The Horror
“100% of trans people who seek access to gender affirming care as children and are denied go through the horror. 100% of trans children who never know that gender affirming care exists go through the horror. And for what?” #Health [Link]
Ben Werdmuller
Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
America’s Suburbs Are Breeding Grounds for Fascism
“Without a massive reorganization of American life—away from privatization, car-centrism, and hyper-individualism—it’s likely the suburban ideology will remain popular, and even grow.” #Society [Link]
How the U.S. Almost Became a Nation of Hippo Ranchers
“Great Britain has eaten the Australian kangaroo and likes him, horseflesh is a staple in continental Europe, and the people of Central America eat the lizard. Why cannot Americans absorb the hippopotamus?” #Society [Link]
Instagram’s upcoming Twitter competitor shown in leaked screenshots
“Cox said the company already has celebrities committed to using the app, including DJ Slime.” I am old. #Technology [Link]
Google Gets Stricter About Employees’ Time in Office
“Google will consider office attendance records in performance reviews and send reminders to employees with frequent absences, becoming the latest company to urge a return to in-person collaboration following an embrace of remote work during the pandemic.” This is wretched. #Labor [Link]
Apollo will close down on June 30th.
“Reddit’s recent decisions and actions have unfortunately made it impossible for Apollo to continue.” At this point, developers shouldn’t build their apps against commercial APIs. Open standards or nothing; the risk is too great. #Technology [Link]
Of Media & Monsters
“Ihave been in Silicon Valley long enough to see it transform from a group of outlier revolutionaries to play-safe career chasers. Recently, I have watched arrivistes who, if not in technology, would be running a penny stock brokerage based somewhere in Long Island or producing B-movies.” #Technology [Link]
When deepfakes are everywhere
I’m soliciting prompts for discussion. This piece is a part of that series. Ryan Barrett asks: It seems like the last 200 years or so - when we could use recorded media, photographs, audio, videos, as evidence or proof of anything - may have been a brief, glorious aberration,
How High We Go in the Dark, by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Not what I thought it was going to be. An early chapter was so heartbreaking that I thought I would have to abandon the book; it brought up feelings of loss I hadn’t felt since my mother died. I still don’t know if I appreciate the catharsis, but
Fewer than a third of Americans believe local news holds public officials accountable, poll finds
“If the primary source of local news (for many people) is local television, it’s not a shock that less than a third of people would say they think local news is holding public officials accountable.” #Media [Link]
The most used languages on the internet
“Millions of non-native English speakers and non-English speakers are stuck using the web in a language other than the one they were born into.” #Technology [Link]
Pride Month: In conversation with The 19th's LGBTQ+ reporters
“It’s hard for me to get excited about Pride Month as a concept this month, because we are in that place where … it feels to a lot of trans people like we are being threatened to the point of genocide.” #Society [Link]