Rowley @Rowley@qoto.org

Nobody follows me on my robotics account 🥲

follow me at @froggo@frcsocial.me and if you like robots or are affiliated with first/frc/ftc/fll in any way pls register https://frcsocial.me

@BlackAzizAnansi white person here so can only speak to what I saw and what I heard Black folks saying but the extreme desire of early adopter Mastodon users to have anything political or possibly upsetting CWed and the strong belief that keeping things unable to "go viral" or spread easily was good made it like it was a bunch of liberal white neighborhoods that believed *they* could never be racist but also didn't want to have to think about all that upsetting racism out there.

No matter how mundane they appear, never for 1 second believe your stairs aren't just waiting for the right time to kill you "accidentally."

The same people who are trying to force us to pledge allegiance are, themselves, becoming citizens of foreign countries in order to remove wealth from the United States.

https://theintercept.com/2023/04/25/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-citizenship-st-kitts/

B/c it was not enough to silence her voice on the House floor, #Montana Republicans have banished Rep. #ZooeyZephyr from the state legislature for the rest of the session. She will not be permitted to represent her 11,000 constituents who elected her to speak for them. GOP lawmakers misgendered Zephyr & accused her of violating decorum by opposing their anti-trans bills & saying they would have “blood on their hands”. Protesters who supported her were arrested. This is what #fascism looks like.

If I were to set up an instance targeted towards FRC students, mentors, and teams, would there be interest? I feel it would be a really cool thing to do, especially as it seems like there's not a lot of robotics going on #onhere

Please repost if you know anyone who would be interested

#FRC #FRCRobotics #FIRSTRobotics

You have to read a long way down the Washington Post's Carlson-fired story to get even a hint of the racist, white nationalist, misogynist, anti-democracy, pro-Putin (etc. etc. etc.) poison he so routinely dispensed to his audience.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/24/tucker-carlson-leaves-fox-news/

Big Journalism still can't understand why it invites disrespect from people who see extremist normalization as capitulation.

How have we got to a place where #trans women -- who are a small and relatively vulnerable portion of all the gloriously varied types of people in the world -- are now the subject of dog-whistle statements by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?

(Politicians seem to ignore the very existence of trans men, perhaps because they don't fit the narrative that people only pretend to be trans in order to rape women and win at school sports.)

Man at this point, saying the @NYTimes is trash is an understatement.

In October 2022, I complained about them constantly platforming him and his fellow eugenicists. This was pre his email calling us the N word and non apology, pre Sam Bankman-Fried, pre all the awful sexual harassment & assault in effective altruism stories coming out. Since then, they've just decided to double down. Smh. Trash.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/world/artificial-intelligence-nick-bostrom.html

This is real-world XKCD

See full thread: https://twitter.com/rachel_l_woods/status/1649790435533922307?s=61&t=Ugdi4XBKf_2ovJ1y9hKs4w

I’m so old, I remember when American companies that put Nazi symbols on their products would have had a hard time attracting enough customers to stay in business.

The Washington Post's shameful coverage of the Republicans' debt-ceiling extortion -- especially this headline -- puts the problem entirely on Biden. It effectively demands that he capitulate in whole or in part to the extortion.

This is journalistic malpractice, and it should embarrass the Post.

Here's the headline if you don't believe my description.

"Biden is running out of time to avoid calamitous debt ceiling outcomes"

If the money wasted in Greene's district were spent on districts like the one George Santos won in NY or John James eeked out in Michigan, Democrats would control the House.

So guess who's behind this? The guy who raised $15 million to lose to Greene by 31%.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/us/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-boebert-gaetz.html?unlocked_article_code=-vMYqtCWNfCG-k1OYAP73JyfnGF1nZZoFSWc_L8bbfdDQNVGhiGkMIeVqh1cOQzBwOFmS2lgzuzocqLxGpzPYjDuhL4aPhBrPNuK7GvqgfKkuaqfjs-uhnb61Afu8NMTbrCeCj1KtCuKtGXNQU1l38GGOEhd-XGgvxvSYRIzK-RQc2aHw-vXwpHcqIjMAxZsno3dTU4a4Tf08Zc44ONu2TxiObCUx6o_mMzuOmB2c64kEQiz4BCS3N7PETRUWRn-ylZ_ycVkHeMVEGiu_OwmJ5w9_Df2votiNusuAG2PTRnru2LuU72EBJgHQ2g1h-_rXVI3qEo54JGxsFsKOHX-RF97utRkxc_biaMCEUaCFeXYrA&giftCopy=3_Independent&smid=url-share

I guess what I'm trying to say is FIRST gives us the opportunity to meet so many fantastic people. That would have just been anther person on the plane. So many people stop to talk with us, and it's astonishing to find out how many people are excited about robots, and how many people were in FIRST.

#frc #frcrobotics #first #nasa

Was just asked by a friend if I wanted a #BlueSky invite.

My reply?

“Thanks but no thanks.”

Why?

Because I don’t need to see the app. I know the people behind it and what they stand for. The app can only ever be a manifestation of (or an initial misdirection from) that.

Expecting the wolf that took a bite out of you last time to this time act in your interests is how you end up as its dinner.

#BlueSky #JackDorsey #billionaires #SiliconValley #decentralisation #lipService #crypto #bullshit

Sorry, but you can't convince me that the test of a reusable rocket system is supposed to involve destroying the launch site—which was reusable on every prior generation of space flight technology—and launching debris thousands of feet away.

#SpaceX is not a serious company, it's a clown show, and it should not have a single dollar in government funding, much less billions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViAb3vYIh_8

@maxkennerly I am quite certain that they deliberately planned on this Stage Zero being disposable. No diverter, no flame trench, no water system...heck the overall size of the launch site was almost comically small relative to the vehicle! SpaceX KNEW the pad would be destroyed but wrongly hoped/assumed the damage would be more contained and not affect the vehicle itself.

Clearly only the design of the site was considered in the regulatory process and not its use with the starship. Musk did a bait and switch on an uninformed government.

The regulatory process alone to go through to construct a properly designed launch facility was too long to fit into Musk Time so they built something that was just marginally suitable even for Falcon Heavy. Even the location is barely appropriate. The entire facility should be demolished and remediated and a proper new site selected and/or constructed.

I am always amazed over the enormity of #FIRST #FRC worlds. If you want your kid(s) in an accepting, STEM program, search them out. So much fun!

The US should invade the US, set up a framework for democracy, and build roads and schools.