You Should Know

The more genetic history that is done, the more it is clear that ancient ethnonyms, the names given supposed ethnicities, put a variety of peoples under a single rubric. I talked recently about how the Phoenicians, long thought to be what we would now call Lebanese, were actually a multi-ethnic trading diaspora in which Greeks and Italians took a leading role in North Africa and Spain — even if they worshiped the god Baal and adopted a Semitic lingua franca.

This point is worth underlining at a time when the United States is seized with a paroxysm of white nationalism. “Whiteness” is meaningless as an ethnicity. Some 5% of self-professed whites in the South have recent African heritage. Courts recognized Arab-Americans as white in the early twentieth century when the category was essential for basic legal and property rights. Apartheid South Africa recognized the Japanese as “white” when they became for a while the world’s second largest economy. Most “national” “ethnicities” can be deconstructed. So it is important to recognize that “nations” are constructs. Certainly, the diverse Scythians were.

The secret of the greatness of the Scythian Empire was, like the secret of the greatness of the United States, its very ethnic diversity and ability to bring in new populations under a broadly similar culture.

Wrote a new piece:

After listening to Oreskes Naomi on the Center for Humane Technology podcast. Highly recommend it

https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/weaponizing-uncertainty-how-tech-is-recycling-big-tobaccos-playbook

I was reminded by how often uncertainty is not just present, but deliberately manufactured time and time again in our history Whether it’s: Big tobacco avoiding blame for their role in a global health crisis Surveillance capitalism sidestepping regulations to reap more profits The climate crisis stalled by "debate" when the evidence is overwhelming Or the humanitarian crisis in Gaza clouded by denial and blame-shifting.

The tactic is consistent: Powerful agencies have the will and the resources to sow doubt. Confuse the public. Delay change. Protect their power and profits.

It’s a playbook that's refined, repeated, and repurposed across industries, ideologies, and decades.

Logos are easy targets for slop. Say goodbye to any original logo artistry!

I've not seen one original logo at my work since slop has become available. As it goes!

I thought it was interesting how this little factoid was kept hidden from us. Lots of people like to complain about high cholesterol, but I bet most of them don't realize that it's only coming from the animals they're choosing to eat.

Final Paragraph:

Courts distinguish between speech that merely annoys an officer and speech that genuinely impedes their work. While police may resent offensive words, they cannot use their authority to punish individuals for lawful, protected conduct. Determining whether speech is protected or unprotected involves careful analysis of all surrounding facts and circumstances.

Edited to add:

Few of us here would align ourselves with the group trying to suppress information right now, so although I recognize this is not always a smart decision in every situation, I’m not really willing to get onboard with the idea that disseminating topical information from reasonable sources is a problem.

Use your downvotes as you see fit, but I'm not going to apologize for the post. Edit: And am a little disappointed to see information buried so decisively in this community on Lemmy of all places.

I know some people are boycotting US businesses during the current administration, but the same mindset has ripple effects here in the EU. In other words: stay vigilant!

I recently learned that voting on lemmy is not anonymous. Anyone can get information about who has upvoted and downvoted a post or comment.

In combination with your IP, this is a massive privacy (maybe even physical security) risk. Also, people can target you for your votes.

Sadly, this is something where I would prefer Reddit over Lemmy. Big tech scrapes data from both places anyways, at least Reddit is safe.

You can't make this shit up 🐶

https://abc7.com/post/kristi-noem-south-dakotas-governor-defends-controversial-decision-to-shoot-her-dog/14741935/>

YSK: People are switching their profile pictures to Microsoft's Clippy in protest of the unethical, immoral, anti-consumer practices by various companies. The movement was started by Louis Rossmann (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Dtmpe9qaQ) on August 7th, 2025.

@6:46 "Clippy's a symbol that what used to be considered one of the worst annoyances in our life would now not only be welcomed, but for all of his flaws, celebrated as an idol. Because for all of these things that occur right now where there is negative malice of intent, [...] Clippy just wanted to help. And if you were to turn him on today, unlike most cloud bullshit, he'd still work."

Louis hopes for this to be a show of solidarity.

@5:44 "When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy's looking back at them, what I hope occurs is that they intuitively understand that they no longer live in a world where they can get away with fucking over the consumer."

@5:58 "[...] that [people] are alert and they are aware of what is going on, and they are going to politely but firmly push back against it. Every single one of those 10,000 people will be an obstacle to the anti-consumer practices and the anti-ownership practices, and they will no longer be another cog in the assembly line sending us all into a dystopia."

Why YSK: I was curious about the number of Clippy avatars, and thought other people might be curious too.

@4:28 "Clippy never tried to normalize sex trafficking. He just wanted to help."

You definitely don't want to be using these

https://qalculate.github.io/

Susie Willies is the Chief of Staff of the President.

She controls his agenda. She sometimes takes decisions on his behalf.

She is one of the very few people that Donald Trump actually trusts.

In 2010, she helped healthcare businessman Rick Scott become Governor of Florida.

She went to create a corporate lobbying firm named Ballard Partners. She recruited Pam Bondi as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners.

In 2018, she helped Ron De Santis become Governor Governor of Florida.

In 2024, Susie Willies was the top campaign manager of Donald Trump.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/33818262

Today is Bandcamp Friday

From now until 12 a.m. PST, Bandcamp will pass 100% of revenue directly to artists. From its website:

Bandcamp Fridays began in March of 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when the shuttering of venues led to a loss of vital tour revenue for artists. Since then, Bandcamp Fridays—on which we waive our revenue share and pass the funds directly to artists & labels—has resulted in millions of fans paying over $120 million directly to labels and musicians they love. In addition to helping artists pay the rent, or fund album recordings and tours, Bandcamp Fridays have also become a beacon for artists and record labels looking to raise awareness for causes or raise money for charities.

So much for trying to cut off access to most of the internet under the guise of requiring ID

Your photos might include information of the exact location and time of the photo taken, your photo/camera models etc. Companies, governments, or someone with bad intentions can use such information for their benefits against you. This can easily be accessed by AI as well.

On Windows 11:

1. Right-click on the file
2. Properties
3. Details
4. Remove properties and personal information

Lots of people don't care, but I guess this could be useful for some of you.

Press the little smily face on the post/comment box and go to the "*" tab.

The company is Access Industries and the Founder and Owner is Leonard Blavatnik

Along with what's in the title, he is accused of reputation laundering against Ukraine and has been personally sanctioned by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He was also part of a WhatsApp group involving some of the United States' most powerful business leaders with the stated goals of "changing the narrative" in favour of Israel and "helping win the war" against Gaza.

Everything is in the linked Wikipedia article about him, mostly under the "Controversies and disputes" part.

I switched to Deezer after seeing it recommended as a better Spotify alternative here on Lemmy, but after finding all this I immediately stopped using it. It's as bad as the shit Spotify does and has done IMO. I'm not here to recommend or push an alternative, but if I can give info on what I use now if someone asks.

The Secret War To Censor The Internet

Recent Lextorias video explains how a 2018 FOSTA-SESTA law amended protections to the Communications Decency Act, and immediately opened the flood gates for targeted harassment of payment processors for adult content censorship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is_wu0VRIqQ

Recent meme post prompted this as a needed reminder of what the issue with audio is, and how it should be fixed legislatively in a civilized world.