Smalltimore

Daytime baseball with the Orioles up 7-0 on the Yankees makes my day much better. Bradish wish a heck of a day at the yard! ⚾

Trump Already Has His ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ Card. Now He Wants A ‘Get Out Of IRS Audits’ Card

If Trump was written as a fictional Bond or comic book villian, editors would say it’s too unbelievable. Insane.

As if you needed more confirmation that Twitter (X) is terrible.

The right wing playbook never changed, only the medium. Musk is the modern day H. L. Hunt with the reach that Hunt could only dream of. It’s a global authoritarian propaganda machine and it’s scary how effective it is.

“One of the most concerning findings of the study is the longer-term effects of X’s algorithmic feed. The study showed the algorithm nudged users towards following more right-leaning accounts, and that the new following patterns endured even after switching back to the chronological feed.”

It’s amazing that it can also pinned to a exact moment. July 13th.

Our findings unearthed a sudden and unusual spike in engagement with Musk’s account after his endorsement of Trump on July 13 – the day of the assassination attempt on Trump. Views on Musk’s posts surged by 138%, retweets by 238%, and likes by 186%. This far outstripped increases on other accounts. After July 13, right-leaning accounts on X gained significantly greater visibility than progressive ones. The “playing field” for attention and engagement on the platform was tilted thereafter towards right-leaning accounts – a trend that continued for the remainder of the time period we analysed in that study.

I really thought (or at least made myself believe) that Twitter would fail after Musk bought, but I was wrong. With a user base of a large country and an algorithm that can turn polical beliefs on a whim, it’s a terrifying beast.

Don’t get me excited.

This would be amazing. Bring me back to 2008. Please.

Watched: Shrinking S3E11, And That’s Our Time 📺

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

Listening to Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit from Significant Other 🎵

It’s one of those days where you think to yourself, “Maybe Limp Bizkit was on onto something.”

Ever Grain (Camp Hill, PA)- Joose Juicy. Hazy IPA, 6.0%.

A classic smooth, hoppy hazy. 🍺

Abolish ICE.

Listening to Go Your Own Way by The Cranberries from To The Faithful Departed (Deluxe Edition) 🎵

My first time hearing this cover. Instantly in love.

📚 Dune. Still steadily listening to Dune. I’m enjoying the all-cast reading. There’s also additional music and sound effects that really immerse you in the drama.

🎵 I didn’t listening to anything new this week. Most of my listening was Spotify playlists during work. The 90s Pop Mix was very good. A lot of bangers.

🍿 I Don’t Understand You. This was a silly and enjoyable comedy horror similar to Tucker and Dale Vs Evil. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

📺 The Boys. Down to the final 2 episodes. Last week’s was good. Definitely had a twist that I wasn’t expecting.

📺 Shrinking. Finishing up season 3. Genuinely great show. There’s a range of emotions in each episode and the entire cast is fantastic.

📺 Drunk History. We watched a lot of Drunk History this week. Fun show to just have on the background.

🎮 The Messenger. I think I finished it this week. Going to spend a couple more hours finishing up loose ends. There’s a new game plus option which I will do, but on to a different game on the backlog.

❤️ O’s game Friday night. The Orioles are not great this season (again), but Camden Yards is still a fun place to be. ⚾️