elisi's humble abode

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MIT Study Finds Artificial Intelligence Use Reprograms the Brain, Leading to Cognitive Decline

How to Leave Twitter (old but for anyone still there)

Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning

New Banksy artwork appears outside the High Court in London

Aljazeera: ‘Did you eat today?’: Voices of Gaza speak of starvation and survival
‘We are starved by the Israeli occupation,’ says Taqwa al-Wawi in Gaza, where all she thinks about is how hungry she is.

BBC: Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change

And I discovered this excellent journalist working in Ukraine:

Just one thing (the day got away from me):

Petition: Bring a little girl inuk greenlander ZAMMI BACK HOME

(Denmark is a lovely country. It's also a colonial power, and colonisers, alas, just keep on.)

So, I fell into the rabbit hole of Kendrick Lamar's superbowl halftime show. (Disclaimer: I have never watched the superbowl - or the halftime show - ever before, and could not have named a single Lamar song before this. My interest is cultural rather than musical.)

That said, I have watched a number of Josh Johnson sets about the Lamar and Drake feud, so I had some background knowledge. However the performance itself turned out to be this dense and complex thing, full of symbolism, and well. That's my jam. ^_^

ETA: Outside the cut. Here is Josh Johnson talking about Kendrick, where he came from and why he does what he does. As always, starts as a fun set and then... digs into stuff far deeper than you would expect:




( Videos under the cut )

Now the thing is that Kendrick Lamar is obviously coming from this from within his own culture, the struggle of his own community. And I think this is why it resonates? If you speak your own truth, others will recognise it.

And I think all of it ties in with this Black History Month thread about The Black Panthers.

Snippet:

To this day, if you find a white trades person over the age of 50, and ask them what "It's not race, it's class" means, many can tell you. If you ask them "Who is Fred Hampton" many can tell you. If you ask them what a "rainbow coalition" was, many can tell you.

Why does an old, white, union steel worker in Detroit know who Fred Hampton is?

'They not like us' the whole stadium chanted with Trump right there.

If you want an anthem against the oligarchs and the 1%, there it is.

From Mastodon:

By popular demand, a single post to boost global switch day across multiple platforms on February 1st 2025.


For those who can no longer get behind Musk or Meta's new policies and feel like switching (e.g. from #Whatsapp to #Signal, from #Instagram to #Pixelfed or from #X to #Mastodon) I made you some graphics to use freely in communicating with your contacts.

Let’s lead by example 🙂








And on that note, a few other useful guides:

How to permanently delete a Facebook account

Migrating from Substack to self-hosted Ghost: the details

The Cyber-Cleanse: Take Back Your Digital Footprint

Musk responds to backlash over gesture at Trump rally: "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."

From this week's Private Eye, presented without comment:



~

We have been watching S4 of The Boys very very slowly because it's so grim. But the satire is also SO on point. A couple of days ago we watched episode 6, where (spoilers) a presidential candidate tells a room full of billionaires the following:

"The truth is America is not a democracy. The word "democracy" makes people feel safe. But the founders never trusted the masses, because the truth is, the masses are f*ck¡ng stupid. Anyone who owns a "Live, Laugh, Love" mug shouldn't have a say in how a country is run. People are a labor force that need a kind, but firm hand. There are no nations. There's Apple, Exxon and Berkshire Hathaway. Corporations are the real superpowers here. You should be able to operate without any regulation or restriction whatsoever. After all, you're billionaires. You are smart enough to know what's best. Bottom line? You support me, and that is what you'll f*ck¡ng get."

It'll be interesting to see if S5 (the final one) will be allowed to air [uncensored]...

Watched/Listened to this recently and thought I'd share because it's very good, very thoughtful and very indepth. It's not about Neil Gaiman as such (no unpleasant details, no delving into the allegations), instead it grapples with how we interact with texts and creators.



Icon by me. It's Calliope from 'Episode 11' of Sandman S1 - an extra episode that's not part of the main story. If you have watched it, you'll know the significance. The text is "He is nothing, he is just a malaka".

I don't speak Greek, so I checked wiki:

While it is typically used as an insult, with its literal equivalent in Commonwealth English being "wanker” and “jerk off” in American English, the meaning varies depending on the tone and context used. It can be an exclamation of pleasure, an expression of dark horror, a cry of anger, a declaration of affection, and other different things. Common alternative meanings include "asshole", "motherf*cker" "jerk" or "idiot", and the contrasting "dude", or "mate", depending on the context. It has been described as "the most used Greek slang word".

So there you go. A useful word for when speaking of NG. It was NOT used with affection.

(The allegations are even on the BBC now.)

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