Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@qoto.org

Folks like to make a big deal of the fact that Frederick Douglass is the most photographed person of his century. We talk about his "friendship" with Lincoln, and their many "conversations." But we usually stop there. We don't like to go into what the topic of those conversations was...

Douglass was warning Lincoln that he should pay more attention to reducing racism, and preventing Southern forces from committing war crimes against Black prisoners. And Abe was largely ignoring him.

People worry a lot about losing knowledge — about "burned-down libraries".

Comparatively few people seem to worry about what happens if you take a billion books full of auto-generated, often-untrue junk text and *add* them all to the library.

In theory, nothing is lost. In reality, everything is lost, because nothing useful can now be found.

Morning! Florida Republicans are in gaslighting mode, denying the book-banning. In reality, at least one county already is forming a volunteer police force to round up books they deem "woke." One book they hate? Michelle Obama's memoir. https://www.salon.com/2023/02/03/call-the-woke-busters-ron-desantis-sends-volunteer-army-to-snatch-books-from-students-hands/

"DeSantis’s anti-education crusade is doubly authoritarian – most obviously in its use of state power to suppress ideas and information, but also in its more subtle assumption that teaching is ultimately about imposing doctrines of one sort or another."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/04/conservatives-ron-desantis-florida-education

I can't get over this New York Times headline saying Ron DeSantis is "building his brand" by wrecking public education in Florida. It reminds me of NYT’s first mention of Hitler in 1922, which claimed his anti-Semitism wasn’t “genuine” or “violent” but was just “bait” to attract followers. From 1922 to 2023, NYT is still covering fascists from a marketing perspective rather than a moral perspective.

🤔 🙄 ✊🏾 .🎂 #RosaParks.

oday we honor Rosa Parks' 110th birthday. Her contribution to the civil rights movement and role she played to end racial segregation will NEVER be forgotten. Her courage serves as an inspiration to everyone who fights for equality today. Happy heavenly Birthday, Rosa Parks!

#News
#Politics
#Mastodon
#BlackMastodon
#BlackTwitter
#BackLivesMatter
#BlackFediverse
#BlackFedi
#BIPOC
#BlackPolitics
#BlackLivesMatter

New #microfluidic device for detecting #SARSCoV2 --can be used for #POC testing, rapid (10") diagnostic https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02-microfluidic-device-sars-cov-.html via
@medical_xpress

And the farthest I'm going in this unaided-eye-focused talk: our neighbour the Andromeda Galaxy (yes, the Magellanic Clouds are easier to see, but not from Saskatchewan). You can see the nucleus with your naked eye: it looks like an unimpressive fuzzy thing. https://www.space.com/7426-starhopping-101-find-andromeda-galaxy.html

But when you realize it's so far away you're seeing light that left it 200 million years ago, and it's flying toward us at 200 km/s, it's really humbling.

It is, in fact, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

Is It Forensics or Is It Junk Science?
--
The public’s growing awareness of forensic techniques obscures a far more complex field that’s chock full of bogus science — and the people who champion it, often for profit.

For years, ProPublica has reported on these dubious techniques as they’ve wormed their way into every corner of our real-life criminal justice system.

So, what’s legitimate forensic science and what’s junk?

#Crime #Police #CriminalJustice #Science

https://www.propublica.org/article/understanding-junk-science-forensics-criminal-justice?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

Ok, so now that I’ve had a moment to breathe, let me take a few minutes to dive into the study I just published about Russian involvement in the 2022 truck convoy in Canada. The study can be read in full here: https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/jicw/article/view/5101

This article was animated in large part by this experience. Realizing that I'd come from big tech into an institution that was increasingly, alarmingly dependent on big tech.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4135581

“Adding highway lanes to deal with traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity." - Lewis Mumford, 1955. Arguably the most important quote in city-building ever. READ my past (but still totally relevant) #Planetizen post.

https://www.planetizen.com/node/53659

#cities #cars #traffic #urbanism #congestion #transportation #UrbanPlanning #mobility

We dove deep into the situation in Florida in today’s “Is This Democracy” episode and dissected the authoritarian takeover of education, the escalating reactionary campaign to stifle, censor, and ban any dissent from the white nationalist woldview. This is a proper emergency. It needs to be treated as such. /end https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-the-murder-of-tyre-nichols-the/id1652741954?i=1000597862704

A dry couple of weeks has allowed the snow-water equivalent value of the Columbia River watershed to fall to 85% of average for this time of year. The Snake River watershed is the best area, with 95% of normal. We still have quite a bit of winter to go, with average SWE peaking in early April.

#weather #wawx #orwx #idwx #bcstorm

A major drought continues in the Upper Mackenzie watershed of Canada (generally between Edmonton and Great Slave Lake). The Peace River watershed is near 62% of normal, which is improved from a few weeks ago but not by much.

Peace River conditions can impact how much water BC Hydro runs through Columbia River (and other) dams in the spring as they have large hydroelectric operations on the Peace River. Less water there means they need to make up generation elsewhere.

#BCstorm #ABstorm #weather

And now NBC News has an excellent article out on the homophobic smear campaign targeting #gigisohn

Still crickets from the White House and Senate Democrats...

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/fcc-gigi-sohn-nomination-turns-ugly-rcna68224

Some US history books will talk about the "Great migration" when about 6 million Black folk fled the South and headed to the North and West of the US.

It's often framed as "Black folk headed North and West looking for jobs." But if you talk to Black folk with relatives that left the South during this time, they'll tell you that their families were fleeing economic persecution in the South: having their money and stuff stolen through lynching, false imprisonment, straight up theft, etc.

This isn't a cost of living crisis. This is an excess profit crisis.

Our climate, energy and economic crisis is caused by the extreme greed of the richest 1%.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-makes-record-40-billion-annual-profit-2023-02-02/

I wish I had more great #worldwetlandsday content for you #today, but I’m sick and struggling to make it through the work day. I did get to #teach a virtual classroom of 4th year students about how we do conservation science and I spent the afternoon in a grad student’s proposal defence helping her make her #wetlands research as impactful as possible. But I’m pretty burnt out and sick folks 😢. We have so much work to do to #SaveOntarioWetlands