Dumpster Dive: What’s in NYC’s Trash Now — and What’s Not – THE CITY
Evening Colors
Gianaris on Republican concerns early voting by mail law
Before the ink was dry on a series of 10 election reforms signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday, Republicans – including U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik – filed a lawsuit arguing that one of the reforms, which expands the use of mail-in balloting during the early voting period “reverses the will of the people."
That’s a reference to a 2021 ballot question expanding absentee voting that voters defeated by a margin of 55-45%.
But according to bill sponsor state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris , the bill in question, the so-called "Early Mail Voting Act," is distinct from the question on the ballot in 2021.
“We’re not expanding absentee voting. We’re allowing people to vote by mail during the early voting period,” Gianaris told Capital Tonight. “The Constitution is very clear that the Legislature gets to determine the methods of voting."
The absentee process deals with people who may be absent or unavailable to get to the polls on Election Day. The statute signed into law by Hochul relates to a method of early voting.
“What we’re saying is that, as a method of early voting, which we now have in this state, you can go show up at the polls on any of those given early days, or you can vote by mail if you choose to,” explained Gianaris.
Morning At Powley Place
Next-gen content farms are using AI-generated text to spin up junk websites | MIT Technology Review
Over 140 major brands are paying for ads that end up on unreliable AI-written sites, likely without their knowledge. Ninety percent of the ads from major brands found on these AI-generated news sites were served by Google, though the company’s own policies prohibit sites from placing Google-served ads on pages that include “spammy automatically generated content.” The practice threatens to hasten the arrival of a glitchy, spammy internet that is overrun by AI-generated content, as well as wasting massive amounts of ad money.
Most companies that advertise online automatically bid on spots to run those ads through a practice called “programmatic advertising.” Algorithms place ads on various websites according to complex calculations that optimize the number of eyeballs an ad might attract from the company’s target audience. As a result, big brands end up paying for ad placements on websites that they may have never heard of before, with little to no human oversight.
To take advantage, content farms have sprung up where low-paid humans churn out low-quality content to attract ad revenue. These types of websites already have a name: “made for advertising” sites. They use tactics such as clickbait, autoplay videos, and pop-up ads to squeeze as much money as possible out of advertisers. In a recent survey, the Association of National Advertisers found that 21% of ad impressions in their sample went to made-for-advertising sites. The group estimated that around $13 billion is wasted globally on these sites each year.
🎉Happy Hour for Groceries! 🎉
I was listening to The World about a S-Market grocery store in Finland that discounts expiring foods at the grocery store 🍇by 60% at nine o’clock every day.💸
What a great idea! 💭 Less things thrown away and a great discount for cost sensitive customers. And stores are making money rather than spending money to dispose of expiring foods. 🍲
I saw a grocery store near the Mason Dixon Line that was called Scratch ‘N Dent Discount groceries, I thought about checking out. 🍑 Foods are a big part of working folks budget and the more savings people can get and the more food kept out of landfill the better. ♻
Big Hollow View
