The post Most Popular Cat Names That Start with N in 2024 by Catster Editorial Team appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Click to Skip Ahead Most Popular Cat Names That Start With N Other Great Names Before bringing home a new cat, you’ll have important decisions to make. One of the first is who will be your cat’s veterinarian, but before you establish care for your pet, you’ll need a name for their account. Choosing a cat name can be a daunting task, given how many options are out there. One way to narrow your choices is to stick with names that start with a single letter, such as N. Here are the most popular cat names that start with N, based on Rover’s database of top cat names, plus some other amazing choices to consider. Most Popular Cat Names That Start with N 1. Norbert Norbert is not only popular but also the top trending cat name in 2023. Uses of this cat name are up 156% this year over the last. If you’re a cat owner who likes to keep up with the latest trends, it might be the perfect cat’s name for you. This unique name won’t suit every cat, so take the time to get to know your pet before you decide if he’s a Norbert. Image Credit: Aleksei Verhovski, Shutterstock 2. Nya Given the popularity of Sex and the City, it’s no surprise that the reboot of the show, And Just Like That, is also a hit with viewers. Cat names inspired by this TV series gained popularity in 2023 as well. Uses of the name Nya, inspired by the character Nya Wallace, increased by 5% this year. Interestingly, the names used for most of the original show’s characters were down in 2023, except for Charlotte, which increased by 3%. 3. Neil Cat names inspired by the popular and critically acclaimed TV series The Bear remain favorites of kitty owners in 2023. The name Neil is the 7th most popular moniker taken from this show. Although uses of this name did decrease by 13% in 2023, the character played by real-life chef Matty Matheson still has plenty of namesake cats roaming the homes of America.  With a new season of the show expected to drop in 2024, we can expect cat names from The Bear to remain in favor. Image Credit: alexgo.photography, Shutterstock 4. Natalie Female kittens can get their name inspired by a character from The Bear, too. Natalie, the name of Abby Elliot’s character, is the 10th most popular name from the show. Uses of this name decreased by 23% in 2023; however, with so many other celebrities named Natalie, it’s tough to know who’s responsible for the drop. Natalie will have another chance at popularity when The Bear goes back into production early next year. 5. Neptune Out-of-this-world cat names trended up in 2023, including that of the blue planet Neptune. This name seems like it would fit a cool, beautiful cat. It’s also an excellent option for kitties with blue eyes or fur. Maybe a Russian Blue? Uses of the name Neptune were up 33% in 2023 compared to the year before. It was the third most popular planet name, trailing Earth and Saturn. Image Credit: Sue Rickhuss, Pixabay Other Great Names That Start with N They didn’t earn a seat at the popular kid’s table, but that doesn’t mean you should write them off. Here are other great cat names that start with N. Niko Nemo Nugget Ninja Nash Nibbler Neo Napoleon Nigel Ned Nate Norman Nacho Noah Neville Newt Nimbus Nero Newman Noodle Nadal Nino Novak Nixon Nile Nutella Napa Nectar Nutmeg Nougat Image Credit: OksanaSusoeva, Shutterstock Netflix Nomad Nico Naan Nester Nike Nadia Night Nyx Nirvana Nanny Naveah Nala Nefertiti Norma Nova Nola Noel Nolan Nathaniel Nora Natasha Nikita Noir Nymphadora Narnia Nagini Nairobi Nilla Nyssa Image Credit: GracefulFoto, Shutterstock Naomi Nancy Narcissa Nell Nymeria Nightshade Nimue Nanette Neko Nebula Nesquik Nando Nerd Neve Nas Nat Nigella Nitro Noche Nadine Nori Nickel Newton Nudge Nevada November Nutty Naya No Naima Nicolas Neeson Narco Nolan Nomar Nunya Nerf Net Neymar Nester Nissan Nashville Naveed North Nantucket Nettle Nutter Butter Nope Nick Fury Nautilus Nintendo Neanderthal Nunchuk Nub Nubbins Nun Nemesis Nip Napster Newell Newport Nox Nina Niche Nanook Naughty Nice Image Credit: slowmotiongli, Shutterstock Conclusion Any of these 130+ cat names that start with N could be the right fit for your cat, but you won’t always know immediately. As soon as you choose your cat’s new name, use it frequently to help them learn it. Get your cat’s attention with food and say their name as you offer them tasty treats. And don’t forget to register your kitty’s microchip with their new name and add the information to their collar or tag. See also: 130+ Punny Cat Names: Great Ideas for Your Adorkable Cat+ 150+ Evil Cat Names: Great Ideas for Your Dastardly Cat Sources “Top Cat Names 2023” “130 Cat Names That Start with N” “Cat Names That Start with N” “130 Cat Names That Start with N for Your New Kitty” “Cat Names That Start with N” “130+ Cat Names Beginning with N for Your Cute Kitten”   Featured Image Credit: Elisa Putti, Shutterstock The post Most Popular Cat Names That Start with N in 2024 by Catster Editorial Team appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Excerpts Science Fiction Read an Excerpt From Robin Sloan’s Moonbound Robin Sloan expands the Penumbraverse to new reaches of time and space. By Robin Sloan | Published on June 6, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Moonbound, a new science fiction novel by Robin Sloan, out from MCD on June 11th. It is eleven thousand years from now… A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard’s rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history—and becomes both Ariel’s greatest ally and the narrator of our story. CITY OF TRANSFORMATIONS November 17, 13777, to February 28, 13778 Rath Varia was a city of transformations! A vast sprawl of structures screened everywhere by scaffolding; a city permanently under construction. Streets were ripped up, buildings knocked aside to make way for new routes, whole new theories of interconnection. Residents relocated cheerfully. Sometimes they hauled their homes with them. On the evening that he entered the city, Ariel encountered an elegant townhouse being dragged along the riverfront by a raucous team of volunteers, bound for a new address. The riverfront, which was plural: the River Variable ran wide and slow, a muddy braid that shifted its course constantly. The river drew some small fraction of its volume from the cold stream that rushed through Sauvage: a thread of connection. City and river flexed and surged together. Neighborhoods were lost in the flow, abandoned without angst, reclaimed when the river shifted again. On the day Ariel arrived, Rath Varia boasted thirty-one bridges. The routes across the city were always changing. On that first night, after an hour of nervous circling, Ariel approached the food cart, received a portion of potstickers— “with the city’s welcome to walkers one and all, sponsored by the guild of trash-pickers”—and asked the vendor, “Where might I find a room?” “There are places to stay all around you. Choose one.” Ariel gazed up at the apartment blocks, three and four and five stories tall. “In any of these buildings?” “Maybe not those. This is a popular neighborhood, so close to the Rath-road. Oh, but there’s a place around the corner.” The vendor gestured. “They tore down half, got distracted. Plenty of rooms unclaimed there, last I heard. Choose one! That’s how it works in Rath Varia.” Ariel located the building, unmistakable with half its facade missing, exposing empty rooms—a vertiginous cutaway. He was afraid it might be spooky or derelict inside, but many of the rooms still intact were inhabited, with names stenciled on the doors, plants set out in the hall. On the third floor, an open door brought him into an empty room, bare and dusty, with a tall window that faced the river. He trod a circle in the dust. Was this it? Could it be his, as simple as that? He pulled the door closed. Yes. Apparently so. Ariel was home. * * * He slept on the floor with his jacket for a pillow and woke up sore and sneezing. In the hallway, he spied a woman watering her plants, and asked where he might acquire a bed and a broom. A broom the woman was happy to lend; a bed, she said, could be obtained the same place anybody got anything in Rath Varia. In the city’s center was a huge open facility, roughly circular, into which trash flowed: all those trucks he’d seen on the road, and trucks from other roads, all jostling to deliver their cargo. It was the recycling center. They called it Matter Circus. Buy the Book Moonbound Robin Sloan Buy Book Moonbound Robin Sloan Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget If other cities in history had at their hearts financial districts or imperial palaces, Rath Varia beat its blood through this place: a vast arena of material, jumbled when it arrived but quickly sorted into neat lanes, metal and glass and stone, wire and screw and hinge. Basins overflowed with paint scraped from walls. Paint: scraped from walls. Even in the refinement of the cooperativos, I had never seen anything like this recycling center. Matter Circus was divided into zones as big as neighborhoods. There was a zone for materials nearly raw, visible as low hills of pulverized glass and craggy peaks of fine-ground stone. There was a zone where elements of architecture were arrayed for perusal: a field of windows, a forest of doors. There was a zone for electronics, their tiny components plucked out and presented in orderly gradients of function, voltage, rarity. There was a compost yard, reeking of sweet rot. There was a zone for useful stuff, like a resale shop scaled to stadium proportions. Ariel saw a heap of candle holders; a thicket of immersion blenders; and a mound of, surprise: Stromatolites, just like his. The little game systems had once been very popular with someone, somewhere, at some time. Here they were piled like oyster shells. Along the perimeter of the useful zone, he found a large and diverse collection of beds. Some were grand, others inscrutable, made for different kinds of bodies. One was small, fitted with a simple mattress. Handcarts were strewn throughout the recycling center, so Ariel took one, but he struggled in vain to lift the bed into place. A burly man whose muscles showed through translucent skin strode quickly to his side. This was Caradoc, employed by Matter Circus to assist people like Ariel with masses like these. At the recycling center’s gates, he was halted by a voice that blared through the horn of a tinny loudspeaker: YOU. WITH THE BED. This was the voice of Comptroller Cob, who oversaw the operations of Matter Circus from many and various vantage points. Cameras protruded on stalks throughout the facility, multiply lensed, employing wildly different systems of photoreception. All were monitored by Comptroller Cob. Whether he was a man or a robot or a sentient thicket of blenders, no one could say. YOU. WITH THE BED. WHAT’S THE NAME ON THE ACCOUNT? Ariel searched for the source of the voice. Failing, he confessed into the air that there was no account. WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS. A FINE SELECTION. BUT YOU’LL NEED SOMETHING ON YOUR BALANCE, IF YOU WANT TO TAKE IT WITH YOU. READ THIS. A previously unnoticed thermal printer screeched to produce a scroll of orientation instructions. Ariel saw the facility with fresh eyes; the printers poked out everywhere. The many tongues of Comptroller Cob. The scroll explained that Ariel could achieve a positive balance in one of two ways. He could work, or he could deposit matter. Working was tough business. Easier to head out into the wild and dig up some treasure, which is to say, some trash. Ariel inventoried his possessions. He had the heater, still fully charged; the twine; his little knife; the Stromatolite. The game system he presented speculatively. Comptroller Cob rejected this. HAVE YOU SEEN THE PILE? A camera zoomed to inspect Ariel’s other possessions. NICE TWINE, said Comptroller Cob. “This?” Ariel said, holding up the spool. VERY NICE. I’LL TAKE IT. DEAL? It was definitely a deal. Ariel placed the twine into a nearby bin, and a different printer screeched, producing his first account statement. The balance, expressed in both kilograms and megajoules, seemed absurdly large. I LIKE A GOOD TWINE, explained Comptroller Cob. NORTHERN TWINE. AUTHENTIC. Piece by piece, Ariel built a life. He returned again and again to the recycling center, first because he needed a lamp or a towel and then because it was the place he knew best; he felt comfortable and anonymous in its busy flow. He wandered between piles of material. He learned Caradoc’s name, and greeted him whenever he saw him. The burly helper always nodded hello. Adjacent to Matter Circus were the manufactories, insatiably hungry for material from the recycling center. There were foundries and kilns, woodshops and upholsterers. More than anything, there were clothiers, ravenous for every kind of textile. Long streets were curtained on both sides with their offerings. Some had the look of homespun hodgepodge; others were so subtly reconstructed they would have earned applause on the runways of the Anth. The clothes Ariel had worn out of Sauvage were in tatters. From a clothier of basic work attire, he acquired two shirts and a single pair of pants in the wide-legged style currently popular in the city. He began to say he would debit his balance of matter, but the clothier, eyeing the weave of his ruined clothes from far-off Sauvage, suggested: “Consider a trade?” Ariel traded everything but the jacket—never that—and strutted out of the shop having never felt so fashionable, or indeed aware that fashion was an option. By the following week, his new pants were hopelessly passé, but Ariel still liked them. He learned that in Rath Varia, no one would ever go without food and shelter; these were always in surplus, freely given. The bathhouses were open to everyone. Beyond those essentials, any frivolities required a balance of matter. When Ariel’s balance dwindled, Comptroller Cob agreed to let him work—YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LIKE IT—sending him scurrying into the piles to retrieve obscure requests, a service for which the boy received a steady allowance of walking-around matter. This, in turn, paid for delicacies in the city’s coruscating night market. All the food was new to him. It was served on small earthenware plates, or in tiny earthenware bowls; everything was designed to be eaten in two or three bites, ideally without breaking your stride. Finished, an eater would throw their dish against a wall, smashing it into pieces. The night market danced to the music of dishes destroyed. The resulting piles of earthenware shards were swept up in the morning by roving emissaries of Matter Circus, taken straight to the kilns. Ariel could not yet bring himself to smash his dishes; instead, he laid them among the shards. The citizens of Rath Varia were as mutable as its structures. Every fascination floated on the breeze like a virus. People left homes, relationships, jobs. They left the city. They returned, unrecognizable. Rath Varia supported an extravagant continuing education program, and people were constantly enrolling, constantly dropping out. Walking through the night market, Ariel heard scraps of conversation in the breeze off the River Variable: …pink? Oh, that will be wonderful. Maybe the back, too… …thinking of switching to sculpture. I thought painting would suit me, but it’s so… …was moving out. She told me she had come to the same conclusion! We laughed, then decided to move in together again. A new neighborhood, of course… …yes! You should. You must! At night, Ariel would lie awake in his bed, listening to the rumble of a dozen bands all practicing, up and down the street. In Sauvage, there had been only Jesse and his harp, and sometimes Elise on a resonant set of bongos. Ariel wondered what Kay was doing. The boy lacked matter; he lacked information; he lacked a single friend. But he was working on all of these things, and might soon have put together a plan. Might have, if Cabal hadn’t found him first. Excerpted from Moonbound, copyright © 2024 by Robin Sloan. The post Read an Excerpt From Robin Sloan’s <i>Moonbound</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Are you growing your own garlic? Good for you! Come learn exactly when and how to harvest garlic, along with tips on how to cure and store homegrown garlic to make it last as long as possible. We’ll also explore a few ways to preserve garlic too. Harvesting garlic at the right time is key. If done too early, the cloves and protective skin may be underdeveloped and unable to be cured for long-term dry storage. (Thankfully, there are a lot of ways to use and preserve immature green garlic though.) If done too late, the overripe bulbs will start to break open and also not store well. Disclosure: Homestead and Chill is reader-supported. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. RELATED: Want more garlic tips? Don’t miss our guides on how to plant and grow garlic, how to make homemade garlic powder, or our easy fermented garlic honey recipe. When to Harvest Garlic Garlic takes a long time to grow! It is usually planted in the fall, and is ready to harvest in late spring to mid-summer the following year. The exact time depends in the variety and growing conditions, but is usually about 8 to 9 months after planting cloves in the fall. You’ll know your garlic is almost ready to harvest when the lower leaves start to turn yellow-brown. Don’t wait until the tops totally die back though! About one-third to half of the leafy tops should be yellow-brown come harvest time. If you gently explore below the soil, you should be able to feel good size garlic bulbs have developed and have obvious shoulders. The garlic stalks may even start to to tip over or lay down. For hardneck varieties, garlic is typically ready to harvest about a month after harvesting tender garlic scapes. If you didn’t harvest the scapes, they will straighten and point upward again once the bulbs are mature and ready. Still not sure? Test harvest a bulb or two and see how they look! If cut in half across the equator, individual cloves should be developed, full, and have their own papery wrapping (though they’ll still be wet at this time). Exploring below the soil to check bulb size and development. A test bulb harvest. Note how the leaves are turning yellow-brown and some of the stems are starting to lean in the background. Stop Watering Before Harvest Once it looks almost ready, stop watering garlic for a week or two prior to harvest. This signals the plants to put their final bits of energy into developing nice big cloves, and helps the bulbs begin drying out to cure. It also makes harvesting garlic easier and cleaner, as you’ll be able to simply brush or shake off dry soil from the bulbs and roots. Our DIY raised bed drip irrigation system has a shut-off valve at each bed, so we simply turn off the garlic bed for a couple weeks before we harvest. If you’re in a climate that gets routine summer rain, try to wait at least a few days after the last rain to harvest. Almost time to stop watering How to Harvest Garlic It’s best to harvest garlic by gently digging it up rather than pulling it out by the stem. If the green stalks accidentally break and separate from the bulb, they won’t cure and store well. Instead, use a small garden trowel to dig down alongside the garlic bulbs to loosen and pry them out of the soil. Be careful digging though! The bulbs will likely be several inches deep in the soil and wider than the stems. Take care not to puncture or bruise the bulbs, which will make them rot faster in storage. If you do happen to nick one, set it aside to use in the kitchen ASAP instead of cure. Do NOT wash the garlic or remove the roots or green tops yet! Leave those roots and tops on! Harvesting Garlic Scapes Garlic scapes are a long, tender, edible stem produced by hardneck garlic varieties as they near maturity. Scapes grow up out of the center of the garlic leaves, starting off small and straight and eventually curling back down. If left to grow, they eventually become a flower that produces seed. Softneck garlic doesn’t grow scapes. It’s best to harvest garlic scapes when they’re young and tender, once they’ve made a nice curl. To harvest, simply cut or snap the scapes off at the base where they emerge from the leaves. Scapes will become tough and woody if you wait too long to harvest, especially once they start to straighten and stand back up. Failing to harvest scapes in a timely manner can also negatively impact garlic bulb development, since the scape (and eventual flower/seeds) steals energy away from the bulb. Garlic scapes have a fresh green garlicky flavor, but are more mellow-tasting than garlic cloves. They can be sautéed, stir-fried, added to pesto, pasta, quiche, or any other meal where a hint of garlic is welcome! I like to think of them as a garlic-flavored green bean. Curing Garlic Don’t skip this essential step! Curing garlic is the process of drying garlic post-harvest to prepare it for long term storage. Without proper curing, garlic will rot and spoil much sooner. After harvesting garlic, keep the roots and leafy tops attached. The bulbs continue to draw energy and nutrients from them while they dry and cure! Again, avoid washing your garlic. Simply brush off the soil after it dries. Cure garlic in a dry, well-ventilated area away from direct sunlight for two to three weeks after harvest, such as in a basement, garage, temperate shed, shady covered porch, or other dry protected location. We’ve even hung garlic braids in our spare shower to cure! The ideal temperature for for curing garlic is 70-75°F. Lay garlic out in a single layer on a wire rack, screen, slotted shelving, or other breathable surface in a desirable curing location. If you’re feeling fancy, you can also braid and hang your garlic. Softneck varieties are easier to truly braid, but you can still tie hardneck varieties into a similar form. After a few weeks of curing, clean the garlic bulbs up for storage by removing the leaves and roots. Use scissors to cut off the roots, but leave the protective papery skins intact! On the other hand, you could keep the leafy tops attached to braid (or tie) and hang the garlic if you wish.  Curing garlic and onions in the shade under the canopy of a large oak tree Curing garlic in a spare bathroom at our old homestead How to Store Garlic For the maximum shelf-life, it’s best to store garlic at room temperature in a cool, dry, dark location such as a root cellar, pantry, basement, or spare closet. The optimum storage temperature for garlic is 50-60°F. Resist the urge to refrigerate garlic, as colder temperatures stimulates the garlic to break dormancy and start sprouting. Garlic sprouts rapidly between 40-50°F. Store garlic in an open container to promote good airflow and dry conditions, such as a mesh bag, woven basket, wire racks, or open cardboard box (but not in a deep pile). The time garlic lasts in storage depends on the type, variety, and storage conditions. Properly cured hardneck garlic should last about 3 to 4 months in storage, while softneck varieties can last 6 to 9 months. Routinely check on your stored bulbs and give them a squeeze. Make quick use of any that are going soft or starting to sprout. Yes, it’s okay to eat garlic that has sprouted – or plant it! I like to store our hardneck garlic separate from our softneck garlic varieties since they have varying shelf lives. That way, I can focus on using or otherwise preserving the hardneck garlic first. Even more, I recommend labelling and storing your garlic separated by variety if you hope to use the cloves as seed to plant in fall! Always plant your biggest, best cloves. I absolutely adore our new harvest storage rack (which lives in a cool spare closet) – and see an empty shelf ready and waiting for garlic! These bamboo trays are the perfect addition for onions and garlic. Ways to Preserve Garlic Whether you had to harvest your garlic too early, or your mature garlic is starting to go soft in storage, there are a number of easy ways to preserve garlic. One of our favorite ways is to dehydrate it and make homemade garlic powder. We also love honey fermented garlic, which is fantastic to have on hand during the cold and flu season! You can also freeze garlic or pickle it. We also like to add cloves of homegrown garlic to other preserves like quick pickled green beans, crunchy refrigerator dill pickles, easy roasted tomato sauce, fermented beets and more. All in all, I hope these tips help you enjoy your homegrown garlic to the full extent possible. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. If you found this information to be useful, please spread the love by pinning or sharing this post! Otherwise I hope to see you around, garlic breath. You may also enjoy: Roasted Two-Bite Garlic & Herb Smashed Potatoes Quick Pickled Red Onions (Easy Refrigerator Pickled Onions) Harvesting Butternut and Winter Squash: How to Harvest, Cure, Store Garlic & Herb Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/ Balsamic Vinegar Did you enjoy this article? Want to hear more? Stay in touch! Sign up below to receive weekly updates on new posts from Homestead and Chill. The post When to Harvest Garlic, Plus Curing and Storage Tips appeared first on Homestead and Chill.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Ferras Hamad, formerly an engineer with Meta’s machine learning team, claims he was wrongfully terminated due to his involvement with Palestine-related Instagram content. He alleges that Meta exhibited discriminatory practices and biased treatment against Palestinians. We obtained a copy of the complaint for you here. Hamad’s concerns began when he observed alleged irregularities in how Meta restricted content from Palestinian figures on Instagram, hindering their visibility in searches and feeds. A critical incident involved a video by Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, depicting a destroyed building in Gaza. The video was mistakenly flagged as pornographic, leading to conflicting instructions about Hamad’s authority to address the issue. Despite being informed in writing that resolving such problems was part of his duties, he was subjected to an investigation a month later. Following this, Hamad filed an internal discrimination complaint. Shortly after, he was dismissed, with the company citing a violation of its policy against employees working on issues involving accounts of people they know personally. Hamad, a Palestinian-American, denied having any personal connection to Azaiza. The lawsuit outlines several instances of Meta’s alleged discriminatory practices, including deleting posts mentioning Gaza airstrikes, Palestinian refugees, and UN Palestine Day, while allowing other nationality-based content. Hamad asserts that his efforts to address these issues were met with resistance and retaliation. The lawsuit further claims that Meta deleted internal discussions among employees about the deaths of relatives in Gaza and scrutinized those using the Palestinian flag emoji. In contrast, employees who posted Israeli or Ukrainian flags were not investigated similarly, the complaint alleges. Hamad’s termination came on February 2, 2024, just before his stock vesting date. Meta cited a violation of its User Data Access Policy, suggesting Hamad might personally know a high-profile Palestinian photojournalist. Hamad denies any personal connection and attributes his termination to Meta’s discriminatory practices. Hamad seeks general and special damages, including lost income and employment opportunities, as well as punitive damages. Meta is yet to comment. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Fired Meta Engineer Sues, Alleges He Was Fired for Pushing Back on Palestinian Content Censorship appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

80 Years Ago Today

Two More Boeing Whistleblowers Come Forward

A House bill seeks to stop the Biden Administration from continuing to spend taxpayer money to fund development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that will censor online content the government wants to dismiss as “disinformation.” H.R. 8519, sponsored by more than two dozen House Republicans, is an 83-word bill defunding the federal government’s online censorship research: A BILL To prohibit the obligation or expenditure of Federal funds for disinformation research grants, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. PROHIBITION. No Federal funds may be obligated or expended by any Federal department or agency for the following: (1) Disinformation research grants. (2) Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace grants. (3) Programs within the National Science Foundation’s Track F: Trust and Authenticity in Communications Systems. NSF’s Track F program is identified as a grave threat to online free speech in a report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The report details specific examples of how the program spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund development of ways AI can be used to censor online speech. “As the distributor of multi-million-dollar grants, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is a key player in the ‘censorship industrial complex,’” the report says: “In recent years, under the guise of combatting so-called misinformation, NSF has been funding AI-driven tools and other new technologies that can be used to censor or propagandize online speech.” As the report explains, the Biden Administration’s program is actually a purveyor of disinformation (emphasis added): “In March 2021, NSF introduced Track F: Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems, allocating $21 million to the program. For Track F, NSF solicited proposals to address the manipulation or ‘unanticipated negative effects’ of communication systems—a departure from the Convergence Accelerator program’s other, more concrete research topics. “The euphemistic ‘trust and authenticity in communication systems,’ in fact, means combatting so-called ‘misinformation,’ i.e., censorship. In an early draft solicitation, NSF indicated that Track F projects will ‘address issues of trust and authenticity in communication systems, including predicting, preventing, detecting, correcting, and mitigating the spread of inaccurate information that harms people and society.’ As NSF’s Track F program manager, Michael Pozmantier, explained more plainly in a June 2021 email, Track F is the NSF ‘Accelerator track focused on combatting mis/disinformation.’” In particular, the grants have funded the research, development and use of AI tools to: Monitor 750,000 blogs and media articles daily as well and mine data from the major social media platforms. Help Big Tech handle and outsource the “responsibility of censorship” on social media. Help platform policy-makers with “externalizing the difficult responsibility of censorship.” Decide for social media platforms whether or not specific content is “true,” in order to aid in “a platform’s decision procedures.” Help social media platforms take “enforcement action against misinformation.” Determine what content is misinformation “that deserves enforcement.” Inform “misinformation interventions.” Grantees have also emphasized how their AI tools are used to monitor and respond to “common misinformation narratives,” such as those: “Undermining trust in mainstream media” or Providing “delegitimizing information” regarding “election integrity and vaccine efficacy” on social media. Like the Track F projects, the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, also defunded by the bill, focused on countering so-called “(mis/dis)information online.” "If a Member of Congress's account can be censored on the pretext of combatting 'misinformation', 'disinformation', or 'malinformation', it can be done to anyone's account," H.R. 8519 sponsor Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) warns in a press release announcing his introduction of the bill. “The government's censorship efforts even extended to accurate tweets I posted to my official congressional Twitter account," Rep. Massie says. Editor's Note:

While the liberal media have been trying to scare people into voting for President Biden by insisting Republicans were violent, anti-American terrorists looking to destroy democracy, CBS Mornings proved once again that politically motivated violence was (D)ifferent when it was coming from the left. In hyping a book about “black resistance,” the network elevated a far-left author; and together they tried to dismiss nonviolence as a way to get political change in a country. They were speaking with Professor Kellie Carter Jackson of Wellesley College about her new book We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance. Co-anchor Gayle King boasted that the book was “about hard conversations, not focused on right or wrong,” but “what works” in terms of getting results for an agenda. Carter Jackson admitted that she “wrote this book because [she] was mad” and “frustrated” that the Black Lives Matter riots weren’t “achieving the purpose that people had set out to accomplish when they wanted to reckon with all of this racial injustice.” “And so I think we have this very limited flat, like one-dimensional perspective. When we talk about protests, you know, the question is, are you going to be violent or are you going to be nonviolent? As those are the only options,” she huffed.     She also ridiculously seemed to suggest that white people had “never” experienced hate crimes: I think about the fact that we`ve never seen four little white girls killed in a church. We`ve never had a white man assassinated in his driveway. We`ve never had a black man be welcomed into a white church, and then him proceed to shoot it up. And so I really wanted to talk about these very skewed ways that we think about violence and how we don`t interrogate the violence of white supremacy enough. The network’s promotion of political violence became more obvious when co-anchor Vladimir Duthiers hyped a passage from the book denouncing how, “Our culture`s fixation on nonviolence has caused us to miss entire histories of Black responses to white supremacy. Nonviolence on its own is not at all expansive enough to rectify the harm that has been caused by racism.” Duthiers requested that she “set that in the context of the Haitian Revolution.” Carter Jackson obliged and proceeded to suggest the American Revolution was not a real revolution because slavery remained after we gained our independence: Well, when we think about revolution, I think we don`t have a proper understanding of it. Because for me, revolution is about replacing an unjust system with a just one. And so in Haiti, the whole purpose was not just to overthrow a colonial power, but to abolish the system of slavery. And that`s what was achieved in Haiti. We don`t have that in the United States, we have an American Revolution, but slavery persists almost for another hundred years after the American Revolution. Carter Jackson did say, "when we think about black resistance" it's not about choosing "between violence or nonviolence" and that there was an "array of tools." But she warned that one of the "limitations" of nonviolence was that it becomes “performative and not really achieve the goals that we set out to accomplish.” This whole exchange was eerily similar to when NBC’s Chuck Todd twice gave a platform to Antifa supporter Mark Bray in 2017; just two months after the Congressional Baseball Shooting carried out by a far-left MSNBC fan. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: CBS Mornings June 6, 2024 8:18:02 a.m. Eastern (…) GAYLE KING: Wellesley Professor Kellie Carter Jackson highlights in her new book, it`s called We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance. And we`re very happy to tell you that she joins us first on CBS Mornings. Good morning to you, Professor. KELLIE CARTER JACKSON: Hi. KING: I learned so much, Professor Carter Jackson things I didn`t know it was -- it was eye opening to me. And you say in the book: We Refuse is a book about hard conversations, not focused on right or wrong, but what happens, what works when Black resistance and liberation is at the center to understand Black humanity in rage in pursuit of freedom. Wow. CARTER JACKSON: Yeah, yeah. I wrote this book because I was mad. I wrote this book because I was frustrated and because I had thought about everything that happened in 2020, not just the pandemic, but also this racial reckoning. And I didn`t feel like marches and protests and hashtags were sort of achieving the purpose that people had set out to accomplish when they wanted to reckon with all of this racial injustice. And so I think we have this very limited flat, like one-dimensional perspective. When we talk about protests, you know, the question is, are you going to be violent or are you going to be nonviolent? KING: Yes. Yes. CARTER JACKSON: As those are the only options. And when I think about the history of this country, you know, I think about the fact that we`ve never seen four little white girls killed in a church. We`ve never had a white man assassinated in his driveway. We`ve never had a black man be welcomed into a white church, and then him proceed to shoot it up. KING: Yes. CARTER JACKSON: And so I really wanted to talk about these very skewed ways that we think about violence and how we don`t interrogate the violence of white supremacy enough. VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: One of the things you write in the book, speaking of non-violence: Our culture`s fixation -- I`m quoting the book now -- on nonviolence has caused us to miss entire histories of Black responses to white supremacy. Nonviolence on its own is not at all expansive enough to rectify the harm that has been caused by racism. I want you to set that in the context of the Haitian Revolution. CARTER JACKSON: Yeah. DUTHIERS: Where we saw a revolution that was able, essentially to overthrow the shackles of slavery on what was then the world`s superpower. CARTER JACKSON: Yeah, yeah. Well, when we think about revolution, I think we don`t have a proper understanding of it. Because for me, revolution is about replacing an unjust system with a just one. And so in Haiti, the whole purpose was not just to overthrow a colonial power, but to abolish the system of slavery. And that`s what was achieved in Haiti. We don`t have that in the United States, we have an American Revolution, but slavery persists almost for another hundred years after the American Revolution. And so how should we think of revolutions? And what makes them revolutionary? What really shifts sort of the structures that we live in? And so -- KING: Because you say, they don`t require bloodshed, but they do require sacrifice? CARTER JACKSON: Absolutely. KING: And when you look at the cover of your book, We Refuse, it is a Black woman holding a gun. I thought, oh, Kellie is coming in hot. And you say, okay, everybody -- What is -- what is the message that you were really trying to send? Because I looked at it, you`re trying to highlight about black humanity. CARTER JACKSON: Yes. Yes. KING: Because so often, black people are seen through the lens of criminality. CARTER JACKSON: Yes. I wanted to push back on these ideas and say that when we think about black resistance, we have an array of tools in front of us and it is not just force and guns. I think about revolution, I think about protection. I have a whole chapter on flight and a chapter on joy. Joy, I see has been one of the most potent weapons that we have to fight against, sort of the erosion of white supremacy. And so I wanted us to have this expansive idea to understand that you don`t just have to choose between violence or nonviolence, that yes, there are certainly limitations to violence. We all understand that. KING: Yes. CARTER JACKSON: there`s also limitations to the use of nonviolence and how we think about how quickly it can become performative and not really achieve the goals that we set out to accomplish. (…)

On Tuesday, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel made a campaign ad for the Biden Campaign disguised as an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. On Thursday, he made it official as he announced that he is the latest night host that will be hosting a fundraiser for the campaign. Kimmel sent out the following text: Hi, it’s Jimmy Kimmel. I’m interviewing President Biden and President Barack Obama -- with special guests George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and more -- and you’re invited. Pitch in any amount and you will be entered to win a trip out to LA to meet a pair of presidents, two movie stars, and one ‘poorly rated’ talk show host. Trump will hate this, so let’s do it! Our country needs Joe and Kamala in the White House. Our democracy may not survive another four years of a Trump presidency. As our President might say, ‘That’s no joke, man.’ Trump wants to ban abortion nationwide, give Putin permission to do ‘whatever the hell he wants,’ and pardon the criminals who carried out January 6. He is protected by far-right mouthpieces and billionaire mega-donors who’d gladly eat crab cakes while the world burns if it means they’d pay less in taxes. That’s what Joe Biden up against, aid it’s what your $20 will help defeat. Chip in now to claim your entry in the Premiere Nights with the Presidents contest. The late night comedians appear to be in a race to see who can be the biggest Biden booster. In late February, NBC’s Seth Meyers conducted a softball interview with Biden only for CBS’s Stephen Colbert to conduct his own fundraiser with Biden, Obama, and Bill Clinton a month later. In late April, Colbert also announced he will be taking The Late Show on the road to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, but not to Milwaukee for the RNC. Kimmel, meanwhile, announced a fundraiser for Biden and Harris the same week he interviewed the latter about many of the topics he mentioned in the text. In 2023, Kimmel was also the most partisan of all the late night hosts with 88 percent of his political jokes targeting right-leaning people or organizations. His style of comedy is firmly in the insult category, sacrificing cleverness for bitterness. Beyond Trump, Kimmel is known for his long-running feud with Sen. Ted Cruz and for being labeled by CNN as “America’s conscience” for his nasty attacks on Republican health care plans.