Joel Abrams

Looking at referrals from Google Search from 2024 (before AI answers but also during the election) and the last quarter.

Now I am very depressed #SEO

Donald Hamster #changemonstertohamster

Screen shot of excite.com search for Ask Jeeves

Excite still is hanging in, but the search results are kind of limited (but do you really need more than 3 links, anyway?)

Home page of Lycos saying their services are down

And in other news about Web 1.0 faves, Lycos is down

H/T @fritzholz.bsky.social

"Eighty percent of Americans said voters have a responsibility to keep up with the news, but just 8% said they had a responsibility to pay for it." www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...

OpenAI has deleted the word ‘safely’ from its mission – and its new structure is a test for whether AI serves society or shareholders OpenAI’s restructuring may serve as a test case for how society oversees the work of organizations with the potential to both provide benefits and harm humanity.

Funny you should mention that: theconversation.com/openai-has-d...

Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts

It should be obvious that criticizing ICE—or any government agency—on social media is protected by the First Amendment.

It is not a crime.

Tech companies must not comply with sweeping government demands that seek to unmask users simply for expressing their opinions online.

ICE activity is pushing readers to nonprofit news sites that cover immigrant communities From Somalis in Minneapolis to Nepalis in New York City, immigrant communities turn to trusted local news sources. Here's our regular ranking of the top 25 nonprofit news sites in the United States.

For the fifth month running, @us.theconversation.com is the most-read nonprofit news site in America, according to data compiled by @joshuabenton.com of @niemanlab.org
www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/ice-...
#journalism

Faces of fakery: More fake and AI generated experts con their way into media New research from Press Gazette has uncovered a fresh tranche of likely fake and AI-generated experts making their way into UK publications.

25 'experts' quoted in a sample of 250 stories published in British tabloids do not have a verifiable existence (and that 25 doesn't include 'experts' of dubious qualifications).

Someone (I'm looking at you, @niemanlab.org) should replicate the study in the US pressgazette.co.uk/news/faces-o...

Isaac Bashevis Singer being interviewed about the Super Bowl

In 1979, the “New York Times” asked Isaac Bashevis Singer if he planned to watch the Super Bowl.

"I do not understand the figure of Mr. Bezos. Nice man, met him, always treated as kind of business visionary, and fair enough! But what is he about right now? I can’t believe the fourth-wealthiest person in the world (and in history) would dash his own historic reputation to curry favor with the Trump administration. For what, more contracts? He’s got enough contracts! It’s so small-time, so penny-ante. What matters is honor, that’s the thing that lasts, what history says of you, how you helped your country."

Peggy Noonan is brilliant on why all Americans should be worried about the killing off of @washingtonpost.com (h/t @democracyeditor.bsky.social) www.wsj.com/opinion/a-la...

Get one great story from us every afternoon, direct to your inbox, with our new Substack. Subscribe to The Afternoon Story today! theconversationus.substack.com?r=1nuxuf

What Franco’s fascist regime in Spain can teach us about today’s America Comparisons of Trump to Hitler have become common. But some of Trump’s policies may more closely resemble those of Francisco Franco of Spain, says a Spanish scholar.

There’s been a lot of comparisons of ICE tactics to Hitler. But a better historical comparison is the fascist dictatorship of Spain’s Franco, according to a scholar of Spanish culture. buff.ly/Jbo9lA4

A young Black scientist discovered a pivotal leprosy treatment in the 1920s − but an older colleague took the credit Historians are working to shine a light on Alice Ball’s legacy and contributions to an early treatment of a dangerous and stigmatizing disease.

Hansen’s disease (leprosy) is treatable today in large part because of the work of Alice Ball, a 23-year-old chemist whose breakthrough turned a toxic folk remedy into the world’s first effective treatment.

buff.ly/6su5B6M
#BlackHistoryMonth

From Argentina’s dictatorship to today’s ICE raids, mothers have turned grief into resistance.

A political scientist who lived through Argentina’s junta draws urgent parallels.

A collaboration with @rewirenewsgroup.com

#news #politics #ICE #immigration #Argentina #history #democracy #polisky

If you were running a bot farm to juice the numbers, though, wouldn't you keep them at the old levels?

Was having a nostalgic discussion with a colleague about the days when a link on the Drudge Report meant a tsunami of traffic.

One of his retro design features is a pageview counter. He's had 5.8 billion pageviews in the past year.
In 2024: 7b
2023: 8b
2021: 9b
2018-2020: 10b
#onlinejournalism

A vital correction:

Rebirth of the madman theory? Unpredictability isn’t what it was when it comes to foreign policy During the Cold War, projecting a readiness to act erratically may have served a purpose. But it has diminishing returns if used too often.

Erratic behavior and unpredictability is having a moment in foreign policy circles. In the White House and elsewhere, it is seemingly being viewed as a strategic asset rather than a weakness.

But it is far from a new strategy. A political science professor explains “madman theory”
buff.ly/qInO1mM

After this article on PluckyWire was published by @sarahscire.com, we picked up two new republishers from their service.

This could be the start of something big wire.pluckyworks.org/onboarding/network-signup/3f29a2c4-a9d2-4516-8221-2397dc1eab24/

The world is in water bankruptcy, UN scientists report – here’s what that means Like living beyond your financial means, using more water than nature can replenish can have catastrophic results.

‘Water bankruptcy’ is a growing problem worldwide — from Tehran’s depleted reservoirs to the overdrawn Colorado River in the U.S. west. buff.ly/Dz0Ozez

Chart of cumulative pageviews to The Conversation U.S.'s articles, starting at 0 in 2014 and rising to 1.4 billion in 2025

Making this chart about @us.theconversation.com readership gave me joy - 1,447,331,134 pageviews to date (that we can count, plus all those online readers we can't count and print readership and video watchers)

Anyone considering buying a bridge in Brooklyn with Bitcoin?

Instead, why not buy preferred stock in @latimes.com?
(Notes: the company 'owes' its owner $207 million and he retains 100% voting control after this offering) #journalism

join.latimes.com?utm_source=s...

No notes

Cover of Jane Austen e-book with words on it "All gifts matched! Donate today and receive our new Jane Austen e-book as a gift"

There has never been a more important time for our work elevating the voices of experts and sharing their knowledge with the public.

Please support our work with a tax-deductible donation:
donate.theconversation.com/us?utm_campa...

America faced domestic fascists before and buried that history Although thousands of Americans embraced fascist ideas during the interwar years, a new study examines why the US has had little appetite to remember that past.

When Americans insist "it can't happen here," they’re wrong. A sociologist who studies collective memory and identity examines how the U.S. forgot its own fascist movements and what that collective amnesia means today. buff.ly/9mzgR3S

The world risks forgetting one of humanity’s greatest triumphs as polio nears global eradication − 70 years after Jonas Salk developed the vaccine in a Pittsburgh lab Polio may finally be defeated in the next 5 years. Will the world recognize what an extraordinary achievement that is?

Seventy years ago, Jonas Salk and his team worked in a lab between a morgue and a darkroom to develop the world’s first successful polio vaccine.

A filmmaker who made a documentary on Salk’s work explains why forgetting life before vaccines has real consequences: buff.ly/VYpqOy4
#vaccineswork

Yes, the government can track your location.

ICE and other agencies can track your movements using data gathered by apps and online ads on your phone, and sold by private companies. You probably don't realize how easily you can be found.

33% of hospital workers in California are foreign born.
25% in Florida.
5% in Tennessee.

The U.S. faces shortages of health care workers, and #immigration restrictions will make the situation worse. buff.ly/c6i8sAv