@imillhiser Via Ian Millhiser: “Republicans just got a painful reminder that their political stunts can backfire.”
#BigTech #Layoffs #Capitalism: "These layoffs have nothing to do with "trimming the fat" or correcting the hiring excesses of the lockdown. They're a project to transfer value from workers, customers and users to shareholders. Google's layoff of 12,000 workers followed fast on the heels of gargantuan stock buyback where the company pissed away enough money to pay those 12,000 salaries…for the next 27 years.
The equation is simple: the more companies invest in maintenance, research, development, moderation, anti-fraud, customer service and all the other essential functions of the business, the less money there is to remit to people who do nothing and own everything."
https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/21/tech-workers/#sharpen-your-blades-boys
Ed Pilkington notes that as public confidence in the Supreme Court falls to record lows — 40% now — the Supremes have quite the ethics problem on their hands, but are not addressing it:
"The chief justice, John Roberts, has insisted that the top court has no need to adopt an ethics code because 'every justice seeks to follow high ethical standards'."
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/mar/24/us-supreme-court-ethics-code-clarence-thomas
Another amazing thread from BadBalticTakes on an astonishing slice of #history when a quarter of the populations of #Estonia, #Lithuania, and #Latvia formed a continuous 670km human chain, the #BalticWay, denouncing both #Nazi and #Soviet ideologies and demanding #freedom.
Start here: https://twitter.com/badbaltictakes/status/1639224015339372550?s=46&t=DdVWzntVQzRrQe4wxh94rg
Ok #Mastodon experts, is there a reason there are some accounts I can like but not ret- uh, boost? For example, I convinced a great Twitter follow to start posting on here again but now I can’t promote all his toots anyway, only star them. And I’ve run into it a few times on other accounts, as well. Is it a particular setting or what?
Coinbase could face SEC enforcement action for 'potential violations of securities law'
https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-could-face-sec-enforcement-action-for-potential-violations-of-securities-law
#unitedstates #regulation #coinbase #sec #law
Would like to hear from both within and outside the #neurodiverse community about something that upsets me: I hate seeing REEEEEEE as mockery every time I’ve seen it over the years. It comes across like an ugly #autism stereotype, and even at best it’s mocking the target for being overwhelmed by distress over something.
But I haven’t come across anyone else trying to shut that down, the way using the word retard is now unacceptable. Am I overreacting for calling people out over this?
/2 I find myself increasing alienated from a “free speech community” that seems primarily concerned not with those legal and procedural safeguards, but with the notion that when Amy Wax says our country should have fewer people who look like my children, that our predominant concern should be that nobody say anything that might make people feel uncomfortable or self-conscious saying things like that.
#Debirdify has been suspended by Twitter without warning or explanation. Apparently it violated ‘Twitter rules and policies’, but that is all they told us.
We contacted Twitter support about the situation, but we are not particularly optimistic.
We always knew this could happen; it happened to other services in the past, so we are neither particularly surprised nor sad about it.
In the mean time, Fedifinder still works: https://fedifinder.social
Use it while you still can!
Minimising energy use is critical for any animal to survive, so given a ship, why wouldn't a bird hitch a ride?
"Birds are often unexpected stowaways on ships around the world. ... The phenomenon has a name: ship-assisted migration. "
But this disconcerting story from Hakai magazine begs a lot of questions about whether there's any species on the planet entirely untouched by our influence. And that gives us a LOT of responsibility.
https://hakaimagazine.com/news/with-ships-birds-find-an-easier-way-to-travel/?omhide=true&utm_source=Hakai+Magazine+Weekly&utm_campaign=371fa0e202-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_06_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0fc1967411-371fa0e202-121628661
#birds #migration #ships
Useless Facts, Badly Drawn #272: Nanobes.
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#nanobes #life #science #tiny #smol #space #bacteria #strangebuttrue #aliens #wtf #webcomic #comics #uselessfacts #uselessfactsbadlydrawn
Eye-opening WaPo gift article, detailing a lawsuit brought in #Texas seeking clarification and guidance on their #abortion statute when it puts #pregnant women in medical danger, as well as raising due process and equal protection concerns on that basis. It’s an op-ed, so the tone is far from neutral, but it is also informative and critically important. No matter where you stand on the personhood of the #unborn, the current state of the law having catastrophic effects.
Twitter refugee still learning all the things. She/her, nerd, ADHD, JD, vaxxed, cat staffmember, Open Mind, Open Hearts, Open Doors, unpaid shill for the imperfect. Still pulling for those taco trucks on every corner.
#JinJiyanAzadi
#SlavaUkraini
#BLM
#NeverTrump
#YIMBY
#Neurodiverse
#ADHD
#law
#gardening