Tootfinder

Pavel Durov says Telegram has 900M users, hopes "to become profitable next year, if not this year", was "offered $30B valuations" by VCs, and considers an IPO (Hannah Murphy/Financial Times)
https://t.co/I4FSkWbUQw

"The transition from Facebook to WhatsApp and now YouTube indicates how shifts in people's internet habits often shape the role of social media in electoral processes."
https://economictimes.…

The YouTube Election: Social media emerges as key player in Indian polls
Dahiya can see peoples enthusiasm reflected in the sudden surge in subscribers over the past month, along with better likes-to-views ratio and a higher number of comments on videos even when the content is critical and not celebratory.

STV transfer patterns are fascinating. For the Hillhead by-election, with the Lib Dems, Tories and "independents" eliminated, I can fully understand why so many of the SNP and Labour first-preferences transferred to Green.
But who were the people who voted SNP first, then ranked Labour above Green in their later preferences? And why?

it's annoying that people who have lots moralize the strategies people who don't have use to survive.
on the flip side, it's hard to not be over-pampering.
common learned strategies:
- resource hunting (asking dad vs mom, or a less experienced volunteer when the shift lead says no)
- fragmenting for assistance (slightly different requests to many people)
- hoarding (if you've never endured scarcity you might not get this)
Nothing wrong with that strategy, just we're also trying to help out the polite / hesitant folks who don't vouch for themselves
or dealing with a limited "one phone per family" budget because money in a charity is f-ing tight.
assume the best of the people you're trying to help, but don't commit the org to promises (even saying maybe can be seen as commitment that might backfire) - call the case manager and let them work it out.
trying to avoid codependency and encouraging them to try it themselves / gain confidence in a new place, encourage independence and self sufficiency.

it's annoying that people who have lots moralize the strategies people who don't have use to survive.
on the flip side, it's hard to not be over-pampering.
common learned strategies:
- resource hunting (asking dad vs mom, or a less experienced volunteer when the shift lead says no)
- fragmenting for assistance (slightly different requests to many people)
- hoarding (if you've never endured scarcity you might not get this)
Nothing wrong with that strategy, just we're also trying to help out the polite / hesitant folks who don't vouch for themselves
or dealing with a limited "one phone per family" budget because money in a charity is f-ing tight.
assume the best of the people you're trying to help, but don't commit the org to promises (even saying maybe can be seen as commitment that might backfire) - call the case manager and let them work it out.
trying to avoid codependency and encouraging them to try it themselves / gain confidence in a new place, encourage independence and self sufficiency.

Here's their press release from this morning:
Alt text here instead of in images due to length:
NEWS RELEASE Embargoed until April 24, 7:00am PST
Divest From Death USA
Media Contact: Media Liaisons, USC Divest From Death Coalition USCSolidarityOccupation@protonmail.com
USC Divest From Death Coalition to Begin Gaza Solidarity Occupation in University of
Southern California Campus
LOS ANGELES. (April 24, 2023) — USC Divest From Death Coalition today announced theit occupation of USC's Alumni Park, where the increasingly controversial 2024 Commencement is currently set to take place. The students taking part in the Gaza Solidarity Occupation are planning to occupy USC until their demands are met. The coalition joins other students groups across the country in the National Students for Justice in Palestine's "Popular University for Gaza," a coordinated mass movement of students, faculty and staff that disrupts universities, creating climates that push universities to answer community and international calls for full divestment from the Zionist entity, and all of the industries that sustain it.
1. End War Profiteering and Investment in Genocide. USC must fully disclose and divest its finances and endowment from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine, including the US Military and weapons manufacturing. USC must comumit to accountability through full transparency of their financial investments.
2. Complete Academic Boycott of Israel. USC must end its study abroad programs at Hebrew University's Rothenberg International School and Reichman University and sever all academic ties and research cooperation with Israeli universities.
3. Protect free speech on campus and provide full amnesty to all students, staff, and faculty disciplined, penalized, or fired for their pro-Palestine ackivism. USC must abide by their self- proclaimed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion values and implement material policies protecting the safety of its marginalized students.
4. Stop the Displacement, from South Central to Palestine. No land grabs, whether in South Central, Tongva territory, or Palestine. Cease expansion, provide reparations, and support housing for low-income South Central residents. No development by USC without genuine community control.
5. No Policing on Campus. End the targeted repression and harassment of Black, Brown, and Palestinian students and their allies on and off campus, including through university disciplinary processes. Defund the Department of Public Safety and disclose and sever all ties with the LAPD.
6. End the Silence on the Genocide in Palestine. Release a public statement calling for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza, denouncing the ongoing genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people, and call on government officials o do so too.
"I'm participating in the Gaza Solidarity Occupation at USC to highlight and amplify the anti- zionist Jewish voice at USC and be in solidarity with the Palestinian fight for liberation," says a student organizer from USC's chapter of Jewish Voices for Palestine (JVP). "JVP USC feels our voice is especially important right now as many people at USC and across the country are equating zionism and Judaism, but we are here to say they are not the same! We stand by our belief of free speech, resistance to oppressive systems and solidarity with our valedictorian Asna and all other college campuses where pro-Palestine voices have been silenced."
The USC Divest From Death Coalition establishes the occupation mo st fundamentally in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they resist genocide and continue in their struggle for liberation. The occupation is also in resistance to attempts by USC and other universities to suppress the student movement for Palestine on its campuses, in resistance to the silencing of students that criticize the state of Israel, in resistance to the university administrators and boards of trustees who profit off the genocide of Palestinians; The students taking part are firm in their commitment to speaking out against the university's complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
"USC's funding of the ongoing genocide perpetuated by the zionist entity is reflective of maintaining imperialist interests abroad, as well as solidifying the shared ideology of amerikan and zionist institutions in preserving racialized oppression," says a student organizer of the Gaza Solidarity Occupation. "To not stand in opposition to the expressly racist violence here and abroad is to ignore the calls for solidarity demanded by the majority of the world. USC acts in accordance with these oppressions, and to call against this is to recognize both the inhumanity of these systems and our own humanity in opposing them."
We have chosen to use the word "occupation” instead of "encampment" to draw attention to USC as an occupying force on unceded Gabrieleno/Tongva land, an occupying force in South Central through its expansion into, gentrification of, and destruction of the existing community, and as a complicit power in Israeli occupation of Palestine.
About USC Divest From Death
In joining the national "Cut Ties with Genocide: Divest from Death" campaign, USC Divest From Death pushes our institutions to divest from companies complicit in the genocide of Palestinians, in all its iterations, alongside thousands of campuses. The coalition's push for the advancement of the key demand points on campus is the first steps towards the liberation of all people by ending the complicity of the University of Southern California in the violence enacted on our communities. Through the intentional act of coalition building, the students of USC realize that we are part of an interconnected fight for freedom taking place on campus, in our communities and homelands. We envision campuses free from militarism, occupation, and war through the implementation of divestment at USC
About Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
The student movement for the liberation of Palestine first began in the 1950s through the formation of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS). From the U.S. to Palestine, GUPS chapters galvanized thousands of students towards a liberated Palestine. The 90s” wave of corrupt politicians and faulty deals changed the liberation movement as we knew it and many institutions, including the student movement, collapsed. In the absence of a Palestinian student movement, organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine emerged across occupied Turtle Island (U.S. and Canada) as a way to educate, advocate, and mobilize in support for Palestinian liberation. Nearly two decades after the formation of the first Students for Justice in Palestine, the movement for Palestine has taken colleges and universities across North America by storm. With over 200 campus Palestine solidarity organizations across the continent, students have been leaders in uplifting demands for freedom, Justice, and equality for the Palestinian people.

Good summary of this kind of reactionary “comedian” and the deplorable people who enable its rise, like Lorne Michaels
https://www.vox.com/culture/24081214/shane-gillis-snl-saturday-night-live-hosting-controversy-racism…

SNL is giving Shane Gillis another chance. Here’s what that proves about comedy.
The unearned rehabilitation shows how effortlessly the comedy industry forgives racism.

Looking at technologies like VASA-1 from Microsoft i think people and society are not fully prepared for the impact of this technology. Many possibilities for fraud, disinformation and criminal activities. But also i can imagine it will be very tempting in the near future for film studios to fill or alter some dialogue after the actors already have left using AI ?

These bad bad antisemites are getting trickier all the time, now they’re Jewish people demanding peace and an end to bombing babies with American weapons.
Such a slippery slope! If we allow this to continue, peace could happen!

These bad bad antisemites are getting trickier all the time, now they’re Jewish people demanding peace and an end to bombing babies with American weapons.
Such a slippery slope! If we allow this to continue, peace could happen!