Notices by Christopher Mims (mimsical@mastodon.social), page 4

Marjorie Taylor Greene is grilling ex Twitter employees right now

Talking about being banned / shadow-banned, claims that her banning was "wrong and against the law"

"you violated countless conservative americans"

"doctors who were having success treating people with ivermectin"

"teaching gender lies in their schools"

"guess what, I'm so glad you lost your jobs, I'm so glad Elon Musk bought Twitter"

etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fo_yD8r3w4

Yoel Roth explains that Ms. Greene was banned from Twitter for multiple violations of its rules forbidding covid misinformation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fo_yD8r3w4

what's the best way to launch a personal blog in 2023 with the lowest odds that anyone who isn't me will ever have the power to take it down?

(i.e. not on substack or some similar platform controlled by others)

The biggest determinant of your health, on average?

Where you live, and the deeply historical reasons that public policy there is what it is.

"“Your health is only 10 percent influenced by the medical environment and maybe 20 or 30 percent in behavioral choices. The social and political determinants of health are overwhelmingly what you’re seeing in these maps.”"

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/01/america-life-expectancy-regions-00113369

one of the most enlightening things about seeing people opine about an industry you're actually a part of is realizing how many opinions that go viral are just a person's biases, put in such a way that other people agree

this isn't meant as judgment -- it's just human nature

this teaches me as much about *myself* and my own beliefs as anything

PBS Terra's Weathered series, and host Maiya May, are doing some of the most important journalism in the world right now.

Here, for example, is the best 3-part series on climate impacts I've ever seen:

What's the RISKIEST Region in the US as the Climate Changes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Oe6YK0DgE

THIS Is the Safest Place to Live in the US as the Climate Changes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcj9IGY6Etg

Is Earth's Largest Heat Transfer Really Shutting Down?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CXZi-gFgX4

YIKES.

Following Elon Musk’s lead, Big Tech is surrendering to disinformation

Facebook and YouTube are receding from their role as watchdogs against conspiracy theories ahead of the 2024 presidential election

"The evolution of the companies’ practices was described by more than a dozen current and former employees... The new approach marks a sharp shift from the 2020 election."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/08/25/political-conspiracies-facebook-youtube-elon-musk/

Max Read's weekly newsletter is a consistent source of joy

"the increased prominence of the tech industry [on Twitter] means increased prominence for the communities and cultures adjacent to the tech industry, i.e. Race-Science Reactionaries and Hustle Business Mindset Guys. (On the flip side, the decreased prominence of media workers means decreased prominence for their adjacent groups, Annoying Academics and Well-Meaning But Gullible Mainstream Democrats.)"

https://maxread.substack.com/p/checking-in-on-twitter?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

@Gargron make more pins please!

A few days ago a stranger on Mastodon told me about something that has changed my life in a subtle but important way.

@antiquedigital told me that he switched his phone to grayscale to make it less appealing and keep himself from wasting time on it.

And HOLY SHIT has this ever worked for me.

Severed my last remaining connection to time-wasters on my phone.

If you want to try this yourself:

https://www.theverge.com/23637672/grayscale-iphone-android-pixel-samsung-galaxy-how-to

not sure I’ve ever read anything in my life that made me sadder or angrier than this account in the Post of the testimony of 4 women in the trial in Texas seeking clarification on the state’s abortion law, so doctors might possibly be able to give necessary care again

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/20/texas-abortion-ban-hearing/

There’s been a lot of chatter over the past week about what’s happening to Twitter’s traffic and engagement, as well as that of Threads, and whether the two are related and ~what’s it all mean for the future of social media~

This is my attempt to cut through some of the noise, with actual data – and empirical observations.

All derives from this week’s column in the @WSJ

1/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-how-twitter-could-become-irrelevant-b2b027af

bluesky is fun, threads is fun, but I don't think I'll ever forget the lesson of Twitter:

if you don't control your own social graph, someone else controls an increasingly important part of your life

that said, yes, obviously, the nature of a new technology determines the size of its ultimate audience

the fact that only "all-consuming" = good is a product of the growth at all costs mindset, doesn't reflect what actually makes online social networks good for individual users

it's weird how often people blame the technology of Mastodon for the failure of users to stick around instead of the most blindingly obvious, actual reasons:

1. habits are hard to break. people used to twitter or insta or FB are going to instinctually open those apps first

2. network effects are incredibly powerful. switching social networks isn't like trying a new toothpaste. networks move to new services *slowly* even when they're incredibly popular

Journalist request:

I'm trying to understand how -- and if -- productivity tools for coders are affecting jobs in the tech industry.

If you're a manager or a coder who feels like the productivity that comes from using ChatGPT or a within-IDE tool is affecting hiring in your company (even of contractors), or the demands being placed on you, I would love to hear from you!!

email: christopher dot mims at wsj dot com

please boost!

wasn’t ready for this

massive "get off my lawn" vibes from this Musk interview

“People should get off their goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit”

https://fortune.com/2023/05/17/elon-musk-work-from-home-remote-tesla-twitter-unfair/

I'm just going to admit this even though it makes me sound like an insensitive asshole, because look, we all make mistakes and the point is to grow, right?

when I first came to Mastodon and people were reminding me to add alt text to my images, I was a little irked

then I read several posts about how much this means to people who rely on reading apps to understand the web

now I'm fully converted. I enjoy writing alt text.

and I think it's crazy this isn't standard across all social mediums.

@goatsarah well said, all of this, matches my observations as well