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A simple trick to keep google from putting AI slop before your search results.
posted by signal to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 12:37 PM
83 users marked this as a favorite

In a move reminiscent of Musk's mass firings and forced resignations at Twitter, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent 2 million government employees a deadline-driven offer of “deferred resignation” over an eight-month payout if they resign before 06 February 2025. The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents 150,000 employees in 37 federal agencies and departments, urged employees to stand their ground. On Inauguration Day, the NTEU filed what was to become the first of many lawsuits against the unlawful Executive Order on "Schedule Policy/Career," stripping tens of thousands of civil service employees of their employment protections.
posted by Violet Blue to MetaFilter on Feb 1 at 1:19 PM
68 users marked this as a favorite

A declassified World War II-era government guide to “simple sabotage” is currently one of the most popular open source books on the internet. The book, called “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” was declassified in 2008 by the CIA and “describes ways to train normal people to be purposefully annoying telephone operators, dysfunctional train conductors, befuddling middle managers, blundering factory workers, unruly movie theater patrons, and so on. In other words, teaching people to do their jobs badly.”
posted by Molasses808 to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 9:30 AM
53 users marked this as a favorite

We Have Rights - “The agents lied to Esther, saying they were police officers investigating a crime, and her husband, Alexei, was a potential witness. ‘Is Alexei home?’ they asked innocently. Esther’s gut told her she should cooperate, but she remembered something she’d heard on the radio. ICE had been making early morning sweeps using tricks like this to get people to open their doors. Esther remembered: she had rights.” (a collaborative project of Brooklyn Defenders, Witness, MediaTank Productions, and Variant)
posted by ourobouros to MetaFilter on Jan 31 at 11:45 AM
52 users marked this as a favorite

In a post last Saturday, Substack writer Robert Hubbell provided a partial list and analysis of the situation unfolding within the US government, writing: "Speaking the truth about what is happening is difficult and unpleasant. Hearing the truth is also difficult and unpleasant. But the longer we fail to recognize the current situation for what it is—a slow-rolling coup attempt—the longer it will take for us to recover."
posted by rcraniac to MetaFilter on Feb 5 at 8:47 AM
50 users marked this as a favorite

Covid: January 30, 2025
posted by otherchaz to MetaFilter on Feb 1 at 8:19 PM
50 users marked this as a favorite

Introduction to a Self Managed Life: a 13 hour & 28 minute presentation by FUTO software does not actually cover *everything* but if you're at all interested in making self-hosted open source software the backbone of your digital life it's a pretty good start. From Louis Rossmann.
posted by flabdablet to MetaFilter on Feb 3 at 3:06 AM
44 users marked this as a favorite

Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure relies on the following six software engineers: Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran.
posted by They sucked his brains out! to MetaFilter on Feb 2 at 9:43 PM
43 users marked this as a favorite

"This is a series of posts on various aspects of writing scenes with sexual content." Rosina Lippi, a.k.a. historical novelist Sara Donati, offers tips on writing good sex scenes in fiction. The table of contents mostly works. Series includes analysis of scenes that work (e.g., in Jennifer Crusie's Faking It) and scenes that don't (discussing short excerpts from several works). Found via Making Light decades ago.
posted by brainwane to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 8:53 AM
36 users marked this as a favorite

Single Link Blog. It comes up often in AskMeFi what British mysteries are good to watch. Timothy Barron's website is very helpful in answering these questions, particularly when you're looking for something similar to what you've enjoyed in the past. Barron has kept up his site for decades now, updating it pretty much as new series of shows are introduced.
posted by drossdragon to MetaFilter on Feb 4 at 4:01 PM
35 users marked this as a favorite

Canada hits back with comparable tariffs to the US after Trump cocks up a longstanding alliance. (slCBC)
posted by Kitteh to MetaFilter on Feb 2 at 6:34 AM
33 users marked this as a favorite

Today at 5 p.m. EST on February 4th, 2025, a rally began at the Treasury to protest Elon Musk’s billionaire takeover. Livestream here. SLYT
posted by orange swan to MetaFilter on Feb 4 at 2:58 PM
32 users marked this as a favorite

When game designer Will Wright lost his house in the devastating 1991 Oakland firestorm, the long process of reconstruction made him wonder: what if a game could capture the experience of building a home, filling it with possessions, and watching life unfold within its walls? His small team spent most of the next decade quietly innovating, crafting a Maslow-esque "pheromonal" needs system, a satirical product catalog full of whimsical item descriptions, a playfully improvised gibberish language, and an unforgettable instrumental score that blended chipper midcentury shopping reveries with wistful, impressionistic, deeply evocative piano interludes. Initially panned by focus groups and deemed too weird and passive by Maxis -- who jokingly called it 'the Toilet Game' for its mundane chores -- the project would finally launch as The Sims, twenty-five years ago today. After building buzz with a fateful kiss [previ-ously], it proved to be a smash hit, topping Myst as the best-selling PC game of all time and breaking ground with a broad spectrum of so-called "non-traditional" gamers, who embraced the title as a platform for sharing custom content, wacky mods, and heartfelt storytelling. A parade of expansions and sequels later, The Sims stands as one of the most important titles in the history of gaming -- look inside for a collection of behind-the-scenes design docs, music, rare videos, personal essays, and other fun stuff.
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter on Feb 5 at 10:44 AM
32 users marked this as a favorite

With her British accent, grandmotherly appearance, stately pace and lightly edited videos, Andrea Borman may not seem like the Youtuber type, but that is where she is, and this is there she does. So, where what is the does that she do? Knitting? Baking cookies? Dressing up cats? Nope, with her it's Linux distros and software. Here she discusses why you should ditch Windows (24m) - Is Fedora Linux for new users? (25m) - Comparing Windows Movie Maker with Openshot Video Editor (27m) - How she makes her videos (18m)
posted by JHarris to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 6:41 AM
31 users marked this as a favorite

Every Sunday morning you go for a walk in the city, heading nowhere in particular, with just one rule to your rambling: You never retrace your steps or cross your own path. If you have already walked along a certain block or passed through an intersection, you refuse to set foot there again. This recipe for tracing a loopless path through a grid of city streets leads into some surprisingly dark back alleys of mathematics—not to mention byways of physics, chemistry, computer science and biology. Avoiding yourself, it turns out, is a hard problem. from How to Avoid Yourself [American Scientist]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Jan 31 at 11:53 AM
31 users marked this as a favorite

Elite on the 6502 – A very comprehensive site exploring the source code of Elite, a highly influential space-trading game from 1984, explaining how it did all the things it did within very limited resources. You can play the game in-browser, in various forms. If you're not all that familiar with the game, you might like to read Elite (or, The Universe on 32 K Per Day) at the Digital Antiquarian.
posted by Wolfdog to MetaFilter on Jan 31 at 10:04 AM
31 users marked this as a favorite

This week, President Trump’s sweeping freeze on U.S. foreign aid has deepened humanitarian crises and cast doubt on America’s leadership on the world stage. Despite some confusion over the partial unfreezing of federal grants, the bulk of U.S. foreign aid remains frozen, upending the lives and work of federal agencies and contractors. In addition to his Executive order Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid, the U.S. administration made other changes broadly affecting global and US health systems, including the elimination of the National Security Council Directorate on Global Health Security and Biodefense, withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organization (WHO), redefinition of sex as an immutable binary biological classification, and rejection of international abortion rights.
posted by rcraniac to MetaFilter on Jan 31 at 6:44 AM
27 users marked this as a favorite

Many Democrats agree that the first two weeks of Trump's second term have been rough, even if they don't agree on a message (NYTimes). NPR did its best to recap yesterday. Ezra Klein makes the case, perhaps hopefully, that "Trump is acting like a king because he is too weak to govern like a president." (Gift NYTimes link)
posted by coffeecat to MetaFilter on Feb 2 at 12:49 PM
27 users marked this as a favorite

Dial that dial to the smoothest radio station in the county, Your Beautiful Music Station, EASY AM 66. Two free 19-minute compilations of programming (and a third for sale) are available to listen to while the sedatives slowly take effect. It's light you can hear! An audio offshoot of Programme 4, which is equally as smooth and good and smooth.
posted by JHarris to MetaFilter on Feb 3 at 12:37 PM
25 users marked this as a favorite

"Instead of expecting to be coddled with praise and pulled punches all of the time, activists need to grow a spine and fight the right even if they hate their allies."
posted by A forgotten .plan file to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 7:49 AM
25 users marked this as a favorite

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I am certain that those incidents have zero relation to this tragedy Except that part of the reason that air travel is so safe (obviously not in this case; I'm speaking broadly) is due to strong regulation and oversight, an environment which is likely to see erosion as more of these sort of cuts become the norm. [view]
posted by axiom to MetaFilter on Jan 29 at 10:15 PM
97 users marked this as a favorite

One of Ronald Reagan's big Presidential triumphs was firing all the striking aircraft controllers and replacing them with trainees. It broke the power of Labor in the US in complicated ways, and naming that airport after him was a calculated insult to unions in general. [view]
posted by jamjam to MetaFilter on Jan 29 at 11:30 PM
80 users marked this as a favorite

I am certain that those incidents have zero relation to this tragedy, and shame on anyone who thinks it is pertinent. Possibly not directly, and obviously no one knows what happened yet, but of the top of my head here's some indirect ways they could be related (ordered from most to least direct effects): -Managers who might have... [more]
posted by nangua to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 2:49 AM
74 users marked this as a favorite

This is America 2025 in a nutshell: trying to balance our desire not to push conspiracy theories with our realization that actual behind the scenes fuckery is in fact afoot in many cases and that we may only ever hear about the truth in whispers. The end result is that you get to feel like a kook and a sucker at the same time. The loss... [more]
posted by DirtyOldTown to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 8:37 AM
67 users marked this as a favorite

There's so much here that is interesting to me. I've newly joined MeFi after lurking awhile, and I am honestly a little worried of expressing things wrong or having a hurtful impact somehow in my analysis of this. This just seems like a conversation that MeFi may have norms around that I don't yet recognize. Please assume a respectful and... [more]
posted by fennario to MetaFilter on Feb 2 at 12:51 PM
66 users marked this as a favorite

I am just sick over the news about the skaters. For context, these were preteens and teens who were potentially the future of the sport. Some might have gotten international competitive assignments to represent the US in the next couple of years. One senior male skater (who was not on the flight) lost both of his parents, who were former... [more]
posted by timestep to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 5:33 AM
63 users marked this as a favorite

His central thesis seems to be that if the people at the bottom really cared then they would simply individually overcome the overwhelming systemic forces that prevent them from doing the right thing and, my dude, [view]
posted by parm to MetaFilter on Feb 1 at 3:47 AM
61 users marked this as a favorite

My bet is actually that this is a Hegseth issue but not in a way that will be pinnable on him. I have seen some chatter that this was a Blackhawk that may have been returning from dropping off a civilian VIP. My bet is that Hegseth has been tasking military pilots overtime with flying people around to showcase his own importance and how tough and... [more]
posted by corb to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 5:50 AM
56 users marked this as a favorite

From last week: Trump fires heads of TSA, Coast Guard, and guts key safety advisory committee. [view]
posted by mrjohnmuller to MetaFilter on Jan 29 at 8:23 PM
56 users marked this as a favorite

I really wish they gave us middle-aged Buffy, staking vampires in sensible shoes and dealing with all the middle-aged stuff. [view]
posted by signal to MetaFilter on Feb 3 at 3:09 PM
47 users marked this as a favorite

Possibly not directly, and obviously no one knows what happened yet, but of the top of my head here's some indirect ways they could be related (ordered from most to least direct effects): I work heavy construction. The nature of our business is eventually stuff gets built, the project ends, and everyone gets laid off. But that happens... [more]
posted by Mitheral to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 4:49 AM
46 users marked this as a favorite

Genuine question: If military pilots are busy doing "every other job but flying", what are the things they are doing "entirely unrelated to flying"? I wasn't a pilot. But here are a small sample of the things I was asked to do by my command, while I was tasked out to a three letter agency and was considered... [more]
posted by corb to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 11:00 PM
45 users marked this as a favorite

My "favorite" part of Trump's rambling was when he asked for a moment of silence for the victims and then DIDN'T SHUT UP for another 5 minutes before handing off to the next person. There was no moment of silence. [view]
posted by Roommate to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 8:46 AM
45 users marked this as a favorite

I am certain that those incidents have zero relation to this tragedy, and shame on anyone who thinks it is pertinent. The utter chaos of the government of the past week with executive orders affecting Federal workers couldn't have a direct causal relationship betwen military and civilian federal employees losing track of each... [more]
posted by cotterpin to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 2:39 AM
44 users marked this as a favorite

Trump fires heads of TSA, Coast Guard, and guts key safety advisory committee. I am certain that those incidents have zero relation to this tragedy, and shame on anyone who thinks it is pertinent. Shame, seriously? People should be ashamed of raising this point? If you want to convince people of your certainty, evidence will go... [more]
posted by corey flood to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 6:17 AM
43 users marked this as a favorite

The McDonald's touch-screen self-order kiosk takes 27 clicks to get a meal. They try to up-sell you 3 times. Just let me pay for my fucking burger, Jesus Christ. The product manager, the programmer, the executives. None of these people care. Started falling apart for me here. They VERY MUCH CARE about your upsell, are you kidding?... [more]
posted by tiny frying pan to MetaFilter on Feb 1 at 5:11 AM
43 users marked this as a favorite

I am certain that those incidents have zero relation to this tragedy This has with great justification been piled on a lot already, but not enough. Look, when you create a fog of chaos, chaos happens. "No one could have known it would look like this!" isn't the same statement as "No one could possibly be held responsible... [more]
posted by kittens for breakfast to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 4:04 AM
42 users marked this as a favorite

Except that part of the reason that air travel is so safe (obviously not in this case; I'm speaking broadly) is due to strong regulation and oversight, an environment which is likely to see erosion as more of these sort of cuts become the norm. I wish I could favorite this twice. My wife has a good friend who works for the NTSB (she is... [more]
posted by photo guy to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 2:22 AM
41 users marked this as a favorite

Until the state of Texas protects the rights of women and trans people who live in or visit Texas, it doesn't deserve anyone's business. [view]
posted by eraserbones to MetaFilter on Jan 29 at 4:00 PM
39 users marked this as a favorite

Is the NTSB even allowed to release a report anymore? For those who haven’t been tracking as closely, the answer is no: no agency at this time is allowed to communicate or release reports to the public unless approved by a political appointee. I can try to dig up a cite, but this was broken on BlueSky a couple days ago and it’s been a... [more]
posted by corb to MetaFilter on Jan 30 at 7:20 AM
39 users marked this as a favorite

[more comments]