Notices by Solarbird :flag_cascadia: (moira@mastodon.murkworks.net)

RE: https://mastodon.social/@matthiasott/116609310065016685

Here, read this. Matthias:

"The infrastructure being built – a deeply personalized agent ... generating natural-language recommendations with no visible boundary between organic and paid content – is a monetization engine.

Vidhya Srinivasan, VP of Google Ads, put it plainly: 'The best ads must be answers.' Ads are already running inside AI Mode. They’re not banners next to the output. They’re generated by Gemini to read as part of the conversation. And advertisers... must hand over creative and targeting control to Google’s system. 'You can’t choose keywords anymore.'"

The answers in Google's new AI-based search _are_ the ads.

More at the post, give it a read.

#google #FuckGoogle #CorporateHellscape #advertising #ads #marketing #evil

35 miles today. Still a bit of a trip, but two years ago I'd've really been feeling it. On my first North Lake Washington Loop - a spur of the moment ride around, the same total distance - I used the whole battery in assist and was like _whoof_ getting home. This runabout, I used less than half the battery and basically, yeah, I got home and started dinner.

also posed in front of a gas station sign showing lollertastic prices because not my problem lol

#biking #BikeTooter

Okay, if this is real, this is worse than I was expecting. I've been thinking about secondary outputs but I've been thinking way more about plastics, inks, other secondaries.

I have been worried about products shortages but maybe not enough. I am and have been assuming that there will be preferential distribution to corporations (which obviously includes most freight) and least preference given to individuals trying to do their own work themselves - e.g., like RAM over the last several months. But I haven't thought about the price side of that.

And holy shit it's gonna get fugly.

So, uh, yeah.

Maybe buy an ebike. Maybe make some plans.

https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla.bsky.social/post/3mly43udoqk2c

#oil #OilPrice #IranWar #fascism #economy

@ascentale @bikenite A8: wow, I got... well not quite nothin', I saw THREE updates to the bike maps and WILL be dropping a new maps update after #BikeNite is over. That's something!

Also I just drew this on an intersection to show somebody how a bike turning box works so that's something:

The Stranger read all the publicly-posted minutes from the Laurelhurst Community Council's website before the LCC suddenly took them all down:

https://www.thestranger.com/news/laurelhurst-community-council-isnt-sure-helicopters-needed-to-land-sick-kids-at-the-hospital/

#laurelhurst #seattle #SeattleChildrensHospital #TheStranger #LCC

@ai6yr I rather think the answer is likely in your own reply chain: mass surveillance of farm workers for deportation.

Kinda neat.

Idly watching oil prices off to the side, and stonks in the background because of earnings and rates and such

Feds announce no rate change, traders clearly 100% expecting it, no reaction

Powell announces he'll stay as a governor after his term as chair is over, jump across all indicies

Is this traders going "oh thank fuck, the shitstain doesn't get to fill a seat with another fool"? Or just coincidence?

I dunno either, but it was kinda neat.

#markets #stonks

Oh, also of interest: the headlines note that there were the most dissenters on this rates decision since 1992. Since people were looking for a rate cut the implication is that the dissenters wanted one.

That is NOT CORRECT.

There were four dissents.

_One_ wanted an immediate rate cut, as context around the headlines would imply.

The other three wanted the forward-looking possible-rate-cut-languge _removed_. They wanted no rate cut now, and they wanted the suggestion of a rate cut at the next meeting _taken out_, meaning they expect higher inflation.

This is the opposite of the contextual headline implication and one should take it onboard for one's inflation expectations accordingly.

#economy #InterestRates #FedReserve #inflation

This is what oil's doing this morning, btw. West Texas. Brent is worse ($110.50-ish) - they crossed back to the more typical relationship several days ago.

#OilPrice #fascism #FuckTrump #IranWar

Hi, I used to be an economics blogger, can you tell? It's kind of my comfort zone, particularly when things are interesting, by which I mean brace for impact.

This is not financial advice and I am not a financial advisor, but my inflation expectations are more in line with those of the dissenters.

People see the gas/diesel price shocks. Most people aren't yet really seeing the shipping price shocks. The goods price shock hasn't hit yet, but it absolutely will; if you look you can see it coming.

As for food, well, people are seeing a little foods price shock but it's mostly transportation impacts passed along so relatively low-key so far for most, but if fertiliser supplies don't get sorted - China's helping with that in eastern Asia, sharing from their considerable reserves stockpile - the hard impacts will be four to six months off.

#economy #InterestRates #FedReserve #prices #inflation

(I was one of the people warning anyone who would listen about both the tech and housing bubbles, and street-protested the bailout that created the Giant Pile of Money which has _completely fucked_ the relationship between stock values and actual productive economy ever since - not that it was on the most stable of ground to begin with - and which also created the megabillionaire fascist political tribe which helped get us here. Day-to-day bores me, so I don't bother with it, which from a reader's POV means that when I start blogging economics again, shit's getting crinkly, weird, and historically that's meant explosively bad.)

oh hey i found it! i knew i kept it xD

I led a tiny group of people (we called it an "informational protest") down at Westlake with this for hours. Had a lot of good conversations but, well.

Funniest part was the Roaches trying to get in on our bit and me physically chasing them off. Never let LaRouchites into your party. (Are they even still around? Look 'em up.)

#protest #economy

Been a minute since I've built a complete new physical MEGAMAP and hung it in the entryway

#BikeMap #maps #Northshore #GreaterNorthshore #MEGAMAP #biking #BikeTooter

TAG YOURSELF

Irritatingly, I seem to be Chaotic Good in this scenario, particularly if "using a book as a bookmark in another book" counts

#meme #bookmark #AlignmentChart #ChaoticUGHgood

@JMMaok i seem to be the only person using other books as bookmarks tho

@iris @JMMaok YEP

literally next to my desk:

@glitch25 A number of people are using telescoping flagpoles. You could try that.

Also, just to be sure: you've tried windows, right? Height isn't always everything. It would be more directional, but as long as you hit people it doesn't matter.

cascadia's listening to meshcore all the way up in parksville and sechelt

the whole dang country's just silly with it

#OpenMesh #MeshCore #cascadia #SillyWithIt

@newsguyusa these monstrous fuckheads are just so fucking evil