CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@vmstan the worst offenders are the ones that seem to come out of nowhere. Like how the heck did I not notice this beforehand? And then once I notice it, it can go unseen. Offensive little buggers.

To add another layer, this will also likely be defined by whether or not you participate in age and identity verification at some point.

I don't think broader society fully appreciates how quickly we are speed racing towards having access to the entire information ecosystem controlled by a handful of companies and individuals.

And if you fall into an undesirable category, how easy it will be to revoke access to reliable information and communication services.

The kicker is that I have *some* disposable income that I can put towards this, but many people don't.

There have been warnings about this for several years now, but the risks of a tiered media ecosystem developing seems more and more likely.

Do we want an information ecosystem that's defined by those who can afford to pay for the news (and consequently, who they are paying), and those who cannot afford to pay for their news and are fed whatever AI or misleading slop is produced 'for free'?

It looks like NBC is the latest major news network to paywall articles in recent weeks (and a substantial volume of them at that).

I'm willing to subscribe and pay for good journalism, but I can't pay for everything. So, I'm increasingly forced to one of two options:

1. Subscribe to selected outlets, but with the result of being siloed.
2. Don't pay for news, but have access to an increasingly limited supply of free/poor quality journalism/articles.

There are other similar events that have happened over the past year, and I've noted a sharp drop in forecast quality and accuracy where I need it the most to perform my job duties.

The culprit here appears to be rooted in balloon launches that have been shifted, delayed, or eliminated, reducing input data that supports numerical weather models and provides critical observational data for meteorologists to review. It's a key broken chain in a system that was once the envy of the world.

I hadn't had time to follow up on this. We used to be able to say that if a tornado hit without warning, it was a pretty good chance that you just weren't paying attention.

But a localized tornado outbreak south of the Kansas City metro on Monday evening was not captured in severe weather outlooks issued earlier in the day. And while the NWS ultimately issued a tornado watch once they realized what was happening, it happened suddenly enough to catch people by surprise.

'We are missing data': NWS weather balloon changes scrutinized as tornados hit Midwest

Five tornadoes hit the Kansas City area Monday night. Did a change in National Weather Service balloon launches leave forecasters in the dark about the threat for much of the day?

NBC News (www.nbcnews.com)

Big news on today's ruling regarding Live Nation-Ticketmaster. We've skipped the last few nearby shows of our favorite band due to them using Tickemaster for nearly all of their shows, including one scheduled for this summer that will be 15 minutes from our house. I will not support a company that makes a literal point of robbing customers blind.