Interesting, sad, and no surprise. From the linked article:

"Role in the History of Racist Ideas

In the 21st century, the work of Zurara has been re-examined for its foundational role in the development of modern racist ideology. Historian Ibram X. Kendi, in his 2016 book Stamped from the Beginning, argues that Zurara was the world’s first racist because his chronicle was the first to articulate a comprehensive defense of the African slave trade based on the concept of Black inferiority.[12] Kendi posits that Zurara’s writing was not the cause of the Portuguese slave trade but rather a product of it; Prince Henry’s economic and political self-interest in the trade of enslaved Africans came first. Zurara was then tasked with creating a narrative to justify these policies.[13] According to this view, Zurara’s chronicle established a powerful and enduring justification for racism by portraying enslaved Africans as savages who were being civilized and saved through their enslavement, thereby creating racist ideas to rationalize pre-existing racist policies.[14]"

Balblair 12 year old.

“I’m sorry Maxxie, but I can’t allow you to say that.” (then Hal deletes your comment). We’re probably already there but don’t realize it.

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I agree that: SaaS = UaaP (User as a Product). Most importantly, AI is powerful and here to stay and if it’s completely controlled by the rich and powerful, then the rest of us are majorly screwed.

Small models, local models, models that anybody can deploy and control the way they see fit, PUBLIC models not controlled by the rich and powerful - these will be crucial if we’re going to avoid the worst case situation.

IMHO it’s better to start downloading and playing with local quantized LLMs (i barely know what i’m talking about here, i admit, but bear with me - i’m just trying to add something useful to the discussion), it’s better to start taking hold of the tech and tinkering, like we did with cars when they were new, and planes, and computers, and internet … so that hopefully there will be alternatives to the privately controlled rich-and-powerful-corpo models.

I’m no expert, but i suppose because it reduces the flow of money - fewer transactions (people not getting healthcare, not billing insurance, insurance not paying for healthcare given to people because they’re not getting any healthcare) = reduced total domestic product. Whether it’s reduced by a measurable amount is another question.

0:33, relevant and even important info because those loans will not get repaid now that the borrowers are either deported or too scared to leave their houses to go to their jobs. 3:10, same as above. 8:24 same. “Deportation fears and labor force exits may have disrupted repayment patterns.” In general, Boyle’s pointing out that these companies had very shaky business assets but were rated as being very solid. The thing that’s fucky is the rating system that made these companies look solid, attracting investors, while in fact they were risky companies to invest in.

This is how I see it too. It helps to develop the habit of having your own project or interests in mind which you can turn your mind towards whenever you sense yourself getting drawn into the drama. For example, I’m writing a novel; during breaks/pauses/time off, any attention that I give to the silly dramas and childish behavior at work takes energy and focus away from my novel. Whatever your hobbies or off-work interests are, nurture a habit of focusing on them at will. (that’s not to say let people treat you badly, by the way. I just mean it’s a way to tune out the noise).

I’m not sure if you want people to reply or if you prefer them not to, but i’ll go ahead and reply and you can ignore it if you want. Your experience brings back a lot of memories and old emotions for me … I’m much older than you but even now i’m totally at sea about why nobody in my family ever wanted to know anything about my life … it’s weird. Anyway, that’s just to say “yeah, family can be rough.” Here’s how i finally set it aside and moved on. It might sound silly but it worked for me. I see it as a garden. My family are like a few small cactus plants here and there. In my twenties i lived in that patch of desert and pretty regularly tried to reach out to family, only to get stuck by a cactus needle. oh well. Drinking too much didn’t help either. Things started to change when i started to move away and grow my own garden. I found some people and communities who needed some of what i had to offer (writing skills, editing skills, kindness, sensitivity …) and i offered it. Maybe something like your experience with Rimu and that fediverse ecosystem you mention. Over time relationships developed; nothing amazing, just nice working relationships, a few light friendships - no soulmates or deep stuff, but that’s fine with me now. I found myself spending more and more time in this new patch of garden taht was growing around me. Stayed sober, positive, aware of people’s needs and how i could play a small role in helping others get along. Eventually that garden become where i live now. the cactus is over there towards the outskirts of my garden. That’s fine. I have no hard feelings towards the cactus. They’re just doing their thing, and i have plenty of other plants in my garden. Ok, sorry if that sounds too silly, but it’s a metaphor that works for me. Good luck!!

Here’s the NIH article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4499872/ and the Financial Times article: https://archive.md/4YVBB The latter has more links to other sources.

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Great stuff!! Did she really have a breakdown? I thought that (and the selling clock radios on the street thing) was made-up backstory. Anyway, definitely an early-days-of-YT classic as you say.

You go to your Amazon account to find your book purchases. You can still load the books onto kindle, but nowhere else, so you’re locked in to the kindle ecosystem. The guy in the video explains it better than i can.

This is an old story, except for the LA Times. The guy on Money and Macro explains the situation better in this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bOSWQttmvU

The only time i tried online dating apps to the point of actually talking to another human i met a young woman and we exchanged a few messages then arranged a phone call. On the phone she wouldn’t stop talking. It was pretty amazing, this flood of words pouring from her. I supposed it was because she was nervous, but still - being pretty pessimistic about the whole online dating thing to begin with - figured this would never work out because her non-stop talking was starting to weird me out a little. Not in a terrible way, just a little.

Anyway, she was going on and on about her job but was carefully avoiding any details that might identify where she worked, i guess so as to stay safe by not revealing too many personal details to a stranger. Somehow, though, I figured it out. She told me what area of the city she lived in, and i got enough details about the kind of work she did that i said something like: “Oh, you work at the Goodwill on blahblah street” and then there was dead silence. The flood of words stopped. We hung up soon after that. I felt really cool about guessing her workplace, like a detective, thinking i’d impressed her with my mind, but it wasn’t until years later that it dawned on me that i’d weirded her out even more than she weirded me out. A double oblivious weird out.

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Are used book stores an option? Libraries are great, but most of my discoveries of new authors and genres has been by hanging out for hours in an old second-hand book store, preferably the kind with a cluttered shelves, narrow aisles, and a cat or two sleeping here and there. I hope you can experience that kind of book-exploration.