herid @herid@qoto.org

@caseynewton @zoeschiffer @alexeheath the second half of this piece is sending shivers up my spine because of all the needless cruelty inflicted on employees.
A manager puking in the office because of how many people they were told to fire, uncertainty, sudden drastic policy changes with threat of getting fired, asking for work and then ignoring it….

On the cover of New York magazine this week: the Goons' first 90 days running Twitter. By @zoeschiffer, me and @alexeheath https://www.theverge.com/23551060/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-layoffs-workplace-salute-emoji

Today’s piece about Elon Musk’s Twitter by @caseynewton @zoeschiffer @alexeheath is incredible.
The level of dysfunction inside that company is much worse than what I could have imagined… https://www.theverge.com/23551060/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-layoffs-workplace-salute-emoji

As a marketer, I found this bit particularly chilling:

"What’s infuriating is how clueless, classless, and cowardly this move was."

If you don't know @jsnell and his decades-long career covering Apple, now's a good time to get to know him.
https://sixcolors.com/link/2023/01/the-end-of-the-twitter-client-era/

Good morning, here's some schadenfreude arising from Twitter's most right-wing employees cheering Elon Musk's acquisition and then also getting fired.

Sorry not sorry, bootlicking bigots.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/elon-musk-twitter-takeover.html

January 6 committee found that Twitter and other social media companies gave Republicans preferential treatment on social media out of fear of criticism/reprisal. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/17/jan6-committee-report-social-media/

I think it is great that #Medium has signaled its support for #Mastodon by launching a new instance. Whether Medium writers should join the new instance remains an open question. There are some potential pitfalls I'd want to consider first.

#SocialMedia #fediverse #MediumWriters

https://medium.com/@atheistrevolution/should-you-join-mediums-new-mastodon-instance-cdab2831f429

Recently there has been speculation about the capacity of Ukraine & Russia to undertake offensives in 2023. After a couple of recent twitter threads on this topic, I wanted to provide something more substantive. My latest post at Futura Doctrina.

https://mickryan.substack.com/p/the-campaigns-to-come

With his messaging, Doug Ford is trying to muddy the definition of privatization because polling probably shows we're suspicious of -- and possibly opposed to --corporations profiting off what used to be public healthcare services.

It can’t be privatization if you can still use OHIP, right?

It's comms sleight of hand.

#OnPoli #OnHealth

4/9

“the Tories, who have polled extensively on the issue…”
- Rob Ferguson & Robert Benzie, Toronto Star

Yes, they have and you can see how the results have shaped the government's messaging on healthcare privatization. In fact, the messaging tells us how to hit back in the way that will hurt the government most.

#OnPoli #OnHealth

2/8

Doug Ford: "I don't even like the word private because it's really not. You're never — I'm going to assure you, I'm looking into the camera — no Ontarian will ever have to pay with a credit card. They will pay with their OHIP card."

He's telling us here where his government is vulnerable as it prepares to announce the largest expansion to independent health facilities (IFHs) Ontario has seen in decades.

#OnPoli #OnHealth

1/8

Beatles - A Taste Of Honey

https://youtu.be/MkQ1eOcl5ug

#SongOfTheDay
#FavoriteMusic 61/

And now dead again, along with some old unused API keys, which proves that this was intentional and we and others were specifically targeted.

I wouldn't have swapped out the keys in the first place if there was even a shred of communication. Figured if nothing else this would push the issue.

Oh well, on to smaller but greener pastures.

Also Germany: physically removing Greta Thunberg & other protestors so they can raze a small village to expand a coal mine. https://www.politico.eu/article/greta-thunberg-removed-by-german-police-from-lutzerath-protest-site/

"The goal needs to be to set up three to four large wind turbines in Germany every day." -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the acceleration required to hit the country's emission targets. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-14/germany-wants-fast-windmill-expansion-to-hit-climate-goals

@herid - my friend and former student Nina Otter is one of many people working on applied topology; she's using persistent homology in climate science. Her paper "A topological perspective on weather regimes" is open-access:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-022-06395-x

I went to a big conference on Applied Topology in Japan a while ago; it seems to mostly be persistent homology.

So many people on this app get very hostile to any potentially useful feature request. Please understand that we all use platforms differently! A great social platform serves a wide variety of needs.