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There's a viral message currently going round where people think they can object to Meta (e.g. Facebook and Instagram) using their content to train AI simply by posting a message in a post on their feed. This won't work. You have to formally object to Facebook using the correct process. Go to https://www.facebook.com/privacy/center and click the "object". Then you have a simple form you can "submit" to opt out. Make sure your Facebook and/or Instagram email address is listed there (it will be prefilled if you are logged in on the web browser). You can add a reason in the text box if you want. I put "I do not want any of my Facebook or Instagram data to be used to train generative AI. Please respect that." but it shouldn't be necessary. Key thing is to click "submit". You will get an email a few minutes later from Facebook/Meta saying you are opted out. This objection form used to be vastly harder to fill out. They have greatly simplified it. Please use this to opt out, not a fake viral message.
Just three more books finished since last time. Though I've already reached my 2024 reading goal of 25 books finished. Which was, admittedly, a very modest goal. Of the new books read two were 3-star reads for me, and the other a 5-star read. That was the tale of bicycle riding Norwegian Forest Cat Sigrid in London. I've been following her on Instagram for a while, and it's been a delight to learn her history. I am now in a slight holding pattern fiction wise until the middle of July. But still reading lots of non fiction books. Plus some manga. And still a play script book. Those last ones in print.
- ( earlier books )
- Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman
- Sigrid Rides: The Story of an Extraordinary Friendship and An Adventure on Two Wheels by Travis Nelson
- Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
I posted the quoted text below in a comment on a friend's thread, but I think it's worth reposting here. BBC Children in Need's TV show on Friday night included a 5 minute scene, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor meeting an able bodied Davros at the creation of the Daleks. Many watching like me assumed this was a pre-injury Davros version. Possibly, but in the Doctor Who Unleashed documentary later that night Russell T Davies said this is how Davros will be shown in the programme from now on: not a wheelchair user, and able bodied. This was a deliberate decision to redress problems in the series's representation before, including the evil cripple trope. However the response has been mixed, and not just among ardent Davros fans.
Here's what I said in a comment earlier today:
People have also been giving feedback on RTD's Instagram post, including more parents of now very upset disabled children. And to be honest his responses have often been really rude. My views on this whole issue are definitely "complicated". But it's fair to say that RTD's words and his reactions on Instagram have not exactly endeared him to me this weekend.
Here's what I said in a comment earlier today:
Re RTD and Davros the response has been quite mixed on the Gallifrey Base Doctor Who forum. Including from wheelchair users like myself. Yes some have experienced or witnessed bullying inspired by Davros and are concerned by the evil cripple trope. But others found RTD's words in the Doctor Who Unleashed documentary patronising and virtue signalling. One father also wrote about his daughter (11 or 12 years old I think) who is a wheelchair user, and was extremely upset by what RTD said and this change. She had always found Davros a strong character to look up to. And I think it's fair to say that one of the worst offenders in this area in the past has been RTD himself. Which makes his about turn understandable. But doesn't stop it being viewed by some wheelchair users as patronising and unwelcome. So it's complicated.
People have also been giving feedback on RTD's Instagram post, including more parents of now very upset disabled children. And to be honest his responses have often been really rude. My views on this whole issue are definitely "complicated". But it's fair to say that RTD's words and his reactions on Instagram have not exactly endeared him to me this weekend.
I'm just pondering some ideas that I may expand into a full blog post on my academic blog for my musings. I wrote a similar blog post some years ago and it may be a good time for an update.
I'm off Twitter now. My account still exists, and hasn't been closed - I'm reluctant to wipe it or remove the tweets, for historical preservation (haha right, yup in Musk land!) reasons. But I never login, and my latest post says I'm basically off it now.
Facebook is for family and friends. Largely to keep in touch with Martin's close family and also lots of my friends. I also help fellow vasculitis patients from time to time in our Vasculitis UK support group there.
Dreamwidth is for a mix of more fan based posts (e.g. what I'm reading, watching etc, thoughts about Babylon 5) and a place I can vent some more private restricted stuff (including that I can't post wider e.g. on Facebook). Rather a curious mix! But it is working for me. I was on LiveJournal for many years before then.
Mastodon feels like a rather shaggy dog of a social network. I mean that as a compliment. It's rather anarchic and chaotic, but friendly, and I like to post lots of informal things there. It's also a bit of a vent for me. I'm less likely to post serious history stuff there than genealogy things and - and above all probably! - accordion stuff.
I'm newly on Bluesky. I was surprised to find so many familiar faces and friends there. I'm thinking it's probably going to be more somewhere where I engage with fellow academic historians - there are a *lot* of them on there. But my thoughts on that are still evolving. And it will need to open more widely to truly work.
I did try Threads but didn't get on with it - though my account still exists. It doesn't offer as much to me as Instagram and seems more like seeing people interact with famous people rather than wider engagement.
I'm off Twitter now. My account still exists, and hasn't been closed - I'm reluctant to wipe it or remove the tweets, for historical preservation (haha right, yup in Musk land!) reasons. But I never login, and my latest post says I'm basically off it now.
Facebook is for family and friends. Largely to keep in touch with Martin's close family and also lots of my friends. I also help fellow vasculitis patients from time to time in our Vasculitis UK support group there.
Dreamwidth is for a mix of more fan based posts (e.g. what I'm reading, watching etc, thoughts about Babylon 5) and a place I can vent some more private restricted stuff (including that I can't post wider e.g. on Facebook). Rather a curious mix! But it is working for me. I was on LiveJournal for many years before then.
Mastodon feels like a rather shaggy dog of a social network. I mean that as a compliment. It's rather anarchic and chaotic, but friendly, and I like to post lots of informal things there. It's also a bit of a vent for me. I'm less likely to post serious history stuff there than genealogy things and - and above all probably! - accordion stuff.
I'm newly on Bluesky. I was surprised to find so many familiar faces and friends there. I'm thinking it's probably going to be more somewhere where I engage with fellow academic historians - there are a *lot* of them on there. But my thoughts on that are still evolving. And it will need to open more widely to truly work.
I did try Threads but didn't get on with it - though my account still exists. It doesn't offer as much to me as Instagram and seems more like seeing people interact with famous people rather than wider engagement.
