Mastodawn

Information Is Beautiful Jun 2

Greg Linden Jun 17

@jofr AI expert Rodney Brooks has an excellent set of predictions on AI along with discussion of why some of this is so difficult that is well worth a read:
https://rodneybrooks.com/predictions-scorecard-2025-january-01/

Predictions Scorecard, 2025 January 01 – Rodney Brooks

0×4a6f4672 Jun 13

sjvn Jun 13

Want to see my fossil collection?

0×4a6f4672 Jun 13

An #AI #agent in 9 lines of code
https://sketch.dev/blog/agent-loop

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of an LLM Agent Loop with Tool Use

How a simple loop enables powerful AI assistants

sketch.dev

0×4a6f4672 Jun 7

Lydia Pintscher Jun 7

Want to work on the best knowledge there is? We have an opening for a software engineer on the @wikidata team!
https://wikimedia-deutschland.career.softgarden.de/jobs/56640059/Software-Engineer-Wikidata-all-genders-/

#wikidata #getfedihired

Software Engineer (Wikidata) (all genders) – Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.

We are looking for: Software Engineer (Wikidata) (all genders), Full or Part Time, Berlin

Software Engineer (Wikidata) (all genders) – Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.

0×4a6f4672 Jun 2

Love these population density spike maps
by https://www.instagram.com/researchremora/?hl=en

Jen Sorensen 4d ago

A recent comic on the US giving international tourists the Big Brother treatment

#comic #cartoon #uspol #travel #firstamendment #privacy

Elf Burgerman 4d ago

@jensorensen
Are international holiday-makers still visiting the U.S. regularly or just for a special brand of disaster tourism?

Alex P Roe 4d ago

@elfburgerman @jensorensen Yup, some still are - some friends of ours have just got back from NYC - they are not political so don’t appear to have had problems.

@elfburgerman @jensorensen

DB Schwein 3d ago

@alex_p_roe

"not political" - so white or white passing I take it. The deportations have little to nothing do with politics, and everything to do with identity.

@deirdrebeth @elfburgerman @jensorensen Color is correct - not political in the sense that they don’t really comment on politics or political situations so are unlikely to have stuff on social media that is critical or mocks the Trump regime.

Elf Burgerman 3d ago

@alex_p_roe @deirdrebeth
https://social.growyourown.services/@FediTips/114767718644870318
The same goes for replying to a reply.

Fedi.Tips (@FediTips@social.growyourown.services)

If you want to reply to a thread but just want to reply to the original poster who started it, delete the other account addresses mentioned in your reply. If you're on a computer and using Mastodon through a web browser, you can do this ultra-quickly by just pressing backspace before you write the reply. By default the addresses of people other than the original poster are highlighted, so pressing backspace removes them. (Thanks to @MartinEscardo@mathstodon.xyz for the backspace tip 👍 ) #FediTips #Mastodon

social.growyourown.services

StoneBear

4d ago

@elfburgerman @jensorensen Let's put it this way: DON'T GO IN THERE.

just DON'T.

I say that as someone with a shiny blue passport and increasing trepidation to use it in front of the above jackholes...

DON'T. You might be just fine, but if you aren't, you're gonna be like Charlie on the MTA, you'll Never Return, and your Fate Is Still Unlearned...

Go to Canada. Go to the Netherlands, Germany, PARIS for pity's sake, if you haven't been to Paris, wait until fall when the crowds and the heat die and GO TO PARIS, I went in the spring and I *bitterly* regret not having gone sooner.

PARIS. The one in France, not the one in Texass. Fais-le.

StoneBear

4d ago

@elfburgerman @jensorensen See also: https://mstdn.ca/@NMBA/114761958171393203

Sweet Home Alaberta 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇲🇽 (@NMBA@mstdn.ca)

Attached: 2 images He (is a British permanent resident in Canada) has served in the British Parachute Regiment (SFSG) and has also served alongside U.S. forces under Joint Special Operations Command. “I operated under U.S. command, wore the American uniform, and fought under the American flag. I’ve always felt a strong bond with the United States,” he told National Post. “I have no criminal record and no known issues that would justify this denial.” #CdnPoli #ElbowsUp

Mastodon Canada

@elfburgerman @jensorensen

Whitney Loblaw 3d ago

"Based on preliminary data [...], international visits to the United States fell approximately 14% in March 2025 compared to the same period last year."

"Every 1% drop in international visitor spending = $1.8 billion lost in export revenue annually. If this 14% decline were to hold through 2025, the U.S. stands to lose $21 billion in travel-related exports."

https://www.ustravel.org/us-travel-snapshot-april-2025

U.S. Travel Snapshot April 2025

U.S. Travel Association

Huntn00 4d ago

@jensorensen This might be funny, even farcical, except in a state of reality it’s completely dismal and depressing.
Grats to Supreme Leader though for torpedoing US Tourism. Especially all of our resorts, properties, and border towns of the MAGOT persuasion, who rely on tourism, you deserve this more than anyone. How about a big cheer for TheHeadMAGOT? 🤔

Alex P Roe 4d ago

@Huntn00 @jensorensen Never thought I’d see the day that the USA turned to the dark side. Am surprised nobody saw this coming even if Republicans have been heading in this direction for decades. No stopping them it seems.

Huntn00 4d ago

@alex_p_roe @jensorensen My only request is that you keep in mind that most here (uSA) are against fascism, but collectively we must get off out butts and participate in a positive way, not sit home dreaming racist fantasies about the good ‘ole days, turn off their racism and look to a future that does not destroy us. 😐

@Huntn00 @alex_p_roe @jensorensen

emeritrix 4d ago

FYI, People in the US are largely opposed to the current regime, and millions are turning out for marches (symbolic, but something) but more targeted actions are having some impact https://www.teslatakedown.com/
and many, many people are risking arrest and braving the police and their actions are not being well reported.

E.g., Police arresting elders & disabled people in wheelchairs protesting the loss of their health insurance
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/medicaid-wheelchair-protesters-arrested/

police arresting a veteran and taking his walker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_tgux5pAn0

police beating ICE protesters into critical condition
https://www.facebook.com/Nerdletta/posts/pfbid0tuJsYVawMhet1ckeEdihAXTk3o2PbknnxqsGPqCcsEhehdqQ3JgNmzkqPdLxRiu5l

It's true that organization is not good, & traumatized people are not so good at handling internal conflicts https://organizingmythoughts.org/from-aspiration-to-action-organizing-through-exhaustion-grief-and-uncertainty/

But I don't think it's fair to suggest most are sitting home and indulging racist nostalgia.

It's true the USA has a long history of dark side, but I think even the Trump voters are mostly more duped than dastardly, more frustrated than fascist.

(Not that there aren't dastards & fascists who have been working on this plan for decades, they're just not the majority)

Tesla Takedown | Take action at Tesla showrooms everywhere.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. No one is coming to save us—not politicians, not the media.

Tesla Takedown

Huntn00 4d ago

@anarchademic @alex_p_roe @jensorensen Yes I know. My ‘sit home dreaming racist fantasies’ was directed at the others. I’m encouraged by the protests but I’ll maintain that collectively we must do more than we’re doing. Showing our MAGA Reps they’ll be out soon and actually doing it would be wonderful. :)

@Huntn00 @alex_p_roe @jensorensen

emeritrix 3d ago

Agree that it's not enough until it's enough!

Huntn00 3d ago

@anarchademic @alex_p_roe @jensorensen More citizens must… here comes that word The Right has turned into villainy: ‘Wake’ The Fuck Up and turn on their carpetbagging leadership that many of them elected for the wrong, short sided, prejudicial, ‘they’ll screw over everyone but ❤️ me’ reasons.
Wake up , smell the sewage, learn the meaning of manipulation, deception and double edged swords, (not you) and see what happens in the midterms, if there are midterms. 😳

@Huntn00 @anarchademic @jensorensen Hope it happens. I guess I’m not alone in wondering whether mid terms will actually happen. Trump will dream up some way of calling them off, I strongly suspect…unless he can manipulate them.

@alex_p_roe Many of us saw this coming a very long time ago, and have been pushing back for decades. Just not enough of us.

What we didn't know until much more recently is HOW MANY of our fellow citizens genuinely love this -- how hateful and ignorant they are. It's terrifying.

@wesdym Well, the party which should have been pushing back - the Democratic Party didn’t push back anywhere near hard enough - indeed, it more or less embraced #neoliberalism and has never really been truly left wing anyway. Moderate Americans are paying the price now.

@alex_p_roe The key problem with both major parties right now is dependence on very rich donors. That needs to stop, for both of them.

The richest people are just playing a giant chess game now, and the rest of us are getting dragged along. I'd say what remains of major differences between the two major parties is that the GOP is now all-in for oligarchy, and Dems are opposed to it.

@wesdym Rich donors have been a problem for a while - I learnt this from an American I once knew. Not only rich people but also rich corporations that tell politicos what to do.

@alex_p_roe We used to have caps on campaign spending, with the hope of enforcing a more even playing field. But 15 years ago, SCOTUS ruled these caps unconstitutional, equating campaign funds with free speech. Very obviously, though, some have much more of this special kind of free speech than most others. Many of us believe that has perverted our politics, helping us to where we are now.

To undo this would require another ruling reversing that one, but I'm not hopeful.

@wesdym Yup, a flaw of the US system is the make up of #SCOTUS - now the conservative judges are in the majority, they can dictate what is and isn’t allowed and they are doing just that in many cases - granting Trump effective immunity for whatever he does was just the start.

@alex_p_roe It's not merely 'conservative' or not, but the KIND of conservative. Those of the past were more level-headed. It was Kennedy, after all, who authored Obergefell. But today's C. judges are often just nuts, hopelessly corrupt, or viciously fascist. It's a new and terrifying breed; they just don't seem to consider or care what happens in the long run, so long as 'their side' "wins" in the shorter term.

@wesdym Yup, you are right - the current lot of supposedly conservative judges is a bunch of extremists not totally unlike the Taliban! Am surprised the Bar does not rein them in - they are giving the legal profession a very bad name as well as ruining the rule of law.

caffeinatedgeek 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦🇨🇦

4d ago

@jensorensen sadly accurate in MAGAland.

Kid Mania 4d ago

@jensorensen
While this cartoon is amusing, it should be pointed out this is All Too True.

Seriously,
DO NOT TRAVEL TO THE UNITED STATES.
☠️ 🇺🇸 ☠️

Techsorcist 4d ago

@jensorensen Off to South Sudan with that monster!

DC Deejay 🇨🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦4d ago

@jensorensen Another 🏆

Doug Jayne 4d ago

@jensorensen it's a gross attack against protected speech. Also related, tho I disagree with most libertarian talking points, they absolutely nailed how few rights you have at an American border. That applies to US citizens as well.

Antti 4d ago

@jensorensen Obviously we need millions and millions and millions of tourists on US borders with “questionable” content about the orange guy on their phones.

Edit: preferably exactly at the same time.

erica_sea55 4d ago

@jensorensen no ways would they let me in…but no ways would I go there

Tuckers Nuts Resist! 🇺🇦 4d ago

@jensorensen
Eye boost 4 Jen Sorensen!

morfil (any)4d ago

@jensorensen aren't comics supposed to exaggerate reality?

Hugo Mills 4d ago

@jensorensen All part of the War Against Tourism. (And everyone else).

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/huntington-park-border-patrol-agents-door-explosion/3734095/

Diane 4d ago

@jensorensen

Kind of related to treating everyone as a terrorist.

One week a guy rear-ended an ICE vehicle, he says accidentally, ICE says on purpose.

ICE retaliated by blowing up his front door.

Video shows federal agents blast their way into Huntington Park home

Video shows federal agents blast their way into a Huntington Park home during a law enforcement operation.

NBC Southern California

Nazani 4d ago

@jensorensen
I can't imagine that humans are doing the screening; it will be AI looking for keywords.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-27/are-you-from-california-political-advisor-said-he-was-detained-at-airport-after-confirming-hes-from-la

Dave Rahardja 4d ago

@jensorensen It’s happening to US citizens too.

'Are you from California?' Political advisor said he was detained at airport after confirming he's from L.A.

Longtime L.A. political consultant Rick Taylor was returning from a weeklong vacation in Turks and Caicos with his wife and daughter when he was held by Customs and Border Protection for 45 minutes without reason.

Los Angeles Times