@jrefior@hachyderm.io
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

jrefior

@jrefior@hachyderm.io

Supporter of progressive economic policy. Aspring small business owner. Volunteer lawyer. Amateur economist. Software developer.
#economics
#BoycottMeta

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BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

NYT: Have E-Bikes made New York streets a nightmare?
Not mentioned until end of article: The automobiles that make New York streets a nightmare.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/nyregion/street-wars-e-bikes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vE0.x-6m.qS78uuD5VSwU&smid=url-share

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@BenRossTransit
Cars are a menace

bicmay, to Tobacconist
@bicmay@med-mastodon.com avatar

"Amid ever-stricter regulation targeting cigarettes, big tobacco companies and new entrants have begun offering smoking alternatives such as vapes, which they say are aimed at adult smokers.

But the WHO and industry watchdog STOP said in a joint report these products are often marketed to youth, their design and fruity flavours appeal to children and young people are more likely to use them than adults in many countries."

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/tobacco-industry-aims-hook-new-generation-vapes-who-says-2024-05-23/

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@bicmay
Vaping was practically an epidemic at my nephew’s high school. Many of these products are illegal, but we don’t have the resources to stop them

mpesce, to random
@mpesce@arvr.social avatar

this whole AI-in-the-search-results thingy feels like such an unforced error one wonders how it made it through all the processes intended to protect their crown jewels?

perhaps those processes don't exist? or were ignored in panic?

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/google-ai-im-feeling-depressed-cheese-not-sticking-to-pizza-error-rcna153301

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@mpesce
Ignored in panic seems plausible. Investors were selling Google to buy Microsoft etc. Alphabet C-suite may have felt they were rapidly losing ground. Announcing AI-related stuff did help their stock price

carnage4life, to random
@carnage4life@mas.to avatar

A thing I find interesting is how company cultures affect their success over time. An example is how Google famously has a bias for inaction.

The combination of lack of pressure on individuals to generate business results (OKRs) and being consensus driven which broke down at scale means doing nothing is the path of least resistance.

The search monopoly is also so entrenched that making product changes are more likely to be neutral to negative (see AI overviews) than be helpful. So why bother?

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@carnage4life
Seemed like they mostly did the AI stuff because investors were selling their shares to buy Microsoft and LLM-related stocks

jrefior, to Law
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

"An 'Appeal to Heaven' flag was flown last summer outside Alito’s beach vacation home in New Jersey, according to NYTimes, which obtained several images showing it on different dates in July and September 2023. The Times previously reported that an upside down American flag—a sign of distress—had flown outside Alito's Virginia home less than two weeks after the violent #jan6 attack by Trump supporters"
https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/05/24/appeal-to-heaven-flag-christian-naationalism-samuel-alito-massachusetts
—
#alito #scotus #law #ignorance #bias #stupidity #Massachusetts

jrefior, to Law
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

I was in law school when Samuel Alito was nominated to SCOTUS. One of my law professors knew him personally. Outside of class, he tried to reassure me that Alito was a "good" conservative, and not one of those crazy right-wing ideologues.

Maybe he was really trying to reassure himself. He couldn't have been more wrong.
—
#alito #scotus #law #racist #bigot #WhiteSupremacist #jan6 #TheBigLie #dobbs

jrefior, to journalism
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

In AP's fact check of "fake news" this week, they highlighted that the ICC did not actually issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. That was a little unclear to me on Monday, because of this headline from , which was on the front page of their site Monday:

"ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, 3 Hamas Leaders"

AP: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-trump-trial-icc-134ba5e53bcfd857f5cd3e4de62d9032
UPI: https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/4b996ce3b41eb0bbedac98821ff2db76/ICC-Issues-Arrest-Warrants-for-Netanyahu-Gallant-3-Hamas-Leaders/

I'm really disappointed in
—

jrefior, to Instagram
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

"Families in Uvalde took more legal action Friday on the second anniversary of the Robb Elementary School attack, suing Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram..

"On Instagram, the shooter was being courted through explicit, aggressive marketing. In addition to hundreds of images depicting and venerating the thrill of combat, Daniel Defense used #Instagram to extol the illegal, murderous use of its weapons"
https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-shooting-elementary-anniversary-texas-a20e7fefa9d66058a8ff6611fa808df8

^ This is one reason to #BoycottMeta
—
#meta #uvalde #guns

andrew, to random
@andrew@esq.social avatar

Great, now we'll get to hear from Tom Cotton again.

Claiming Henry Kissinger is your favorite anything other than war criminal, much less your favorite AUTHOR, should preclude one from holding office.

Total sicko stuff.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/us/politics/tom-cotton-trump-vp.html

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@andrew
I would have picked the time he submitted an Op-Ed to NYTimes calling on the president to deploy the military on US soil to murder all the black lives matter protesters and start a civil war

wdlindsy, to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"Call it anomie or call it airsickness—we find ourselves in a land of confusion. Trump pays off a porn star and yet is hailed as a champion of Christian values. He mocks prisoners of war and calls dead soldiers 'suckers,' and his MAGA base is thrilled by his patriotism."

~ Charlie Sykes


/1

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/05/the-trumpian-vertigo-of-american-politics/678473/

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@wdlindsy
You’d have to get that information into the Facebook feeds of a lot of people in rural America to make a difference. That’s where a large number of them get their “news”.

But even with that, for many their only litmus test is one he consistently passes: hatred toward nonwhite people

jrefior, to Russia
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

From 2022: "a U.N. diplomat said Iran has plans to sell Russia hundreds of missiles and drones in violation of the 2015 Security Council resolution"
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-iran-government-united-states-034b4e4ae2e9a4cb0ec0922cac82dc54

From a year ago: "Iran is providing Russia with materials to build a drone manufacturing plant east of Moscow as the Kremlin looks to lock in a steady supply of weaponry for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine"
https://apnews.com/article/russia-iran-drone-factory-ukraine-war-dfdfb4602fecb0fe65935cb24c82421a
—

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

From March: "The United States and allies warned Iran on Friday that major Western economies will pile new sanctions on Tehran if it moves forward with an advancing plan to provide ballistic missiles to Russia for its war with Ukraine."
https://apnews.com/article/russian-iran-ballistic-missiles-ukraine-f12dc454b04f7cbe671d2c401e31390c

bicmay, to Health
@bicmay@med-mastodon.com avatar

"For people without heart issues, regular use of fish oil supplements was associated with a 13% higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation and a 5% heightened risk of having a stroke, according to the study, published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Medicine.

Over-the-counter fish oil suffers from a lack of purity and consistency, as well as the potential contaminants and heavy metals such as mercury that come with fish, Freeman said."

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/22/health/fish-oil-supplement-dangers-study-wellness/index.html

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@bicmay
Haven’t we (in the US) been putting fish oil supplements into almost all milk sold in the grocery store for decades? (In the form of vitamin D and vitamin A)

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@bicmay
Yes to the omega-3s. But vitamin D supplements are usually D3 derived from fish as well. You can’t make D3 without organic processing of UV light, and fish do that. I think most vitamin A also comes from fish

jrefior, to ai
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

"A political consultant who sent artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden’s voice to voters ahead of New Hampshire’s presidential primary faces a $6 million fine and more than two dozen criminal charges"
https://apnews.com/article/biden-robocalls-ai-new-hampshire-charges-fines-9e9cc63a71eb9c78b9bb0d1ec2aa6e9c
—

jrefior, to Israel
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

"Hamas is still putting up a fight after seven brutal months of war with Israel, regrouping in northern Gaza and resuming rocket attacks into nearby Israeli communities"
https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-end-insurgency-0fcb4e20821ba8c0e49edf6571486d3b

An estimated 7,797 children have been killed.
https://unric.org/en/the-un-and-the-crisis-in-the-middle-east-gaza/

"The humanitarian aid agency says hundreds of thousands of people would be 'at imminent risk of death' if carries out a military assault in the southern city of Rafah"
https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-hamas-latest-05-03-2024-fd7d9c386b70d8e175b3e55a999a9e1b

jrefior, (edited ) to Economics
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

Rents have been a major source of high prices and inflation in the last ~3 years.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SEHA

"For the first time [2023], the average renter household in this country is paying 30% of their income on rent"
https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/20/the-average-u-s-renter-now-spends-30-of-their-income-on-rent-a-new-all-time-high/
—

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

It takes years to go from concept to reality for a new apartment building. But we have been increasing construction, and a number of new units have been coming online this year.

When I look at this graph, I see the bottom after the 2008 financial and foreclosure crisis. But it also looks to me like we haven't been building enough since the late 1980s:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST5F
—

SlaunchaMan, to random
@SlaunchaMan@mastodon.social avatar

I went to CVS yesterday to pick up a prescription. For years when I’ve done so, there’s a step where you need to sign on the terminal and agree that you’re receiving the listed medications. This time, I noticed a super dark pattern.

In the place where historically they’ve collected this signature, they still ask for your signature—but to agree that CVS can use your medical data for marketing.

There’s no way this is informed consent. One of the darkest patterns I’ve seen.

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@SlaunchaMan
I recently called my insurer, gave them the names of two local, independent pharmacies, and asked whether they were in network. They both are. Then I went into the healthcare portal and switched my pharmacy. No more CVS for me.

JaniceOCG, to random
@JaniceOCG@mstdn.social avatar

From: @ProPublica @propublica.bsky.social

Scenes from a MAGA meltdown...

"What divides the Republican Party of 2024 is not any one policy or ideology. It is not whether to support Donald Trump. The most important fault line in the party now is democracy itself."
https://www.propublica.org/article/michigan-republicans-maga-meltdown-democracy-elections?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature&c_src=35454344.3123

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

It's a party united by racism, and divided over how to force that racism on everyone else

augieray, to random
@augieray@mastodon.social avatar

A lovely tune from Alexi Murdoch entitled "Orange Sky." I heard this song while driving 20 years ago and pulled over so I could write down the name.

Well, I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
With my brother and my sister standing by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOBWSb14wrU

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@augieray
I used to listen to that a lot... I think it's been years

jrefior, to Israel
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

Israel tried to prevent the Associated Press from filming in Gaza.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-cameras-ap-gaza-3bcd8b15d6a7a1209a1fb05ee0db860e
—

ai6yr, to Guns

Numerous American tourists facing up to 12 years in prison each for bringing ammo to the Turks and Caicos https://abc7news.com/post/tyler-wenrich-american-arrested-turks-caicos-pleads-guilty/14853425/?ex_cid=TA_KGO_TW&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_medium=mastodon&utm_source=mastodon

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@JohnJBurnsIII @ai6yr
The main character in the show "Atlanta" could have benefited from that travel tip
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4288182/

jrefior, to apple
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

What are some decent speakers to pair with an iPhone or iPad on a modest budget?

Mostly for podcast and radio; some music. Don't want loud bass.
—
#speakers #apple #sound

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@felyashono
Thanks!

jrefior,
@jrefior@hachyderm.io avatar

@dancingdogs
Thanks!

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