
Discover more from π‘ by Mike Rugnetta
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The theme of this weekβs LISTENING section is: PRE-ORDERS ONLY! Probably one or more of theseβll make another appearance after their release date.
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Health Insurance Claim Denied? See What Insurers Said Behind the Scenes
https://www.propublica.org/article/find-out-why-health-insurance-claim-denied
We have spoken with patients, health care providers, former and current health insurance employees and health policy experts to better understand how people facing denials can request their information. We believe it is important to share with our readers what we are learning about this process. To that end, we have collected advice on requesting your claim file and answers to common questions you may have, including a template you can use to get your request started.
Bad Manors
https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/bad-manors-wagner
Seven years ago, I started the blog McMansion Hell to documentβand derideβthe endless cosmetic variations of this uniquely American form of architectural blight. Iβve mostly tackled prerecession McMansions, just for the novelty of houses both dated and perched on the ugly/interesting MΓΆbius strip. But I worry that Iβve actually reinforced the idea that McMansions are a relic of the recent past. In fact, there remains a certain allure to these seemingly soulless suburban developments, and, more specifically, their construction and inhabitation. Increasing interest rates, inflation, and supply chain disruptions notwithstanding, the McMansion is alive and well. Far from being a boomtime fad, it has become a durable emblem of our American way of life.
A Spyβs Score: A Case Study for No One Lives Forever
https://www.iasig.org/index.php/resources/resources-menu/20-aan-no-one-lives-forever
NOTE: from 2003!
No One Lives Forever (NOLF) is aΒ first person action adventure game. It is a spy story set in the 1960βs,Β complete with gadgets, gizmos, and guns. The player assumes the role of CateΒ Archer, British spy extraordinaire! As shooters go, it is refreshingly lightΒ -hearted and sprinkled with kitsch and humor. β¦
NOLF built upon my adaptive scoring foundation,Β improving on many aspects of my technique. This white paper will describe theΒ adaptive scoring concepts, the production process, and implementation processΒ used to create this game score. I will describe my intentions and the actualΒ outcome; what worked and what didnβt. I will also describe what Iβd like toΒ achieve with future action scores.
One Year After Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny Is Provocative & Commodified
https://www.nylon.com/life/bad-bunny-un-verano-sin-ti-one-year-anniversary
Perhaps the best person to provide us the tools to make sense of the Bad Bunny spectacle is the queer Italian Marxist artist Pier Paolo Pasolini. His greatest concern about Italyβs turn toward consumer capitalism in the post-Mussolini era was not only economic, but was largely cultural and spiritual in nature. He described a βcultural genocideβ in which people felt βthe degrading anxious yearning of being equal to everyone else with respect to consumption, to being happy, to being free.β This led to the loss of βa sense of the sacredness of life,β which had been sucked out by the oppressive effect that spectacles have over our collective psyche (this theme made up the bulk of his controversial 1977 film SalΓ²).
One could easily argue that the spectacle of Bad Bunny has sucked out the βsacredness,β the deeper meaning of his artistry. Bad Bunny has become a totem of our dark, taboo-breaking impulses which we find ourselves too timid β or deem ourselves too respectable β to bring out into the light.
Cheesier, Saucier, and Drowning in Caviar: How TikTok took over the menu.
https://www.grubstreet.com/article/tiktok-took-over-the-menu.html
βEvery few days, we get DMs or emails from influencers asking to βcollabβ β thatβs always the word they use,β says Patricia Howard, co-owner of the popular restaurants Dame and Lordβs. βThey usually list their number of followers and always ask for a free meal in exchange for posting.β Everything is organized into tiers, with the asks escalating alongside the potential for exposure: βStories require this much, a feed post is that much, and a Reel is always the most.β Howard rejects these solicitations outright (βItβs really offensive to contact a small restaurant and say that youβre trying to help by asking for a free meal,β she says), but other chefs see value in cooperating.
Adorno, Lazarsfeld and the Birth of Public Broadcasting with Josh Shepperd
NOTE: Transcribed pod ep.
Josh Shepperd joinsΒ Money on the LeftΒ to discuss the research and activism that hastened the rise of public media in the United States. Assistant Professor of media studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Shepperd shows how public-interest broadcasting platforms like NPR and PBS exist in the U.S. today in large part as a consequence of hard-fought battles by committed scholars and advocates throughout the inter- and post-war periods. In particular, Shepperd traces the untold aftermath of the Communications Act of 1934 which, in addition to creating the Federal Communications Commission, gave overwhelming legal support to private for-profit networks, while stripping radio licenses from public and educational broadcasters committed to serving the common good.Β
Considering AI as belief system
Millions (and soon possibly, billions) of people are interacting with AIs that they perceive as showingΒ someΒ level ofΒ βintelligenceβ. Fundamentally, the less a person knows prior toΒ interacting with the AI, the smarter it is likely to seem, so that some people are significantly more predisposed to be drawn to an AI than others.Β In most situations the AI models donβt need to be βcorrectβ to be considered for inclusion in a belief system, but merely βplausibleβ.
βPepe the frog, the greedy merchant and #stopthestealβ: A comparative study of discursive and memetic communication on Twitter and 4chan/pol during the insurrection on the US Capitol
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448231172963
Following the January 6 insurrection on the US Capitol, we sought to explore how two social media platforms were being used concurrently to disseminate far-right memes and discourse. Our study employs a mixed-methods approach to collect a large data set of images from 4chan/pol/ and using the β#stopthestealβ hashtag on Twitter between 1 January 2021 and 13 January 2021. Our findings reveal how each platform influenced the usage of memes toward identity building and far-right activism in the days leading up to and immediately after the insurrection. Our findings reveal that Twitter was used to mobilize users leading up to January 6 but led to in-fighting among the pro-Trump crowd in the days after. Meanwhile 4chan/pol users took advantage of the Overton window of the Insurrection to disseminate far-right ideology and attempt to recruit and radicalize disgruntled Trump supporters after the insurrection was deemed a failure.
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I did a little VO for this one, too!
Also, helped commission a few patches for C74; hereβs a sequencer from the most recent group. You can see all the patches here.
A little bit more Max stuff, as yβall seem to enjoy this kind of thing. ppooll is a modular composition environment built with and run inside Max. Most famously used by Fennesz and Tim Hecker. This is, as far as I know, their first ever official Getting Started guide.
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New Reasonably Sound! The Scourge of Modern Civilization is out now, wherever you pod. Itβs about spam and scam phonecalls, how they work, why theyβre so hard to stop, and what they reveal about the state of labor at the moment. This one was a looooooong time in the making, and Iβd love it if you gave a listen.
Episode 02 of Precious Cargo β βThe Unmapped Planetβ β came out on May 12th. Precious Cargo is an Offworlders Romp run by
(whomstβs Substack you should def subscribe to). In it, I play MAvIS, a mining-equipment-network personality module turned insurance adjuster.As mentioned above, I did some voiceover work in the most recent Philosophy Tube video β if you werenβt going to already (????) you should def check that out.
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Thatβs what I got for yβall! Hope you had a good week, have a good week, and continue β after that week β having good weeks. And hey, if π‘ makes your week a little better, maybe tell your pals. You donβt wanna bogart all the goodweekness.