Venessa Paech
@venessap.bsky.social
Online community builder since '93. Digital Sociologist. PhD Candidate AI & online communities. Founder & Director @Australian Community Managers / All Things in Moderation. I train & support communities & community people. Choreographer. Cat lady. 🇦🇺🍉
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Today, people consider "Yule" synonymous with "Christmas." But centuries ago, Yule meant something different — a pagan mid-winter festival, dating back to pre-Christian Germanic people. n.pr/3YaZPp6
How cozy Yuletide traditions got their start with raging parties and animal sacrifice
Today, people consider "Yule" synonymous with "Christmas." But centuries ago, Yule meant something different — a pagan mid-winter festival, dating back to pre-Christian Germanic people.
n.pr
December 24, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Today, people consider "Yule" synonymous with "Christmas." But centuries ago, Yule meant something different — a pagan mid-winter festival, dating back to pre-Christian Germanic people. n.pr/3YaZPp6
Reposted by Venessa Paech
This is not the first time RFK Jr or his fellow anti-vax travelers conducted a study they knew would harm or kill children in low-income countries. It is a dehumanizing, colonialist model of manufacturing evidence: sacrificing foreign kids for political pseudoscience.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
www.notus.org/health-scien...
CDC to Fund Controversial Study in West Africa on Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines
The study prompted swift outcry from scientists in the U.S. who say it’s “unethical.”
www.notus.org
December 19, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This is not the first time RFK Jr or his fellow anti-vax travelers conducted a study they knew would harm or kill children in low-income countries. It is a dehumanizing, colonialist model of manufacturing evidence: sacrificing foreign kids for political pseudoscience.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
www.notus.org/health-scien...
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Israel Propagandists Are Uniformly Spouting The Exact Same Line About The Bondi Shooting
open.substack.com/pub/caitlinj...
open.substack.com/pub/caitlinj...
Israel Propagandists Are Uniformly Spouting The Exact Same Line About The Bondi Shooting
Reading by Tim Foley:
open.substack.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Israel Propagandists Are Uniformly Spouting The Exact Same Line About The Bondi Shooting
open.substack.com/pub/caitlinj...
open.substack.com/pub/caitlinj...
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Reposted by Venessa Paech
"I want a Clippy to be my sycophantic pretend girlfriend" is a hell of a take.
If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
December 17, 2025 at 7:30 PM
"I want a Clippy to be my sycophantic pretend girlfriend" is a hell of a take.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
The only ageless part is the grift.
Silicon Valley millionaire Bryan Johnson says he'll make humans immortal by 2039—he just needs to sort out ‘buggy’ issues like ‘mistakenly causing cancer’ first | Fortune
Tech CEO Bryan Johnson says immortality in less than 15 years is a “reasonable target” thanks to AI, scientific breakthroughs and his own Blueprint routine
fortune.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:35 PM
The only ageless part is the grift.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Social media companies attempt to detect and remove this type of astroturfing for violating their inauthentic behavior policies, which is why Doublespeed uses a bank of phones to emulate the behavior of real users.
@evystadium.bsky.social explains more here: www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
@evystadium.bsky.social explains more here: www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
December 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Social media companies attempt to detect and remove this type of astroturfing for violating their inauthentic behavior policies, which is why Doublespeed uses a bank of phones to emulate the behavior of real users.
@evystadium.bsky.social explains more here: www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
@evystadium.bsky.social explains more here: www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
Reposted by Venessa Paech
For comparison, every robotic mission NASA has ever sent in its history, from the dawn of the Space Age 65 years ago to today, from Mercury to Pluto and beyond, has cost less than $40B.
I know which one has done more for humankind and which one should be dismantled.
I know which one has done more for humankind and which one should be dismantled.
Mark Zuckerberg’s gamble on the ‘Metaverse’ has cost Meta more than $77B
The company now plans to cut spending on it and shift focus to AI wearables instead
(via WSJ)
The company now plans to cut spending on it and shift focus to AI wearables instead
(via WSJ)
December 7, 2025 at 2:03 AM
For comparison, every robotic mission NASA has ever sent in its history, from the dawn of the Space Age 65 years ago to today, from Mercury to Pluto and beyond, has cost less than $40B.
I know which one has done more for humankind and which one should be dismantled.
I know which one has done more for humankind and which one should be dismantled.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
All super rich guys sound the same now. It’s all “I sleep four hours a night and spend the other twenty hours a day developing a product that’s going to bring us the best widespread poverty anyone’s ever seen.”
December 3, 2025 at 9:53 PM
All super rich guys sound the same now. It’s all “I sleep four hours a night and spend the other twenty hours a day developing a product that’s going to bring us the best widespread poverty anyone’s ever seen.”
It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are scrolling?
November 27, 2025 at 11:30 AM
It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are scrolling?
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Courtesy of the world’s richest man who just got a trillion-dollar pay package from his feckless board: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
www.newyorker.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Courtesy of the world’s richest man who just got a trillion-dollar pay package from his feckless board: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Venessa Paech
This doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone looking into disinformation and scams on Meta's platforms but the scale is kind of incredible: "the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day"
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:27 PM
This doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone looking into disinformation and scams on Meta's platforms but the scale is kind of incredible: "the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day"
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Reposted by Venessa Paech
The White House is asking people not to share pictures of the East Wing because it’s even worse today.
October 21, 2025 at 10:54 PM
The White House is asking people not to share pictures of the East Wing because it’s even worse today.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Reposted by Venessa Paech
New: In a backsliding democracy, ‘public mobilization is the guardrail’
open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...
open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...
In backsliding democracy, ‘public mobilization is the guardrail’
Some excerpts as we head into the weekend.
open.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:59 PM
New: In a backsliding democracy, ‘public mobilization is the guardrail’
open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...
open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
The military has now killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not criminal suspects. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...
U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says
www.nytimes.com
October 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.
This is truly terrifying.
This is truly terrifying.
October 14, 2025 at 12:59 AM
The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.
This is truly terrifying.
This is truly terrifying.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.
October 13, 2025 at 5:58 PM
If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app
‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app
Musicians have long criticized the streaming service’s paltry payouts, but a new wave of boycotts is emerging
www.theguardian.com
October 12, 2025 at 3:02 PM
‘Death to Spotify’: the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the music app
Reposted by Venessa Paech
TRON is a super cult-ass franchise *anyway* but I promise you more people would have gone to see it in theaters if Jared Leto wasn't in it
October 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
TRON is a super cult-ass franchise *anyway* but I promise you more people would have gone to see it in theaters if Jared Leto wasn't in it
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Yes, the internet has always had lies on it because sometimes humans are liars. But generative AI slop is always lies because the generators don’t ever know what truth is. They’re weapons of mass information destruction, a difference in scale nobody seems ready to acknowledge.
October 11, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Yes, the internet has always had lies on it because sometimes humans are liars. But generative AI slop is always lies because the generators don’t ever know what truth is. They’re weapons of mass information destruction, a difference in scale nobody seems ready to acknowledge.
Reposted by Venessa Paech
Reposted by Venessa Paech
If a four-year-old can pronounce a name correctly, so can a politician | Arwa Mahdawi
If a four-year-old can pronounce a name correctly, so can a politician | Arwa Mahdawi
When someone’s name is repeatedly botched, we shouldn’t give the perpetrators the benefit of the doubt. Just ask NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, writes Arwa Mahdawi
www.theguardian.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:23 AM
If a four-year-old can pronounce a name correctly, so can a politician | Arwa Mahdawi
Reposted by Venessa Paech
George Orwell’s Animal Crossing
October 7, 2025 at 4:29 PM
George Orwell’s Animal Crossing
Reposted by Venessa Paech
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
October 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.