Dr Keith Walker @SteelFolk@qoto.org

I have just learned that I have been laid off, three days before Christmas.

I have a lot of emotions right now, but instead of airing those out I'm focusing in a more positive direction. I am looking for a full-stack engineer or back-end/front-end developer position in the information security space. I am proficient in Python, JavaScript (React, Node, Express mainly) and am getting proficient in Rust. I have my GIAC Reverse Engineering Malware (GREM) certification and am comfortable in a systems engineering role with Rust or C/C++ as well.

Contract work welcome, full-time employment preferred. Appreciate the support and hope your holidays are off to a better start than mine!

Did you ever notice students have their own interests and motivations, and that many are not as enamored with your curriculum as you are? I have... and those are the students we must work the hardest to engage with interesting problems and questions. #education #edutoots

Yesterday, I told you the #IronAge was weird.... well, here's the categorical proof!

Yes, a #Torc with a knot in it! Yes, it would appear it's an Iron Age knot. We have absolutely no idea why someone would tie a knot in a torc (there aren't other known examples), but my suspicion is it was done because they could - this is not easy thing to do & my gut feeling is this is a goldsmith showing off their skill set.

But whatever it is, I love it! ❤️

#Archaeology #Gold #Torcs

📷 British Museum

Henrietta Lacks was a poor, Black, young mother diagnosed w cervical cancer in 1951. When her cells were collected w/o consent, scientists saw they multiplied remarkably fast.

“HeLa” cells changed #science. They’re used globally to study viruses, drugs, hormones, genes, diseases & develop vaccines. Lacks passed away at 31 w no recognition.

Rebecca Skloot’s beautiful book about her life & legacy is changing that. Now her statue will replace Robert E. Lee in NC. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/20/us/henrietta-lacks-statue-roanoke-virginia.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #history

The bit about a lawyer being stopped from entering a music hall in the US because its facial recognition system picked up that she's part of a law company that's suing them is even crazier than I thought.

The law company isn't suing the music hall - it's suing a restaurant, in another state, which is owned by the hall's parent company MSG Entertainment. MSG gone ahead and harvested photos of all the lawyers in the firm and fed it to an image recognition system to ban them from every MSG Entertainment owned location.

People always tell me that if you've got nothing to hide then you've got nothing to fear. She's got nothing to hide and they still went after her.

If this doesn't start making people worried about facial recognition then there's serious trouble coming.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/facial-recognition-flags-girl-scout-mom-as-security-risk-at-rockettes-show/

A Milanese friar mentions North America in 1345 text #archaeology #history
https://www.zmescience.com/science/history-science/a-milanese-friar-mentions-north-america-in-1345-text-150-years-before-columbus/

Today, President Biden will sign the Respect for Marriage Act. It will nullify the odious act known as DOMA, which had enshrined anti LGBTQ+ prejudice and discrimination into law.
Federal recognition of same sex marriages, by statute, is an important safeguard, but we must still do more. We must now enshrine the protections of Obergefell into law, so that no state can deny same-sex couples the rights and privileges afforded heterosexual married couples.

New research looks at the effects of repeated Covid infections and finds pretty much what you would expect: you not only do not get any kind of superimmunity, you increase your risk of long-term consequences, hospitalization and death. The worse news is that this holds true regardless of vaccination status.

This is not over. Please take care. Mask up.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02051-3

#Covid #CovidIsNotOver #RepeatInfection #WearAMask #MaskUp

Happy Birthday to English mathematician Ada Lovelace, born in London #OnThisDay in 1815. Lovelace, the only child of Lord and Lady Byron, is often called the first computer programmer for her machine algorithm written in the 1840s to be carried out by Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine (which existed only on paper at the time).

#AdaLovelace #OTD #WomenInSTEM #history #histodons #HistoryOfScience #WomensHistory

They should call themselves “alfalfa males” because everything about them is pretty much eventually horseshit.

It's cold & dark, so how about spending a few minutes this evening transcribing weather observations from 1860s ship logs?
We are very close to completing the Weather Rescue At Sea citizen science project: http://www.WeatherRescue.org
Can you join the crew & help finish the voyage?

Uh-oh, trouble in Christian Nationalist paradise!

Now that MTG has finally denounced Trump's best buddy Nick Fuentes, he is not handling it all that well. His bitter rant is a must-watch, friends.

https://www.comicsands.com/fuentes-greene-divorced-girl-boss-2658834553.html?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=toot&utm_campaign=sand

It’s good to be back in the rehearsal room! If you’re in London Jan-Apr, be sure to catch me live and on stage in Allegiance, based on my own life story.
https://Allegiancemusical.com

"Commander Vimes didn’t like the phrase “The innocent have nothing to fear,” believing the innocent had everything to fear, mostly from the guilty but in the longer term even more from those who say things like “The innocent have nothing to fear.”
Terry Pratchett; Snuff
#DiscWorld #PolicingBill

We are all stardust.

That oxygen you breath? That comes from dying massive stars, ending their light in a supernova.

The iron in your blood? Some massive stars dying, but mainly white dwarfs, the leftovers of dwarf stars like our own Sun, exploding.

The gold ring on your finger? Mostly merging neutron stars, leftovers from supernovae.

#astrodon #scicomm #astronomy

The incoming GOP majority is going to try and discredit the work of the Jan. 6 Committee. Remember the courage of honorable conservatives like Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger when the extremists begin their assault. They had nothing to gain by opposing their party and Trump, and everything to lose. But they stood up anyway for the rule of law and for democracy.

Telling report today on the 19:00 German TV2 main evening news: "In the afternoon, the Last Generation is a topic of debate in the Bundestag. The climate demands get barely a mention, e.g. a speed limit. It's exclusively about the means of protest and more severe punishment."

It’s a wrap! I had a hoot taping The Graham Norton Show, laughing about life and discussing my legacy project Allegiance. Catch us on the tele Friday at 10:45p on BBC1 and twice again over the weekend!
For tickets to Allegiance: https://Allegiancemusical.com

I was diagnosed with #HIV in 1998, when I was 30.
At the time, I did not expect to live to 50.
I’m 55 now.
HIV treatment works and it means I can’t pass it on - we call this #UequalsU.
HIV changed. Tell everyone.
#WorldAIDSDay #WorldAIDSDay2022 #AIDShistory #CantPassItOn #FightStigma