I'm a citizen of Lexington, Kentucky, the United States, the world, and the digital sphere. Politically, I care about equality (and changing structures to support it), elections (that is, making them more fair and representative), and electronics (or, rather, their impact on society).

I am a believing agnostic in Community of Christ with a (mostly) cherished past as a (mostly) literalist Mormon.

You can subscribe to this content through this RSS feed or this Mastodon account.

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Twitter is blocking links to Mastodon - The Verge'

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'

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'

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'

Well, this is terrifying. link to ‘Experts Warn ChatGPT Could Democratize Cybercrime - Infosecurity Magazine’

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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'

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:'

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'

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'

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’

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'

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.'

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.’

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'

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'

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'

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'

This seems petty, immature, and misguided. link to ‘Elon Musk tries to blame ‘activists’ for his Twitter moderation council lie - The Verge’

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'

What a load of garbage. link to ‘‘Most Dangerous Person In the World’ Is a Teacher Union Leader, Former CIA Director Says’

Growing up, I was taught to graze at religious texts, focusing on anecdotes that supported what we already believed. One of the great pleasures of my adulthood has been learning to read them more critically: wrestling with their problems and learning deeper lessons.

I sometimes wonder how I’d react if I were put through a ‘Peggy Sue loop’: made to repeat an earlier part of my life with all my knowledge of how things turned out. I have major disagreements with my past self, but I also owe him a lot, so there would be difficult decisions.

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk’s Twitter Teeters on the Edge After Another 1,200 Leave - The New York Times'

I didn’t expect 1,200 resignations! link to ‘Elon Musk’s Twitter Teeters on the Edge After Another 1,200 Leave - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, starting with Jordan Peterson and the Babylon Bee - The Verge'

Oh good, so on top of the unexpected chaos, the expected chaos is also still happening. link to ‘Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, starting with Jordan Peterson and the Babylon Bee - The Verge’

I’m a teetotaler, so some of my microbrewing grad school friends once declared that I would make a good “beer eunuch”—I could be trusted to hold onto a barrel (or whatever—I don’t know how this stuff works) without abusing that trust.

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The Far-Right Is Convinced Kari Lake Won: ‘Now Is the Time to Fight’'

The midterms could have been a lot worse, but this is a reminder that there’s still real danger lurking out there. link to ‘The Far-Right Is Convinced Kari Lake Won: ‘Now Is the Time to Fight’’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Q is Dead, Long Live QAnon'

Helpful summary of the current state of QAnon. link to ‘Q is Dead, Long Live QAnon’