More than 200 cities and counties declared racism was a public health crisis in the past few years, mostly after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis in May 2020. Racial justice advocates said they finally felt heard by the quick swell of political will to address disparities like disproportionate COVID-19 deaths or infant … Read more
Image: Columbia War Machine YouTube Somehow in 2024, people are still destroying products made by companies they feel have “gone woke.” Youtuber Columbia War Machine recently destroyed his Harley Davidson for YouTube views, due of course, to woke. Harley Davidson Went Woke! So I Destroyed My Bike!!! Initially, it almost seems like a Connor O’Malley … Read more
NEW YORK — MrBeast has ordered a full assessment of the internal culture in his YouTube empire as well as an investigation into “allegations of inappropriate behavior by people in the company,” according to a confidential memo obtained by The Associated Press. Addressed to “Team Beast” employees, the message sent Wednesday outlines infrastructure changes including … Read more
Photo illustration by Emily Rabbideau – Photos courtesy of House of Love and Gay Water Late last year, 33-year-old Justin Ruka of Orlando met a flight attendant at a gay bar. About a month later, Ruka saw a familiar face coming down the aisle during an Alaska Airlines flight to San Francisco. The flight attendant … Read more
(The Hill) — Most Americans favor diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, according to a new poll. The poll, from The Washington Post and Ipsos, found that 61% of Americans think it is “a good thing” for companies to take up DEI programs, which are often aimed at promoting fairness and equality in institutions. Thirty-four … Read more
George Lucas doesn’t think the nearly all-white casting of his “Star Wars” films is a problem. The 80-year-old director, who wrote and directed the original 1977 fantasy-adventure himself before handing the reins for the rest of his trilogy off to other filmmakers, returned to the director’s chair for three not-so-popular prequel entries beginning in 1999. … Read more
One of the new ad formats Google announced today will allow brands to link short-form videos they made—or ones they hired creators to film—to their advertisements in Google’s search engine. AI-generated text summaries of the clips will be included below. “I’ve got three Gen Z-ers at home, and watching them shop, it’s very video-based,” said … Read more
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ Democratic governor on Friday vetoed proposed tax breaks for anti-abortion counseling centers while allowing restrictions on college diversity initiatives approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature to become law without her signature. Gov. Laura Kelly also vetoed a bill with bipartisan support to increase the penalties for killing a law enforcement dog or … Read more
Another potential strategy to diversify the output from AI models is for developers to add guardrails and modify user prompts, nudging the software toward inclusivity. OpenAI appears to have taken this approach. When I asked Dall-E 3 via ChatGPT to “draw a cartoon of a queer couple enjoying a night out in the Castro,” it … Read more
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Legislature is scrambling to address tax cuts, funding for disability services and immigration issues ahead of its annual three-week spring break starting next week. Most bills that don’t pass by then won’t be considered when lawmakers return April 29 for a short wrap-up session. Republicans disagree over how to cut … Read more
