Tausi Insider

Photo : DVKi ( Shutterstock ) Wordle is still played the same way as ever, and if you just want a simple game without overthinking it, that’s all you need to know. But things have been changing behind the scenes, and that includes the way solutions are chosen. Originally, the answer each day came from a list of 2000+ words that was embedded in the site’s javascript code . (If you wanted, you could just view the page’s source and look at it.) This list avoided words that were too obscure or that were simple plurals of four-letter words, and over time I found myself developing a sense for whether a word I was mulling over is “Wordle-ish” enough to be the solution for the day. Sometimes, before entering my guess, I would check it against this no-spoilers list : all the Wordle words are there, but not in order. I could Ctrl-F for, say, “minim” to see whether it’s a possible solution. When the New York Times bought the game earlier this year, at first they kept the old word list. (All ...

Photo : Vasin Lee ( Shutterstock ) If you’ve ever watched videos on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook Reels, or Twitch (so, basically, everyone), you may have noticed a slew of coded words and emojis that weren’t immediately decipherable—but whose meaning you could infer alongside the right context clues. Similarly, if you’ve ever created content for internet consumption, you know the number one rule: Don’t upset the algorithm. Modern- day social media algorithms are like the Wizard of Oz— cloaked, all-powerful puppeteers who can seemingly perform miracles for the right creators, instantly propelling their content in front of millions of eyeballs. But they are as fickle as they are promising, often trapping content in a dungeon of 53 views for no discernible reason. While the inner machinations of algorithms are largely unknown, being blackballed by one can suppress your content and seal your doom—and one of the quickest ways to do that is to us...

Photo : Chepko Danil Vitalevich ( Shutterstock ) Both before and after Roe v. Wade was overturned, people made sure to pass each other tips about abortion access on social media. Some of these were helpful, like websites where you can connect with an organization that can help you get an abortion. Others were downright dangerous, like insinuating that anyone with an unwanted pregnancy can easily terminate it by drinking a cup of pennyroyal tea . Meanwhile, the scientific literature has documented deaths from self-administered pennyroyal. The stuff can cause liver failure. In truth, herbal abortions are far more dangerous than the medical kind, and they don’t even necessarily work. Or, as I put it in the post linked above: “This is a medical procedure. It’s one where you may be going into it not even knowing the appropriate dosage, the side effects to watch out for, the success rate, or the risks you are taking. Would you accept that for anything else?” https://www.tausiinsi...