of these stories so this promises to be a treat. Happy reading everyone!

* * *

Photo by Enis Can Ceyhan on Unsplash #365Ways #365Ways2026 #freeFiction #inspiration #NebulaAwards #reading #SFWA #toBeRead #Writers #writing

John Mark Ockerbloom 5d ago

RE: https://teh.entar.net/@ckape/116252324508774527

This particular clipping appears to be from the San Antonio Daily Light of April 4, 1898: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86090439/1898-04-04/ed-1/?sp=4&r=0.459,0.819,0.494,0.233,0. There are earlier newspaper articles as well (such as this one from the Kansas City Journal: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86063615/1898-03-20/ed-1/?sp=8&r=-0.018,0.913,0.714,0.337,0 ), with the original story apparently from the Philadelphia TImes, according to one citation. I haven't found the Times's article online, though; has anyone turned that up?

John Mark Ockerbloom 6d ago

Dorothea Salo 6d ago

Via @hedgielib, a beautifully savage satire: https://puregenius.education/

I raise my glass to whoever's responsible for this. WELL DONE.

The World's First Fully Automated Genius System

Experience the future of education with PureGenius - an AI-powered learning platform that unlocks every student's potential. Sign up for early access today.

John Mark Ockerbloom Mar 17

Steph (crisis version)Mar 17

The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to some less-than-deserving recipients over the years (understatement). But in honour of St Patrick's Day, here's some homework for you on two recipients who did, in fact, deserve the prize.

https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/laureates/1998

You can read the entirety of the Good Friday Agreement online. For such an incredibly important document, it isn't that long.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-belfast-agreement

1998 - Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize

John Mark Ockerbloom Mar 17

Nelson Mar 17

I'll be attending this Philly Mastodon Migration Party a week from Wednesday to represent Jawns.club and invite people to join our server (among other options). There will be several activities to help people socialize while learning the basics of the fediverse.

This post may only reach people already on fedi, but if you have friends who are not here yet, this could be a fun way to get them on board, so please spread the word.

https://www.phillyethics.org/event-details/zuck-off

#Philly #Philadelphia #JoinMastodon