It just usually doesn’t involve posting a fake all-Springsteen top songs list for New Jersey political cred:
When reached Monday afternoon, Gottheimer confirmed his post was indeed a manufactured list and not pulled directly from Spotify.
“This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didn’t share my account with my 12 and 15-year-old kids,” Gottheimer said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.
Jason Koebler on the ritual of analyzing a killer’s online life:
“People—including me—want to know who Mangione is and what made him allegedly do this. It’s just that it’s not clear what we are actually learning from years-old social media accounts.”
Do regular Beat Saber songs hold no challenge? The 17-track Metallica song pack adds a feature in which “the speed of individual cubes will change depending on the intensity of the song” and supposedly “boasts Beat Saber’s most challenging levels.” Based on what community modders were doing years ago with “Master of Puppets”... yeah, that tracks.
404 Media is fighting a subpoena from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to seize confidential reporting material:
In order to do our job well, journalists need to be independent from the government and from outside corporate interests. ... Our sources—many of whom are particularly vulnerable—share information with us specifically because we are independent from the state.
As we’ve said before: tell your Senator to pass the PRESS Act.
My new favorite fan-binding project: Second Head, a collage of fanfic sentences that employ a vivid yet frequently repeated turn of phrase.
There’s an impulse, I think, to in-group even when performing a creative act. A feeling that there are certain ways one Should go about the act, by virtue of seeing it performed that way ... we make what we see and we make what we think we should make. At least, at first.
Consider my emerald orbs transfixed.
The BEAD program — which my colleague Sean wrote about last year — is coming under fire as Donald Trump’s inauguration approaches:
Cruz sent a letter yesterday to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson in which he asked the agency to halt the program rollout until Trump takes over. Cruz also accused the NTIA of “technology bias” because the agency decided that fiber networks should be prioritized over other types of technology.
Not spending ad dollars on a website because its owner keeps spouting weird conspiracy theories is a very serious antitrust problem, and as usual, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is on it. Surely the best use of law enforcement’s time and money.
Couldn’t get enough of Trust & Safety Tycoon? Cocreator and Bluesky board member Mike Masnick is crowdfunding a card game, inspired by Touring, about growing a social network while running your competition into the ground. It’s called One Billion Users, and if I ever end up playing, I’m totally nabbing the “Hellsite” card.
