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
Funny thing is, I'm not super mad about how it's working out, all things considered. The leadership of the bank is canned. Depositors are made whole with no meaningful cost or risk to the taxpayer.
The saddest parts are that a lot of SVB employees are out of a job, a bank that was admired for its service is gone, and the biggest banks probably benefit from this.
Truly astounding stuff.
From https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/silicon-valley-bank-run-panic-should-not-exist
One story of my career is getting an ad hoc business school education on the job. In that vein, I think it's true that customer acquisition and product distribution are really similar. Maybe the same, if you're a direct-to-consumer business. But any time there's a middleman, like a retailer, broker, or agent, there's a difference.
I feel like there's almost a level of glee about SVB going under. But as far as I can tell, it's a big loss for folks who like innovation. And unless arrangements are made to unlock liquidity for depositors, many people may not get paid for their labor and many otherwise viable businesses could fall into crisis.
Alan Johnson
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The woman who sued McDonald's after suffering severe burns from hot coffee spent years as a "frivolous lawsuit" punchline -- but returning to the case makes it clear that instead, it's a cautionary tale about the dangers of believing corporate disinformation campaigns:
Alan Johnson
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Alan Johnson
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I'm starting to think twitter was... limiting if anything. I know most of ya'll don't care about follower counts, which is refreshing, tbh.
But, I think this little factoid is best used to reassure those who don't leave because they don't think they'll ever have the same amount of fun. And those like various creators who feel being connected is part of their job.
Alan Johnson
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Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !
Still not talking about Black History. Still talking about white US History.
The US *loves* soldiers and veterans! Virtuous! Service! 🇺🇲🦅
The US *hates* homeless people. Lazy! Dirty! Want a handout!
But... ~1 in every 20 US homeless folk is a Black or hispanic veteran. 🤷🏿♂️
In the USA, the phrase "support our troops!" is a euphemism that does mean military jingoism, but doesn't mean supporting all of our troops.
Alan Johnson
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“Is there nothing anybody would say that would cause you to cease your association with them? If so, then what you are is not a proponent of free speech, but lazy amorality.“
This piece is so good.
https://armoxon.substack.com/p/the-case-for-shunning
Alan Johnson
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There's a loose consensus that the plaintiffs botched their oral arguments today in the pivotal Gonzalez vs. Google case. One of the reasons why surprised me — though it shouldn't have!
https://www.platformer.news/p/the-people-who-want-to-end-section
Alan Johnson
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Here's a preview of #SpaceHost, a fully-managed Fediverse hosting service that @reiver and I are building.
As you can see, you'll be able to select your Fediverse server based on:
* Micro Blogging
* Macro Blogging
* Forums
* Image Posting
* Video Posting
* Media Posting
* Social Coding
Imagine thinking the most troubling thing about these conversational AIs is wokeness.
I loved SimCity and Civilization, and this is pretty much the goal in both.
I used to assume, without much critical thought, that it was natural, and even good, for humans to utilize every inch of the earth.
Do you ever think about the fact that you're thinking means you weren't Thanos snapped out of existence, or hit by a meteor, or assassinated a moment earlier? Or that the Earth wasn't hit by a giant piece of space debris traveling at relativistic speed? Just me?
Alan Johnson
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Mastodon sign-ups has been on a consistent rise lately.
For context, there were ~8,000 daily new account sign-ups last week.
This week, there's ~20,000 daily sign-ups.
Now some will say, "But that's because of a big event last week!"
But there were big events in January, and those just resulted in momentary spikes -- not sustained lifts.
Not even the removal of Twitter's API to 3rd party devs resulted in this kind of sustained lift!
Alan Johnson
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If you are looking for a new server after the #mastodonlol announcement can I reassure you thst moving all your followers across is incredibly easily, and using import/export you can also move your follows, toot history ect #feditips #mastomigration
Alan Johnson
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@theromit a question to ask may be: how do you define civility and what does it mean to you that you desire it? I found my impulse in these regards was, in some cases, a wish to return to a state of ignorance where I didn’t know about (or have to confront) some injustices or inequities. Now I see the struggle as the work, and the lack of “civility” as a fair price to pay. I value kindness more now, but I value “niceness” less.
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
