Mastodawn

“In my work with the (Nuremberg Trial) defendants, I was searching for the nature of evil, and I now think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy ... a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”

Captain G.M. Gilbert, US Army

Robrodie Nov 2

Nonilex Nov 1

In US first, #NewMexico launches #free #childcare for all

Saturday NM became the first #US state to offer free child care to all residents in a bid to boost its #economy & lift #education & #ChildWelfare levels…

NM Gov Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) told reporters #child #care was "the backbone of creating a system of support for families that allows them to work, to go to college, to do all the things they need to do to continue to lift New Mexico out of #poverty."

#law
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-first-new-mexico-launches-free-child-care-all-2025-11-01/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

Robrodie Nov 2

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂Nov 2

Dear Fedi friends,

If you can set aside 11 minutes today, I highly encourage to watch @vkc's latest video: "I stream nothing, and I am happy."

🔗: https://tinkerbetter.tube/w/ns3WDZZgAoe1SfrDCAUrni

It is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT and should be shown in media literacy and digital literacy classes everywhere. Actually, everyone should watch it (I'm about to send it to my family and friends).

My favorite part comes up towards the end. Veronica eloquently explains (9 min 27 sec in):

"I feel like we owe it to ourselves and to those who follow us to try and break free of algorithms, which tell us what we should like, who we should believe, and how we should feel about it.

It may sound melodramatic and maybe it is, but I see the increased dependence on algorithmically-driven entertainment as a symptom of that larger problem: uber-convenience that separates us from our critical thinking.

We're learning to abandon reason for small decisions, and wouldn't you know it, now it's easier to ignore reasons for the larger ones.

I'm not here to tell you what to think. I was raised in a "mind-your-own-damn-business" household and that's where my head is at. But I do want to implore all of us to think critically about how streaming media, autoplay, and the algorithm are impacting us."

I'm super proud to be a backer of her Patreon and I cannot thank her enough for this incredible video... which comes at the perfect time, as I was already planning to set up #Jellyfin next week.

If you can, join me in supporting Veronica's work here: https://www.patreon.com/VeronicaExplains

#DigitalLiteracy #BigTech #SelfHosting #independence #resist #MediaLiteracy

I stream nothing, and I am happy.

PeerTube

Robrodie May 2, 2024

Jason Koebler May 2, 2024

The publisher of a small imprint of roleplaying games magazines/speculative fiction shuts down after 22 years because their submissions have been flooded with AI to the extent they cannot wade through them:

“The problem with AI is the people who use AI. These are people who think their ‘ideas’ are more important than the actual craft of writing, so they churn out all these ‘ideas’ and enter their idea prompts and think the output is a story.”

https://www.404media.co/bards-and-sages-closing-ai-generated-writing/

Flood of AI-Generated Submissions ‘Final Straw’ for Small 22-Year-Old Publisher

“The problem with AI is the people who use AI. They don't respect the written word,” the founder of Bards and Sages said.

404 Media

Robrodie May 2, 2024

evacide May 2, 2024

I cannot overstate how dangerous to free speech and a healthy democracy it is to redefine all anti-Zionism and criticism of the state of Israel as antisemitism. You know who's loudly critical of Zionism and the Israeli govt? Jews. A lot of Jews.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/608308/gop-democrats-antisemitism-campus-israel/

Why top Democrats oppose bipartisan bill targeting antisemitism in universities

The GOP-led Antisemitism Awareness Act mandates the Department of Education to use contested definition of antisemitism.

The Forward

Robrodie Jan 25, 2024

stux⚡️Jan 24, 2024

C’mon hooman, try an catch it

Robrodie Oct 10, 2023

Cameron MacLeod May 8, 2023

UPDATE: the govt killed it a month later: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-scraps-brossard-traffic-light-that-rewards-good-driving-says-it-wasn-t-consulted-1.6456678

This. Is. Amazing.

Montréal suburb has a school zone traffic light that only turns green when its camera detects a car driving under the speed limit.

The light is on a 90-day trial, on a 2-lane residential street. Similar signals are widespread in Europe.

Before installation, vehicles averaged 40 km/h. But in the past week, average speed has dropped to 29 km/h.

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/05/05/steal-this-idea-in-quebec-a-new-traffic-light-only-turns-green-for-safe-drivers/

#Montreal #VisionZero #WalkTO #BIkeTO

Quebec scraps Brossard traffic light that rewards good driving, says it wasn't consulted

A pilot project meant to improve pedestrian safety on a street on Montreal's South Shore came to an abrupt end last week, barely days after it was put in place.

Montreal

Robrodie Oct 10, 2023

jerry Oct 9, 2023

In my neighborhood. Sarcastic, subtle, serious.