Special Report—The Persecution of the Century

How to Live Like a Cognitive SuperAger - InsideHook

Love, love, love….

I tried…

Summer’23

The ‘Threads’ App is FILLED With Deceptive Dark Design Patterns – We Spotted More Than TEN - Yanko Design

https://www.yankodesign.com/2023/07/07/the-threads-app-is-filled-with-deceptive-dark-design-patterns-we-spotted-more-than-ten/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-threads-app-is-filled-with-deceptive-dark-design-patterns-we-spotted-more-than-ten

The 'Threads' App is FILLED With Deceptive Dark Design Patterns – We Spotted More Than TEN

Sarang Sheth07/07/2023

Aside from probably the launch of ChatGPT, I can't ever recall a recent time in which the internet was THIS excited. While I personally believed that Zuckerberg's new Threads app was doomed to be a hit and miss, it seems like I was dead wrong – the app saw more than 10 million users sign up in just 1.5 hours, with the number climbing up to 75 million as per a recent announcement from Zuckerberg. The reason? FOMO, along with the fact that the Threads app was designed to be incredibly intuitive. You didn't need to make an account – if you were on Instagram, the account was already made for you. A simple click would import all your followers, your profile settings, and profile-picture and bio. However, veiled underneath that ease and convenience were a few patterns that designers and tech nerds were all too familiar with. These patterns, referred to as Dark Design Patterns, are known to manipulate and influence a user into doing something against their will.

As a user, you've probably encountered a whole bunch of dark design patterns in your life. If you've used the Uber app, you're familiar with how notorious it is to cancel a ride while the app is searching for one. The 'Cancel Ride' button is greyed out, but the 'Continue Searching' is black and highly visible. Hit the Cancel button and Uber asks you at least twice if you're sure you want to cancel. Amazon does the same thing with its Prime subscribers. Try canceling your Prime subscription and chances are you'll just give up because Amazon's made it so incredibly hard to cancel an active Prime membership.

The Threads app almost immediately displayed a whole bunch of dark patterns with its user interface. We spotted at least 11 of them, and we're sure there are a lot more to come. Here are some highly evident dark tricks the Threads app is using to ensure you stay on the platform as long as you possibly can… and supply Meta with even more data than before.

1. In order to first make your Threads account, you need to log in through Instagram. The Threads app doesn't let you create an account WITHOUT having an Instagram account. It does so to make the transition for Instagram users incredibly easy… but in doing so, it also ensures that people NEED to have both Instagram and Threads accounts active at all times. There's no Threads without Instagram, so if you gave up your IG for any particular reason, you're in a tough spot.

2. While onboarding users was designed to be easy, the Threads app does something notorious to ensure users don't leave too. If at any point in time you feel the need to 'delete' your Threads app, it means you'll have to delete your Instagram too. Sounds bizarre, right?! Well, the settings panel in the Threads app mentions that "deleting your account apply to both Threads and Instagram", taking the ability to selectively delete your accounts right out of your hands.

3. As a form of consolation, Threads does allow you to 'deactivate' your account. This takes your Threads profile offline… but the data still exists on Meta's servers, and it still remains tied to your IG at all times to help Meta build that dataset on you.

4. The reason why joining Threads was so easy was because your account was already created for you in advance. Prior to the launch, a Threads section on your Instagram page would give you a QR code and tell you that your IG handle was already reserved for you on Threads. It's easy because the app is literally being handed to you on a silver platter with your username already pre-selected. This dark pattern becomes even darker because if your IG accidentally gets hacked, the hacker gets your Threads account with it, with little to no effort.

5. However, if you've somehow resisted joining Threads, don't worry because Instagram makes it incredibly easy for others to share Threads content on the IG app – as a post, a story, or even a DM. This means that there's really no escaping Threads content even if you made the conscious decision to NOT sign up for it. The fact that it's so easy to share your Threads on Instagram just makes it grow faster, and in doing so, trap more users easily (Threads has already reported 95 million posts on the app). Don't think it's a dark pattern? Well, think of it as being incredibly anti-competitive to all of Thread's newer rivals like Mastodon or Blue Sky.

6. The Threads app conveniently copies all your profile settings from Instagram, but requires you to manually set your notification settings all over again. Moreover, just like Facebook and Instagram are often filled with bogus notifications, the Threads app will send you a ping every time someone you know joins Threads… a classic dark pattern to have you constantly checking the app every few minutes.

7. The Threads app doesn't just copy profile settings, it basically mirrors all your IG data, providing Meta with yet another avenue for advertising. Sure, the Threads app doesn't have ads or sponsored content, but don't be surprised if you get ads on Instagram for stuff you speak about in Threads.

8. Perhaps one of the most malicious dark patterns lies in how much data the app collects on you. Even though Threads is essentially just a microblogging platform, the app has access to your health data, financial data, and even your location. In fact, ex-CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey shared a snippet of the amount of data the app collects on you and it's shocking. If you're in the EU, you probably don't have access to Threads for this exact reason, because the European Union has some incredibly strict laws on data gathering.

9. And even though Threads makes it very easy to share stuff to Instagram, your IG followers can't view your thread unless they install the app and make their account too. The most they can see is a snippet, which lures them into signing up.

10. The above is reinforced by the fact that Threads doesn't have a desktop website either. Even though its competitor Twitter does, and even though Instagram does too, Threads can ONLY be accessed by installing an app, and logging in. That's how Meta coerces you into installing an app that you then can't remove… and an app that then constantly gathers data on you.

11. This one verges more on speculation at this point, but Threads rather visibly lacks DMs. It's true that Meta is building out the feature as of now, but there's a high chance those DMs will also be connected to your Instagram DMs. Famously a few years ago, Meta merged IG DMs with Messenger in order to facilitate cross-platform messaging (and in order to revive Messenger, which saw a slow but steady decline). While there's no concrete evidence to back this, it'll be interesting to see if Meta chooses to centralize Threads and Instagram DMs into one channel, creating yet another dark pattern. All we can do right now is wait and watch…

~A.

4 did

1776, another drop in the bucket?

Technically, ……

Timeline of End Dates for Key Health-Related Flexibilities Provided Through COVID-19 Emergency Declarations, Legislation, and Administrative Actions | KFF

https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/timeline-of-end-dates-for-key-health-related-flexibilities-provided-through-covid-19-emergency-declarations-legislation-and-administrative-actions/

Timeline of End Dates for Key Health-Related Flexibilities Provided Through COVID-19 Emergency Declarations, Legislation, and Administrative Actions

Jennifer Kates , Juliette Cubanski , Cynthia Cox , and Jennifer Tolbert
Published: Apr 28, 2023

In response to the unprecedented nature of COVID-19, the federal government declared numerous types of emergencies, Congress enacted several pieces of legislation, and various executive actions were taken and waivers issued, which, collectively, established time-limited flexibilities and provisions designed to protect individuals and the health system during the pandemic. The effective end dates of many, though not all, of these flexibilities and provisions are tied to the public health emergency (PHE) declaration made pursuant to Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, first declared in January of 2020.  Others are linked to the public health emergency declaration made under Section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act; the declaration made under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act; and emergency and major disaster declarations made under the Stafford Act. In some cases, subsequent legislation has either delinked provisions from these declarations or otherwise changed their duration.

The Biden Administration recently announced that it will end the PHE on May 11, 2023 and FEMA has announced that the emergency incident period under the Stafford Act will also end on that date. Other related emergency declarations or provisions have already ended or are ending soon. The following table (Table 1) provides a timeline identifying key health-related flexibilities and provisions specified by these various measures, the specific measure that determines their end date, and their end date (an end date for the Section 564 declaration has not yet been announced).

In addition to the end of the flexibilities detailed in Table 1 below, there are also expectations that the federal supply of COVID-19 vaccines could be depleted or need to be replaced by an updated booster dose sometime this year and, similarly, the federal supply of COVID-19 treatments will also be depleted. At a result, COVID-19 vaccines and treatments are transitioning to the commercial market. Importantly, this change is not tied to the end of the public health emergency.

~A.

State Policy Choices Are Likely to Affect the Extent of Medicaid Enrollment Declines During the Unwinding Period | KFF

https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/state-policy-choices-are-likely-to-affect-the-extent-of-medicaid-enrollment-declines-during-the-unwinding-period/

State Policy Choices Are Likely to Affect the Extent of Medicaid Enrollment Declines During the Unwinding Period

Jennifer Tolbert , Sophia Moreno , and Robin Rudowitz
Published: May 09, 2023

NOTE: This analysis, originally published on April 26, 2023, was updated on May 9, 2023 to include newer state data.

Starting on April 1, 2023, all states have begun the process of unwinding the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision. Adopted in March 2020, the continuous enrollment provision has protected coverage for millions enrolled in Medicaid during the past three years. Because states were prohibited from disenrolling people from Medicaid in exchange for enhanced federal funding, enrollment in the program has grown by an estimated 23 million to reach 95 million as of the end of March 2023. Now that continuous enrollment has ended, over the next year (and more quickly in some states), states will redetermine eligibility for everyone enrolled in Medicaid and will disenroll those who are no longer eligible, as well as those who remain eligible but who face barriers to completing the renewal process. Millions of people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage nationally.

The unwinding of the continuous enrollment provision will play out differently across the states based on policy choices states have made and variation in their administrative infrastructures. Some states have adopted multiple policies that are more likely to promote continued coverage among those who remain eligible. Others have adopted fewer of these policies, which will likely lead to a larger number of people losing Medicaid coverage, including some who remain eligible. Additionally, some states have automated eligibility systems that can more easily and accurately process renewals, reducing the number of renewals staff will have to complete manually. Having some way to order states based on their adoption of polices and strategies to promote continued coverage, as well as the capacity of their systems to process the expected volume of renewals, can be helpful for identifying where larger decreases in Medicaid enrollment are more or less likely.

Key Unwinding Metrics

Using data from a survey of state Medicaid eligibility, enrollment, and renewal policies conducted by KFF and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) earlier this year, we have identified 9 key metrics that will support continued Medicaid coverage during the unwinding for those who remain eligible. They include a mix of policy choices and measures of systems capacity and are grouped into three categories: renewal policies in place during the unwinding, systems for processing of renewals, and eligibility policies that promote continued coverage. The metrics include:

Renewal Policies

• State will take 12-14 months to complete all renewals
• State follows up on returned mail
• State follows up with enrollees who have not responded to a renewal request before terminating coverage

System Capacity Measures

• Processing of renewals is mostly automated
• 50% or more of renewals are completed on an ex parte basis
• State has taken steps to improve ex parte renewal rates

Eligibility Policies

• State has adopted the Medicaid expansion
• State has adopted 12-month postpartum coverage
• State has adopted 12-month continuous eligibility for all children in Medicaid and CHIP

Importantly, the data included in this analysis reflect policies and procedures in place as of January 2023; it is possible, likely even, that states have updated some policies in response to guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or mitigation plans developed in coordination with CMS. In addition, some states indicated they were not processing ex parte renewals as of January 2023 and we cannot distinguish between states that paused ex parte renewals while the continuous enrollment provision was in place and those that may not have the system capacity to process ex parte renewals. Ex parte renewals involve automatically renewing coverage based on available data sources. Finally, some states did not provide data for one metric included in this analysis. States with missing data are noted in the figure below.

How Do States Compare Across Unwinding Metrics

Overall, states fall along a spectrum on meeting the metrics. Nine states meet eight or more of the metrics for promoting continuity of coverage, including one state, Colorado, that meets all nine metrics. At the other end of the scale, six states meet four or fewer of the measures (Figure 1). The majority of states fall somewhere in the middle, meeting all of the metrics in some categories but not others. More states (29) meet all of the metrics related to adopting renewal policies that promote continued coverage during the unwinding than meet the standards for metrics in the other two categories (7 states for system capacity and 14 states for eligibility policies).

Most states do not have fully automated systems that are capable of completing a majority of renewals using ex parte processes. A total of 42 states do not meet all three of the metrics that measure the capacity of state systems to process ex parte renewals. The total includes 14 states that reported having mostly manual systems for processing renewals or reported processing less than 25% of renewals via ex parte despite having automated systems. The administrative burden on both staff and enrollees is likely to be higher in these states and they will likely face unique challenges as they work to complete the increased volume of renewals during the unwinding period.

Despite fairly broad adoption of the Medicaid expansion and 12-month postpartum coverage, only 14 states have adopted all three eligibility policies, which also includes 12-month continuous eligibility for all children. While these policies are not directly related to the ability to complete the renewal process, they do affect how frequently an enrollee may have their eligibility redetermined, and in the case of adoption of the Medicaid expansion, the likelihood that nonelderly adults will be able to retain coverage when their eligibility is redetermined during the unwinding period. All states will have to implement 12-month continuous eligibility for all children in both Medicaid and CHIP by January 1, 2024; however, currently, only 23 states have adopted this policy.

Implications

Unwinding the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision is expected to be challenging for all states, but state policy choices and system capacity will matter in terms of how many people are able to maintain Medicaid or transition to other types of coverage. This analysis offers one way to assess states on whether their approach to and capacity for processing renewals during the unwinding period are likely to lead to larger or smaller declines in Medicaid enrollment and can be useful for focusing monitoring efforts. However, state policies and procedures are likely evolving, and while this analysis examines state policies, how states implement those policies will be just as important a factor in how the unwinding proceeds across states. Implementation, in turn, will be affected by state staffing capacity, the effectiveness of state outreach to and communications with enrollees, and state engagement with key stakeholders, including MCOs, providers, and community organizations, to assist with enrollee outreach efforts.

~A.

Should I buy an electric vehicle? I’d say no

https://youtu.be/3BxB6vJA7Ok


~A.

My father drives a 🌟Ram 1500 🌟 #lemieux #sponsor #LeMieuxsponserby2024 #...

https://youtube.com/shorts/4GL1-TkvJns?feature=share


~A.

not the happpiest day

happy birthday to the 33 year old man that walked away.

Fish & Men | Documentary

Amazing, urgent, local, real, DETAILS!
Watch this….

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fish-men-documentary_5262600.html


~A.

Trail maintenance with the QuietKat Apex Pro! #nativeplants #quietkat #e...

Golly!

https://youtube.com/shorts/kzQ4NwqNAVU?feature=share


~A.

A map of the air quality across the Northeast. (AccuWeather)

A map of the air quality across the Northeast. (AccuWeather)

Clouds

It feels Very Weird….. I worked outside anyways, cause I had to

and the plants were still thirsty!

16 going on ....

To Be 16 Again...

A mother was sitting at the kitchen table, watching her son, who was looking at himself on Instagram. Since his birthday was not far off she asked what he'd like to have for his birthday.

'I'd like to be sixteen again', he replied, still looking at the tiny screen.

On the morning of his Birthday, she arose early, made her a nice big Boba drink with jelly, and then took him to Hooter's. What a day! He ordered every wing and beer combo on the menu; the Death Sliders, the Wings of Fear, the Screaming Hot Wang-dang-doodle, every hot sauce there was.

Five hours later they staggered out of the gift store with a Big bag of playing cards, calendars and the best signed t-shirt in his collection. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to See's where he ordered malted milk balls  to go with the rootbeer float they got at A&W.

Then it was off for a few laps at the Go-Kart track, with a hour afterward to speed, bowl, pinball and air-hockey in the Arcade.

What a fabulous adventure! 

Finally they wobbled home and collapsed on the couch, exhausted. 

 She looked over at her son with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being sixteen again?'

His eyes slowly opened and his expression suddenly changed. 

'I meant my ticket number, remember my early speeding tickets???'

The moral of the story: Even when a mother is listening, she is gonna get it wrong.

YouTube Reverses Policy on... (deleted) ....

YouTube Reverses Policy on Censoring Claims of Stolen 2020 Election: https://www.theepochtimes.com/youtube-reverses-policy-on-censoring-claims-of-stolen-2020-election_5309982.html?utm_campaign=socialshare_email