James Britt
LightNews LightNews
banner
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
James Britt
@jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
180 followers 16 following 960 posts
Artist, musician, hacker.

Renoise user.

jamesbritt.com

neurogami.com

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@jamesbritt, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
Posts Replies Media Videos
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/04/stabilty-ai-high-court-getty-images-copyright

AI firm wins high court ruling after photo agency’s copyright claim

Also, fuck James Cameron.
The government is consulting on copyright and AI and has said: “Uncertainty over how our copyright framework operates is holding back growth for our AI and creative industries. That cannot continue.” It is looking at whether to introduce a “text and data mining exception” into UK copyright law, which would allow copyright works to be used to train AI models in the UK unless the rights holder opts their works out of such training, said lawyers at Mishcon de Reya who have been following the issue.
November 4, 2025 at 4:34 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
From today's #nokings in Kingston #ny .

Also saw a few dinosaurs and a unicorn.
Frog at No Kings rally.
October 19, 2025 at 12:24 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/arts/television/jim-downey-saturday-night-live-writer-actor.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uU8.6-br.Kfc58GubzIsv&smid=url-share

The Secret Weapon of ‘S.N.L.’ Finally Gets the Spotlight

A documentary about the writer Jim […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Excerpt from an interview with Jim Downey in the NY Times Question: Are there performers who balk? Answer: I probably shouldn’t say this, but now that I’m retired, who cares? One of my techniques for sneaking a line reading would be, let’s say the performer had just been steadfastly doing it in a way I didn’t think was helping. I would say: “There was this thing you did that I liked” and it would be something that the performer in no way did. Then I’d give them a line reading pretending I was merely quoting them. Question: Brilliant. It worked? Answer: There’s almost no limit to what you can get people to do if you let them think it’s their idea.
October 18, 2025 at 12:13 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/19/fbi-cbp-tren-de-aragua-emojis

"Revealed: US law enforcement claimed emojis could signal Tren de Aragua affiliation"
Gang experts and immigration attorneys who reviewed the records said the claims were “ludicrous”, “uneducated” and “baseless” and raised concerns that authorities could cite emojis to erroneously label people as Tren de Aragua members – allegations that can have dire consequences, including deportation.
September 19, 2025 at 5:37 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Seeing this a lot.
Repost popup saying "You are not allowed to quote this post"
September 18, 2025 at 5:44 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
https://wapo.st/3VITgZw

#ai #books
Sometimes an era is graced with a gift — a book that is not merely deficient in the usual ways, not merely insipid or uninspired, but epochal in its ineptitude. Amir Husain’s “The Cybernetic Society: How Humans and Machines Will Shape the Future Together” is dull, convoluted and written in the glib and ingratiating tones of a TED Talk. So far, so unexceptional. But it is also something more painful for its readers and more interesting for its critics: a monument to the vapidity and vulgarity of the culture that incubated it.
September 16, 2025 at 12:17 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
So much winning. #tarrifs

https://archive.is/liAom
For the first time in the history of their 76-year-old operation, their biggest customer — China — had stopped buying soybeans. Their 2,300-acre soybean farm is projected to lose $400,000 in 2025. Soybeans that would normally be harvested and exported to Asia are now set to pile up in large steel bins. Since President Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in February, Beijing has retaliated by halting all purchases of American soybeans.
September 15, 2025 at 11:52 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
@maintenancebot2

I just complimented this woman on her jacket. She painted it.
Jeans jacket with hand painted image of Basquiat and Warhol.
September 12, 2025 at 4:46 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Oh snap!

I've been honored with this lazy-ass bullshit

#scam
Spam that says: @jamesbritt Important Notice! ⚠️ Hello from Mastodon moderation. 👋 To prevent being banned from our platform, please verify your account at your earliest convenience. You can find a special form for this purpose below. 📝 Access it here: 🔗 https://mastodon.envio84264.pro/260109875 We hope to welcome you back on Mastodon soon! 🌟
August 29, 2025 at 11:26 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
If you are posting a YouTube link PLEASE include a description. Because this is what I often see instead of any title and preview image:
YouTube card that has no video info, just says, Before you continu ...
August 25, 2025 at 1:48 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Weird way to decide to monetize a #ruby API site.

( I sold the domain a few months ago.)
ruby-doc.org blog page with inane spamvertising posts about online casinos Meanwhile, the actual content people care about, the API docs, have not been updated past 3.4.1. 3.4.5 is the latest.
August 21, 2025 at 5:38 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ezvj4d111o

How a cartoon skull became a symbol of defiance in Indonesia
Jolly Roger flag of skull and crossbones plus a pith hat, from Japanese anime One Piece
August 7, 2025 at 11:12 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
This is pretty funny.

https://www.lyricsondemand.com/patriotic_songs/this_land_is_your_land/video

It has the truncated lyrics to "This Land is Your Land", listed under "Patriotic Songs".

Below that is this:
Original 1940 Version: (slightly less patriotic) This land is your land, this land is my land From the California to the Staten New York Island, From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters, God blessed America for me. [This land was made for you and me.] As I went walking that ribbon of highway And saw above me that endless skyway, And saw below me the golden valley, I said: God blessed America for me. [This land was made for you and me.] I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts, And all around me, a voice was sounding: God blessed America for me. [This land was made for you and me.] Was a high wall there that tried to stop me A sign was painted said: Private Property, But on the back side it didn't say nothing - God blessed America for me. [This land was made for you and me.] When the sun come shining, then I was strolling In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling; The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting: God blessed America for me. [This land was made for you and me.]
August 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
#amazon #ai doing video captions has some interesting quirks.

What in the world are they training on?
AI transcribes "little sort of cuts" as "little sort of cunts" in product video AI transcribes Juliette Aristides as "Juliette are STD's" in product video.
July 30, 2025 at 7:25 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Stopped by Columbus Circle today ...

... dropped something off.

#republicanpolicieskillpeople
Traffic control box at Columbus Circle with assorted steet stickers, including one that says "Republican policies kill people"
July 16, 2025 at 10:37 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
"New U.S. Army Shaving Rule Could Affect Many Black Soldiers"

Incredibly fucked-up priorities. The cruelty is the point. Also the racism.
From the ny times: The change will phase out permanent waivers for soldiers who had been allowed to grow beards because they had been diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae, also known as razor bumps or ingrown hairs. The condition affects up to 60 percent of Black men as well as other people with curly hair, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology. The Army will still grant temporary medical waivers and permanent waivers for religious reasons that allow soldiers to grow beards.
July 9, 2025 at 10:25 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Please please please someone fix this sign to say "Auschwitz"

#alligatorauschwitz
Photo of road crew putting up a sign out sign a new Florida concentration camp, saying, "Alligator Alcatraz."
July 6, 2025 at 12:10 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
"Was MAGA a giant psyop?"

I believe this is what is called an epiphany.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-palantir-maga-database-surveillance-2079905
In a video recorded by Fuentes, who also has a Rumble channel viewed over 31 million times, he said the following: "They are tracking everybody that criticized Israel, everybody that interacts with somebody that's criticizing Israel, and whether you're on a visa or not, whether you're a citizen or not, whether you're brown or not, Christian or Muslim, they're putting you in the Palantir database. They're putting you on the enemies list. If you don't see a problem with that..." "I'm beginning to think it started when DJT walked down that escalator, before 2016," wrote an X user with the moniker "Redneck Common Sense." X user Jack Maxey wondered: "Was MAGA a giant psyop?"
June 30, 2025 at 2:26 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/science/iran-nuclear-uranium-metal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SU8.l-EF.vAz-Vg2fR-so&smid=url-share

Trump is a shithead.
“It’s unlikely that we would have had to bomb uranium metal production facilities today if the first Trump administration had not pulled out of the Iran deal,” said Robert Einhorn, a former arms control official who worked on U.S. negotiations with Iran during the Obama administration and is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Michael S. Lubell, a professor of physics at the City College of New York who has held federal clearances that gave him access to government secrets on nuclear arms, agreed. President Trump “created this mess,” he said. “There’s no question that the Iran deal was working. He tore it up, created a mess and is now saying, ‘I’m the savior.’”
June 28, 2025 at 5:22 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c20xel1e97gt?post=asset%3Abfa55ce8-18fb-42b4-acf5-b027c655fe71#post

WTAF. Mark Rutte is *nuts*.
Referencing Trump's use of an expletive on Tuesday when referring to Iran and Israel, Rutte said: "And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language." Trump added: "You have to use strong language, every once in a while, you have to use a certain word."
June 25, 2025 at 11:39 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Encouraging.

#nyc
Screenshot of NYC mayor election, early results (but still quite a good percentage), shows Mamdani at 43%, sex pest Cuomo at 35%
June 25, 2025 at 1:35 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Trump can't even do *this* right. But he will never admit to anything.
NY Times screen shoot of headline: U.S. Strike Set Back Iran’s Nuclear Program by Only a Few Months, Report Says Preliminary classified findings indicate that the attack sealed off the entrances to two facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings. 5 min read
June 24, 2025 at 10:27 PM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Sticker design.
Sticker that says RESIST WE outnumber THEM (With some "No kings" logos in there.)
June 15, 2025 at 1:25 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
#donnietaco
Screenshot from NY Times Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries The abrupt pivot on an issue at the heart of Mr. Trump’s presidency suggested his broad immigration crackdown was hurting industries and constituencies he does not want to lose.
June 14, 2025 at 10:02 AM
jamesbritt.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The NRA is the leading cause of death of kids and teens.

https://text.npr.org/nx-s1-5429711
States with permissive gun laws experienced a rise in pediatric deaths from firearm injuries between 2011 and 2023, whereas states with stricter laws did not. That's according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. "We know that the leading cause of death in children is firearm injuries," says Dr. Maya Haasz, an emergency medicine doctor and researcher at the University of Colorado, who wasn't involved in the new study. In a policy brief from 2021, she and her colleagues found that a child or teen is killed in the U.S. every 2 hours and 48 minutes.
June 11, 2025 at 10:58 AM