Non-theist Christian and elder in Community of Christ. I have Mormon roots and aspirations to do better with justice and peacemaking—especially in the digital sphere but also in Lexington, Kentucky, the U.S., and the world more broadly.
You can subscribe to this content through this RSS feed or this Mastodon account.
- kudos:
I’ve been trying to put words to an idea in my head for a few weeks, and I think I finally have it: A secular Christmas is still definitely Christian in the same way that Homer Simpson is still definitely a white dude.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Musk asks in poll if he should step down as Twitter CEO, users vote yes : NPR'
- kudos:What a weird week it has been in Twitterland. link to ‘Musk asks in poll if he should step down as Twitter CEO, users vote yes : NPR’
- kudos:
Skipping my congregation’s candelight service today. Can’t go in person because of family sickness, and they’ve made it clear that they aren’t going to make huge efforts to make it Zoom accessible. Bummed to miss it, but playing Mario Party with kiddo instead is pretty fun.
- kudos:
I was really hoping to make something special of Advent this year, but the past three weeks have just kind of sucked, and I don’t know if the next one will be any better. I don’t know that I have a takeaway from this, except that maybe it’s okay to have a sucky Advent.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Twitter abruptly bans all links to Instagram, Mastodon, and other competitors - The Verge'
- kudos:Just when you thought this couldn’t get any worse. Will be really interested to see if Dorsey gets banned. link to ‘Twitter abruptly bans all links to Instagram, Mastodon, and other competitors - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Tries (Badly) To Defend The Banning Of Journalists As Twitter Starts Blocking Links & Mentions Of Mastodon | Techdirt'
- kudos:I’ve posted a bunch of articles about this already, but Masnick’s take is super helpful. link to ‘Elon Tries (Badly) To Defend The Banning Of Journalists As Twitter Starts Blocking Links & Mentions Of Mastodon | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk Is Taking Aim at Journalists. I’m One of Them.'
- kudos:Free speech is genuinely important, but it’s hard to take the ideal seriously when its advocates twist it to mean something specific and self-serving. link to ‘Elon Musk Is Taking Aim at Journalists. I’m One of Them.’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon - The Verge'
- kudos:I’ve been trying to avoid dire predictions for Twitter since Musk took over, but this seems more and more like a turning point in the identity and reputation of the platform. link to ‘Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk starts banning critical journalists from Twitter - The Verge'
- kudos:I mean, I’m willing to wait a bit and see what Twitter and Musk have to say about this, but this sure doesn’t seem like the approach that a free speech absolutist would take. link to ‘Elon Musk starts banning critical journalists from Twitter - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon’s Commitment To Free Speech Rapidly Replaced By His Commitment To Blatant Hypocrisy: Bans The JoinMastodon Account | Techdirt'
- kudos:Musk is getting pettier and more self-centered. link to ‘Elon’s Commitment To Free Speech Rapidly Replaced By His Commitment To Blatant Hypocrisy: Bans The JoinMastodon Account | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Experts Warn ChatGPT Could Democratize Cybercrime - Infosecurity Magazine'
- kudos:Well, this is terrifying. link to ‘Experts Warn ChatGPT Could Democratize Cybercrime - Infosecurity Magazine’
- kudos:
Streisand Effect must be real, because I’ve never cared this much about a single plane in my whole life.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon’s Promise Not To Ban Account Tracking His Jet Didn’t Last Very Long At All; Also Bans Guy’s Personal Account | Techdirt'
- kudos:How does such an already bad story get so much worse over the course of a single day? link to ‘Elon’s Promise Not To Ban Account Tracking His Jet Didn’t Last Very Long At All; Also Bans Guy’s Personal Account | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Twitter Bans Elon Musk Flight Tracking Account After He Said It Wouldn’t, for Free Speech'
- kudos:Twitter left up other flight tracking accounts but took down Musk’s? link to ‘Twitter Bans Elon Musk Flight Tracking Account After He Said It Wouldn’t, for Free Speech’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Twitter suspends @ElonJet after Musk promises not to ban it - The Verge'
- kudos:This is petty and concerning. link to ‘Twitter suspends @ElonJet after Musk promises not to ban it - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Twitter ditches Trust and Safety Council as Musk tweets fuel harassment | Ars Technica'
- kudos:I think this headline captures one of the worst parts of all of this: Musk isn’t just dismissing concerns about behavior, he’s fueling that behavior. link to ‘Twitter ditches Trust and Safety Council as Musk tweets fuel harassment | Ars Technica’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Goodbye, Twitter - by Ken White - The Popehat Report'
- kudos:I haven’t been following Ken White as much as I used to, but this reminds me why I appreciate his perspective. This is someone who knows what free speech is and advocates for it, not someone who uses it as a buzzword justification for reprehensible behavior, à la Musk. link to ‘Goodbye, Twitter - by Ken White - The Popehat Report’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'TSA Quietly Deploying Facial Recognition Scanners At Major US Airports | Techdirt'
- kudos:Oh please no. link to ‘TSA Quietly Deploying Facial Recognition Scanners At Major US Airports | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Before Musk Riled Everyone Up With Misleading Twitter Files About ‘Shadowbanning,’ Musk Used The Tool To Hide Account Tracking His Plane | Techdirt'
- kudos:If I could pick one story to demonstrate that Musk’s Twitter tenure has been blundering and inconsistent… link to ‘Before Musk Riled Everyone Up With Misleading Twitter Files About ‘Shadowbanning,’ Musk Used The Tool To Hide Account Tracking His Plane | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The Transparency Theater of the Twitter Files | WIRED'
- kudos:I have deliberately not been following the Twitter Files stuff, but I did read this and found it helpful. link to ‘The Transparency Theater of the Twitter Files | WIRED’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Thanks to AI, it’s probably time to take your photos off the Internet | Ars Technica'
- kudos:Good thing engineers really anticipated and considered these consequences before developing this software, right? link to ‘Thanks to AI, it’s probably time to take your photos off the Internet | Ars Technica’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'ChatGPT, Galactica, and the Progress Trap | WIRED'
- kudos:A helpful and thoughtful critique of how people are doing AI text generation. link to ‘ChatGPT, Galactica, and the Progress Trap | WIRED’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'It’s Not Just You: Businesses Are Making Their Phone Numbers Hard to Find - WSJ'
- kudos:What a crappy future we are heading toward. link to ‘It’s Not Just You: Businesses Are Making Their Phone Numbers Hard to Find - WSJ’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Mormons in Mexico and the Search for Truth, Pipe Wrench no. 8:'
- kudos:Long read but a good read. link to ‘Mormons in Mexico and the Search for Truth, Pipe Wrench no. 8:’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Brave Sir Bentham, Utilitarian Knight - Existential Comics'
- kudos:Only thing better than a critique of utilitarianism is a critique of utilitarianism in the form of a comic. link to ‘Brave Sir Bentham, Utilitarian Knight - Existential Comics’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The 4th Nephi Dystopia – Wheat & Tares'
- kudos:I have to admit I was skeptical of the title, but this is a very interesting reading, and I’ll never read 4th Nephi the same again. link to ‘The 4th Nephi Dystopia – Wheat & Tares’
- kudos:
I’m about to set up a Graceland University login because I’m registering for (non-credit-bearing) courses at Community of Christ Seminary. I know I’m not the first person in history to enroll at both BYU and Graceland during my lifetime, but it still tickles me to think about.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Lexington, Ky Mayor wants to expand license plate cameras | Lexington Herald Leader'
- kudos:I have written council representatives about this more than anything else, and yet I suspect that it will go through again without a fuss. This isn’t the worst form of surveillance, but it is still surveillance, pure and simple. link to ‘Lexington, Ky Mayor wants to expand license plate cameras | Lexington Herald Leader’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'BYU-I instructors fired for failing ‘ecclesiastical clearance.’ They can’t find out why.'
- kudos:This is such a frustrating story. I never wanted to work at a BYU, but as a Mormon earning a PhD, I often told myself I couldn’t afford to rule it out. This adds to the pile of reasons that I’m glad there weren’t jobs open for me to apply to. link to ‘BYU-I instructors fired for failing ‘ecclesiastical clearance.’ They can’t find out why.’
- kudos:
In recent years, my faith has become less literal, my marriage has become mixed-faith, and we’ve both committed to letting kiddo choose her own future as she gets older. This has meant revisiting family ritual and tradition for end of year holidays, but it’s kind of fun!
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'They Wanted a Baby, Then Twitter Fired Them | WIRED'
- kudos:Infertility sucks, and stories like this make me even more upset about Musk’s callous and chaotic Twitter takeover. link to ‘They Wanted a Baby, Then Twitter Fired Them | WIRED’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Admits His Content Moderation Council Was Always A Sham To Keep Advertisers On The Site | Techdirt'
- kudos:I’m glad I began reading Techdirt before this whole mess started… Masnick’s persective has been a helpful guide. link to ‘Elon Admits His Content Moderation Council Was Always A Sham To Keep Advertisers On The Site | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk proposes letting nearly everyone Twitter banned back on the site - The Verge'
- kudos:Is he serious? Does he really think this is a good idea? Also, I love the increasing sass that The Verge and other outlets are putting into their comments about Twitter no longer having a communications team to respond to requests for comment. link to ‘Elon Musk proposes letting nearly everyone Twitter banned back on the site - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk tries to blame ‘activists’ for his Twitter moderation council lie - The Verge'
- kudos:This seems petty, immature, and misguided. link to ‘Elon Musk tries to blame ‘activists’ for his Twitter moderation council lie - The Verge’
- kudos:
Hearing Black Friday commercials on French radio reminds me that I’m totally fine with the secularization of religious holidays and that the real problem is the commercialization of our holidays, whether always secular or originally religious.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on ''Most Dangerous Person In the World' Is a Teacher Union Leader, Former CIA Director Says'
- kudos:What a load of garbage. link to ‘‘Most Dangerous Person In the World’ Is a Teacher Union Leader, Former CIA Director Says’