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Talk:Donald Trump/Response to claims of bias - Wikipedia
Talk:Donald Trump/Response to claims of bias - Wikipedia
Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy requires us to report the bad (negative) with the good (positive), and the neither-bad-nor-good, in rough proportion to what's said in reliable sources, which in this case are largely major news outlets. This is one of the five pillars of Wikipedia—a group of fundamental principles central to the function of this website. Since reliable sources are widely critical of Trump, this article reflects that. Wikipedia policy is not established at individual articles. If you think that a policy should be changed, you could try Wikipedia:Village pump (policy), although you are unlikely to be taken very seriously there without a substantial history of Wikipedia editing.
·en.wikipedia.org·
Talk:Donald Trump/Response to claims of bias - Wikipedia
Prologue to an Anti-Therapeutic, Anti-Affirmation Movement
Prologue to an Anti-Therapeutic, Anti-Affirmation Movement
essay on the dominant cultural assumptions of mandatory therapeutic maximalism and affirmation, arguing that they are unhealthy and set unrealistic standards that leave people unable to cope with life's difficulties. Freddie wants to see a movement that better promotes resilience and acceptance of unavoidable pains.
“Woke” vs. “Anti-woke” is a horribly exhausted and pointless framework, one which suggests binary simplicity where there is only boundless complexity, but beyond that, there was never any chance that there was going to be some clear victory for one or the other. What will emerge will be some synthesis of the two impulses.
I think there's gathering dissatisfaction with a common set of tropes regarding personal agency and mental health. In particular, I think that the dominance of the therapeutic assumption in American life, and the role of affirmation within it, will be challenged. Currently, an inescapable American cultural mode, particularly among the educated, is one of mandatory therapeutic maximalism and an attendant tyranny of affirmation.
Of course I want us to present people with alternative ways to feel about themselves and their mental health, but it can’t become just another catechism, a different checklist. There’s got to be an understanding that the human tools for confronting life are limited and contextual, some of them come from art and not from therapy, and that ultimately we’re all left to blunder along on our own paths, trying to achieve stability and self-ownership - but we’re not guaranteed to get either. So I would hope that this counter-movement would remain a matter of skeptical inquiry and not just another set of gurus.
Not getting what you want is a default and healthy status, not a tragedy, though you are perfectly within your rights to be unhappy about it, and people who do not give you everything you want are not inherently “toxic,” though you’re perfectly within your rights to be unhappy with them
Sick people have as much responsibility to manage their disorders as society has to give them the tools to manage them; you cannot ask others to give you accommodation for your disability if you refuse to take accountability for it yourself
If you want to be good to yourself, I suggest that you stop expecting society to be your therapist and go see licensed medical professionals in private to address the issues in your life that are appropriately treated that way. And if you want to be good to your society, I suggest you help to defeat the medicalization of everything, the casualization of the concept of trauma, the celebration of mental disorders, the assumption that everything that makes us unhappy is an injustice, the insistence that all conflict is abuse, and the infantilization of the human animal
Sometimes you don’t have ADHD, you just hate your job. Sometimes your boss isn’t a sociopath, he’s just correctly identified you as unqualified for a leadership position. Sometimes you really do have schizophrenia, only there’s nothing glamorous or exciting or romantic about it, and now you’re fat from meds and trying to hold down a steady job and going to support group to drink grainy coffee and hear people tell the same stories over and over again. And sometimes you’re just in pain because the world didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to, and you’re trying to scratch out a life you can live with, and you get overwhelmed with your mundane unhappiness on the subway home from work, and you think to yourself that it must be true that your suffering is something grander, something that calls out for medical attention and reasonable accommodation, something more that makes it easier.
·freddiedeboer.substack.com·
Prologue to an Anti-Therapeutic, Anti-Affirmation Movement
If real, how will the LK-99 superconductor change the world?
If real, how will the LK-99 superconductor change the world?
In energy transmission, for instance, superconductors could revolutionize power grids by allowing for lossless transmission of electricity, potentially reducing energy waste and lowering costs. In healthcare, devices such as MRI scanners could become more compact and efficient, potentially reducing costs and making these devices more accessible worldwide.
The discovery of a room-temperature superconductor does not immediately guarantee its applicability. Other factors, such as the material's ability to carry high current, its mechanical strength, stability in the presence of strong magnetic fields, and cost-effectiveness in large-scale production, would all be critical determinants of its practical uses.
·stackdiary.com·
If real, how will the LK-99 superconductor change the world?
Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking risky bets, and how AI is already impacting the future of music | Gustav Söderström (Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify)
Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking risky bets, and how AI is already impacting the future of music | Gustav Söderström (Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify)
·lennysnewsletter.com·
Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking risky bets, and how AI is already impacting the future of music | Gustav Söderström (Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify)
Panic Among the Streamers
Panic Among the Streamers
Netflix could buy 10 top quality screenplays per year with the cash they’ll spend on that one job.  They must have big plans for AI.There are also a half dozen AI job openings at Disney. And the tech-based streamers (Apple, Amazon) already have made big investments in AI. Sony launched an AI business unit in April 2020—in order to “enhance human imagination and creativity, particularly in the realm of entertainment.”
When Spotify launched on the stock exchange in 2018, it was losing around $30 million per month. Now it’s much larger, and is losing money at the pace of more than $100 million per month.
But the real problem at Spotify isn’t just convincing people to pay more. It runs much deeper. Spotify finds itself in the awkward position of asking people to pay more for a lousy interface that degrades the entire user experience.
Boredom is built into the platform, because they lose money if you get too excited about music—you’re like the person at the all-you-can-eat buffet who goes back for a third helping. They make the most money from indifferent, lukewarm fans, and they created their interface with them in mind. In other words, Spotify’s highest aspiration is to be the Applebee’s of music.
They need to prepare for a possible royalty war against record labels and musicians—yes, that could actually happen—and they do that by creating a zombie world of brain dead listeners who don’t even know what artist they’re hearing. I know that sounds extreme, but spend some time on the platform and draw your own conclusions.
·honest-broker.com·
Panic Among the Streamers
How to Read a Production Budget - Staffmeup Blog
How to Read a Production Budget - Staffmeup Blog
Most budgets split production costs into above-the-line, below-the-line and post-production sections. Some budgets may be divided further, but it’s a good idea to use at least these main segments: Above-the-line (ATL) costs include the wages for the cast, producers, director(s) and writer(s). The costs associated with the development, rights and creation of the script are also in this section. Costs for adapting a script from some other source, such as a book or video game, would fall into this category as well. It’s important to diligently review this portion of the budget, as these fees are often contractually defined and strictly enforced. As we’ll see below, some other items in the budget are more flexible, but ATL costs are more likely to be steadfast. Below-the-line (BTL) costs generally cover the bulk of the production expenses in terms of dollar amount. BTL costs include behind-the-scenes crew members like hair and makeup stylists, grips, camera operators, location managers and production accountants. This portion also covers expenses such as office and stage rentals, camera equipment, trucks, set dressing and construction materials.
most budgets contain dozens of smaller sections, usually called accounts, for specific costs that may be relevant to the movie or show. These accounts are usually separated by department. Each department’s account is then further separated into line items. For example, the property department may be given its own account number and within that account there may be a line item for the prop master, property assistants, property rentals, property purchases, a property trailer and so on. Each line item will have its own code number and budgeted amount, allowing the department, as well as the accountant and producers, to quantify how much they can spend on each item.
A carefully laid out budget is not worth much if the same attention is not paid to categorizing and reporting expenses as they come in.
When a department needs to make a rental or purchase, they will issue a PO to the vendor providing those goods or services. A copy of the PO also goes to the producers and the accountant and will include the account code and cost of the item. This allows the accounting and production teams to estimate the spending in real time, without having to wait for an invoice to arrive from the vendor, which may take days or weeks. A PO allows the cost to be recorded right away and avoids surprise costs down the line.
Production companies also commonly issue credit cards to crew members to make smaller purchases, such as lunches and office supplies. These credit cards can be linked directly to the accounting software to rapidly track expenses, depending on the software the project is using.
If the actual expenses of certain line items exceed the budgeted amount, the department head, accountant and producers need to work together to find a solution that satisfies creative and financial concerns. This may involve shifting money from other line items in the budget, or could be as drastic as cutting or rewriting scenes, depending on the scale of the overage.
When a department head suspects that a cost for a certain scene or location may differ substantially from their budgeted amount, they should notify the accountant and producers as soon as possible. This allows all parties more time to find a solution without risking delays to the shooting schedule, which can be incredibly costly in and of itself.
·blog.staffmeup.com·
How to Read a Production Budget - Staffmeup Blog
Who needs film critics when studios can be sure influencers will praise their films?
Who needs film critics when studios can be sure influencers will praise their films?
Critiques the current state of film criticism, arguing that studios are manipulating the narrative by using influencers and free tickets to control reviews and devaluing the role of knowledgeable critics. The article suggests that audiences still crave thoughtful films and good criticism, and that both Barbie and Oppenheimer are examples of films that have inspired good writing.
·theguardian.com·
Who needs film critics when studios can be sure influencers will praise their films?
Hollywood on Strike
Hollywood on Strike
The broader issue is that the video industry finally seems to be facing what happened to the print and music industry before them: the Internet comes bearing gifts like infinite capacity and free distribution, but those gifts are a poisoned chalice for industries predicated on scarcity. When anyone could publish text, most text-based businesses went from massive profitability to terminal decline; when anyone could distribute music the music industry could only be saved by tech companies like Spotify helping them sell convenience in place of plastic discs.
thanks to COVID a lot of people fell out of the habit of going to the movie theater, and it appears around 25% of the audience permanently found something better to do with their time; that same reality applies to TV. Just as newspapers once thought the Internet was a boon because it increased their addressable market, only to find out that it also drastically increased competition for readers’ attention, Hollywood has to face the reality that the ability to make far more shows extends not only to studios but also to literally anyone.
·stratechery.com·
Hollywood on Strike
How to take negative feedback well
How to take negative feedback well
A simple four step process: Take a deep breath to chill out. They’re trying to help you. Don’t make them regret it. Thank them for the feedback and really mean it, because giving it to you was probably scary and took courage. Only ask questions. Make ZERO statements. Anything you say will almost definitely be defensive, and your job is to be curious. Thank them again and tell them you promise to take it seriously and use it to grow.
·critter.blog·
How to take negative feedback well
Fantasy Meets Reality
Fantasy Meets Reality
At Tokyo Disneyland, for example, you can create elaborate in-reach prop displays that will never, ever be disturbed or broken by guests — rules are rules. (By the same token, I once got politely yelled at there for ducking under a chain to shortcut a completely, 100% empty line. I absolutely had to walk through the entire, empty switchback. And that’s fair, I was breaking the rules!) Whereas here in America, if your prop is not literally bolted down, it’s likely to show up on eBay / Van Eaton within the week.
honestly, a lot of it, I think, is just that some designers are amazing at imagining things, but not as amazing at imagining them surrounded by the universe. That beautiful thing you’re working on, it lives in a window on your monitor tucked under a title bar, and that’s as tricky as it gets. What if you can’t imagine your thing in its final context? What if you aren’t great at predicting human behaviors other than your own?
good design isn’t just beautiful and incredible and boundary-pushing, it also remembers what it means to be human.
·cabel.com·
Fantasy Meets Reality
Kindness as a Signifier of Intelligence
Kindness as a Signifier of Intelligence
We survived as a species by being suspicious of things we aren’t familiar with. In order to be kind, we have to shut down that animal instinct and force our brain to travel a different pathway. Empathy and compassion are evolved states of being. They require the mental capacity to step past our most primal urges. I’m here to tell you that when someone’s path through this world is marked with acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society. They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct. They never forged new mental pathways to overcome their own instinctual fears. And so, their thinking and problem-solving will lack the imagination and creativity that the kindest people have in spades.
·daringfireball.net·
Kindness as a Signifier of Intelligence
'Oppenheimer' draws debate over the absence of Japanese bombing victims in the film
'Oppenheimer' draws debate over the absence of Japanese bombing victims in the film
“I don’t think we should depend on Hollywood to tell our stories with the nuance and the depth and the care that they really deserve,” Nina Wallace, media and outreach manager at Densho, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the stories of those of Japanese descent. “But it is true that these institutions that are in positions of power, positions of influence, put more value on stories of men like Oppenheimer, like Truman, than it does on the Asian and indigenous communities that suffered because of decisions that those men made.”
I understand how showrooms and Hollywood cannot be all-encompassing. … But I think it also points societally to the lack of nonwhite, non-U.S. initiatives or perspectives,” said Stan Shikuma, co-president of the Seattle Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. “That lack of more of a global perspective allows atrocities to continue to happen because we still dehumanize other people that we don’t know.”
Films about other perspectives, Shikuma said, often fall on the independent filmmaking community.
·nbcnews.com·
'Oppenheimer' draws debate over the absence of Japanese bombing victims in the film
Barbenheimer: The Red Door
Barbenheimer: The Red Door
From Babylon to Amsterdam to Glass Onion, it feels like the counter strategy to the cinematic universe is just to fire celebrity buckshot at the public until something hits.
·jackwarren.substack.com·
Barbenheimer: The Red Door
DIMO Founder Andy Chatham On Data-Driven Cars & More - CleanTechnica
DIMO Founder Andy Chatham On Data-Driven Cars & More - CleanTechnica
So instead of having to like go to an insurance company, you can go into DIMO and like type in your VIN number, and all of that is passed to them. It’s a much more seamless type of interaction that people are used to with digital services.
The lifecycle for a user at DIMO is you connect your car, we start building a digital twin of that car, and we actually pull a lot of data about from the existing marketplace about the VIN number, and we allow users to take ownership of that data. And then the whole business side of it and the developer platform that we’re kind of like re-launching in the next quarter is built on top of that. So there’s all different ways that can be expressed, but that’s kinda the high-level pitch for it.
its the ambiguity of the platform that makes it pretty interesting
And there’s a digital glovebox for the vehicle as well that’s going to be much more incorporated into the apps and services on top of DIMO eventually, so you’ll be able to get data back from your insurance company like, ‘here’s your registration card; here’s your policy details,’ and all of that can be organized inside of your DIMO app.
one of the bets we have with DIMO and something we think is gonna be true into the future is that it’s really not going to scale until there’s more infrastructure to support like regular operations of autonomous vehicles, and it’s a big “chicken and egg” problem. Because you can’t build a massive amount of infrastructure before you have the cars that can use it.
you’re going to have to break these trips into chunks that you can do fully autonomously
·cleantechnica.com·
DIMO Founder Andy Chatham On Data-Driven Cars & More - CleanTechnica