Google set the standard for web search and now they seem determined to run it onto the ground. I'm not a business pervert so explain to me what drives a company with near-total market capture to "improve" all the useful features out of their product until it sucks?

do not install any app from Facebook or Meta on any device. Ideally avoid installing ANY social media app. Login through a browser. I highly doubt Facebook is the only company pulling this shit www.zeropartydata.es/p/localhost-...

Apparently, because it’s 2020 again, I need to start a thread on police violence targeting journalists in the US. So, here we go: 1. Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi shot by police officer with less lethal munition. m.youtube.com/watch?v=yrFJ...

I want to tell you why the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia should matter to you. The one power you cannot give the executive is the ability to imprison or expel anyone regardless of their legal rights. That is our key check against autocracy. And we are watching it disappear.

In spite of the rain, *thousands* of people showed up today to the Hands Off Rally @ the Columbus, OH statehouse. Saw grandparents, students, and everyone in between pushing back against recent executive actions. "This is what Democracy looks like." "No hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here."

Tapping the sign.

Want to go visit the national parks this year? Sorry. The reservation system is shut down, EMT personnel are gone, so don't get hurt or lost. No one can clean the bathrooms or cabins, so they'll be closed. Rangers are fired. www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Elon Musk is developing a new payment platform called “X Money.” Guess which agency would be making sure that Elon’s new project couldn’t scam you or steal your sensitive personal data? The CFPB.

President Trump campaigned on lowering costs. But he’s letting billionaire Elon Musk and Project 2025 Architect Russ Vought kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If they succeed, CEOs on Wall Street will once again be free to cheat you out of your savings.

Not exaggerating when I say I would like a personal, handwritten apology from every pundit who barfed out a dozen "the left wants to change the way you talk!" op-eds based on non-mandatory guidelines in obscure PDFs.

Back in 2018 RiffTrax did two live shows at the Prince Charles and had such a great time. We love the theater and the people who run it. Save this gem!

I logged into Facebook today to brainlessly funnel AI slop into my eyeballs, and when I did, out of hundreds of posts, saw zero pertaining to US inauguration. (If my friends made any, they did not reach my feed.) On here, everyone discussing it. Hmm.

BIG WIN: If you or a loved one have asthma, you may see the price of your inhaler go down. I’ve sounded the alarm about companies like Teva rigging the patent system to keep the price of inhalers high. The FTC is fighting to bring your health care costs down, and winning.

BREAKING: The biggest strike against Amazon in U.S. history is happening right now. The Teamsters are picketing facilities across the country. The union has organized workers at 10 Amazon locations AND they're putting up picket lines at hundreds of other Amazon sites nationwide.

Welcome to Bluesky @abigaildesmond.bsky.social! 🧪🏺 Abby’s an original thinker in Palaeolithic archaeology, and I’ve been lucky to work with her a few times on the evolution of tool use and intelligence: aeon.co/essays/why-i... www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...

USPS is a *service.* It offers flat-rate shipping to every address in the continental US and covers the last leg of rural deliveries for private companies for whom those routes are not profitable. "Losses" are driven by unusual pension requirements not imposed on other agencies.

Some of my real-life acquaintances with chronic illnesses (and "good" insurance) face similar struggles, finding a treatment that works only to be blocked because the provider overruled their actual doctor, deeming it unnecesary.

I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases) projects.propublica.org/claimfile/

We have a state trilobite?/!

"65,000-year-old Neanderthal ‘tar factory’ found in Gibraltar cave" archaeologymag.com/2024/11/nean...