#Today Explained

[larrywilmore]

New ep is up!

[kellesaurus]

I just listened to the most recent episode of Today Explained about the new COVID variant/vaccines and I want to scream. Usually I really like Today Explained. (I think it’s often better than the Daily.) But this episode? Jesus fucking Christ.

The overall message? Meh don’t worry so much about getting COVID, it’s fine! Yeah yeah you should def get the vaccine. Oh, long COVID? *Shrug* almost nobody gets that anymore. Don’t worry about it. Day 5 of your infection and you’re feeling fine? Sure go out the bar with your friends, you’re probably not shedding virus anymore. It’s fine!

Irresponsible and infuriating.

[puppyeared]

filipina miku!! my mom helped me with her outfit ^_^

[thedalatribune]

Paolo’s Podcast Recommendation: We Can't Trust Photos Anymore

Today, Explained Vox September 2024

Produced by: Hady Mawajdeh Edited by: Amina Al-Sadi Engineered by: Patrick Boyd Fact-checked by: Laura Bullard Hosted by: Noel King

[cyancees]

i have neither a good imagination nor aphantasia, but a secret third thing

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Sean Rameswaram at Vox:

At the end of January, when Universal Music Group (UMG) failed to negotiate a new licensing deal with TikTok, it removed its entire music catalog from the app. Just like that, thousands of videos featuring music by artists like Drake, Taylor Swift, and Bad Bunny were suddenly silent.

UMG said it made the decision because TikTok offered to pay only a fraction of the rate that other social platforms offer. For its part, TikTok said that Universal was putting “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” Some of those artists and songwriters have spoken out about the situation. “I think it’s ass-backward, and at the very least we should have known,” said Jack Antonoff to reporters in the press room after winning Producer of the Year at the Grammys earlier this month. “You got a whole industry being like, ‘You’ve got to do everything; you’ve got to do everything, and here’s where you’ve got to do it,’ and then one day it’s like, ‘Poof!’” Musicians aren’t the only ones upset about this disruption. Content creators like Jarred Jermaine, who breaks down music samples on TikTok, posted a video of himself in tears claiming that videos he created that contained UMG music were taken down. And dancer and content creator Lars Gummer told the Daily Beast that he went from “shocked” to “disappointed.”

“Most of my friends in LA are content creators, especially dance creators,” he said. “So immediately we all were angry about the decision made between UMG and TikTok.” In a recent episode of Today, Explained, digital activist and writer Cory Doctorow told host Sean Rameswaram that companies like TikTok “don’t have to care” about the disruption they cause their users. Doctorow coined the phrase “enshittification,” which he uses to describe a process that digital platforms use to lure customers in, giving them goods or an experience they can’t find elsewhere, only to make it worse for them down the line in order to better serve their business partners. “I think that the calculus that TikTok is making is that they would rather inflict pain on their customers than on their shareholders,” said Doctorow. “So whatever it is that Universal was asking, [TikTok’s] customers could live with that pain, with having the videos that they worked on for hours or days or weeks and put maybe thousands of dollars into suddenly rendered silent because TikTok decided not to step up for their interests.”

Totally disgraceful that UMG decided to pull off their songs from TikTok.

From the 02.09.2024 edition of Vox's Today, Explained:

[bamsara]

I think that one thing people fail to understand is that unsolicited literary criticism coming from an online stranger who is reading with no knowledge of what the authors intended goal is, is not going to be received the same as say: the authors beta reader or friends who know what the authors intended goal and has the sufficient knowledge and input to help the author reach that desired outcome.

"But I'm only trying to be helpful" How do I know you have the knowledge and literary skill for you to be able to actaully do that when we don't know each other and you are essentially a stranger to me? Are you applying this criticism based out of personal biased experience and desire to see the story or characterization be driven in another direction or tweaked, or do you know the author's intentions for the character? If the story is incomplete, are you basing your criticism of a character on the incomplete narration with only partial information available of them or are you building up a report until the story's completion? Did the author provide you with the information needed to make a fully informed criticism?

Have you discussed with the author what their plans are or are you assuming them based off the narration, especially if the narration is proven or implied to be unreliable or missing key points of the plot? Are you unbiased enough to help them reach their desired outcome for the characters and story regardless of your personal feelings towards the characters/antagonists and setting? Can you handle being told your specific input isn't wanted because you're a reader and/or have no written anything relating to their genre or topic? Do you understand and respect that the author's personal experiences might influence their writing and make it different than how you would have done it personally? Do you understand if an author only wants input from a specific demographic relating to their story?

If it's for fanfiction or other hobby media, are you holding a free hobby to a professional standard? Are you trying to give criticism because you feel like the author has produced 'subpar job performance' of their fic? Are you viewing their work as a personal intimate outlet or something that must conform with mass media? Are you applying rules and guidelines when the fic is shared for simple sharing sake? Is your criticism worded appropriately and focused on the parts where the author has requested input on rather than a general dismissal and or disapproval?

Have you put yourself in a place where you assumed you have the input needed for the story to evolve better, or have you asked what the author needs and what they're having trouble with? Can you handle having your criticism rejected if the author decides their story doesn't need the change and not take it as a personal offense against your character? Are you crossing that boundary because you think you are doing the author a favor? Are you trying to be helpful, or do you just want to be?

I think sometimes when people hear authors go 'please don't give me unsolicited writing advice or criticism' they automatically chalk it up to 'this author doesn't want ANY constructive feedback on their stuff at all' and not "i already have trusted individuals who will help me with my writing goals and- hey i don't know you like that, please stop acting so overly familiar with me'

[proxycrit]

Linktober, Day 12: Tarry Town!

You defeat the final boss in the volcano causing the floating islands to float! Congrats. Unfortunately, with the destruction of the said monster, the islands are no longer floating and are, in fact, slowly coming down enmass as the magnesis scatters.

Zelda would like to point out people are much more likely to survive walking around slow giant rocks from the sky versus dodging flaming lava. She’s practicing this new thing called positive thinking.

(This is a totk au called Familiar Familiar where zelda does not go back in time! Click here to see the full comic masterlist)

(Plus my patreon!)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Avishay Artsy at Vox:

The world’s eyes have been on Gaza since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israeli citizens on October 7 and Israel’s retaliatory invasion that has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. But another front in this long-running conflict is the West Bank, a kidney-bean shaped piece of land on the west bank of the Jordan River and to the east of Israel that is home to nearly 3 million Palestinians and would make up the heart of any future Palestinian state. Alongside those Palestinian cities and villages, however, are Jewish settlements.

Since the Six-Day War of June 1967, the state of Israel has planned and funded Jewish outposts throughout the West Bank; other settlers have moved in without the state’s explicit backing. The settlers believe they have a right to be there, even though most of the international community views the settlements as illegal. These populations are largely separated by Israel’s complex security infrastructure, including military checkpoints, armed patrols, a separation barrier, and color-coded identification cards and license plates. This system dictates all aspects of daily life for West Bank residents. Some settlers have for years harassed and attacked the Palestinians living there, often with impunity and occasionally with the support of Israeli soldiers. In the weeks since October 7, however, the rate of violence has significantly increased. It is already the deadliest year since the Second Intifada, and is getting bad enough for the eyes of the world to occasionally leave Gaza and look to the West Bank.

“I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank,” President Joe Biden said in late October, comparing the attacks to “pouring gasoline on fire.” Meanwhile, popular support for Hamas has surged among Palestinians in the West Bank as faith in the Palestinian Authority plummets. This escalation of settler violence could, as Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explains, “lead to a deeper entrenchment of Israel’s occupation and, quite possibly, a violent Palestinian response that brings outright war to the West Bank.” That would in turn “weaken the already-slim prospects of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the foreseeable future,” he writes.

The writer Nathan Thrall is well acquainted with the dual lives of Palestinian and Israeli residents of the West Bank. Thrall spent a decade at the International Crisis Group covering Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. In his new book A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, he tells the story of a Palestinian father from the West Bank searching for his son who’s gone missing after a school bus accident. Thrall spoke with Today, Explained host Noel King about the history of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and why Israel faces strong criticism for its support of settlers, not just from Palestinians but also from some Israelis and the international community. Read on for an excerpt of the conversation that aired on November 20, edited and condensed for length and clarity, and listen to the full conversation wherever you find podcasts.

The Israel Apartheid State's Jewish Settlements in the occupied West Bank are fueling anti-Palestinian violence against the Palestinians living there.

From the 11.20.2023 edition of Vox's Today, Explained:

[giantkillerjack]

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

[plain-text version of this post can be found under the cut]

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

Plain-text version:

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

P.S. Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

[feelo-fick]

um ok cool thanks for letting me know .... why are you telling me this

[sad-leon]

would anyone listen to this? the ramblings of a lunatic?

[kellesaurus]

There’s something so cynical about a podcast episode about climate change being sponsored by an airline.

Specifically an episode that discusses how companies have worked hard to deflect blame from themselves onto consumers.

Anyways capitalism is going great.

[magidulce]

More stuff for me to worry about.

[thedalatribune]

© Paolo Dala

Photography In The Brave New World Of AI

"In the not too distant future, realistic-looking images would have to be labeled, like words, as either fiction or non-fiction, because it maybe impossible to tell them apart. We may have to rely on the image-maker and not the image to tell us into which category certain pictures fall..." (Ritchin, 1984)

[In 1984,] I found out that with these very expensive machines, you can use software to manipulate photograph in ways that were undetectable. I began to thing that the credibility of photography as a witness is vulnerable at that point.

I've been picture editor of the New York Times Sunday Magazine and on weekly basis we were showing photographs of the civil war in El Salvador [and] Khomeini taking power in Iran... You can have a view that varies with other people, but for example in the Vietnam War, for the 9 year-old girl who's burning, from Napalm, everybody agreed that was happening. You might think that the war should continue or should not continue, but it was a common reference point. And what troubled me then and what troubles me even more now is if that breaks down, then we really have no sense of shared reality at this point in terms of what's happening outside of our immediate neighborhood...

We used to be able to believe with photographs as facts. They're reference points and incredibly important… We're going to lose it and we are losing it.

Fred Ritchin We Can't Trust Photos Anymore Today, Explained

[r-aindr0p]

Yeah, stingers don't do shit to metal.... But Mar doesn't know that, he's a slow learner alright (+Ortho intentionally let him sneak closer but let's not tell Mar about motion sensors before explaining first what's a robot)

Portuguese men'o war have few predators. But blue sea slugs are known to prey on them.