Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

In the fall of 1971, Prince was an 8th grader at Bryant Junior High in Minneapolis.

Across town, student teacher Don Rawitsch was developing a card and dice game called "Oregon Trail" in his 8th grade history classes at Jordan Junior High.

Rawitsch showed the game to Bill Heinemann and Paul Dillenberger, who were student teachers at Bryant. They coded it up and play tested it with their school’s 8th graders.

It is very likely that Prince was an early playtester of Oregon Trail!

Canada wildfires an 'alarming example' of climate change: WHouse | AFP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sLsyWbvqyk&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

That's a relief.

The absolute fastest way to be utterly enraged with every single part of modern computing is to try and walk someone with a brain injury through one of their regular tasks after some random piece of software has pushed an update in the background.

"... the impact is real. The fact that over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced, even if they don’t pass into law, it is having a devastating impact on the safety and well-being of our community...

"... it’s got the legislative impact, the human impact, and then it’s creating a culture of fear... because we know they’re trying to push us back into the closet..."

A National State of Emergency: Human Rights Campaign Sounds the Alarm over Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws in U.S
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/7/hrc_state_of_emergency

Labour on course for landslide election victory, megapoll shows https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/07/labour-landslide-election-victory-poll-keir-starmer-rishi-sunak-conservatives-constituency-boundaries?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #news

“FBI warns of increasing use of AI-generated deepfakes in sextortion schemes | Ars Technica”

This was incredibly predictable. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/06/fbi-warns-of-increasing-use-of-ai-generated-deepfakes-in-sextortion-schemes/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Open letter to NATO sent today to mailbox.ypp@hq.nato.int

I want this message to be heard by all decision makers in NATO. You are failing Ukraine and you are failing all of us. I am a Polish citizen living in Scotland and I do not feel safe in my home. Russian missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead breached NATO airspace in December. You stayed silent. Now Russia blew up this dam which is the equivalent of using a weapon of mass destruction. You do nothing again. You are proving to us that there is no red line Russia can't cross and Kremlin is watching. You simply won't do anything meaningful to stop them. We are under attack. Russia interferes in our democracies, threatens our economies and our way of life. As long as Russia is allowed to commit genocide on NATO borders none of us are safe.
At this point I do not believe you will ever act. Putin may as well drop a tactical nuke and you will still offer 'thoughts and prayers'. Does anyone at your organization have something resembling a conscience or courage or I don't know any humanity left in you at all? The only adequate response from NATO is full military support to Ukraine now. All else is a dramatic failure on your part to do your job. Your apathy makes NATO a joke. #standwithukraine #kakhovkadam #natoinukrainenow #nato #Ukraine

@Arkenston
It is maddening that media still reports #Ukraine and #Russia each blame the other for breaching the dam.

Russian spokespeople lose any credibility they may have had by promoting the absurd claim that Ukraine has any motivation for the disastrous breach of the #Kakhovka dam

And failing to say that makes the media complicit in Russian terrorism

Instead of giving Trump advance notice of his arrest, which he will use to try to whip up violence, I hope that law enforcement simply shows up at Mar-a-Lago without warning,slaps the cuffs on him, throws him in the back of an ordinary squad car, and hauls his ass away. No more deferential or special treatment.

Big Tech steals from the news, but what it steals is *money*, not *content*. Talking about the news, excerpting it, linking to it, quoting it - these are all beneficial, normal news activities. If you can't talk about the news, it's not news - it's a *secret*.

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/07/curatorial-vig/#app-tax

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I love how so much of the AI debate is on things like:

* Will AI take people's jobs?
* Will AI destroy creativity?
* Will AI take over the world?
* Will AI be used to make people poorer?

And not:

* Will corporations that use AI get rid of people's jobs?
* Will corporations that use AI destroy creativity?
* Will corporations that use AI try to take over the world?
* Will corporations that use AI make people poorer?

Because these LLMs and machine learning systems and so forth aren't just wandering around randomly out there - they're owned by corporations. The corporations are the ones putting them to use. The executives that run those corporations are the ones making the decisions to pay people less, to increase their profits, to make creative people act as subeditors for LLMs.

It's the corporations, and the ethics-free systems that govern them, that cause these things. They're the ones pushing to have more AI.

The rest of us would be happy just having a bit more humanity in the world.

Cosmic smoke & telescope mirrors?

Webb found complex organic molecules similar to smoke or smog in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years from Earth. This sets a new record for the most distant detection of these big, complicated molecules: https://bit.ly/43M4YEG
#JamesWebb

Our societal problems rooted in capitalism and profit are not going to be solved by capitalism and profit

World leaders are reacting to the growing humanitarian and environmental disaster caused by russia blowing up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, with many calling it a war crime.

Read more here🔗 https://www.weareukraine.info/world-leaders-reacted-to-the-growing-humanitarian-and-environmental-disaster-caused-by-russia-blowing-up-the-kakhovka-hydroelectric-power-plant/

#Ukraine 🇺🇦 #SlavaUkraine #RussiaIsATerroristState
#СлаваУкраїні! #StandWithUkraine

Nature astro covers appreciation post

Leaving the Heliosphere (2008) - Voyager 2 reports back

https://nature.com/nature/volumes/454/issues/7200

#universe #astronomy #astrophysics #astrodon #nature #cover #covers #naturecovers #space #science #research #solarsystem #heliosphere #voyager #voyager2 #mission #spacecraft #nasa #jpl

Ever wonder what goes into getting ready for a spacewalk?

Astro Migration @AstroMigration Post of the Day is from NASA nasa@social.beachcom.org (https://social.beachcom.org/@nasa/110498894873916431)

A behind-the-scenes look with astronaut Woody Hoburg, who will make his first trip outside the @Space_Station on Friday, June 9

Follow @AstroMigration for handpicked #astronomy, #space and #AstroPhysics posts.

#CuratedAccount #SpaceWalk