Back in 2020-2021, I wrote a book about how to survive scary hard times by writing your own stories and getting lost in the imaginary worlds you create.

I feel more than ever that making up stories can help save us and keep us whole.

So this feels like good timing: Never Say You Can't Survive is just $2.99 in ebook formats for just one day.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250800022/neversayyoucantsurvive/

So, KOSA having passed in the Senate -- and now awaiting House approval -- it's evermore worth grappling with the morass this legislation may well plunge us into

here's a terrific summary by @mmasnick -- seriously worth reading, clear and simple and precise: https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/26/the-kids-online-safety-act-and-the-tyranny-of-laziness/

(via @charliejane)

two quick excerpts here, but seriously, read the whole thing

Thinking about how FEMA allocated a $3.5m grant to remove eucalyptus trees and lower fire risk in the East Bay Hills, but a local group opposed to the change sued and successfully got them to cancel the grant. https://www.berkeleyside.org/2016/09/19/fema-pulls-funding-for-tree-clearing-in-berkeley-hills

Now, residents of this same area complain that they can't get homeowner's insurance due to fire risk: https://www.berkeleyside.org/2019/09/09/insurance-companies-give-the-boot-to-berkeley-hills-homeowners-citing-fire-risk

This is a subtoot/metaphor/cry for help/something. #Berkeley

If you live in Oakland, sign this petition to move money from the OPD to street safety infrastructure improvements.

Real protected bike lanes would protect bicyclists from traffic violence. Police enforcement, in the rare cases they bother to do anything, won't turn back time after you've already gotten hurt.

#bikeTooter #VisionZero

https://www.change.org/p/help-get-safer-streets-in-oakland-sign-the-petition-here

Meta. OpenAI. Google.

Your AI chatbot is not *hallucinating*.

It's bullshitting.

It's bullshitting, because that's what you designed it to do. You designed it to generate seemingly authoritative text "with a blatant disregard for truth and logical coherence," i.e., to bullshit.