Ben Werdmuller

I lead technology at ProPublica and write speculative fiction. This is a personal account. 

Every day, I write about tech, democracy, and society at https://werd.io. 

More about me: https://werd.io/about/ 

Tags: #indieweb #opensource #journalism #writing #fiction #blogs #blogging #startups #openweb #web #fediverse #socialweb #ethics #product #writingcommunity #philadelphia #sanfrancisco

Blog / Newsletter: https://werd.io
Pronouns: he/him
Location: Philadelphia, PA
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2026-06-01T08:22:18Z

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Last Notes

2026-05-11 22:29:52 GMT

"When you all give us your hard-earned money, we feel a deep responsibility to use it as well, and as efficiently, as possible." A responsibility A New Social lives up to in spades. #Technology https://werd.io/bridging-feels-seamless-behind-the-scenes-its-a-technical-marvel/

2026-02-21 16:48:59 GMT

If you're a daily coffee drinker at home, what are your go-to everyday beans? Not the fancy stuff you treat yourself to sometimes, but the stuff you always make sure you have in the house.

2026-01-25 14:27:50 GMT

Two things I don’t think serve the current moment:
1. Downplaying what is happening. If it looks like a goose and steps like a goose, it’s a goose.
2. Assuming that assumed American norms and values will prevail.
If you didn’t assume that everything would go back to normal, or that we’ll have free and fair elections, or that the courts will stop the killing of observers on the streets, what would you do differently?

2026-01-25 14:00:50 GMT

Probably an unpopular take: I don't believe the EU can create an alternative tech stack. It needs to foster an independent ecosystem; anything less will just benefit all the people who already know how to get EU grants. What's needed is the conditions for real innovation, which are a culture and mindset change, as well as money.

2026-01-24 19:39:28 GMT

Seeing lots of variations of we should abolish “Trump’s ICE” or “this kind of ICE” from elected representatives. No, the whole concept is bogus. It was always based on propaganda about immigration. It’s an authoritarian dream based on a fiction. Abolish ICE and fix our foreign policy.

2026-01-24 16:42:04 GMT

Spending the morning at our local library. It’s just a small branch, but it’s fully alive: people browsing and reading, reading to their kids, researching things that are important to them and being in community in a warm space away from the cold. How it should be. Libraries are magic.

2026-01-24 15:40:03 GMT

Unfortunately Zen Browser has been really slowing down for me to the point of not loading any pages unless I restart it very regularly. Has anyone else experienced this? Wondering if it's an extension, but I don't have many of those, and I'm not sure what's going on.

2026-01-21 15:21:37 GMT

Unpopular opinion: building and using technology ethically is not the same thing as going back to a previous era of technology or staying frozen in time. Instead, it's really important to keep moving forward and building the future - new techniques, new platforms, new ideas - in a pro-social way.

2026-01-20 14:31:10 GMT

A Supreme Court case about a bank robbery could redefine digital rights in the US. I wrote about it and its implications. https://werd.io/who-owns-your-data/

2026-01-15 14:52:22 GMT

"Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground." #Democracy https://werd.io/elite-the-palantir-app-ice-uses-to-find-neighborhoods-to-raid/

2026-01-14 23:06:59 GMT

I published this fictional scenario planning piece about mitigating a hypothetical newsroom raid yesterday. It feels a lot more relevant today. https://werd.io/the-zurich-protocol/

2026-01-14 14:30:20 GMT

I really want a button on my email that hides everything that wasn't written directly to me by a human. The "important" tab doesn't cut it. I'm drowning here.

2026-01-12 02:27:27 GMT

Astonishing documentary movie about what power is capable of and what journalism can do to liberate. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes; free to stream on Netflix. More than worth your time. Please watch. https://www.netflix.com/title/82145211

2026-01-10 22:29:55 GMT

I don't think it's a coincidence that all of this (worldwide) is happening when most of the people who lived through WWII have just died. We need to do a better job of keeping their memories and ideals alive.

2026-01-08 14:42:10 GMT

"A social media and phone surveillance system ICE bought access to is designed to monitor a city neighborhood or block for mobile phones, track the movements of those devices and their owners over time, and follow them from their places of work to home or other locations." https://www.404media.co/inside-ices-tool-to-monitor-phones-in-entire-neighborhoods/

2026-01-07 12:14:46 GMT

Each year, on my birthday, I gather my thoughts. This year: 47 things I’ve learned - about work, about life, and about the intersections between the two. https://werd.io/47-lessons/

2026-01-06 14:12:29 GMT

I wrote up how I hire engineers: building a team means building a community, which means looking beyond live coding tests to find empathetic collaborators who care about a mission. (PS: I'm hiring!) https://werd.io/how-i-hire-engineers/

2026-01-04 13:50:36 GMT

Following this has meaningfully improved my first few days of the year. So far, so good. https://werd.io/a-2026-checklist/

2025-12-31 14:47:07 GMT

Rather than new year's resolutions, I'm experimenting with a checklist for 2026: things I want to try and do every day. This is my list, and I'd love to read yours. https://werd.io/a-2026-checklist/

2025-12-27 21:45:46 GMT

Meanwhile, in my hometown. Here in the US, police / ICE are using facial recognition when they stop someone, but I’m not aware of them just setting up and scanning crowds. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxqnp27ddno

2025-12-19 18:42:11 GMT

We don't need to educate our audiences to fit our needs. We need to educate ourselves to fit our audiences. #Media https://werd.io/lies-we-tell-ourselves/

2025-12-18 14:21:32 GMT

Observation: some folks appear to be in news to speak truth *from* power and use institutions to defend the status quo and the agency of centralized power. Others speak truth *to* power and use journalism to challenge unequal power dynamics. Only one of those is desirable, imo.

2025-12-12 14:41:57 GMT

We're looking for a mission-driven director of product engineering for our product team at @npub1qmg…s6k5. Our journalists investigate abuses of trust and power in the public interest. This is a way to make a difference. (Must be US-based.) https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/jobs/4623874006?gh_src=0eh7t3h36us

2025-12-11 15:18:15 GMT

I'm hiring a Director of Product Engineering for our product team at @npub1qmg…s6k5. If you're an engineering leader in the US who wants to truly make a difference, we're a nonprofit newsroom investigating abuses of trust in the public interest. Please consider joining us. #amhiring #getfedihired https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/jobs/4623874006?gh_src=0eh7t3h36us

2025-12-10 01:44:52 GMT

Let's Encrypt is ten years old. It's changed the web for the better. #Technology https://werd.io/10-years-of-lets-encrypt-certificates/

2025-12-09 13:48:04 GMT

For decades, RSS has been a workhorse that connects systems on the timely web and ensures that publishers can syndicate and grow their reach. Here's why it matters more than ever. https://werd.io/why-rss-matters/

2025-12-02 13:59:06 GMT

This year, @npub1qmg…s6k5 reported on ICE splitting up families, the people behind DOGE and their impact, the backroom dealings of Trump and others in his administration, and more. I'm proud to work with these journalists - and they need your support.
As always, I want to prove that the #fediverse is an important source of support for nonprofits like ours. We're here, we're engaged, and we care.
If you have the means, please consider a donation:
https://give.propublica.org/campaign/748664/donate?c_src=ben
#journalism #democracy

2025-12-02 05:11:50 GMT

Donating to @npub1qmg…s6k5 supports a newsroom full of investigative journalists intent on bringing about real change through reporting on abuses of power in the public interest. They've done incredible work this year. And if you donate on #GivingNewsDay your donation is matched dollar for dollar. https://give.propublica.org/campaign/748664/donate?c_src=ben #givingtuesday #journalism #democracy

2025-12-02 01:11:17 GMT

New_ Public announced its new community platform is being co-developed with five local US communities - and there's a lot more to come. #Technology https://werd.io/introducing-roundabout/

2025-11-30 14:22:25 GMT

I've never been a great notetaker. Winnie Lim suggests I might be overthinking it: it's not a second brain but a second subconscious mind. #Technology https://werd.io/imperfect-notes-my-second-subconscious/

2025-11-29 15:01:06 GMT

"We have created a system where the only way to survive is to be destitute enough to qualify for aid, or rich enough to ignore the cost. Everyone in the middle is being cannibalized." https://werd.io/the-optical-illusion-of-prosperity/

2025-11-21 16:47:18 GMT

Seeing a lot of criticism of this. I won't comment on that for now, but I think it would be a valuable exercise to create a version of the linked document for the hypothetical organization people would like to see. https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/rewiring-mozilla-ai-and-web/

2025-11-19 14:58:37 GMT

Podcast pitch: Last Week Tonight but about the Internet. Same pointed humor, same sense of outrage, same scripted writing, but specifically about the web, the tech industry, underlying power dynamics and egos.

2025-11-13 16:44:21 GMT

Hey, remember that Chicago apartment building raid where children were zip-tied together? Guess what: https://www.propublica.org/article/chicago-venezuela-immigration-ice-fbi-raids-no-criminal-charges

2025-11-09 14:34:02 GMT

The most racist people imaginable have a cunning plan to undermine the most popularly-elected NYC mayor since 1969. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/9/republicans-push-to-strip-zohran-mamdani-of-us-citizenship-is-it-possible

2025-11-07 21:08:26 GMT

It's still so weird to me that the idea of universal healthcare is so political here. It's a given in so many other places, and I miss it. And people don't realize how good it is for innovation. You can take so many more risks when your health and well-being aren't tied to a salaried employer.

2025-11-07 20:00:30 GMT

I came back to this talk today - and I've got to admit, I think it's a banger. Lots to say about how mission-driven technology can be successful. https://werd.io/why-the-open-social-web-matters-now/

2025-10-31 14:30:21 GMT

There’s no such thing as neutral technology.
Every tool encodes the values of the people who made it — their goals, their blind spots, their priorities.
When organizations adopt tools without asking whose values they’re importing, they take on risk they can’t see.
https://werd.io/theres-no-such-thing-as-neutral-technology/

2025-10-28 15:52:51 GMT

"This bubble is going to pop. Investors will stop setting their money on fire once they realize these models can't replace our labor in the ways they have promised." https://brooklyn.bearblog.dev/ai-futures/

2025-10-20 18:57:42 GMT

AI at scale isn't scaling. #AI https://werd.io/this-is-how-much-anthropic-and-cursor-spend-on-amazon-web-services/

2025-10-20 13:08:04 GMT

Hear me out, but maybe it's not superb that most of the internet is hosted on three very large providers?

2025-10-16 13:50:03 GMT

We have never in human history had access to a shared reality. Ask Galileo. Or anyone from a marginalized group. It's like nostalgia for white picket fence Americana: it hides a lot of harm. What we should fear isn't disagreement, but regression and subjugation.

2025-10-13 16:23:28 GMT

I don't know what happens next, but on the face of it, the ceasefire and the return of captives from both sides feels really good. May there be peace, may the rebuilding be equitable, and may everyone get to live and co-exist in dignity and prosperity.

2025-10-11 22:57:31 GMT

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Amazing. Thank you.

2025-10-11 20:43:18 GMT

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Actually I’d love that. Generally because the work is fascinating and important, but specifically because there’s another set of artifacts in the collection that aren’t online.

2025-10-11 20:03:41 GMT

Today I learned that an interview with my great uncle is in the collection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
"Reinald Leidelmeyer describes his experience as a member of the Dutch Resistance in the Hague; details of his arrest; his time in a slave labor camp; and actions that led to his release."
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn85997

2025-10-10 14:18:12 GMT

I'm skeptical of using AI for alt text generation. The tech is not bad at all about describing what's in a picture, but I'm unconvinced that it can tell you what's *important* in a picture. Maybe if you fed in the context around it? But also, a human can write an alt text sentence in a minute or two, so is it really worth it?

2025-10-01 14:02:31 GMT

Think your data is safe because it's stored privately or because you're in the EU? Think again.
I wrote a guide to how subpoenas, the third-party doctrine, data brokers, and the CLOUD Act let government and private parties access your information without your knowledge.
https://werd.io/your-private-data-isnt-as-private-as-you-think/

2025-09-29 01:02:42 GMT

Switzerland just voted to create a new electronic ID card (the Swiss introduced physical ones in 1955). It's stored locally on your device, you personally approve requests for your data, and is designed to prevent profiling. Contrast to, for example, Britain's centralized proposal. https://www.eid.admin.ch/en/e-id-e

2025-09-28 17:33:37 GMT

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Oh, horribly. He left with his mother yesterday and I went to bed to find his pacifier nearly on his pillow. Made me very sad.

2025-09-28 16:42:59 GMT

My little buddy is off visiting his grandparents and it's honestly very weird. I miss him very much, obviously. But also, I've been so productive this morning: I tidied up, renewed my vehicle registration, got vaccinated, bought groceries. And it's barely lunchtime. I guess I might go to the gym later and make progress on some personal projects. Weird. (Also, did I mention I miss him very much?)

2025-09-27 20:58:50 GMT

Depressing that anyone wants this: https://19thnews.org/2025/09/poll-traditional-family-gender-roles/

2025-09-27 16:45:27 GMT

War ravaged Portland
https://cdn.masto.host/werdsocial/media_attachments/files/115/277/268/389/492/284/original/2bc6ce22a72d01c4.jpeg

2025-09-24 15:59:42 GMT

Violence is not the answer. It will be used to tighten the screws, and as a pretext for more authoritarianism. If you think guns are the solution, you are an idiot.

2025-09-17 21:12:53 GMT

The investigative newsroom I work for, @npub1qmg…s6k5, is raising money right now. This is the last few days of our pledge drive.
We report on abuses of power in the public interest. We reported on who works for DOGE and revealed Clarence Thomas’s conflicts of interest.
It was the first outlet to win a Pulitzer for web-first journalism. And if you donate through this link, you'll let our team know the fediverse is an audience to pay attention to: https://give.propublica.org/give/346528/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=ben_mstdn #journalism #fediverse

2025-09-17 20:22:42 GMT

Over the last week I’ve become aware that lots of infrastructure depends on local government, school board, etc, meetings being posted on YouTube. That’s quite a scary dependency & a potential vector for harm. We need to get to a world where these meetings are stored & shared in a more aligned way.

2025-09-14 01:25:45 GMT

Not superb. https://www.commondreams.org/news/rubio-thought-policing-bill

2025-09-13 15:00:45 GMT

Consistently confused about the rage people seem to have for atheists. I don’t believe in a deity. That doesn’t make me evil. Nor am I going to try to convince you to shift your own beliefs.

2025-09-12 17:27:32 GMT

I love how thoughtful the Mastodon blog post about introducing quote posting is. A really interesting way the team could be even more impactful on the open social web would be to share their research findings and the thinking that went into these sorts of features - that's the sort of body of knowledge everyone could learn from. https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/09/introducing-quote-posts/
#mastodon #fediverse

2025-09-10 20:35:36 GMT

Charlie Kirk was a truly terrible human being, beloved by the sickest, dumbest people imaginable, but everybody should be able to live without the fear of gun violence. This is a troubled country for many reasons, but guns are a cancer. I wish we could come to our senses and ban them.
Kirk famously said, “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.” No. One is too many. Even his.

2025-09-10 14:18:32 GMT

In a world that faces unprecedented challenges, from a resurgence in global fascism to the fast-developing storm of the climate crisis, we need more technologists to focus on doing good work.
Here's how to take the leap.
https://werd.io/using-technology-skills-for-positive-change/

2025-09-08 17:45:17 GMT

The investigative newsroom I work for, @npub1qmg…s6k5, is raising money right now. We report on abuses of power in the public interest - stories like corruption on the Supreme Court or the police response to the Uvalde school shooting. It was the first outlet to win a Pulitzer for web-first journalism. And if you donate through this link, you'll let our team know that the fediverse is an audience to pay attention to. https://give.propublica.org/give/346528/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=ben_mstdn #journalism #fediverse

2025-09-08 14:12:26 GMT

Let's all just be kind to each other and build collaboratively rather than competitively.

2025-09-07 15:51:54 GMT

The world is splitting into nationalist / fascist movements and more progressive / humanist movements.
It's weird to see tech do the same thing. Look at any job board and you can see the fascist-aligned startups and the progressive ones.
The funding, unfortunately, is disproportionately choosing the nationalist path.

2025-09-05 14:56:50 GMT

We're looking for a journalist with development chops (or a developer with journalism chops) to join our news apps team and build new web-based interactive stories, databases, and experiences. It's a remote role; candidates must be eligible to work in the US. https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/jobs/4599062006?gh_src=k5crh6ph6us
#fedihired #getfedihired #amhiring #jobs #journalism

2025-09-03 01:50:23 GMT

Today my best buddy turned 3. We went to the zoo, he saw snakes and goats and fed a giraffe, we had his favorite tacos for dinner and a birthday cake, and he received many lovely gifts. And at the end of the day he just wanted to fall asleep in my arms. Could not have been more perfect.

2025-09-01 17:44:33 GMT

“The world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president said on Monday.” To say so is not to justify the Oct 7 attacks. But genocide is never justifiable.
To those who wonder why Americans are concerned about this war over others: it’s because we’re deeply involved. Our money is paying for this. It’s a part of US foreign policy.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-is-committing-genocide-gaza-scholars-association-says-2025-09-01/

2025-08-31 12:49:40 GMT

Can newsrooms become social platforms themselves? Should they?
The future belongs to organizations that understand their communities, not just their analytics. In this post, I dig into a reader question that speaks to the future of social, newsrooms, and AI.
https://werd.io/can-newsrooms-become-social-platforms/

2025-08-24 14:59:26 GMT

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I think, based on initiatives we’ve already seen, that this is a faulty assumption. It would be a blank check to kill net neutrality for good.
I agree that the current landscape is nuts. I don’t think there’s a technical solution, though. I guess a service could operate in a place beyond jurisdictional treaties with the US and EU, but would users trust it? Those places aren’t necessarily known to be freedom-preserving.

2025-08-24 14:26:31 GMT

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That would necessitate the ISPs filtering everyone’s internet though?

2025-08-24 13:52:46 GMT

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but decentralization doesn’t prevent you from having to adhere to laws and regulations.

2025-08-20 12:53:47 GMT

I think this is super-interesting. Future developments, including using the web payments API, feel promising - a way of funding the #Fediverse. https://wedistribute.org/2025/08/introducing-crowdbucks/

2025-08-12 19:29:17 GMT

If you have something you'd like to share with ProPublica's journalists, who deeply investigate abuses of trust and power in the public interest, here's how to that: https://www.propublica.org/tips/

2025-08-12 02:44:28 GMT

If we're thinking about building GitHub alternatives, let's build ones that host not just code but everything involved in building software, including the community work involved in validating assumptions and making sure we're solving real problems, equitably, for the people we're trying to help.

2025-08-11 17:31:56 GMT

The thing about so-called 'creeping fascism' is that it doesn't actually creep. It's loud and overt. What's insidious is how quickly those loud, overt changes are normalized.

2025-08-10 14:12:17 GMT

I used to check into every restaurant and bar on Foursquare. Those thousands of location pins felt like memories. Now they feel like evidence.
New piece on how our voluntary self-surveillance became a potential tool of authoritarian control - and what we might do about it: https://werd.io/lifelogging-under-fascism/

2025-08-06 17:58:50 GMT

On bridging between networks vs cross-posting:
"They’re similar, but they’re different in some important ways. Notably, bridging results in more unified conversations, while cross-posted conversations are more fragmented."
That's why Bridgy Fed's approach is so interesting - and, imo, important.
https://blog.anew.social/bridging-vs-cross-posting/
#Fediverse

2025-08-05 01:54:23 GMT

"Yes, you read that right. A law supposedly designed to protect children now requires victims of sexual assault to submit government IDs to access support communities." https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/04/didnt-take-long-to-reveal-the-uks-online-safety-act-is-exactly-the-privacy-crushing-failure-everyone-warned-about/

2025-07-30 00:00:45 GMT

If you could design your life from scratch, what would *you* do?
https://werd.io/if-i-ran-my-life/

2025-07-29 03:17:20 GMT

Seeing these images of starving children barely holding onto life while my own two year old sleeps soundly in bed upstairs is devastating. These poor parents; these poor children. I would be going out of my mind. I would hold a grudge forever. Who wouldn’t?

2025-07-28 02:32:49 GMT

When my mother took singing lessons after a double lung transplant that extended her life, what she wanted to sing at her public recital was the Elements Song by Tom Lehrer. She transcribed the words onto a legal pad that I keep near me to remind me of the lifeforce and love that it took from her to be able to do that. Thank you, Tom. And love you always, Ma.

2025-07-27 21:28:25 GMT

I now have computer / reading glasses and driving / long-distance glasses. Sigh.

2025-07-24 20:47:24 GMT

And now, an executive order that calls for the involuntary institutionalization of the homeless and mentally ill without due process or clear release criteria. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/

2025-07-22 12:32:14 GMT

What if public networks became a platform for communities to create their own local media, not just consume it? After devastating federal funding cuts, here's one idea for rebuilding NPR and PBS around community co-creation, open platforms, and human-centered, prototype-driven design. https://werd.io/if-i-ran-npr-and-pbs/ #media #journalism

2025-07-22 10:31:01 GMT

Don’t look away. If you endorse this, you’ve lost a key, core part of your humanity. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jul/22/israel-gaza-war-latest-live-news-updates

2025-07-20 16:28:19 GMT

Next blog post?

2025-07-15 15:50:19 GMT

"The technical blueprint obtained by ProPublica shows that engineers at the agency are preparing to give DHS what it wants: a system that enables massive automated data sharing." https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-share-tax-records-ice-dhs-deportations

2025-07-09 22:18:34 GMT

A @npub1478…y4ag post is always going to be lovely and intricately thought-through, and this is no exception. https://aresluna.org/frame-of-preference/

2025-07-07 14:29:43 GMT

As more people look to AI to learn about the world, the people who control how it's trained and how it responds will control our prevailing narratives. That's wildly dangerous. #AI https://werd.io/improved-grok-criticizes-democrats-and-hollywoods-jewish-executives/

2025-07-07 13:29:58 GMT

Here too, please. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/forced-participation-in-religious-activities-to-be-classified-as-child-abuse-in-japan

2025-07-01 14:45:53 GMT

"Some schools have asked staff to use secure messaging systems like Signal instead of text and email to keep sensitive conversations from public reach." They, like many others, need more private, self-hosted software. #Democracy https://werd.io/schools-serving-undocumented-kids-go-underground/

2025-06-28 00:35:45 GMT

I’m beginning to feel like the people who love vibe coding resent software engineers, the people who love making music with AI resent musicians, the people who love AI art resent artists. It’s more than not understanding what good is. It’s active pushback.

2025-06-24 21:57:49 GMT

Stephen Miller and at least a dozen other Trump appointees own stock in Palantir, the company that provides "mission critical" services to ICE. #Democracy https://werd.io/stephen-millers-financial-stake-in-ice-contractor-palantir/

2025-06-22 13:18:13 GMT

The fragmentation and purity tests on the fediverse are beginning to grate. Vulnerable communities need to ensure their own safety, but some of the politics feel like they're very far away from those needs and closer to high school infighting. Globally, nationalism is rising with corporate social media as one of its weapons, leading to real deaths and true fascism with all its harms. We're going to need to collaborate despite our differences. Let's pull it together.

2025-06-22 12:24:37 GMT

Ten years ago, Google crawled two pages for every visitor it sent to a publisher. Today, Anthropic crawls 60,000. #AI https://werd.io/publishers-facing-existential-threat-from-ai-cloudflare-ceo-says/

2025-06-22 01:49:58 GMT

Congrats to everyone who voted for the guy because they thought he was anti-war. You complete fucking morons.

2025-06-22 01:35:04 GMT

One of the things I find the most depressing is that some people will be genuinely cheering for war.

2025-06-17 16:29:25 GMT

It's alive! #threads #fediverse
https://cdn.masto.host/werdsocial/media_attachments/files/114/699/649/726/725/181/original/2c0aa4d331089789.png

2025-06-15 21:16:15 GMT

PSA: "Dutch" means "from the Netherlands". It does not mean "from Germany". Except when "Dutch" is "Pennsylvania Dutch", who get their name because apparently nobody in America knew the difference between Dutch and Deutsch. Which, tbqh, they still don't.

2025-06-15 19:59:00 GMT

News to me that one of the candidates for Mayor of NYC was a rapper who collaborated with Madhur Jaffrey, but I have no notes. This is excellent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQVsVNPkPmE