letter to a friend who is thinking of starting something new

These are the right questions to ask.  #Startups [Link]

She Just Had a Baby. Soon She'll Start 7th Grade.

There are so many stories like this one. There should never be another. And yet, we've rolled back the clock at the behest of religious extremists, so there will be many more. This cannot go on. #Society [Link]

The Shocking Voter Purge Crisis of Democracy Revealed

Always a good sign when a democratic movement wants to win through the will of the people rather than through obstructive election fraud.  #Democracy [Link]

Announcing the Tor University Challenge

This is a worthwhile project, and would be a major win for freedom of expression and freedom from surveillance. I'd love to see more of my higher education friends take part.  #Technology [Link]

New York Times: Don't use our content to train AI systems

The NYT's new terms disallow use of its content to develop any new software application, including machine learning and AI systems. It's a shame that this has to be explicit, rather than a blanket right afforded to publishers by default, but it's a sensible

We need a Weizenbaum test for AI

“Weizenbaum’s questions, though they seem simple—Is it good? Do we need it?—are difficult ones for computer science to answer. They could be asked of any proposed technology, but the speed, scope, and stakes of innovation in AI make their consideration more urgent.”  #AI [Link]

FAU Study: Perils of Not Being Attractive or Athletic in Middle School

Hey, sounds like my middle school experience! This is important for me to understand as a parent, and it's important for schools to adapt to as de facto caregivers. These dynamics should be corrected for, not accepted.  #Society [Link]

Negative Space

A perfect piece on where we’re at in time. Personally, I’m not going back to the office, and I applaud greater worker power. We need to move forward.  #Labor [Link]

AI social media videos depict missing, dead children narrating their stories

Utterly ghoulish.  #AI [Link]

iA Presenter

I've been really enjoying this. It does have the unfortunate effect of reducing the time you spend faffing with slide design and font choices, which means you actually have to write the substance of your presentation. Curses! Still, despite its attempts to thwart my procrastination, it's

How to verify your Threads account using your Mastodon profile

It's truly beautiful to see Threads begin to embrace indieweb and federated social web protocols. This is a first step; true federation is, I've been assured, coming.  #Technology [Link]

Cheltenham Township taxes

It turns out that Cheltenham Township, the municipality where I live across the northern Philadelphia border, incurs an extra earned income tax on top of the state and federal taxes that I’m used to paying. This would have been fine if I’d had any idea that such a