Lou Katz @lou@entropyservice.com

Immigrants take the jobs Americans don't want, like being married to Trump and Vance.

(Edit: Usha Vance was born in San Diego. Sorry.)

I'm just a girl, standing in front of Mastodon, begging its users to stop giving me advice I have not explicitly asked for.

@teajaygrey @brouhaha If the battery loses power the smog sensors lose state. The process for re-generating it is somewhat complex for our Ford F250, you drive 50 miles at highway speed, 50 miles doing stop and go, and I think another 50 miles accelerating to highway speed and then slowing down. The manual describes it, and it is a PITA. But until you do the ECU will say "INCOMPLETE". We've got a bluetooth attached OBDII device so we can read the sensors on our phone but sheesh.

It occurs to me that in my entire life I don't think I've ever heard an adult male publicly claim that he was a better looking person than a particular adult female. Until Trump yesterday. But of course, he isn't actually an adult male by any reasonable standards.

“When you mention Jeffrey Epstein, sir, are you referring to the friend of Donald Trump who entertained him at parties, flew him on his jet, and procured young girls for him?” https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/C-0EKzwgbDN

After hearing about Eric Schmidt's guest lecture in an AI class, I looked up the transcript, and yes he really did say that if a Silicon Valley entrepreneur were to "illegally steal everybody's music" they would just "hire a whole bunch of lawyers to go clean the mess up." Then I was curious and looked up the syllabus for the course and based on the topic schedule, the most explicit ethics topic seemed to be "opportunities and risks" for which the guest speaker was... Eric Schmidt. 😕

Advertising should be viewed through the same lens as code injection is in computer security (when an attacker gets a computer system to run a program that it actually shouldn’t and that usually benefits the attacker).

The point of an advertisement is literally to inject the idea of a need into your mind, a need that you didn’t already have before (“You do actually need a new car.”), or a more specific version of an existing need (“You’re need food? You should really eat this!”).

It’s an attack on the integrity of your very being and it should be defended against.

'You declared bankruptcy repeatedly': Experts rip Trump’s 'excellent plan to ruin our economy' https://www.alternet.org/trump-pennsylvania-rally/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

@pluralistic
Some explanations in an article published yesterday:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/17/hack-the-planet/#how-about-a-nice-game-of-chess

Basically, YT twiddles the algorithm to only show what is useful to their business. They can lower your rating. "You work for weeks or months, spend thousands of dollars to make a video, then the algorithm decides that no one – not your own subscribers, not searchers who type in the exact name of your video – will see it."

2/3

Roughly 2/3 of the clean energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act have gone to GOP congressional districts.

Even though every Republican in Congress opposed the legislation, that hasn't stopped many from celebrating its impact in their districts.

Let that sink in.

Trump today declared that he's "a better looking person than Kamala." Does he mean in a dress? Better check with JD!

@pluralistic

And even if you buy the name brand ink cartridges, if you don't buy them often enough, they lock you out of your printer.

My Epson printer claims that it can't recognize the EPSON cyan, magenta & yellow ink cartridges that are in it. They're the same cartridges that have always been in it. I just don't replace them very often, because we rarely print in color.

So... I have to replace them, even though they're not empty, because the printer won't work until I do.

This week convicted felon Donald Trump moved to delay his sentencing until after the election. Remember, he's not running for president as much as he's running from the law.

@vkc There is a strong correlation between money and enshittification.

I have watched the open source world become increasingly tied to business compliance concerns, with all of the pain that brings. It's painful because there were those of us who warned against the very gatekeeping you are experiencing as a result of it.

This article would be good for washing hogs.

The r-party is trying to make the upcoming election about "issues". But there is only one single issue: Do we elect a criminal dictator or do we continue our US Constitution? That is the only issue, there is no other issue.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl2xjxlz3xo

Trump's 'doddering old man' attacks casting cloud over his re-election hopes: report https://www.rawstory.com/trump-old-man-2668981192/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

@gerrymcgovern
This is right in line with what I've been saying for about a year now:

"What they are calling "#AI" is simply "Deep database scrubbing" that infers links between dissimilar subjects and assumes there's a connection with no research, examination or proof."

There is no "intelligence" involved whatsoever. It's a total scam.

And all that time/energy spent searching through endless databases is an astounding energy hog. 😞 #Artificialintelligence is no match for #NaturalStupidity

Apparently JD Vance is now less popular than Sarah Palin was. That's quite an achievement. Or in Limbo-speak: How low ... can he go?