As ever, @annamerlan.bsky.social has written something timely and resonant.
The quote from Dmytro Iarovyi had the odd effect of galvanizing me, by reminding me that my despair is not simply a defect, but is evoked by design.
if only the tailgate were visible in the picture and it had that mise en abyme thing going
In writing about (and railing against) artificial intelligence, the art historian Sonja Drimmer has returned again and again to the phrase “permission structure.” The phrase was popularized in the early 2010s by the Obama crew, and it referred to the rhetorical strategy of giving an opponent enough reasons to change their mind while also allowing them to save face. In Drimmer’s usage, the meaning seems to slide into giving someone an excuse to do what they already wanted to do, and I like that connotation. If a newspaper publisher wants to lower headcount, they can now use AI to replace reporters while telling themselves they’re riding the wave of the future. No matter that the product will suffer. No matter that other humans will suffer too. If some DOGE shitheads want to hurt people just because, the “because” can be justified by AI; computer says no. This is the kind of ethical slippage that’s easy to spot in others, but I can feel it happening to me too.
Shoutouts to @lukeoneil47.bsky.social for editing the story (and thinking along with me) and to @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social for her insights on AI and permission structures
I wrote about teaching writing and how AI can make us doubt each other’s humanity
guy methodically pulling out his own cue stick at the bar and proceeding to suck
Both perfectly fine names on their own
I don't teach him, no. I'm in the journalism school. I did reread many of books during lockdown, though, and came to appreciate him all over again.
Today @keithplocek.com, who teaches journalism at the University of Southern California, writes about Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, solipsism, his students using "AI" and the permission structure it gives us to doubt and devalue one another's humanity. www.welcometohellworld.com/sentences-th...
High
The Love Lines column in Lowrider Magazine was a gem. [Lowrider, Sept 1993]
Replacing Matthew McConaughey’s head with a Matthew McConaughey bobblehead, vol. 3
More than 75,000 Post readers cancelled their subscriptions after the recent cuts. An even larger number bailed after Bezos killed the endorsement of Harris, but now the decline feels terminal. Bezos does not want a great paper with a conservative opinion page (like the Wall Street Journal). He seemingly barely wants a paper at all, treating one of the most important American media institutions like an embarrassing child from a previous marriage that no longer fits his lifestyle.
This sounds unbelievable but its true: since Bezos acquired The Post, his wealth has grown tenfold and the Post has been cut in half.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-trust-...
That's not the same guy three times?
Giving credit where it's due, this video was inspired by the skeet below.
RFK Jr.’s iconic nevernude style
Should I be working on an article? Yes. Am I making RFK Jr. memes instead? Maybe.
Y'all are all so focused on step 2 (maxin') and forgetting about step 1 (chillin' out) and step 3 (relaxin' all cool)
Regardless, always a good idea for writers to save their old stories. Even if a publication keeps them up forever, after a few years (and CMS migrations), they often look bad.
I’ve never understood this from a business perspective. Server space is cheap, and companies could run crap ads on the old articles basically forever. Maybe they’re worried about liability?
I did that a few times in my first articles, and someone I interviewed asked me outright why I had tooled him in print
I tell my journalism students specifically not to do this. It's a hack move to make people sound dumb. Everyone talks like this — with the exception of maybe Pete Buttigieg — and it's an editorial choice to leave the little filler words in there.
I don't follow this guy, but he shows up in my instagram feed quite a bit. He seems to do innocuous LA history vids? Then he welcomed the Post to town and commenters were not happy. www.instagram.com/p/DT-u00qiETE/
Happy Valentine's Day! [Gay Community News, Feb 15, 1986]
Very true. There's a physical feeling of navigating that is lost. Although I rarely would peek at the end myself! With the exception of Choose Your Own Adventures back in the day.
Other times I just zone out and miss the feeling of the ending altogether....
Not sure if you ever listen to the @newyorker.com fiction podcasts, but I feel like I'm playing on hard mode with those, because there are interviews after the readings, so you can't even really peek to see how many minutes are left in the story
I read a lot more because of audiobooks, but I get so stressed when I know I am near the end of a book, but I’m not sure how close. You lose out on that last page feeling.
Perhaps it’s acting as designed
The skate studies community dropped some academic hammers last year. @skateorphi.bsky.social takes us on a comprehensive journey through their work, the trends found within it, and reveals the 2025 SSSOTY.
www.simplemagic.ca/the-state-of...
Those are the rules
