Alan Johnson @acjay@qoto.org
Data, software & management. Husband of Jen. 👶*4. Former teacher. Jeopardy champ*1. Uplift good ideas, support folks, and speak up against harm.
Joined Oct 2022
Alan Johnson
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UPDATE: This is also happening in Duval County, FL.
A principal sent this note: "We are being asked to restrict classroom libraries...sadly you will need to remove student access...I will be the one with a felony if we are found in violation...I wish I was making this all up"
It's always a danger to equate layoffs with lack of hiring, but the number of simultaneous large scale layoffs makes me worried that many people in tech aren't going to land new jobs for a while, and potentially only with big cuts to compensation. Could get ugly as people's savings dwindles.
Alan Johnson
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#UFOI article is out now. I discuss why it’s better than #Fediblock #Fediblockmeta, my ideal solution for the #Fediblock, and how the #UFOI approaches these issues, with a nice word from @freemo addressing my most serious concern with the project.
I hope y’all find it interesting, if nothing else. Been wanting to release it for awhile now.
No, Fediblock Isn’t Better Than The UFOI https://paper.wf/casey-magazine/no-fediblock-isnt-better-than-the-ufoi
Alan Johnson
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.@crampell nails it. Again
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RT @crampell
Republicans say they want to balance the budget — but meanwhile they have ruled out every mathematical path for doing so (cuts to defense, cuts to entitlements, wiping out nondefense discretionary spending, or raising taxes). https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/24/republican-debt-ceiling-hostage-budget/
https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1617865790178590721
Honestly, it's disappointing to see people so quickly forget who they're giving their content to.
From what I can see, a lot of the people I follow on Twitter with large followings seem to have bounced back from Mastodon to Twitter. I suspect they don't see the same kind of reach here.
@ranimolla yeah, I get your point. If blame-shifting is an F response and taking some nominal responsibility is a C-, then an A response would be explaining how you're going to actually bear a meaningful amount of the pain.
@ranimolla I guess it's kinda the bare minimum, though. Some folks don't even rise to that bar.
Alan Johnson
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You can DM people on Mastodon by writing a post in "mentioned" visibility mode. In that mode, only accounts mentioned in the post can see it.
You can set post visibility by clicking on the visibility logo below the post:
🌎 - Public visibility, anyone can see it
🔓 - Unlisted, anyone can see it but not on main timelines
🔒 - Followers-only, your followers and anyone mentioned in the post can see it
@ - Mentions, only accounts mentioned can see it.
Find out more at https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-basic-tips/#WhoCanSeeMyPosts
Those air freshener things Uber drivers load their cars up with make me feel nauseous.
Alan Johnson
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ChatGPT gets treated like technological magic, but that ignores the humans behind the curtain that make it function.
OpenAI paid Sama to hire Kenyan workers at $1.32 to $2 an hour to review “child sexual abuse, bestiality, murder, suicide, torture, self harm, and incest” content. Their work made the tool less toxic, but left them mentally scarred. The company ended the contract when they found out TIME was digging into their practices.
@jasongorman This doesn't feel true to my experience. But I've definitely seen organizations get hooked on heroics over strategy, and the reward structure is a big part of it.
Alan Johnson
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Oh, wow. Just wow.
When I was 18, I was in the Canadian army. I'd joined in a fit of denialism, trying to prove how manly I was.
I was posted, back then, to West Germany, to a Canadian NATO base there (near Baden-Baden). While I was there, I met a young woman, a German, with whom I fell madly in love (as did she with me). When I got sent back to Canada after they found out I was queer (and kicked me out), we tried to stay in touch. I even tried to get a visa to go to Germany.
1/
@zens Incidentally, this is also how Rivers Cuomo describes the process of writing Weezer songs in an interview I listened to.
Alan Johnson
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There's a lot of debate as to the efficacy of "ban cars" as an advocacy slogan, but "The government might consider banning gas stoves" sure did generate a lot of coverage about the health and climate problems caused by gas stoves. It simply wasn't on most Americans' radars last week.
Food for thought!
Alan Johnson
boosted
I'd fallen for, and helped spread, what I now realize was a myth about quote tweets: That there's almost no research on them. Big mistake! Now rectified.
Here's my new post, digging into more than 30 studies with data on quote tweets. They don't settle all the questions. But there are answers, or at least partial ones, to most. It's still complicated, though.
It's a * very * long read, but there are summary points ....1/2
https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2023/01/12/quote-tweeting-over-30-studies-dispel-some-myths/
@trinsec I doubt I've gone over 2000 chars. At that point, it wouldn't be very painful to split.
@hasmis Could you say more on that? I've never thought of a serotonin connection.
@trinsec In my experience, it's very different from Facebook. I barely visit my Facebook anymore, despite having accumulated 1600 Facebook friends, through all my life adventures since 2004. It's mostly useful for Groups.
On LinkedIn, maybe it's just my generation, but it's almost totally professional content. I think they've also done a good job of integrating the unidirectional Follow model for getting content from people I don't personally know.
I'd say LinkedIn has arguably supplanted Twitter as the place where people talk craft stuff. Although it's a different style of discussion -- much less showboating and argument. But it can also be a bit bland and self-promotional.
@lucifargundam I think that's all right. I'm actually truly astounded by young successful people who do manage to navigate it successfully. LeBron James stands out to me as an example.
Data, software & management. Husband of Jen. 👶*4. Former teacher. Jeopardy champ*1. Uplift good ideas, support folks, and speak up against harm.
Joined Oct 2022
