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The Bad: the Senate committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted unanimously to send S 1748 (their version of the Kids Online Safety Act) to the full Senate chamber for a future floor vote

The Good: the same committee failed to move the online age verification bill S 737 (their version of the SCREEN act) out of committee due to not getting enough votes to reach quorum

Also gonna put this here too for good measure. This is about the tv giants of the u.k. wanting to put their mainstream tv propaganda in the forefront now matter how many times you tell yt to stop showing them to you. Deadline is August 31st. Also we have to stroke yt's ego here since the u.k. government is the one hosting the questions.

Please call your Senators about these bills, and tell them to oppose these bills. Call, email, fax everyday to bring attention to how this is STRONGLY unfavored by constituents. While I’m not 100% sure, I did see some vids that the kids acts is not favored by the senate.

OmarBigSister has a beacons (linktree) in their bio that will help with calling your local senators, as well as email. If you want to leave a voicemail for those that are nervous about someone picking up, call after 8pm (that’s what I do). Google doc provides a script that you can use. They have information on KOSA.

Cloud or Princeofcloudcity is also someone who has information of KOSA and other internet bills.

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How to spot AI Hallucinations like a Reference Librarian (originally on Substack)

Like last week, I had to mail a package and my local USPS was absolutely SWEALTERING. And the staff only had a few fans, some of which they were using faced towards customers, to try and keep us cool.

While doing my transaction, I was chatting with the worker about how crazy this was and how I hoped she had her own fan too, because I could only see the customer-benefit ones. She said yes, but I also asked if there was anyone I could complain to on her behalf and she immediately said yes again and to please do it! She wrote a more direct customer service number on my receipt which I was able to call Friday.

To be clear, I was kind and polite; I stressed how good the workers at this office were and how efficient always: "It's my local post office," but also how unbearable the heat was and how I couldn't imagine MY poor local staff having to suffer in that heat all day. I don't know yet if it will have an immediate effect for the workers, I hope it will though.

Being in close contact with people who give a shit and are also witnessing the descent of our country into fascism and ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT is actually mad refreshing in contrast to the pointless noise that is the internet.

You'll make such fast friends if you:

show up

say "where do you need me"

do what they say

have a good attitude

Done. Easy. Volunteering is awesome and will put you right in the lap of the best people in your area. They're the helpers, they're the people Mr. Rogers told you about!

Doing an easy task like potting trees for a community garden or helping at a food bank will also connect you to people who are doing more, like immigrant support or things that tackle more urgent, dangerous issues going on. So you can scale up your involvement easily by just showing up repeatedly.

Or don't scale it up-- maybe you stop at helping at the food bank and you're stacking cans for a few hours. You're feeding your neighbors. That's a load-bearing part of any revolution. (I use that word optimistically.) The people you meet will be the people you lean on when shit gets worse.

AND VICE VERSA, prove that you are someone to lean ON by showing up and helping. Offer things to people. Your skills may be helpful. Already, just because we've done local volunteering, we have made at least 5 or 6 new friends, got a potential firewood connection, and WELL-PAID EMPLOYMENT (??? OMG)

(and free lunches and snacks and fruit trees) And it's healing as fuck to have people genuinely tell you, in the flesh, to your face, "I'm so glad you showed up today. I appreciate you so much. This would have been harder without you." That shit makes you feel AWESOME and REAL and PURPOSEFUL