.Alan Wong we have a problem. I'm unable to call 311 from my mobile. Also, no alerts abt the power outage which led to dangerous conditions (stoplights not working) on Sunset Blvd. Called 311 on my land line, told to sign up for a different type of alert, not Nixle. Yeesh.

#sanfrancisco

Here are some facts for you: 88% of Americans—293 million people—listen to AM or FM radio each week, including 55% of people under 24. Radio has the highest reach of any medium. More Americans listen to radio than use Facebook. Or Twitter. Or Netflix. It ain’t “obsolete.”

This post made many AI authors angry.

A lit publishing friend said her company screens submissions for the likelihood they’re AI, and turns down subs with high likelihoods. Ironically, they’re using AI to do this and don’t seem to understand that, in doing so, they’re giving AI more content to digest and train on.

my contribution to the discourse

This Pivot Podcast discussion between Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway about Vox at 40 minutes here is part of the problem: youtube.com/watch?v=MZe9VT… They aren't all wrong on the business points, but the flippant way media now talks about journalism is horrifying - digital

The problem is that people love slop. This is then justified through a populist suspicion of the hierarchical distinction of taste. But the solution lies not in creating an elite consumptive class but in the radical notion that people can be learn to unlove slop.

This is the sorry state of culture in algorithm-led, risk-averse corporate-merger-capitalism. Reboot world. Total stagnation. Nothing new emerges. It's like the dark ages. Culture may just be the least creative place to work now.

Basic science funding to be cut by more than half. No funding of any social sciences including economics. This is a gift to China, and an extinction level event for American science.

When we moved from the radio dial to the top-ten list based on popularity and no human judgement of quality, well .... something slipped somehow ... 🤔

A friend of mine drove into a parking garage in SF. The machine spit out his ticket but the gate did not go up. A sign said his license plate was being checked for outstanding traffic tickets, late registration and I think felony warrants and the like. WTF San Francisco!?

💯

Also let's recognize the physical toll of watching so much video. Video uses a different part of the brain compared to reading even a *still cartoon* or painting, a comic strip or text. #media #mediareform

Michelle Wolf was astonishing at this White House Correspondents dinner of years ago. brilliant, unsparing, corrosive, hilarious as a sharp razor to the carotid. & yet: here we are in 2026, & the object of her satire is US president who will be taking her place at the

It’s never been a bustling 24/7 city* - but last time I was in SF the total desolation of Embarcadero to Union Square on a mild sunny week day, the constantly circling empty driverless white waymos- a hollowed out ghost place - i hate tech people so much I don’t even have words

"we reap what we sow"--person reflecting ruefully on his unprofessional act of smearing a presidential candidate on the eve of the 2016 election who, if elected, might have paved the way for succeeding administrations respectful of the law that would never be bringing a lawsuit

Bruh the biggest barrier is that i am busy writing and reporting. Scripting, filming, editing, posting is a whole other bucket of labor being expected of journalists (on top of the production of raw reporting) while salaries and staff jobs get cut.

The congressman representing Silicon Valley appears to be staving off even a _partial U-turn_ from screens to the soveriegn tech with the highest reading affordance: paper.

This article is from May 2025. Why amplify it now, is somebody's IPO imminent, do they need extra juice