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.
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🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Big Tech Has Spent $36 Million on Ads to Torpedo Antitrust Bill - WSJ'
- kudos:I haven’t read much about this bill, but it’s worrying that powerful entities have such an advantage in the debate about limiting their power. link to ‘Big Tech Has Spent $36 Million on Ads to Torpedo Antitrust Bill - WSJ’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Telecom Lobbyists Are About To Scuttle The Nomination Of A Popular Reformer To The FCC And Nobody Much Seems To Care | Techdirt'
- kudos:Depressing read, though I’ll freely admit I haven’t been paying enough attention here myself. link to ‘Telecom Lobbyists Are About To Scuttle The Nomination Of A Popular Reformer To The FCC And Nobody Much Seems To Care | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The linguistics search engine that overturned the federal mask mandate - The Verge'
- kudos:Very, very interesting read on how the purported objectivity of big data is influencing how (conservative) judges use corpus linguistics. link to ‘The linguistics search engine that overturned the federal mask mandate - The Verge’
should 'Hades' appear in the Book of Mormon?
- kudos:A few weeks ago, I posted about Book of Mormon dependence on the King James Version and the way that that sometimes raises interesting questions about how the text should be understood. As I continue my project of what a modern-language version of the Book of Mormon might look like, I’ve run into another example. 1 Corinthians 15:55 is referenced three times in the Book of Mormon, including in Mosiah 8 (Mosiah 16 LDS), where I’m currently working my way through the text.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk Threatens to End Twitter Deal Without Information on Spam Accounts - The New York Times'
- kudos:What a mess. Glad to be pivoting toward my blog and Mastodon. link to ‘Elon Musk Threatens to End Twitter Deal Without Information on Spam Accounts - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Axon Halts Plans to Sell Flying Taser Drones to Schools'
- kudos:What’s the point in having an ethics board if you’re going to so flagrantly ignore them? Good on members for responding with resignations, and thank goodness Axon woke up to how dunb their decision was. link to ‘Axon Halts Plans to Sell Flying Taser Drones to Schools’
an 'ultimate sense of FOMO' and joining Community of Christ
- kudos:Over the past several weeks, I’ve been putting a lot of work into adjusting my online presence, a project that I expect to last through most of the summer. In dividing my website into distinct subareas and pivoting from a single Twitter account to a number of Mastodon accounts, I’m trying to do something about the context collapse that’s been keeping me from sharing some of the big things going on in my life lately.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Firm proposes Taser-armed drones to stop school shootings : NPR'
- kudos:This is unbelievably dumb. School shootings can’t be solved by technology—it’s a social and political problem. Shame on Axon. link to ‘Firm proposes Taser-armed drones to stop school shootings : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The Internet Can Still Be Small And Nice, But It’s On All Of Us To Make That Work | Techdirt'
- kudos:Some good thoughts by Masnick on a good op-ed by Wheaton. link to ‘The Internet Can Still Be Small And Nice, But It’s On All Of Us To Make That Work | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Our Obsession With Gas Prices Is Driving America Nuts'
- kudos:I have long been skeptical of gas prices as a talking point. Some interesting thoughts in here. link to ‘Our Obsession With Gas Prices Is Driving America Nuts’
Dallin Oaks and Marjorie Taylor Greene on heterosexual extinction
- kudos:Thanks to a recommendation from BoingBoing, I just finished reading a Business Insider article describing a recent video in which Marjorie Taylor Greene: predicted that identifying as heterosexual will be a thing of the past within a period of less than 200 years thanks to LGBTQ-inclusive sex educators, who she called “trans terrorists.” More specifically, Greene was quoted as saying that heterosexual extinction would come about “probably in about four or five generations.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Great Replacement Theory, New Poll Shows'
- kudos:GOP has some reckoning to do. link to ‘Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Great Replacement Theory, New Poll Shows’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Racist and Violent Ideas Jump From Web’s Fringes to Mainstream Sites - The New York Times'
- kudos:Content moderation is a good thing, and ‘free speech’ should not be our primary concern when it comes to social media platforms. link to ‘Racist and Violent Ideas Jump From Web’s Fringes to Mainstream Sites - The New York Times’
- kudos:
Listening to The Aquabats tonight and remembering how I pegged the Mormon connection when I was first listening to them because of subtle allusions to food storage and pioneer hymns.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'A Reporter Reflects on Covering Seven Mass Shootings — ProPublica'
- kudos:This is difficult but important to read. As gut wrenching as these shootings are, I am still distant enough from them that they don’t always stick with me. It’s helpful if depressing to read about what sticks with others who are closer to them. [link to ‘A Reporter Reflects on Covering Seven Mass Shootings — ProPublica’](https://www.propublica.org/article/shooting-news-msm-reporter-essay
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'McConnell mum on guns as U.S. Senate recesses for a week – 89.3 WFPL News Louisville'
- kudos:Disappointing but unsurprising. I wish McConnell would show as much willingness to call out Republicans on guns as he does for Ukraine. link to ‘McConnell mum on guns as U.S. Senate recesses for a week – 89.3 WFPL News Louisville’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Richard Scarry's 21st Century Classroom | Boing Boing'
- kudos:Tom the Dancing Bug is usually just the right level of dark. link to ‘Richard Scarry’s 21st Century Classroom | Boing Boing’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on '‘It Was the Wrong Decision’: Uvalde Cops Waited in Hallway as Kids Called 911 Begging to Be Saved From Gunman'
- kudos:It makes me sick and angry to read all of this. We have so badly failed the children of this country. link to ‘‘It Was the Wrong Decision’: Uvalde Cops Waited in Hallway as Kids Called 911 Begging to Be Saved From Gunman’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Ted Cruz walks away after reporter asks him why mass shootings keep happening : NPR'
- kudos:Imagine thinking that this is the price we pay for American exceptionalism. Imagine thinking that mourning these children and wanting to do something about it is a partisan agenda. link to ‘Ted Cruz walks away after reporter asks him why mass shootings keep happening : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on ''Under the Banner of Heaven' raises the question: Are Mormons dangerous?'
- kudos:I suspect that there is nothing as damning in Mormon history as Mormons’ failure to own up to that history, and Jana’s writing here captures that nicely. link to ‘‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ raises the question: Are Mormons dangerous?’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on ''The Onion' has reused this satire after more than 20 mass shootings since 2014 : NPR'
- kudos:This is one of the best things The Onion has ever done. link to ‘‘The Onion’ has reused this satire after more than 20 mass shootings since 2014 : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Florida student suing over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ uses curly hair as commencement speech code | The Hill'
- kudos:Love this. link to ‘Florida student suing over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ uses curly hair as commencement speech code | The Hill’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The election system shuddered in 2020. Now, there are fears of an attack within : NPR'
- kudos:Fascinating (if worrying) article on just how important the basic mechanics of an election are. link to ‘The election system shuddered in 2020. Now, there are fears of an attack within : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Why we need a public internet and how to get one - The Verge'
- kudos:Lots of interesting ideas in this interview. I particularly like libraries running Mastodon instances. link to ‘Why we need a public internet and how to get one - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Clearview AI ordered to delete facial recognition data belonging to UK residents - The Verge'
- kudos:Let’s do the same in the U.S., please. link to ‘Clearview AI ordered to delete facial recognition data belonging to UK residents - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Pence, Tiptoeing Away From Trump, Lays Groundwork for ’24 Run - The New York Times'
- kudos:I don’t think I want a Pence presidency any more than another Trump one, but I do want to see the GOP wrestle with what it’s going to be going forward. link to ‘Pence, Tiptoeing Away From Trump, Lays Groundwork for ’24 Run - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'How Trump’s 2020 Election Lies Have Gripped State Legislatures - The New York Times'
- kudos:Glad that there hasn’t been much conversation about this in Kentucky, but it’s still really worrying stuff. link to ‘How Trump’s 2020 Election Lies Have Gripped State Legislatures - The New York Times’
Book of Mormon dependence on the King James Version
- kudos:It’s a bit of a truism to say that the Book of Mormon is dependent on Biblical language, but one thing that’s been on my mind for the past few years (especially since reading Thomas Wayment’s excellent The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints) is how specifically dependent it is on the particular language of the King James Version of the Bible. Over the past year or so, as a personal project, I’ve been toying around with what a modern-language version of the Book of Mormon would look like.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Beshear, KDP will not back Democratic candidate for U.S. House seat'
- kudos:Pretty upset about these results from the primary. I voted for the other candidate and was shocked to find Young won. At least I have a few months to figure out who to write in. link to ‘Beshear, KDP will not back Democratic candidate for U.S. House seat’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Madison Cawthorn is beaten in North Carolina's GOP primary : NPR'
- kudos:Last night, I had a bizarre dream that I was telling Ted Cruz that he was a jerk but that I didn’t mind when it was directed at Madison Cawthorn. Don’t know if that fully reflects my waking views, and don’t know anything about the victor here, but I am glad to see Cawthorn lose. link to ‘Madison Cawthorn is beaten in North Carolina’s GOP primary : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'How the Buffalo shooting livestream went viral - The Verge'
- kudos:Content moderation is (sometimes) a good thing. link to ‘How the Buffalo shooting livestream went viral - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'We're Suing Kentucky Prisons for Violating the First Amendment | ACLU of Kentucky'
- kudos:Religious freedom isn’t worth anything if it’s only a shield for conservative Christianity. link to ‘We’re Suing Kentucky Prisons for Violating the First Amendment | ACLU of Kentucky’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk Says Twitter Deal ‘Cannot Move Forward’ in Current State - The New York Times'
- kudos:What a troll. Even if the deal falls through, the way in which a sole rich dude can mess around with Twitter is souring me on the platform. link to ‘Elon Musk Says Twitter Deal ‘Cannot Move Forward’ in Current State - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'QAnon Thinks Elon Musk Is Going to Let Them Back On Twitter'
- kudos:If QAnon is excited, the rest of us should be worried—though I think there is a possibility that Musk realizes just how bad his ideas re: limiting moderation are and fails to deliver. link to ‘QAnon Thinks Elon Musk Is Going to Let Them Back On Twitter’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'En rachetant Twitter, 'Elon Musk a un projet politique derrière la tête', estime un journaliste qui a enquêté sur l'homme le plus riche du monde'
- kudos:Et bien oui, ça me paraît très évident. link to ‘En rachetant Twitter, “Elon Musk a un projet politique derrière la tête”, estime un journaliste qui a enquêté sur l’homme le plus riche du monde’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Conservatives celebrate Musk’s deal to buy Twitter. - The New York Times'
- kudos:Say it together now: Content moderation and free speech are different things. link to ‘Conservatives celebrate Musk’s deal to buy Twitter. - The New York Times’