Thank you. I don’t see that in the article, so I appreciate you including that update!

I’m happy he survived and all, but…

By the third day, he sent his dog, Freddy, to find his way home.

I’m gonna need some closure on what happened to that dog.

Congratulations to you both!

Ooof, that racist “slip” and the quick attempt to cover it. Minutes 4:38-4:46

Look at all the … illegals comin’ in here. Takin’ over our … white job-uh, black jobs, Hispanic jobs…

I got the same vibe. From the kid’s expectations and reactions, to the parents’ own words on the incident:

“I don’t think Rotschy [the company] failed my son in any way,” Derrik’s dad said. “All these events culminated into this accident.”

The kid is on defense from the moment he tells his mom that something bad happened to him, then his dad absolves the company of any wrong-doing. Healthy, loving, supportive families don’t react like that. If his parents aren’t chugging the kool-aid, I’d be astounded.

It’s all cyclical anyway. No social media company will reign forever. We’ve already seen a number of them rise and fall. It’s kinda like how different civilizations gained and lost dominance throughout history.

This article looks like someone “wrote” it using speech-to-text and didn’t double-check their work.

tossing a hard driving

the whole thing could be for not (instead of “the whole thing could be for naught.”)

and of course,

In a statement to Whales Online

Of course, if it turns out that whales have banded together to make their own website, I’ll stand corrected.

Yes, but it’s included in the proportion to which you buy those things. So if you’re spending a lot less on other things, but more on housing, it’s a wash for your overall expenses.

I may be misunderstanding, but doesn’t spending a greater percentage on housing necessitate spending less on other things? Someone who spends 50% of their earnings on shelter has to make more careful budgeting decisions than someone who only spends 30% on shelter. With a smaller portion of income to spend on anything else, people will put off purchases that they can’t afford. Using that proportional difference to claim “it’s a wash” sounds like circular reasoning. At least, it doesn’t seem to account for all the purchases people would have made if they weren’t putting such a high percentage toward this one basic need?

I don’t have any suggestions, I just wanted to thank you for introducing me to a new phrase. I had to look up what “NB” meant in this context.

(For others who are unfamiliar, it stands for the Latin phrase “nota bene.”)

I wrote that comment on my lunch break at work and, of the immediate links that came up when I searched for a supporting article, Snopes was the most readily available and reliable source I had at hand. It’s a site with a long history of debunking claims via thorough research, and yes, they cite their sources. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Sources.” It’s just above the author’s credit.

If you’ve found any evidence of Geico dropping coverage of all Cybertrucks (not just individual vehicles/owners, whom may be dropped for a myriad of reasons), I’m eager to hear it. In the meantime, enjoy checking any of these links that all say the same thing - that the author reached out to Geico, and Geico confirmed to them that they do cover the Cybertruck.

Of course, there’s always the option of just calling Geico for yourself. But debunking the same rumor over and over again is exhausting, and I feel bad for whoever is having to answer all these calls. At this point, Geico said their part. The burden of proof is now on those making the “dropping coverage” claim.

the truth is that we are all subject to and fooled by misleading content.

A perfect example of this is that recent claim that Geico stopped providing insurance for the Tesla “Cybertruck.” Tons of people, including many here on Lemmy, were quick to believe and share this story. A handful of users pointed out that the source couldn’t be verified, but those comments were drowned out by all the “Ha, take that, Musk!” comments.

It just goes to show that everyone is vulnerable to misinformation. If we want to claim to be well-informed, we have to question everything - even (or especially) the stories that reinforce our existing beliefs.

Republicans know a lot of women are voting to restore abortion rights, full stop. Compared to the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars that it would take for us to travel out-of-state to receive abortion care, $47 is nothing. You can’t buy my vote, let alone for such a pathetically low-balled price. I’d rather lose money and reinstate Roe V Wade than gain money and leave people to suffer.

You’re absolutely right. I’d just like to add on:

Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. They observe and take note of chains of events, and use that knowledge in order to guide their own decisions in the future.

Wise people question what they believe. If they feel cognitive dissonance, they don’t ignore it; they examine their ideas and consider the prospect that they may be wrong. They can change their minds based on new evidence.

Wise people are skeptical. When they learn about a situation, they don’t take immediate sides based on knee-jerk emotions. Rather, they examine all available information and come around to their own ideas in their own time.

Using all of the above points are what guide wise people towards “cautiously correct” decisions. They are more likely “correct” because they base their ideas on a greater pool of information, and are capable of discarding ideas even if the ideas “feel good” to believe in. They remain “cautious,” because no matter how sure they believe they are, they are well aware that there’s a chance they could still be mistaken.

I wonder how much this will come back to hurt the company. Musk & co. want to play dumb games? Enjoy watching all the potential Xitter users in Brazil flock to Bluesky and other platforms while your site remains in the dark.

Xitter isn’t special. People will find ways to socialize online with or without it. And the longer people go without it, the more momentum other sites will gain. Whether this stalling is deliberate or unintented doesn’t matter, the fact is they’re only hurting their own bottom line when an entire country is disengaged from their platform.

In other words, keep it up, Elon. It’s fun to see some natural consequences arise from your stupid behavior.

I don’t have a stake in this argument, as this is my first time learning about Doctorow. I just want to add that a good phrase to express the situation you described is “potential conflict of interest.”

What an interesting strategy. Let’s just hope rich Republicans don’t try to turn the tables. Oh, the sweet liberal tears I would cry if we ended up with Democratic candidates that leaned farther left than those we already have!

Tears of joy, but still.

Adding insult to injury, Reddit recently struck gold by licensing its content to train AI models.

Oh, that’ll be fun, considering how much of the content on Reddit is simply bots making reposts.

How interesting that a controversial company was called “OceanGate.” Considering media’s tendency to give almost every scandal a nickname ending in -gate, that name was practically foreshadowing.

you can enjoy language by making it shit.

Language, especially the English language, has been changing since its inception. Every generation of youth is another generation that uses new words, abandons old words, changes the meaning and/or pronunciation of recognized words, and so on. It’s the nature of a living language - its usage adapts through time.

It’s crucial to remember that just because something is “different” from what you’re used to, that doesn’t make it “worse.”

And now you have to find an organizer who knows where they stored your spare underwear.

But that does bring up a glaring omission. Contestants had access to porta potties, sure, but nothing in this article mentions access to showers. 🤔