Brian Beach has moved @bwbeach@qoto.org

Let’s fix this, Washington Post. “Does DEI training discriminate against white people?” The answer is no.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are valuable goals. They benefit everyone. That’s almost self-evident.

Attempts to rectify discrimination against disadvantaged groups is NEVER discrimination against the advantaged group.

If some judges find otherwise, they will be wrong.

https://wapo.st/4cmtGzm

Americans, check your voter registration status: several states have purged their voter rolls.

To check, or register, follow the links from here:
https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote

It's a terrible sign of the times that the page says, "An official website of the United States government. Here's how you know" with a pop-up.

Here’s an interesting “last mile” thing that’s often over-looked. When you park your bike at the bike parking station in downtown Eindhoven, you can pick up a free baby stroller for walking around with your child!

Reboosting myself is not something I normally ever do, but I'm taking the liberty of retooting awareness of the #SilentSunday hashtag because the SilentSunday timeline is so lovely and because I've seen lots of new neighours in the Fediverse this past fortnight. Some are really old neighbours - Twitter people who came to Mastodon in the Great Migration of November 2022, then went back to Twitter, and now seem to be dropping by here again. I hope they stay. They are welcome and it's lovely here.

This is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I particularly enjoyed the dig at Ezra Levant and Rebel News.

Like many, I asked, who is this guy, Tim Walz?

So, when @birdpoof posted a link to a keynote talk Walz gave at an intensely nerdly meeting of GIS mapping coders, I clicked on the link, thinking I'd sample his talking style for 90 seconds or so.

Hah.
I stayed for the whole thing. Walz is unlike your average politician, connecting the work of the people in the room to his work as governor of Minnesota in a way that makes both come alive.

He's a phenomenal speaker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8BrT0-6gM

Super depressing read on the r/freelanceWriters subreddit:

"I literally lost my biggest and best client to ChatGPT today. This client is my main source of income, he’s a marketer who outsources the majority of his copy and content writing to me. Today he emailed saying that although he knows AI’s work isn’t nearly as good as mine, he can’t ignore the profit margin. [...] Please do not think you are immune to this unless you are the top 1% of writers."

https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/comments/12ff5mw/it_happened_to_me_today/

Hey Tooters - If you are linking to YouTube videos, don’t use the “Share” function in YouTube to generate the link. Copy and paste the URL from your address bar.

Using the “Share” function generates a generic preview in Mastodon, whereas cutting and pasting the actual URL gives a nice preview for the video, including the title.

The preview for my image below might be cropped in your browser, click to see the comparison.

#Communication #Mastodon #YouTube

BREAKING NEWS: Last night in Arizona, VP Harris publically called for an immediate cease fire in #Gaza and a return of all hostages.

What got the Breaking News: Trump Lies!

#Journalists #Journalism #Media @NPR @washingtonpost @politico @latimes

My "Dad Joke A Day" calendar is anti-colonialist today

Also, in-source your janitorial staff, in-source the people making food at the canteen, in-source your receptionist, in-source your IT support.

Every person working for a company should be working for that company.

You will have mid-term gains with outsourcing some functions, but in the long term, you will pay.

Stop listening to McKinsey telling you to outsource all that stuff. Their very business model relies on you outsourcing your brains. Ignore them.

@superball @AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

https://www.si.com/olympics/american-athletes-taking-full-advantage-of-free-healthcare-olympic-village-france

☝️

Again, I find the term "lifestyle business" somewhat condescending: it conjures up a corporate lawyer who took early retirement and now runs a B&B for the fun of it. I prefer the term "evergreen" for businesses like the ones Burlingham describes in "Small Giants": profitable and large enough to take on long-term projects, but not interested in growth for growth's sake (or more accurately, growth to satisfy the insatiable carrion crows of venture capitalism).

What the #media and #journalists should have also covered live yesterday, but failed in their duty as the Third Estate, because the WWF coverage gets more clicks, likes, and angry faces:

https://youtu.be/07A6iRmiixk?si=3i4tpmgYfHlhCBf2

https://youtu.be/ZD-oTJ49nls?si=Ou-rAKJ9dDl64blf

Qualities of Exceptional Speeches:

1. Responsiveness: The speaker responds to the crowd, naturally, and in a way that furthers their message.

2. Writing: The logical construction of the planned portions of the speech. The content.

3. Accent/Tone: The clarity, regional richness, and harmony of word delivery.

4. Authenticity: The sense that the words are not being mechanically read, but delivered as natural dialog.

5. Rhetorical Devices: Symmetry, repetition, humor, etc.

Walz's ability to cut through the bullshit clearly and succinctly is such a joy to behold. The simple statement of "Mind your own business!" feels profound in a political landscape where the right complains about a "nanny state" when what they're trying to create is just a fascist nanny state where the government is all up in everyone's business. The Democrats are the ones who are saying just let everyone be themselves. That's a pretty simple and broadly appealing message, and it's so refreshing to hear a politician just say it directly and unapologetically, not because it polls well, but because it actually reflects his core values.

Real men feed children.