@jeridansky@sfba.social
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

jeridansky

@jeridansky@sfba.social

Retired professional organizer (the clutter-clearing type); retired editor. Feminist. Cat owner. Jewish atheist. Yimby. Pro-union. Pro-vaccination, masking and ventilation/filtration. Owner/moderator of my local freecycle group.

Header photo: A large black Maine Coon cat looks at a computer screen.

#nobridge

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

jeridansky, to animals
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

Tennessee, totally transfixed by something he's spotted outside the window,

fraying, to random
@fraying@xoxo.zone avatar

Huh.

Doesn't seem so bad.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@fraying Done. Happy birthday, Derek.

AbandonedAmerica, (edited ) to random
@AbandonedAmerica@mastodon.social avatar

1/ I'm seeing a lot of talk (still!) of defederating mastodon.social over the recent spam attacks. I have a feeling I'm going to regret this, but as someone on that instance with no current plans to move, I feel like there are some things those who are considering it may not be taking into account. There are loads of patronizing comments that people on this instance are "doing the Fediverse wrong". No, we're not. You can't have a democracy while telling others they can't choose where to be.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@AbandonedAmerica I was pleased that my instance silenced mastodon.social for one day until the latest spam thing got worked out, and then they put things back to normal. They told us what they were doing and there was no drama.

jeridansky, to animals
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

Tennessee will usually cuddle up with me in bed. When he's in the bed I'm not, he often decides to sleep just where I'd be if I were in bed with him.

Medium-hair tuxedo cat, curled up on a bed next to his human's pillows, looking toward the camera having just been awoken.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

https://janerationx.me/@j ๐Ÿ˜ป I can't claim credit; he was named by his prior owner (now deceased, sadly) after the cartoon Tennessee Tuxedo.

cd24, (edited ) to random
@cd24@sfba.social avatar

I have a question for members and the broader & community. This isnโ€™t as an SFBA admin, just a curious fedi user. We arnโ€™t crafting policy from this.

How would you feel about an algorithm/AI/system scanning an instances feed and filing reports based off the code of conduct, with context and links for moderators to review? With proper disclosures on the about page and a good effort to make it known.

Note, this would only be reporting. The computer would have no mod powers

jeridansky, (edited )
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@cd24 My first inclination was to say "no" because I have a knee-jerk negative reaction to anything "AI."

But on reflection I think this would probably be fine, at least on the local timeline, and maybe beyond. I want moderators to have the tools they need; it's a hard job!

caseynewton, to random
@caseynewton@mastodon.social avatar

What does โ€œgoodโ€ coverage of AI mean to you? I wrote about how the disparate views that very smart people have about existential risk are making it hard to calibrate how to cover advancements in artificial intelligence.

https://www.platformer.news/p/why-im-having-trouble-covering-ai

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@caseynewton I'm not worried about robots taking over; I'm worried about LLM lies being taken as fact and distorting/ruining everything that they touch. That's where I'd like the coverage to focus: on the real problems we're going to see right now and in the near future.

Another aspect I'm interested in: the many issues with the training datasets (bias, unauthorized use, etc.).

jeridansky, to random
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

โ€œGoogle is shifting the way it presents search results to incorporate conversations with artificial intelligence, along with more short video and social-media posts.โ€

โ€œGoogle plans to make its search engine more โ€˜visual, snackable, personal, and human.โ€™โ€

And I plan to not use for my searches.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-search-ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbot-tiktok-67c08870

jeridansky, to random
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

As @violetblue pointed out, the Walgreens positivity tracker has stopped updating. One more data source gone.
https://www.walgreens.com/healthcare-solutions/covid-19-index

onlinegoddess, to random

Iโ€™m a very happy girl today! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ My tory-stronghold area has voted in a majority Green council - the first in the country!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/05/greens-win-majority-control-council-first-time-uk-local-elections-mid-suffolk

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@onlinegoddess Congratulations! ๐ŸŽ‰

paul, to random
@paul@tapbots.social avatar

The social network is always bluer on the other side.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@paul As someone with zero interest in going blue, I'm very thankful to you and all the developers who have provided us with a wealth of wonderful clients. I buy every one of them, to provide a bit of financial support for that work.

kevincollier, to random
@kevincollier@mastodon.social avatar

This is a very bad, very misleading headline. There are lots of phishing emails that mention ChatGPT, because phishers will reference anything in the news. They always do! They have always done that!

Meta did NOT say they're seeing ChatGPT-enabled malware, which would be actually newsworthy. "Phishing campaigns reference popular thing in the news" is the most uneventful cyber news story I can think of.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-says-chatgpt-related-malware-is-rise-2023-05-03/

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@kevincollier Thank you; you saved me from clicking through to see that story which someone else shared to my timeline.

kyleve, to random
@kyleve@mastodon.online avatar

Sorry but Iโ€™m pronouncing Bluesky the same way VoiceOver does. Which is Blueski. Itโ€™s Blueski now

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@kyleve You and @chuckwendig (who spells it Blooski).

https://terribleminds.com/ramble/2023/04/28/social-media-report-card-time-to-reskeet-the-blooski-apparently/

RobertMaguire, to random

I have been waiting for 8 years for the Matthews Calamari to be major players in a Trump scandal

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@RobertMaguire : A screen grab from CNN which says: Longtime Trump Organization executives Matthew Calamari Sr. and his son Matthew Calamari Jr. are expected to appear Thursday before the grand jury investigating possible mishandling of classified documents brought to Trumpโ€™s Mar-a-Lago home, sources said. Prosecutors are expected to ask them about the handling of the surveillance footage and Trump employeesโ€™ conversations following the subpoena, according to the sources.

jeridansky, to random
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

Watch Duty kept me super well-informed about #wildfires in California last year. Now it's expanding its coverage โ€” not just to Oregon as I first heard, but throughout the western US.

Highly recommended! https://www.watchduty.org

#apps #Oregon #Washington #Idaho #Montana #Utah #Wyoming #Colorado #Arizona #NewMexico

jeridansky, to random
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

Thanks to recommendations from @snaggen @masukomi @jsit @jcrabapple and @scvalex I decided to give Kagi search a try at the $5/month level. I gladly pay for other cool software I use all the time โ€” why not for a no-ad search?

Turned off the "instant answers" AI feature.

I've only done two searches so far and it was good on those; we'll see how I like it after a month or so.

DeliaChristina, to random
@DeliaChristina@sfba.social avatar

I really want to lift up the mods of the SFBA instance: @cd24, @Ingurido, @jeffkibuule

I, a Black woman, have had a marvelous experience on Mastodon because these mods don't play. For being a place-specific instance, SFBA has a very clearly expressed value system and it's reflected in the mods. They are proactive, even-handed, and respectful.

I wish others on and through the could say the same of their instance mods.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@cd24 The fact that you recognize it's hard work and requires a lot of reflection is a big part of why you're so good at it. You take moderation as seriously as it needs to be taken.

jeridansky, to animals
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

Tennessee hopes you're having a good .

jeridansky, to internet
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

Reading comments about and realizing what I want from social media is very different from a number of other people.

Bluesky has shitposters, they say, gleefully. Back when I was on Twitter, I blocked people who self-identified as shitposters.

(And yes, Bluesky has other serious issues. I'd never join a social media site that doesn't have both blocking and a decent moderation policy/practice. And there's the Jack Dorsey issue, too.)

fraying, to random
@fraying@xoxo.zone avatar

Just saying "no nazis" and then banning them when they pop up is SO MUCH EASIER than all the things these companies do to avoid taking that simple stand.
https://nileane.fr/@nileane/110259080083016754

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@fraying I'm so glad to be on a Mastodon instance that does just that.

timkmak, to random
@timkmak@journa.host avatar

This is first on Mastodon! Please boost this thread. Itโ€™s an important one.

Good morning to readers. Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

Some career news: Iโ€™m leaving NPR as part of the layoffs that dramatically reduced the companyโ€™s workforce.

Iโ€™ve decided to go back into Ukraine to keep reporting.

But this time, alone.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@timkmak

Not speaking for @drts, but the problems with Substack are legion.

"Substack has become famous for giving massive advances... to people who actively hate trans people and women, argue ceaselessly against our civil rights, and in many cases, have a public history of directly, viciously abusing trans people and/or cis women in their industry. "
https://doyles.substack.com/p/in-queers-we-trust-all-others-pay

The recent interview with the CEO, by Nilay Patel: https://hackers.town/@lmorchard/110193375817545398

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@timkmak @drts Continuing:

Anti-vaxxers making โ€˜at least $2.5mโ€™ a year from publishing on Substack
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/27/anti-vaxxers-making-at-least-25m-a-year-from-publishing-on-substack

Good summary: This is why I do not like Substack: they do not want to take responsibility for hate speech. Substack is a safe haven for racists, transphobes, homophobes, anti-vaxers, etc. and they condone it because they profit from it.
https://botsin.space/@kottke/110193192604744925

I could go on ...

mattblaze, to random
@mattblaze@federate.social avatar

One of the best things about working on election system security are people who take the time to lecture you about how what you're working on is irrelevant because you should be working on their pet problem instead.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@mattblaze Just a quick word of appreciation for your work on election system security.

sysop408, to internet
@sysop408@sfba.social avatar

This is looney. Jack is proposing micropayments because crypto. Heโ€™s pitching this as if we havenโ€™t already been down the micropayments path before with traditional currency.

One of the huge problems with micropayments is because it forces the user to make a disproportionately high cognitive effort for the value being exchanged. Itโ€™s untenable to keep expending $10 of effort in order to exchange $.10 of value.

jeridansky,
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

@fraying That was the first thing I zeroed in on; he totally misses the point of likes.

jeridansky, to space
@jeridansky@sfba.social avatar

"The surrounding area that chose for its base back in 2014 is a unique and diverse ecosystem. The nearby Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge is home to a number of migratory that cover thousands of miles to lay eggs there.

"Yet testing at the site has been sending entire flocks of birds scattering."

https://futurism.com/wildlife-starship-explosion

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