Notices by Allison Parrish (aparrish@mastodon.social), page 5

@jeffcutsinger it would actually be more interesting if the boarding agents were using the system to carry out their personal vendettas. as it stands they seem almost as bored and frustrated by the system as the passengers are

@selfsame i always bring a flower vase with me whenever i travel by air. if you break it at just the right moment you automatically get bumped to first class

i wish i was about to take a train instead of get on a plane. i didn't really have hard time constraints on this trip. oh well 😕

@kavbojka oh I totally agree. I can't listen to NPR (or read the NY Times) for exactly this reason. I didn't understand this piece as venerating those particular sources (or any corporate-funded sources) as "real news."

"[R]ight-wing sites and clickbait dominate the platform that dominates American news consumption. And that same platform... keeps making it harder for people to find serious journalism. [...] It’s hard to overstate... how much [this] differs from the conventional wisdom that Americans are just becoming 'polarized' into left and right. The polarization... is not between left and right—it’s between real news and conservative propaganda."

https://www.motherjones.com/media/2018/12/facebook-propaganda-trump/ (via @enkiv2)

this new map of Central Park in NYC with information for people with limited mobility (locations of stairs and steep slopes, types of path, etc.) is a fantastic idea https://www.6sqft.com/central-park-releases-access-map-for-people-with-limited-mobility/

@Ranjit I am like that. I am that.

i finished reading _Embassytown_ on the train back from NeurIPS. it was fun but the Saussure Ex Machina at the end felt like a missed opportunity; also all of the little metanarrative cutenesses never amounted to anything, which was a disappointment. i am a curmudgeon clearly not cut out to read novels and resolve to return forthwith to reading dense monographs about avant-garde poetry, which are my only true love

@OliverUv @Gargron i'd also add that the decision to show/hide information and functionality isn't just a matter of interface and usability—it's an expression of what the community values.

@Gargron i am not current on this discourse at all, but this argument seems disingenuous—for me, mastodon works *because* of how it intentionally hides some of the things that would otherwise be "one click away"—and you know as well as anyone that one click means a huge drop-off in actual use/engagement with a feature or piece of information

in other news, taking the train continues to be Very Good

i wish more mastodon clients supported lists :( (i am really enjoying Toot! but i kinda rely on the lists feature in the desktop web client to keep up with particular folks and topics)

(though maybe this just means i'm following too many people [but i love all of you?!] or i need to be on an instance with a local timeline that means anything)

been away all day, do i even want to know why i've been followed by like ten accounts with pizza in their handle?

@Ranjit I thought instrument-a-day wasn't until february